What sort of bike trick is this and how do you do it?

[Trentus]

I unfortunately didn't see this being done, and being the king of face plants I doubt I'll try it in
a hurry, but can someone give me even some idea of how it's done.

Bike mechanic takes bike out for a test ride after doing some work or other on it (not my bike, and
not at my LBS). He goes outside, does a few runs around the car park, then rides up to the automatic
doors - pauses without putting feet down (I used to do this on my racer, but can't on my MTB go
figure) while door opens, then rides down the interior of the store between two rows of bikes, but
there's a problem - he's riding straight towards the rear wall and hemmed in by bikes. He obviously
didn't consider it a problem, the rear wheel lifts into the air and turns the bike 90 degrees
anti-clockwise till the bike is now sideways, then immediately the front wheel rises and turns the
opposite 90 degrees towards the front of the store, till the bike has turned a total 180 degrees,
and he rides back down between the bikes and out the front for a few more spins around the carpark.
The person who described this event to me was certainly awe-inspired by it.

So my question is, I assume the rear coming up was from hard front braking, but why not spin the
full 180 this way, why only go 90, and then how do you change a forward - or actually now a sideways
motion cause he only went 90 degrees (towards the rear of the store) into the front wheel coming
around the opposite direction towards the front of the store. If he had gone quite a bit more than
90 degrees on his first turn when he lifted the rear wheel, and then switched from hard front to
hard rear braking, the movement of the bike towards the rear of the store would have possibly been
enough to then raise the front wheel also. But once you lift the front wheel - in this situation - I
would think the tendency would have been for the front - once lifted off the ground - to also
continue in the original direction (towards the rear of the store), whereas he actually turned the
front wheel the opposite way towards the front.

Since I didn't see it, I don't know the type of bike, the rider, the method, or anything much else.
But would this be achievable on a front suspension bike or would the front sus simply compress
rather than the rear wheel rising properly? Would the bike need any special equipment - i.e. would V
brakes do it, or would you need disks? How would you learn this trick without killing yourself?

etc.

Trentus

 

[Bomba]

Trentus wrote:

> Since I didn't see it, I don't know the type of bike, the rider, the method, or anything much
> else. But would this be achievable on a front suspension bike or would the front sus simply
> compress rather than the rear wheel rising properly? Would the bike need any special equipment -
> i.e. would V brakes do it, or would you need disks? How would you learn this trick without killing
> yourself?

It's called an endo (despite what everyone else here will have you believe is an endo). Flicking the
rear round 90 deg rather than 180 is preferable because it's easier to control and pulling the front
back in the direction you came is just a matter of body position.

You don't need any special equipment (in fact, I'm learning to do them with no front brake on top of
a quarter pipe), as it all comes through body movement.

Start small, by just riding slowly forwards, hauling on your front brake, pushing on the bars and
making a motion with your body to 'dive' over the bars. You should feel the rear wheel lift off the
ground slightly. Keep practicing, and you can get the rear wheel higher and higher, to the point
where the bike is near vertical. Once you have the basics down, you can throw in all sorts of
tricks, such as the 90 deg flick performed by the mech.

Here are a few: One footer No footer - as the bike comes up, find the balance point, sit on the
saddle and take off your feet. One hander - take off the hand *not* holding on to the brake lever No
footed one hander No footed can-can - as with the no footer but swing one of your legs over the top
tube, so that both your legs are off to one side 360 pivot - endo 180, pull up the front and allow
your momentum to carry you round to 360. The cowboy - endo really high so that your **** is hanging
over the rear wheel, and at the same time release one hand and flip the bars 90 deg so that your
remaining hand is nearest the saddle. You're now in a rodeo-type position and have just amazed your
friends. This is however, not particularly good for your forks or your front wheel

--
a.m-b FAQ: http://www.t-online.de/~jharris/ambfaq.htm

b.bmx FAQ: http://www.t-online.de/~jharris/bmx_faq.htm

 

[Tristan]

