How To Drift A Mountain Bike

Drifting a mountain bike is one of the most difficult but most rewarding skills to learn. As well as looking and feeling incredibly cool, drifting allows you to ride through loose corners, at high speeds. Drifting is when cornering and the tyres of your MTB break-traction - although this can cause a crash if done accidentaly, a controlled drift can help you fly through corners with pace and fluidity.

Drifting is best practised and performed on fast downhill corners, on double track or on a fire road - although some riders can drift effectively on singletrack, there is less margin for error. When drifting, the rear tyre of the bike needs to do most of the drifting and sliding - like drifting on singletrack; two-wheel drifts are more difficult, but they can be done!

The first key to drifting a mountain bike is heading into the corner with speed. If you do not carry enough speed, you can not expect to break traction. As you approach the corner, keep your body position low and have your body in the attack position.

Remove your inside foot off the pedal, lean the bike over and try and take the weight off the rear wheel - if this does not break traction, then lightly apply the rear brake, but not enough to skid. As you come out of the drift, push your foot off the ground and straighten up in the direction of the bike.

Learning this is not only good for when you want to drift a mountain bike - but is also helpful if you accidentally find yourself drifting and need to correct it. Drifting can be carried out on both hardtail and full suspension mountain bikes, across various terrain.