Tail Whip
Tail-whips can be done on both scooters and BMX bikes, and it's a great starter-trick that you can use to build skills and improve, regardless of your ride of choice. It takes balance, technique, and practice, but the tail-whip is both flashy and relatively straight-forward. With the right approach, you can do it. See Step 1 for more information.
Contents
Steps
Tail-Whipping on a BMX Bike
- Practice your jumps and airing out. To do a BMX tail-whip, you'll need some serious air. It's hard (though not impossible) to tail-whip from the ground, so practice on a quarter-pipe or other jump that you can get up off the ground high enough to whip the bike around safely and have a chance of landing it. Practice getting big air and turning around clockwise to aim forward as you land.
- One good exercise when you're trying to learn is to kick off your far leg. If you're turning to your right, practice lifting your left foot off the pedal and bringing your knee up while you picture yourself tail-whipping. Then, bring your foot back to the pedal for the landing. This will help you get the timing right and practice your form.
- The steeper the transition, the easier the trick. For some BMXers, it's easier to transition between a quarter-pipe and a wedge to land more safely. Do some experimenting and perfect getting good air before you try to tail-whip.
- Wait until you've completed a quarter-turn to kick the bike. As you're transitioning, it's usually good to kick the bike when you're just starting to turn around in the air, not quite to parallel, but in between your jump and your transition. It'll take some work to get the timing right, but you want to make sure you've got enough time to get the pedals controlled under you before you come crashing down.
- Kick the bike with your turn. If you're transitioning to the right, you'll kick the bike with your right foot, and vice versa. Usually, the best place to kick the back is on the frame, right under the seat. It's also less of a "kick" and more of a push, using your motion and gravity to follow through and ease the bike around. Most of the "whip" is done then with the wrists.
- Do the "washing machine." Keeping the corny dance-move called the "washing machine" in your mind is actually a good way to get the proper arm motion down for doing a tail-whip. You want to rotate your arms around in the direction of your turn (clockwise, if you're going right) and, keeping a firm grip on the handles, whip the bike around as quickly as possible as you continue turning in the air.
- Catch the pedal with your left foot. The hardest part of the trick is catching the bike under you and getting your feet back on the pedals. If you can catch it and push it down, you'll also be able to quickly find the other pedal with your other foot.
- Ideally, you'll get the pedals under you for the safest and most comfortable landing. If you want, though, you can try a one-footed landing if you can't get it situated in time, and you can use the seat some if you need to.
- If you need to bail, just letting go of the bars should usually lets gravity do its work. The bike will continue on it's trajectory away from you, and you can use your knee-pads to land safely and
- Guide the bike where you want it to go. When you're trying to wrangle the bike back into position, use your arms as much as possible to fight gravity. Make it go where you want it to go to ensure a successful landing. Bring it back and under you to position it correctly and nail it. Keep practicing, and you'll get it eventually.
Tail-Whipping on a Scooter
- Practice bunny-hops first. If you start immediately with the tail-whip, chances are you'll hurt yourself. It's important to practice the little things first to build the skills necessary to complete a tail-whip. It'll be much easier to teach yourself slowly, practicing the steps leading up to a successful tail-whip.
- To do a bunny hop, stand on your scooter and bounce straight up, keeping your feet on the board at all times, and landing safely on two feet. Practice landing smoothly to get used to the feeling of landing on the wheels and controlling it. To land a tail-whip, you'll have to be able to do this in your sleep.
- Practice kicking the scooter out. Another good skill-building exercise is to practice stepping off the scooter and kicking it as you would in a tail-whip, except that you'll be standing on the ground.
- To do this, ride the scooter slowly and then step off the board with your right foot on the left side of the board, and kick the scooter around (counterclockwise) with your left foot. Practice stopping the board with your kicking foot to get a feel for how to control the spin with your wrists, and how to stop it safely.
- Practice jumping and whipping, but land on the ground first. The next step in slowly learning to tail-whip is to combine the two skills you've already practiced, but basically bail-out and land on the ground. It's harder than it seems like it might be to jump and whip at the same time, so don't force yourself to try to nail the landing in addition to learning those necessary skills.
- Scootering at a slow speed, do your bunny hop and kick the scooter around with both feet, holding onto the bars and controlling the spin with your wrists. Land flat on the ground with both feet and practice bringing the scooter down firmly in front of you, in the proper position for you to land on it.
- You might start trying to land with one foot, or at least stopping the scooter with one foot before you try a full-on landing.
- Try to land. It'll take a lot of practice to put it all together, but you can start by trying it standing still, doing a bunny hop and tail whipping around to try to land, but it's actually a little easier to do it in motion. Go at slow speed and don't be afraid to bail if it doesn't quite work out.
- Keep practicing. This is the foundation for lots of scooter tricks, so it's worth sticking it out and trying to learn it, no matter how long it takes. Don't give up!
Tips
- Practice makes perfect.
- You more than likely will take a few bails, but just keep training and don't give up.
- Make sure the ground you use is smooth enough to scooter on without hitting a rock or rough dirt.
Warnings
- Always wear a helmet, especially if you're just learning to scooter.
Related Articles
- Build Dirt Jumps
- Barspin on a BMX
- Do a Tailwhip on a Scooter
- Tailwhip a BMX Bike
- Do BMX Tricks
- Roll in on a BMX