Trentus wrote:
> I unfortunately didn't see this being done, and being the king of face plants I doubt I'll try it
> in a hurry, but can someone give me even some idea of how it's done.
>
> Bike mechanic takes bike out for a test ride after doing some work or other on it (not my bike,
> and not at my LBS). He goes outside, does a few runs around the car park, then rides up to the
> automatic doors - pauses without putting feet down (I used to do this on my racer, but can't on my
> MTB go figure) while door opens, then rides down the interior of the store between two rows of
> bikes, but there's a problem - he's riding straight towards the rear wall and hemmed in by bikes.
> He obviously didn't consider it a problem, the rear wheel lifts into the air and turns the bike 90
> degrees anti-clockwise till the bike is now sideways, then immediately the front wheel rises and
> turns the opposite 90 degrees towards the front of the store, till the bike has turned a total 180
> degrees, and he rides back down between the bikes and out the front for a few more spins around
> the carpark. The person who described this event to me was certainly awe-inspired by it.
>
> So my question is, I assume the rear coming up was from hard front braking, but why not spin the
> full 180 this way, why only go 90, and then how do you change a forward - or actually now a
> sideways motion cause he only went 90 degrees (towards the rear of the store) into the front wheel
> coming around the opposite direction towards the front of the store. If he had gone quite a bit
> more than 90 degrees on his first turn when he lifted the rear wheel, and then switched from hard
> front to hard rear braking, the movement of the bike towards the rear of the store would have
> possibly been enough to then raise the front wheel also. But once you lift the front wheel - in
> this situation - I would think the tendency would have been for the front - once lifted off the
> ground - to also continue in the original direction (towards the rear of the store), whereas he
> actually turned the front wheel the opposite way towards the front.
>
> Since I didn't see it, I don't know the type of bike, the rider, the method, or anything much
> else. But would this be achievable on a front suspension bike or would the front sus simply
> compress rather than the rear wheel rising properly? Would the bike need any special equipment -
> i.e. would V brakes do it, or would you need disks? How would you learn this trick without killing
> yourself?
>
> etc.
>
> Trentus
>
>

Back in the BMX days we used to call it a "Rock Walk."

It's done properly without using the front brakes.

-T

 

[Tristan]

Tristan wrote:
> Trentus wrote:
>
>> I unfortunately didn't see this being done, and being the king of face plants I doubt I'll try it
>> in a hurry, but can someone give me even some idea of how it's done.
>>
>> Bike mechanic takes bike out for a test ride after doing some work or other on it (not my bike,
>> and not at my LBS). He goes outside, does a few runs around the car park, then rides up to the
>> automatic doors - pauses without putting feet down (I used to do this on my racer, but can't on
>> my MTB go figure) while door opens, then rides down the interior of the store between two rows
>> of bikes, but there's a problem - he's riding straight towards the rear wall and hemmed in by
>> bikes. He obviously didn't consider it a problem, the rear wheel lifts into the air and turns
>> the bike 90 degrees anti-clockwise till the bike is now sideways, then immediately the front
>> wheel rises and turns the opposite 90 degrees towards the front of the store, till the bike has
>> turned a total 180 degrees, and he rides back down between the bikes and out the front for a few
>> more spins around the carpark. The person who described this event to me was certainly
>> awe-inspired by it.
>>
>> So my question is, I assume the rear coming up was from hard front braking, but why not spin the
>> full 180 this way, why only go 90, and then how do you change a forward - or actually now a
>> sideways motion cause he only went 90 degrees (towards the rear of the store) into the front
>> wheel coming around the opposite direction towards the front of the store. If he had gone quite a
>> bit more than 90 degrees on his first turn when he lifted the rear wheel, and then switched from
>> hard front to hard rear braking, the movement of the bike towards the rear of the store would
>> have possibly been enough to then raise the front wheel also. But once you lift the front wheel -
>> in this situation - I would think the tendency would have been for the front - once lifted off
>> the ground - to also continue in the original direction (towards the rear of the store), whereas
>> he actually turned the front wheel the opposite way towards the front.
>>
>> Since I didn't see it, I don't know the type of bike, the rider, the method, or anything much
>> else. But would this be achievable on a front suspension bike or would the front sus simply
>> compress rather than the rear wheel rising properly? Would the bike need any special equipment -
>> i.e. would V brakes do it, or would you need disks? How would you learn this trick without
>> killing yourself?
>>
>> etc.
>>
>> Trentus
>>
>>
>
> Back in the BMX days we used to call it a "Rock Walk."
>
> It's done properly without using the front brakes.
>
> -T
>
>

I found a link that shows what I think you are talking about.

http://www.bmxbuyer.com/videos/how_to_flatland/rock_walk.mov

I don't use my brakes to get the wheels off the ground, though it looks like the guy in the video is
using them.

-T

 

[Bomba]

Tristan wrote:

> Back in the BMX days we used to call it a "Rock Walk."

No, a rock walk goes 360, this guy just went 90 and back again (had totally forgotten the name
'rock walk'...)

--
a.m-b FAQ: http://www.t-online.de/~jharris/ambfaq.htm

b.bmx FAQ: http://www.t-online.de/~jharris/bmx_faq.htm

 

[Tristan]

bomba wrote:
> Tristan wrote:
>
>> Back in the BMX days we used to call it a "Rock Walk."
>
>
> No, a rock walk goes 360, this guy just went 90 and back again

Your right, a full 'rock walk' does complete a 360 degree rotation, 2(pi) radians. Smaller rotations
are the same technique. The original poster did mention going beyond 90 to 180 degrees on each pivot
which would be a rock walk.

> (had totally forgotten the name 'rock walk'...)
>

It's an old name, I forgot about it too.......