How To Wheelie A MTB And When You Should

Pulling a wheelie on a mountain bike is a pretty well desired skill set, with one of the main reasons being that pulling a wheelie is really cool. Being able to pull a wheelie on a mountain bike however is not only a skill needed to show off to your mates - there are plenty of times when riding out on trails, where lifting the weight off the front wheel is important in getting you across obstacles efficiently, quickly and safely.

Only the most basic of trails allow a rider to ride round on a MTB without lifting the front wheel over obstacles. One of the most important ways to pull off a wheelie is to focus on the footwork, awareness of where your pedals are when pulling a wheelie, will not just allow you to pull a decent wheelie on demand, but will also allow you to avoid pedal strikes when out on the trails.

The best way to wheelie over an obstacle on a trail is to use explosive power. The aim of wheelying on a trail is to simply clear an object, so you only need enough height to ensure that your chainset clears the object. The typical height of a trail wheelie is between 30 to 40cm.

Timing Trail Wheelies

Timing is an essential piece of wheelying over an obstacle on a trail. One of the best ways to ensure that you can raise the front wheel, is to master being able to have an explosive burst of pedalling, regardless of the position of the pedals. When we wheelie, most of the power comes from a sudden burst of power on the pedals, with body position removing weight from the front and centre of the bike. Timing and adjusting body position when accelerating, will allow the rider to lift the front wheel up with ease. Once you have your body in the right position, maximum power on the pedals is the order of the day.

When it’s time to bring the front wheel back down, back brake helps - and pushing your elbows out is an ideal way to bring weight forward on the bike, bringing the front wheel back down. If you are wanting to pull off a longer wheelie, you need to keep the balance point on the bike within half a pedal stroke.

Practicing Trail Wheelies

Once you have the basic skills of a wheelie covered, it’s about putting skills learnt into practice. The way to do this is through repetition, starting with easier obstacles - gradually making things more difficult. The aim here is to be able to read the trail easily, and be able to wheelie using muscle memory. The faster you ride, the quicker you need to be able to react and put these skills into practice.

When starting out, it’s a good idea to practice things off the trail, use somewhere with a safe environment - ideally grassed. Once you have mastered the basics of a wheelie, concentrate on the timing of your wheelies. Use naturally occurring obstacles to time your wheelies, this can be anything from a stick on the ground, to passing a drain.

Trail MTB Wheelies

Pulling off a wheelie on pretty even ground can be mastered pretty quickly, but it becomes more of a challenge in a trail enivornment, where humps, bumps, lumps, rocks and tree stumps can all cause issues. Below are some of the most common issues that riders have, when wheelying over obstacles on a trail:

• Lifting too early, and not holding the wheel up long enough for the bike to clear an obstacle is a common mistake and is one which can only really be rectified by practicing timings.
• Lifting too late, meaning that the wheel drops back and hits the obstacle you are trying to clear. Again, this can only be rectified by regularly practicing timings.
• Striking an obstacle with pedals when in the exploding power part of the wheelie, again - improving timings is the only real way of avoiding this, whilst improving your instinctive knowledge of pedal position.
• Failing to lift the wheel high enough to clear the obstacle, riding into the obstacle instead of over it.

MTB Wheelies Standing Vs Sitting

Wheelies are most commonly carried out when ascending, or heading uphill across obstacles. This means that you would usually be seated when carrying out a wheelie, so it makes sense to practice wheelies when seated. It’s easier to practice with your saddle fully extended, alternatively - if you need more confidence when practicing, the seat can be lowered.

Practicing

As with most mountain biking skills, perfecting the wheelie is all about timing, keeping the body fluid and most importantly, repetition!