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- Manualing your e-bike is definitely pretty impressive,
and one of those skills
that gonna help you out on the trails massively, too.
But, it's definitely a fine art to perfect.
And a lot of mistakes can be made on the way.
Today, I'm taking a look on your common manual mistakes.
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Now, one of the biggest mistake I see a lot of riders
when they come into manual,
is not doing a bit of suspension preload
before they go into that manual position.
It doesn't necessarily lift the front wheel.
What it does, is actually put
a lot of energy into the bike suspension
when you combine it with our weight shift down and back up
with a little bit of suspension preload,
it's gonna put a lot of energy into the bike,
and that front wheel's gonna pop up a lot easier.
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So, when it comes to manualing,
a lot of people think it's just about
pulling up with your arms and leaning back.
It's not that.
And, if you pull up with just your arms,
you're gonna get a front wheel lift,
but it's gonna drop straight away,
so they're gonna be up for a very few little moments.
When you do the actual pull back,
it needs to be from your wrist to your shoulders,
and actually all the way down your back to your bum.
Your bum needs to be the hinge point in the actual movement.
So, make sure you're not just pulling with the arms,
you're pulling through with the arms.
Pulling that front wheel high, that hinge in, with your bum,
over the back of the bike.
So, backing that weight back, pulling through,
not just with your arms, your whole body.
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Rear brake modulation is definitely key
when it comes to manualing.
You need to learn how to feather this thing.
You need to be super light on it, hardly,
you're just literally scrubbing it.
If you're coming into it,
and you get to that sweet spot,
and you literally grab a handful of back brake,
'cause you get scared,
the front weight's just gonna drop straight away.
You need to feather it, keep it smooth.
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Okay, weight position is definitely
something you need to be thinking about,
when it comes to manualing.
Literally, the rear axle here,
is the pivot point of the bike.
If you've not got any weight behind that,
then the front wheel is never gonna lift.
You might get it up for a short while,
but an extended manual is definitely not gonna happen.
You need to get some weight, definitely,
behind that rear axle path.
If you're all in the front of the bike, here,
trying to do everything, it's never gonna happen.
You need to get weight back behind the bike.
Almost sit there, and you can feel
the sweet spot where it needs to be.
If you're here, it's just gonna drop straight down.
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So, location is definitely
something you want to think about,
when it comes to manualing.
If you're trying to do it on bumpy ground, or soft ground,
or slightly uphill, it's never gonna happen.
You need to find somewhere like this.
This is a slightly downhill fire road, but no traffic,
it's nice and smooth, with a gradual downhill slope,
meaning momentum's gonna stay in the wheels.
And, actually, when you get to that sweet spot,
the bike, it wants to carry on.
It doesn't want the front wheel to drop.
So, you got a bit of added speed to the bike, too.
Another real nice tip, is, scratch yourself a marker,
or get a little kicker, just to pop up the front wheel.
Then, work on your progression.
Try and manual two foot, then work it up to three foot,
six foot, then 600 feet.
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The back brake is a massive part when it comes to manualing.
You need to have 100% confidence in it.
If you're trying to do it
with contaminated pads, or worn out pads,
or simply, you're not 100% confident in it,
then you need to be giving it a miss.
This think can literally save your ass,
if you don't look after it, it will have you on your ass.
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When it comes to riding styles and grips,
people like to ride differently.
A few people ride fingers out,
covering the brakes, or some people like to ride
fully committed, they call it death grip bike,
keeping all your fingers on the grips, totally.
But, if you're learning to manual assist,
you really need to learn to
cover the back brake at all times.
You just need your finger there, in an instant,
if you don't have your finger there,
you could instantly be looped out straight onto your back.
Try and learn to cover those brakes.
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We often hear about dropping your heels,
when it comes to technical descent, and things like that,
but that also applies to manualing.
It's something that's often overlooked.
Quite a lot of people have good technique,
but that last point of contact from their feet
is something that they're not actually doing correctly.
They're coming into the manualing,
they've got their feet quite flat on the pedals.
What you actually you need to do,
is rock your feet, and drop your heels,
and make sure that that pedal is rocked back,
and your actual energy is pushing the bike forward,
rather than being on top of the bike.
So, try dropping the heels, pushing into the pedals,
keeping that front wheel high.
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When it comes to entry speed on a manual,
you want to keep it nice and controlled,
like a nice, slow kind of jogging speed is fine.
If you're coming into it way too fast,
you're gonna have no control, especially if things go wrong.
If you're coming in too slow,
you're not gonna get the gyroscopic effect in the wheels,
to keep that stability,
and, the momentum to drive the bike forward.
Nice and slow and controlled.
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The loop out zone is where you need to be
for that fine balance point.
A lot of riders never actually go
far enough back to be in this zone.
It's literally right on the edge of the balance point.
If you've never fallen off the back of the bike,
then you've never actually gone deep enough
into the loopout zone, or the balance point.
A good way of doing this is actually
just sitting on your bike, holding the back brake on,
putting your feet on the floor,
and actually pulling the bars up to where
they kind of feel like weightlessness.
Where the bike feels light, it's actually the sweet spot.
It's kind of where you want to be in that manual position.
Get the bike in this position, get the weight back,
as we've talked about earlier.
With a pull on the bars, get the weight back down low,
get the weight behind that rear axle,
and then manualing should come super easy.
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You never want to underestimate
the weight of an e-bike, too.
If you're coming from a standard mountain bike to an e-bike,
you might be able to manual already on a standard bike,
but applying it to an e-bike is a different world,
you've obviously got your battery
and the motor, right down low,
especially where you don't want it,
when it comes to manualing.
So I suggest if you do want to learn the skill,
it might be easier on a standard mountain bike,
and bringing it to the e-bike, but just bear in mind,
when you're doing it on an e-bike,
you might have to over-exaggerate those movements.
So, again, I really hope you've enjoyed today's video
on common manualing mistakes.
But, if you guys have got any tips
for how to learn to manual,
or any other common mistakes that you guys are doing,
drop some in the comments box below,
don't forget, you can subscribe to EMBN
by clicking the globe in the middle of the screen,
but if you want to stick around for a little longer,
check out Common Jumping Mistakes.
That video's over here, a really cool one.
But, that's it, give us a thumbs up if you enjoyed it,
and we'll see you in the next one.