Untitled

Heelclicker

Johnny Jones tip:
Get over the front of the bike by jumping forward off the ramp. Don't focus on clicking from your seat, but focus on clicking from your handlebars.

When working up to a heelclicker, the motion you will first make with your legs is a no footer. As the bike leaves the face of the jump, make sure your bike is level and do a no footer, only this time, instead of pushing your knees out with your legs, try to bring them up to your shoulders (as far as you can) Instead of kicking your legs out as you would with a no footer, you are going to kick, or lift, them up. Try aiming your legs so that the bottoms of your boots point to the front of your bike. While working on bringin your knees up towards your shoulders, try to get your feet lifted above your arms. At the same time, push your body up and push back a little with your forarms, moving your body towards the front of the bike with your arms. Bringing your body up and above the bars is usually required although some riders with long legs can simply wrap their feet around their arms and bars. Keep practicing this motion until your legs are not only accustomed to this position, but stretched as well. When you are sure you can do this fast enough with time to spare to get back on the bike for the landing, try bringing your feet together once they are above your arms. It will take many practice runs until you are comfortable completely closing your legs. Don't forget that your legs can't make a "strait shot" back to the footpegs. You have to open them up around your arms and then bring them down. This trick is one of the most primitive moves in FMX, but it can be linked into other tricks (such as another heelclicker!) in order to make the most of your airtime.

Step by Step

Allright. As I approach the ramp and am on it, I really am not concentrating on anything special because this is a simple trick. I am just focusing on hitting the jump properly. Some people may have to pop a little more than others due to not being as flexible, so that may be something to work on and be thinking about right as you're on the ramp.

It looks like I'm popping a little here, and I'm really not. I'm just straitening out my legs fully as I come off the ramp - very similar to a popping motion but this isn't because it's much slower and relaxed. I'm just getting myself tall and stretched out so I'll have the leg length to get around my arms.

As I leave the ramp, I lift my legs up. I focus on my knees making a movement towards my head/shoulders, and I keep my arms tense and strait as I do this. I will also focus on letting my hip joints flex alot to allow this. Sometimes you'll want to bend your torso to get your legs up, but the main flex point is your legs attach to your body at the hips, and allowing your legs to rotate in your hips as you lift them up and out slightly.

As I bring up my legs (being led with my knees), I will have to open my legs slightly. I point my toes outward to aid this. I'm keeping my arms taught here which forces my upper body and butt off the seat and forward.

I keep bringing my legs up and my hips flex to allow for this. My arms are even a little more strait here to give me the most room I can get. My legs are bent slightly at the knees. Some may have to keep their knees bent more than others to keep their legs smaller in order to move them around more easily.

You can really see here the flexing of my hip muscles and how rotated my hips will get. It's as if I am doing some flexibility training. Don't let this intimidate you - everybody's body flexes in different ways, and most are capable of this trick. Right here my legs are as far up as I'll take them and now they will begin to close in front of my head to click.

Once my legs are high enough to where I know they can get around my shoulders, I close them in front of my head and "click" them. If I have time, I can hold them here briefly, or open up and click again.

To open up I just reverse the last motion. Nothing special, I'm just leading my legs with my feet. I'm focusing on opening my feet up and getting them about even or a little wider than my shoulders.

As I get them all the way upen, I can start to relax them and allow them to drop. Depending on how the jump is going, I may have to force them down quicker. I may allow my arms to relax a hair here, but not much. They must remain fairly strait untill my legs are completely past them. You can also see how my knees stay bent for now, as my hips are the main factor in the rotating of my legs and getting them down.

Now that my legs are passing my arms, they begin to flex as my upper body will get back into position to land. I'm focusing on my landing here, and my feet are still leading my lower body back to position, but my arms/shoulders are in control of this trick the whole time. Remember, you're not just clicking around your arms, but clicking around your handlebars, and your arms/shoulders control how much room you have to do that.

I allowed my hips to guide my legs back, and they're almost there. You can see how my arms are bent slightly, and that's because I am using my shoulders to get my torso where I want it to be for landing. I am exactly where I want to be now.

Depending on how this all goes, my butt may even want to tap the seat as I am unclicking and getting back to position. That's fine as long as you maintain control of where your body is at with your arms/shoulders. Some may position themselves in the wrong spot and be nose-high here, and then a tapping of the rear brake is in order. This trick does normally want you to be over the front a little, much like most bar tricks. Anyhow, right now I'm back on the bike and everything is set up how I want it, so I just await touchdown.

Allright. As I approach the ramp and am on it, I really am not concentrating on anything special because this is a simple trick. I am just focusing on hitting the jump properly. Some people may have to pop a little more than others due to not being as flexible, so that may be something to work on and be thinking about right as you're on the ramp.	It looks like I'm popping a little here, and I'm really not. I'm just straitening out my legs fully as I come off the ramp - very similar to a popping motion but this isn't because it's much slower and relaxed. I'm just getting myself tall and stretched out so I'll have the leg length to get around my arms.	As I leave the ramp, I lift my legs up. I focus on my knees making a movement towards my head/shoulders, and I keep my arms tense and strait as I do this. I will also focus on letting my hip joints flex alot to allow this. Sometimes you'll want to bend your torso to get your legs up, but the main flex point is your legs attach to your body at the hips, and allowing your legs to rotate in your hips as you lift them up and out slightly.
As I bring up my legs (being led with my knees), I will have to open my legs slightly. I point my toes outward to aid this. I'm keeping my arms taught here which forces my upper body and butt off the seat and forward.	I keep bringing my legs up and my hips flex to allow for this. My arms are even a little more strait here to give me the most room I can get. My legs are bent slightly at the knees. Some may have to keep their knees bent more than others to keep their legs smaller in order to move them around more easily.	You can really see here the flexing of my hip muscles and how rotated my hips will get. It's as if I am doing some flexibility training. Don't let this intimidate you - everybody's body flexes in different ways, and most are capable of this trick. Right here my legs are as far up as I'll take them and now they will begin to close in front of my head to click.
Once my legs are high enough to where I know they can get around my shoulders, I close them in front of my head and "click" them. If I have time, I can hold them here briefly, or open up and click again.	To open up I just reverse the last motion. Nothing special, I'm just leading my legs with my feet. I'm focusing on opening my feet up and getting them about even or a little wider than my shoulders.	As I get them all the way upen, I can start to relax them and allow them to drop. Depending on how the jump is going, I may have to force them down quicker. I may allow my arms to relax a hair here, but not much. They must remain fairly strait untill my legs are completely past them. You can also see how my knees stay bent for now, as my hips are the main factor in the rotating of my legs and getting them down.
Now that my legs are passing my arms, they begin to flex as my upper body will get back into position to land. I'm focusing on my landing here, and my feet are still leading my lower body back to position, but my arms/shoulders are in control of this trick the whole time. Remember, you're not just clicking around your arms, but clicking around your handlebars, and your arms/shoulders control how much room you have to do that.	I allowed my hips to guide my legs back, and they're almost there. You can see how my arms are bent slightly, and that's because I am using my shoulders to get my torso where I want it to be for landing. I am exactly where I want to be now.	Depending on how this all goes, my butt may even want to tap the seat as I am unclicking and getting back to position. That's fine as long as you maintain control of where your body is at with your arms/shoulders. Some may position themselves in the wrong spot and be nose-high here, and then a tapping of the rear brake is in order. This trick does normally want you to be over the front a little, much like most bar tricks. Anyhow, right now I'm back on the bike and everything is set up how I want it, so I just await touchdown.