Tailwhip

I think it’s doable if you put the time and effort in, like everyday tho. Good luck

I have a 5 step process for learning tailwhips fast:

1. Buy a 16" complete.
2. Remove the seat and seat post.
3. ???
4. ???
5. Land and roll away

I'm almost fully convinced you have to either sell your soul or do some kind of witchcraft to be able to do them

Tailwhips have honestly been the hardest trick to learn by far. Once you have them they’re not that difficult, but they’re an absolute bitch to learn.

Took me about 6 years to get one with trying a lot.

I am convinced that knowing someone who can do them would help a ton, OR having videos of yourself trying em to watch would help figure them out, also youtube how to's. I learned em before that was a thing, hurt myself, and haven't done one in a long time.

New skatepark near me this spring I am getting them back.

There is a reason you see pros doing them and almost nobody else...lol

they are hard and a high-risk trick.

I don't think I have ever seen someone land a tailwhip in person. Barspins, yes but even those are pretty rare to see in person.

Bulletpup wrote:

There is a reason you see pros doing them and almost nobody else...lol

they are hard and a high-risk trick.

I don't think I have ever seen someone land a tailwhip in person. Barspins, yes but even those are pretty rare to see in person.

Well today was the first day actually trying it and i did it preatty well... The only thing missing is actually putting the feet on the crank.... I rotate it nice

Fatalize wrote:

Tailwhips have honestly been the hardest trick to learn by far. Once you have them they’re not that difficult, but they’re an absolute bitch to learn.

False! I have been practicing them all year and some days I can land maybe 10 in a row but the next day I won't even come close to 1, like I won't even be able to spin the bike around. Ridiculous trick tbh when I see people like Broc Raiford throwing them down double sets first try it really makes me appreciate how talented they are lol.

OP you can do it as long as you remember to push down hard as fuck and keep your elbows straight, and then just grow balls and commit 100% to the pedals once you can get the bike under you.

The problem with tailwhips is that they check the 3 difficulties of BMX tricks: physical, technical, and mental.

- Physical: you really have to put quite some effort for the kick and the arms motion. All the people I’ve seen that looked like half-ass trying them would never get even close. The faster you kick/move your arms, the easier they get.

- Technical: there’s a lot of things going on when doing a tailwhip: you need to kick with your back foot while lifting the front one, you have to make sure not to move your cranks while doing this, you need to use your arms properly to get the frame going, you need to catch the frame with your front foot, you need to get your back foot over the frame on the pedal, all the while your balance is shifting around during the rotation. All of that just for one trick.

- Mental: at least for me, it’s hard to convince yourself to aim at your pedals and not at your frame/the ground. They can hurt your foot/shins so it’s scary to do them fast (but it’s actually better if you want to land them). I’m currently trying to do them air in a quarter and it’s even worse, I’m scared the backwheel will hit the coping when kicking the frame.


You don’t get those 3 kinds of difficulties simultaneously on most tricks. For example, for barspins, they’re very mentally hard and not much else. It’s difficult to convince yourself to throw them, but they’re not really physically demanding and the motion/body position is fairly straightforward if you learn it properly.

dave lawrence wrote:

Took me about 6 years to get one with trying a lot.

I am convinced that knowing someone who can do them would help a ton, OR having videos of yourself trying em to watch would help figure them out, also youtube how to's. I learned em before that was a thing, hurt myself, and haven't done one in a long time.

New skatepark near me this spring I am getting them back.

^^^^^ having a video of yourself really helps figure out what exactly you're doing wrong

I have been riding for almost 5 years and the closest I have gotten is landing with one foot on the seat, the other on the ground. But I never actually dedicated a period of time towards learning tailwhips so I think it's possible but you would have to dedicate maybe even a whole year towards landing a tailwhip.
oh and good luck

Bulletpup wrote:

There is a reason you see pros doing them and almost nobody else...lol

they are hard and a high-risk trick.

I don't think I have ever seen someone land a tailwhip in person. Barspins, yes but even those are pretty rare to see in person.

