KARL CRUISER

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The Karl Cruiser is one of those tricks that you either pick up in a week... or you pick up in a year- if you are lucky.  This trick is not very special on it's own.  In the late 80's it was cool if you could do a Karl Cruiser.  Now it is important to do Karl Cruisers with the bars backwards to hitchhikers.  Or to hit a Steamroller to Karl Cruiser to E-Squeak...  There are a LOT of tricks that are possible out of them and into them so this is a trick to get creative with.

It helps to know how to do hang-5's, and to be comfortable with half-lashes before attempting this trick- but it DOES manage to stand on it's own as a unique trick so go ahead and try it!

But first you gotta learn it...

• Begin by rolling at a slow to medium pace.  Your should be on the left side of the bike with your left foot on the front left peg and your right foot on the left rear peg.  You hands should rest normally on the handlebars.

• As with the Hang-5 bring your hips and shoulders back and then bring them forward quickly.

• As soon as your hips reach the handlebars stop moving your body forward....  this is the KEY to the trick- what you want to do is PIVOT at your hips.  So that your left foot comes backwards and your right foot comes off the rear peg.  This will begin to raise the rear wheel off the ground.

• At the same time push slightly forward with your LEFT hand on the left grip.  Take your right hand off the right grip and reach for the seat.

• Grab either the nose of the seat or the back of the seat when the bike comes up.

• When you have the seat and are rolling on just the front wheel try to lock your stance with your left arm slightly bent and your right foot out for balance with your left foot on the front left peg.

• To ride out let the back wheel fall to the ground...  as SOON as it begins to fall bring your right leg forward and put your right foot on top of your top tube of your bike.

• Step to the pedals and ride away!

Okay- so you have been trying to get the back end of the bike up for two weeks and it still doesn't budge...  Can you do half-lashes or hang-5's?  Start there...  THEN work on this trick.  This trick sits near the bottom of the list because it can be VERY tricky to learn.  Don't get itrked by it-  just go out and PLAN on it taking 3 months to learn how to do fairly consistently-  But mostly- have fun.

If you have a question about this trick please feel free to e-mail it in...