Basic Street Tricks

STREET OBSTACLES
CURBS
Curbs are basically used as a jump or a place to do aboobicas, tailtaps or barspins. The choice move for most riders off of a curb is the tabletop but you can do a lot of tricks off of curbs.

LEDGES
Ledges can be found anywhere and are one of the funnest street obstacles. You can grind ledges, bunny hop on top of them and 360 off, manuel them the possiblities are endless.

GAPS
Before you try a gap you want to be able to bunny hop preaty good. There are many kinds of gaps but basically a gap is jumping from one object to another while jumping over another object. Examples are jumping down stairs, jumping from a house to another house, jumping off of a ledge into the street. Once you are used to doing gaps you can throw in tricks like 180's, barspins, no footers and x-ups.

BANKS
A bank is an incline it can either be concrete or a piece of landscape. The steeper the bank the funner. Banks are dope for fakies and manuels and tail taps. If you are lucky you could find a bank that leads to a wall and you could wall ride!

GRINDS
BASIC GRIND
Basic grind is when both of your pegs on the same side are on the grinding surface and you are sliding across the surface. You should learn basic grinds first because they are the easiest. You have to be able to bunny hop before you try any kind of grind. A low grind box is the best to use when starting out. The biggest problem you will encounter when you first learn to grind is that you will take your foot off. Just try for a while and force yourself to keep your foot on and it shouldn't take long to get used to.

FEEBLE GRIND
A feeble grind is when your back peg is on the grinding surface and your front wheel is on top of the grinding surface. Feeble grinds are very easy to learn once you got basic grinds down. When putting your front tire on the surface try to keep it as close as you can to the edge of the grind box (or whatever you are grinding on). If you put your wheel up to far to the side you will slide out and might break your chain. When learning feeble grinds you will probably break your chain alot and mess up your sprocket so you might want to get a stronger chain or sprocket.

SMITH GRIND
A smith grind is when you have your front peg on the grinding surface and your back wheel on top of it. It is the oppisite of a feeble grind. Smith grinds are easy to learn once you are used to grinding. One way to do it is bunnyhop above the grind surface and get your back tire on the surface then let your front peg grind. You could also first get your peg on the surface and then lift your back tire up on the surface. Just mess arond with it and see what works best for you. Never smith grind on a surface like concrete or wood cause you will flip right over your handle bars.

STREET MOVES
MANUALS
Manuels are one of the most basic moves in freestyle and one of the funnest. A manual is when you balance on your back tire while moving and not pedeling. The best way to do a manuel is pull up on your handle bars and lean back and adjust your body to over the balancing point. When trying to balance keep your arms straight and move your knees and legs. Once you are used to manueling you can throw in a barspin or try a peg manuel or one handed manuel.

TAILTAPS
A tailtap is when you stall on your back tire. The best place to tail tap is at the top of a bank. It is good to have back breaks that work well before you try a tailtap. The first step is to pull up hard once you get to the top of the bank. Next start to turn when you are in the air. Then, keeping your front tire high in the air and back tire close to the ground, pull your break. You should be turned about 90 degrees when your back tire touches. Now you should be stalled on your back tire. You want to be leaning towards the bank that you just came up. Then bunnyhop down onto the bank and let off the break.

BUNNY HOP
The bunny hop is the most basic trick in freestyle. In order to ride street you have to be able to bunny hop. A bunny hop is when you lift both your tires off of the ground. The first step is to get down low on your bike. Then explode up pulling up and back on your handle bars. As soon as your front tire gets up in the air jump up and pull the back end up to you.

FAKIES
A fakie is when you land traveling backwards. Examples: going up a bank bunny hopping and coming straight back rolling backwards, going off a jump of some type and doing a 180. In order to complete a fakie you have to be used to rolling backwards and turning around (Rolling out).

ROLLING OUT
Rolling out is a must to learn if you plan on doing fakies. To roll out do a fakie and roll backwards. Then turn your bars one way and lean the oppisite. If you turn your bars to the right lean to the left. When you turn your bars pull up on the handle bars and lean quick and hard and try to turn your body around 180 degrees. You can use your brake after you turn your handle bars to keep you from moving backwards. Just experiment and you should have them down in no time.

BARSPIN
Barspins on the ground are a lot easier then doing them off a jump. A barspin is when you spin your handle bars around 360 degrees. Before you try a barspin you want your seat high enough to pinch it with your knees. It is also good to have a gyro so your break cables won't get all tangled. Then all you got to do is pinch the seat, pull up on the handle bars, lean back and spin the bars. Once you get used to them you can try them at higher speeds and off of picknick tables, curbs or some drop off. But doing a barspin off of a jump is a lot harder and different then on the ground.