That seems a bit too exaggerated though.

I personally know multiple people, including myself, that can tailwhip at least on a flyout, and some pretty much everywhere (including air whips - I don’t do them just yet but I’ve tried and I’m getting close). A few of those guys are good enough to be sponsored by some brands, but most are like me, just random riders not even close to being pro.

I live in a decent size city but nothing crazy huge, and I’m not in a country like Australia or the UK with amazing indoor/full of resi skateparks everywhere and lots of riders.

Flyout tailwhips are hard to learn but they’re really not that risky (assuming you wear pads obviously)
I think the main reason why few people, statistically, can do them, is because they don’t actually try them for long enough. The first few sessions of trying them, they’re gonna feel impossible, but if you keep trying you gradually feel that it’s perfectly doable.

So if you’re reading this (you included, Bulletpup! ): try them. Just try them 10 times every session on a flyout, and you’ll eventually feel like it’s within your reach. Took me 6 months that way, and another year to get them fairly clean.

Also to Bulletpup: ride more skatepark and less street, you’re always in the streets in your videos : . Learning tailwhips on street spots is pretty much impossible unless you have the talent of Garret Reynolds (and even so, I’m pretty sure he learned them in a skatepark). This is true for most tricks anyways (learning to grind rails in a skatepark is less gnarly but it’s way easier and safer to get the proper technique)

Bulletpup wrote:

There is a reason you see pros doing them and almost nobody else...lol

they are hard and a high-risk trick.

I don't think I have ever seen someone land a tailwhip in person. Barspins, yes but even those are pretty rare to see in person.

Fatalize wrote:

That seems a bit too exaggerated though.

I personally know multiple people, including myself, that can tailwhip at least on a flyout, and some pretty much everywhere (including air whips - I don’t do them just yet but I’ve tried and I’m getting close). A few of those guys are good enough to be sponsored by some brands, but most are like me, just random riders not even close to being pro.

I live in a decent size city but nothing crazy huge, and I’m not in a country like Australia or the UK with amazing indoor/full of resi skateparks everywhere and lots of riders.

Flyout tailwhips are hard to learn but they’re really not that risky (assuming you wear pads obviously)
I think the main reason why few people, statistically, can do them, is because they don’t actually try them for long enough. The first few sessions of trying them, they’re gonna feel impossible, but if you keep trying you gradually feel that it’s perfectly doable.

So if you’re reading this (you included, Bulletpup! ): try them. Just try them 10 times every session on a flyout, and you’ll eventually feel like it’s within your reach. Took me 6 months that way, and another year to get them fairly clean.

Also to Bulletpup: ride more skatepark and less street, you’re always in the streets in your videos : . Learning tailwhips on street spots is pretty much impossible unless you have the talent of Garret Reynolds (and even so, I’m pretty sure he learned them in a skatepark). This is true for most tricks anyways (learning to grind rails in a skatepark is less gnarly but it’s way easier and safer to get the proper technique)

You're correct, that could be a reason that I have never seen one performed in person. Lol

I rarely ride parks but when I do Im usually the only one on a bike. Not to say I havent seen some awesome riders but I do agree, If I rode parks more I would have a lot more exposure.

Everyone I know that can whip usually learns them flyout. I guess it’s easier. I’ve never done a fly out tailwhip but I’ve done pretty much every other variation.

Just pad up and let it fly. Srsly.
Knee pads + Shin pads + Helmet = Whips and circus tricks

well?

tailwhips arent bad at all. I once i learned them in like 2007 all the others ones i did just naturally worked out. i stopped riding in 2012 and picked bmx back up this year after a being ran over. i threw a tailwhip 2 days ago for the first time in 7/8 years. i landed it 2nd try. i forgot how easy it was.

If you ride right foot forward is it easier to do them by kicking it around counter clockwise? I never really would pay much attention when people do them.

quick16g wrote:

If you ride right foot forward is it easier to do them by kicking it around counter clockwise? I never really would pay much attention when people do them.

yes kick with your back foot. and go counter clockwise