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Swivels are definitely a beginner level old-school trick. That's not to
say they are not important, but they are a lot less important than say a fire-hydrant.
But what makes them fun is that once you learn them you can really play around
with them and do some cool stuff with the trick. In the video you will see
that there are many variations to the trick, including the 360 body varial
swivel (360 swivel). It is actually easier to do the 360 than to balance
on the pegs as it is rolling in that position... believe it or not. We
will ONLY be covering the most basic form of the swivel here and you will have
to learn the rest on your own through practice.
Tricks to know beforehand are trackstands and
possibly endos - depending on how you ride in.
- Begin by rolling at a slow pace with your left foot on the front left peg,
and your right foot on the left rear peg. Your left foot should be on
the facing towards the back of the bike so that your heel is closer to the
pedals and your toes are pointed towards the back of the bike.
- Lift your left foot and stick it in the front tire doing a small endo (or
you may use your brakes). When coming down from the endo you can pull
down on the front wheel with your foot to get some additional speed to make
yourself roll backwards. Put your left foot back on the front left peg
immediately.
- As soon as the rear tire hits the ground turn the handlebars about 45
degrees to the right and let yourself coast in a counter-clockwise
circle. Your body should almost be completely sideways with your
stomach pointed straight at the seat.
- If you stay in this position you will eventually come to a stop, but it is
good to get the hang of being in this position and just coasting backwards
in a circle without falling on your face or falling backwards off the bike
so spend some time just learning this.
- Once you are comfortable with riding into the trick you will want to begin
the actual swivel, in which you use your body's weight to keep the bike
rolling in a circle.
- As you slow down some, turn the handlebars until they are turned to the
right about 80 degrees, do this pretty quickly so that the bike doesn't have
a chance to slow down.
- Let the front wheel roll under you some as if you were going to fall
forward. Get the handlebars away from your body.
- Instead of falling forward, lean back some and begin to twist the bars
back to a 45 degree angle while pulling the bike back into a more vertical
position. This process of turning the bars, dropping the bike down,
then straightening the bars and pulling the bike up will generate momentum
for you.
- NOTE: You do not ever hit your brakes while you are doing this
trick. Only to ride into the trick or to ride out of the trick...
though it's not necessary to use your brakes then either if you don't want
to.
- Continue the process over and over again until you feel you are ready to
ride out.
- To ride out, simply grab the back brakes, lift your left foot off the
front left peg, and place it on the left pedal and step down to ride away.
It should be noted that there are variations of this trick shown in the video
where the bike is laying completely on the ground with both pegs on the
ground. This version can ONLY be done with a freecoaster and is not in
fact a true 'swivel' because you don't maintain your speed, but continue to lose
speed during the trick. Either way, it is probably the most fun way to do
the swivel, and is a definite crowd favorite.
Also, this trick is difficult to explain, and even more difficult to grasp
the concept of at first. At first you will just fall a lot and you won't
be able to generate ANY momentum from the bike. After a month or two you
may find that you can kind of feel how it's supposed to happen. But,
eventually, this trick seems easy to do and won't be hard at all. So if
you find yourself confused by the video and the directions, give it a try for
yourself... then you will really be confused. ;o)
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