The barspin is a dream trick for a lot of BMX and mountain bike riders. When we were developing the barspin section of the Bike School course, I noticed that there are a few things that could really separate those people who landed it versus those people who couldn’t. if you find this post helpful, consider enrolling in Bike School to become a full member and get unlimited access to everything.
Overview
Difficulty Level: Mid-Level
Time to Learn: 6 months to 1 Year
Skatepark Required? No but is very helpful
1. Practice Everywhere
You should practice barspins everywhere. In your kitchen, in your room, at the skate park, in your backyard, at school, and anywhere else you could think. Well, that may be a pretty big exaggeration, the point still remains the same. You will not get better at barspins if you do not practice it. A LOT. This trick requires a ton of work, so I always tell my students to practice throwing these bars no matter where they’re at the skate park. If you’re standing still, practice barspins.
2. break it down
Another thing I tell my students is the power of closing your eyes and actually visualizing what you’re trying to do. It is game-changing. This could be closing your eyes and visualizing step-by-step exactly how you plan to throw and land a barspin before you actually drop in. You’ll see the bar come around you’ll see her hand catch it and you’ll see yourself landing. All of this is adding subtle hints to your muscle memory and helping figured it out.
But more so, breaking it down this way helps you focus on key parts of the trick that you might be missing out on. So when you’re doing your visualization you’ll see “oh, maybe I’m not pinching my knees.” Then you go try that and boom you’ve got yourself a new trick. It’s crazy how much this will help.
3. Fully Commit
I get it, this is a scary trick and committing 100% is kind of daunting. But I promise you if you do not commit 100% your chances of actually pulling this trick off are 0. And this goes for any trick when you roll at that quarter getting get ready to throw the barspin and tell yourself that no matter what, you’re going to throw this and you’re going to commit 100%.
4. do it the correct way
So, there’s a right way and there’s a wrong way to do a barspin. It kind of blew me away how many people were doing it the wrong way and were able to get better at it after coaching them a little bit through Bike School. Obviously, the right way is throwing with your forward foot hand. While it can be done if you’re goofy-footed it’s going to help you out a lot if you’re doing it the “proper way”.
5. Try the different techniques
While you are watching the videos inside of the course, you’ll notice that sometimes I throw the barspin, sometimes I bus the barspin, sometimes Nic throws with his right hand, and sometimes he throws with his left hand? There’s a good number of different ways to do a barspin and playing around with different techniques until you find one that works for you is going to help you get this trick dialed.
6. Analyze your attempts
The Bike School Members are able to post their attempts on the Private Facebook group and get feedback from the owners and other members. That way more than one person is analyzing the attempt so the member can improve and nail this trick. However, if you only have yourself to analyze this trick that’s fine. Film your attempts and watch it back in slo-mo (if possible) and make sure that what you’re doing is exactly what we’re doing in the video. By comparing the two attempts you’ll notice the differences and know what you need to work on.
7. pinch the knees
This is a funny one to add in because it’s something that literally everyone says. But nobody explains why. If you throw in the barspin the correct way using the hand that’s on the same side as your forward foot, pinching your knees keeps the bike stable in one position so that it doesn’t dip when you throw the bar. If you’re throwing with the wrong hand, the bike is really going to want to dip so really focus on pinching those knees. When the bike tips the bars don’t spin around smoothly they spend a little off axis and it really makes it hard to get around. I think this is the number one tip because most people do not pinch their knees and have a really hard time with the trick.
Conclusion
If you are already a member, head over to the Facebook group right now and post some attempts so that Nick and I can check it out and give you pointers. If you’re not a member consider enrolling in Bike School so that you can take your riding to the next level. We will see you there.
