It Pays To Be A Pack Rat

A word to the wise: when you inevitably end up replacing parts on your bike, don’t throw anything away.  Keep all your old parts on hand, because you never know when you might need them again someday.  Even if you’ve decided that you definitely don’t like this stem or that brake, it’ll pay to keep it around.  Your new stem or brake might fail on you; and then if you don’t have a backup on hand, you’ll be stuck without anything at all to use in the meantime while you wait to get a permanent replacement.  Since many people buy flatland parts online, that could cost you several days of riding if you have to wait.

Aside from the component itself, you might also come to need the miscellaneous nuts, bolts, and small pieces that come with it.  If you have extra nuts, bolts, washers, springs, spacers, cable ends, or whatever else: keep them all!  If not, you may come to regret it.

Keeping all these random parts stored can get to be a hassle.  I used to stash them in an old shoe box; but that didn’t help to keep all those little parts organized, and the cardboard eventually came apart.  Then I wised up and got a fishing tackle box:

Now my tools and all those little parts can be kept in separate compartments, all in one sturdy plastic container with a little handle to boot.  Get one for yourself!  It’ll be the best few bucks you ever spent.

It's Gotta Be The Shoes

What shoes should you wear for riding flatland?

If you read this blog with any regularity, you already know that the answer will be something along the lines of whatever you prefer is fine.  

Or you can just skip them altogether.  Check out this vid of Toon dropping bombs while riding barefoot:

Having said all of that, the age-old question about which shoes to wear for riding flat is a valid one.  Different people will tell you different things, and none of them are necessarily wrong or right.  Rather than immediately point to a particular shoe, I'll share my experiences with picking shoes from when I first started to ride flatland until today, and hopefully that can help you to figure out what is best for you.

Changing up your bike without buying new parts

It’s generally best to leave your bike setup as consistent as possible, so that you can build your skills without the added challenge of adjusting to new parts, different angles, and so forth.

But if you’re absolutely stuck on a trick you’ve been trying to learn - or have reached a temporary plateau – then changing things up can sometimes break bad habits that have been holding you back, or can provide that little change that you need in order to keep progressing.

This doesn’t necessarily have to mean spending money on new parts; all you'll need are your tools. Here are just a few ways you can give your ride a different feel, without having to put out any cash:

How To Do A Fire Hydrant

Added 1/28/12: Fire hydrant how-to page.

Full-length flatland films for FREE viewing at DiversionTv.Com

If you don't already know about Diversion TV, do yourself a favor and check out their library of full-length flatland videos for FREE online viewing!  Below are just a few of our favorites:

Ground Rules Vol. 1: Instructional video by Matt Wilhelm, the guy you saw riding on "America's Got Talent"!

Same Thing Daily featuring Dane Beardsley, Jody Temple, Bobby Carter, Brian Chapman, Gabe Kadmiri, Simon O'Brien, Aaron Behnke, Leif Valin, Hamilton Abe, Shintaro Misawa, Alexis Desolneux, and Travis Collier.

Impulsivity: A video snapshot documenting the riding of flat legends Martti Kuoppa and Jorge Gomez from 2005-2008.

How To Make Your Own Stem Pad

Tired of banging your knees on the back of your stem?  Follow these instructions to make your own custom stem pad.  (NOTE: This design will work even if you have both front and back brakes and a gyro.) 

All you'll need is

1) a computer mouse pad;
2) a thin velcro strap;
3) a pair of scissors to cut the mouse pad; and
4) a sharp-tipped knife to cut small slots into the mouse pad material.

Watch the video below for assembly instructions:

The colors and/or graphics of your stem pad are limited only by what you can find on a computer mouse pad.

Enjoy!  Your knees will thank you.

If This Guy Can Learn To Fork Glide, So Can You

It's often said that the first step in any journey is the hardest and most intimidating. With that in mind, it's no wonder that so many beginners need a lot of help with the most basic, foundational of tricks: the fork glide.

But anyone who really wants to do so can learn this trick. And once you have this one down, it serves as a building block for learning more and more tricks; and from there, the sky's the limit.

To demonstrate that anyone can do this, we took a total non-BMXer, taught him how to fork glide, and documented the whole process from the beginning. Our friend Dan is a master fisherman, a father of two, and is a huge fan of Roxette and mixed martial arts. But he doesn't know jack about BMX or flatland, so he's as raw a beginner as you can find. Spoiler alert: on his 22nd try, we had him busting a full fork glide circle around a basketball half-court! He didn't ride into it or ride out, and he didn't necessarily have it totally mastered; but it became clear that he could learn this trick, and any others that he were to put his mind to.

And the same is true for you: whether it takes 22 tries or a million, you too can do this stuff if you really want to.

Check out Dan's learning process from the very beginning: