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.

If you want in-depth and high-quality how-to videos along with personalized feedback on your attempts, consider becoming a Bike School member. Learn more here.

Overview

Difficulty Level: Beginner

Time to Learn: 1 to 2 Months

Skatepark Required? Yes, you need a jump

1. Do it at the peak point

For a lot of these tricks that you do over dirt jumps, you need to throw them at the peak point. Usually, this point is right before you level out and your momentum starts to fall down. So before you hit this point you need to throw this trick. If you throw it too early you will land back tire heavy and loop out, and if you do it too late you probably won’t land it at all.

2. Use the correct foot

Doing a cancan will be significantly harder if you use your back foot instead of your front foot. With that being said use your front foot to do the cancan so that you’re using the proper foot and so that you can get the best possible looking cancan.

3. Twist your hips for more extension

There’s a difference between a basic cancan, and a really extended cancan. After helping riders inside the course develop this trick for full extension, we noticed that the biggest thing is if you twist your hips in the direction that you want to cancan it opens up your legs so that you can swing that can out farther. This isn’t really necessary if you’re just learning the trick but it is necessary for mastering it.

4. Lift your knees

I noticed a couple of people were having issues with this because they would hit their foot on their toptube. You need to lift your foot up so that it can go over the toptube then extend it out on the other side. Failure to do this results in a crash.

5. practice

Just like every other trick in the BMX and mountain bike world practice is everything. You can’t expect to get better at this trick if you don’t spend multiple attempts on it. If this is one of your main goals set a certain amount of tricks that you want to attempt each day. For example, say I want to do 10 cancans today, and don’t leave the park until you hit that goal of trying 10 of them.

Conclusion

Busting out a stylish cancan will make you the center of attention at the dirt jumps. Use these tips to maximize your extension and get a nice-looking cancan. Now if you want access to the full Bike School course, click here and enroll that way we can give you personalized feedback on your tricks and help you master them.

If you want all of the benefits of being a Bike School Member click this link and enroll so that you can take your riding to the next level.

Overview

Difficulty Level: Beginner

Time to Learn: 1 – 3 Months

Skatepark Required? Yes. Need some sort of jump

1. Get Air

Obviously, getting enough airtime is the most important thing for doing tricks over dirt jumps. An X-Up is not any different. You need to go fast enough to clear the jump but if you know anything about boosting it’s going to help to pop off the lip to get an extra little bit of height.

2. Use proper form

In the video, for X-up I talk about using proper form. And essentially the proper form is pinching your knees and throwing your hips back so that you have enough room to clear your knees when doing the X up. If you’re not in this position you’re going to have a hard time folding your arms around to actually click it.

3. x-up the Right Direction

I struggled with this because initially, I would X-Up the left but I could not click it. However, once I started doing X-up’s to the right they felt a lot better. There isn’t necessarily a correct way or wrong way but there is a way that feels more comfortable for you. So I stress that everyone spends some time trying these in both directions so that you can actually find the direction that works best for you.

4. Loosen your Grip

The last little Golden nugget of advice I can give you is that if you have a death grip on your grips the X-up will not happen. You need to loosen up your grip enough. And sometimes it’s just so that two fingers holding on… but with the grip loosened you can fold the X-up and get a lot more extension than you would with a death grip.

Conclusion

Following these four little tips will take your attempts from beginner to intermediate. If you are serious about taking your riding to the next level… becoming a Bike School member will help you achieve just that with crazy in-depth how-to videos and actual feedback on your attempts in the private Facebook group.

How to Tailwhip Video

You can watch the full 10-minute video by going here. We can’t wait to have you as a member.

Overview

Difficulty Level: High-Level

Time to Learn: 1 to 2 Years

Skatepark Required? No but is very helpful

Step 1: Fly Out

You will have to jump in the air and get a good amount of height. While a hop tailwhip is possible, it will be so much harder than doing it out of a quarter.

Step 2: Kick the Whip

Once you are in the air, kick the tailwhip around. use a combination of your feet and hands to get the momentum going around.

Step 3: Use your arms

Use your arms to counteract the weight of the whip and keep the dreaded dead sailor from happening. This step is important.

Step 4: Get Ready to Catch

Somehow you need to get your feet back on. Prepare for the incoming whip by sticking your front foot out so you can stop the whip.

Step 5: Land

Once you get your feet on you will land. This can be tricky if the form of your whip is bad from the start. Some people have a problem with landing back heavy.

Step 6: Master

This trick took me well over two years to learn and another 2 years to master. It takes a lot of persistence and trial and error.

If you want to learn how we coach other riders to speed up the process, enroll in bike school to get access to: The In-depth how-to video, A worksheet that prompts you to analyze your attempts and make minor corrections, and access to the exclusive Facebook group where we can give you personalized feedback on your attempts… Sign up here.