Video: How To Backwards Nose Manual Any Bike with Duncan Shaw

The backwards nose manual, a trick that we are constantly asked how to do. So myself and Rory Semple have just uploaded a quick video that outlines the steps needed to learn how to do them.

After starting off on the trials bikes to show all of the individual parts of the trick, we then moved on to both the MTB and E-Bike to prove that the backwards nose manual can be performed on any bike.



Here's some basic tips:

1. Go steeper than you think. - Whether you are using the endo technique or lifting the rear wheel after you have already started to fakie, the most common mistake that we see is riders not getting there weight far enough over the front wheel. This is a scary thing to commit to in the beginning but is an essential hurdle to cross when it comes to learning this trick.

2. Take your time. - The transition from the initial rear wheel lift into rolling backwards is one of the hardest parts to learn. It is important to take your time with this as rushing it will most likely just result in your rear wheel quickly returning to the ground. When trying the endo technique you shouldn't be trying to begin rolling backwards until after your rear wheel has already reached it's peak.

3. Your front brake is your friend. - Luckily it is actually pretty hard to go over the bars when learning this trick as going too steep can easily be recovered with some slight feathering of the front brake or simply by putting your feet on the ground and coming to a stop. Once you know this then the backwards nose manual is a relatively safe trick to practice.

4. How to Balance. - This part is the most difficult. Once you know how to get the rear wheel up and begin rolling backwards, the next step is learning how to keep it up. It's important to be patient when learning this, as much like learning a manual, it will take time to learn exactly how to balance on one wheel. Our main tips are to keep your arms straight and focus on moving your knees/core to stop the rear wheel dropping. A useful tip however is to keep your head/eyes pointing just in front of your front tyre. As your technique improves over time, and you become more and more confident, you will be able to start relying on the front brake less and less allowing you to retain speed and go further.

5. Subtle movements. - Any large movements will most likely either put you off balance or cause you to begin traveling across the slope rather than down it, which is a hard thing to correct. If you start to move off line then simply looking to the opposite side of your front tyre should slowly correct this. Focus on making your movements as subtle as possible and this will help you massively when learning how to backwards nose manual.

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