Jump Bikes

Before even attempting the ollie, a biker must become very familiar with his or her BMX bike. This is most easily accomplished by extended riding. It is important that the biker feel extremely comfortable shifting his weight while in motion. Weight must be distributed differently between the pedals and the handlebars during different stages of the ollie. Therefore, the biker must be comfortable redistributing his weight at different times.

It is also extremely important that the BMX biker is capable of riding while standing nearly straight up. BMX tricks cannot be accomplished with the biker’s weight on the seat. Before the ollie may be successfully attempted, the biker must spend a good deal of time riding while standing on his pedals. Once the biker is fully comfortable cruising, standing up, with his pedals in the middle position and some weight on his handle bars, he is ready to ollie.

The main trick to the ollie is proper weight distribution. Weight should be distributed evenly between the hands on the handlebars and the feet on the pedals while riding into an ollie. The pedals should be even with each other in the middle position. A light weight should be distributed between hands and feet.

To begin the ollie, one must pull up on the handle bars gently while leaning forward or “in to” the BMX bike. If one does not lean, the rear end of the bike is unable to follow the motion of the handle bars and the rear tire will not leave the ground. Once the bike has lifted off of the ground, the rider must lean back and push the rear tire back to earth. All of these motions must be accomplished very quickly and smoothly.

Once the rider has successfully lifted his bike off of the ground, he should practice slow, low ollies until he feels completely comfortable and manages to achieve lift-off on every attempt. Once this feat has been accomplished, it is time to increase the speed and the force with which he pulls up on the handle bars. This will necessarily increase the height of the ollie.