I just started to learn to ride a bc wheel (nimbus from udc) and after about an hour and one very sore wrist from an awkward fall i managed to roll about 4metres although it was on a slope.
Whats the best way to learn to ride a bc? i just been jumpin on it and hoping for the best so far. any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Also i keep smashing my foot on the chunky nut holding my plates on the wheel any advice for this do i need to change the position of my feet? and my feet keep slipping off to do people add spikes to their bc wheels?
well i dont ride BC, but i know people dont have pinned BC plates. they put that frictiony skateboard deck tape on the plates. and how about some ankle-bite-protectors?
I learned by rolling on grass and jumping on, Then when I got my confidence up I want to pavement. This worked pretty well, but now I use the skate mount, which is much easier for me. Watch some BC videos too, Maybe by Bryan Stevens, Evan Byrne, or Spencer (I don’t know your last name.)that might help.
Also, if you haven’t already, you should look at some leg protection because otherwise the wheel rubbing will become painful. Soccer shinpads -what i use -are good (turn them to protect the inside of your leg).
That’s how I’m learning I bought a Nimbus BC towards the end of last year, but I haven’t had a chance to practice it for ages!
I think the nut is supposed to be useful when you’re hopping, but I know what you mean: it really sticks out. It also tends to poke my foot, painfully
Buy some grip tape from a skate shop, cut it to size, stick it on (you’ll probably want to make sure the plates are reasonably clean and dry so the glue can work), trim the edges. This works well and looks good.
Griptape to stop the slippage off the plates is a very good idea. You can get it at nearly ANY skateboard shop in many colours (CANADIAN SPELLING!!!)
The least padding you should wear is helmet, gloves and shinpads. Helmet is important because that one rare fall on your head will be a really bad one without a helmet. Gloves because falling on your hands is NOT fun cause you will get road rash. Do it once and you will never not wear gloves again. Shinpads are to stop you from ‘wheelburning’ your leg. This hurts a lot. Ive done it on my uni two weeks ago and I can still see some redness where it was.
Skatemount is only way I have tried to get on a BC, with little success in little time (hey, in 15 min I could get on and then fall off). The skate mount is when you put one foot on one plate with little pressure and then push with the other foot then get both feet on, just like on a skateboard.
i just got a bedford and im learning by pushing off of my garage and coasting down my gently sloped driveway, but the only way I can get on is by holding on to the wall. Ive kind of played with a skate mount but I think im missing part of the technique. For a skatemount, do you just hop on one foot to build speed or is there some weight on the bc while you are pushing?
Can you describe how much? I played with it for a while, and with just enough weight to keep the wheel strieght I did not get up very much speed. If I put much more wieght on the tire grabs my leg and I trip or it wobbles a ton.
Yeah, thats what I saw in Spencers vids too. I was trying to do it with the bc in a more upright position, which could be a problem. It seems like he builds some pretty good speed doing it though, so I’m guessing he must have some weight on the bc… Oh well, maybe Ill go ride after soccer today and figure it out.
I put a little weight on it, but hold it so it’s tilted outwards (toward the pushing foot) so it doesn’t rub. I somtimes have it as much as a 45 degree angle or so…
Yeah, I am the same as Forrest. I used to do it straight up and down and only one push but it doesn’t work as well. I put some weight on the bc and tilting it allows that because if it is straight up and down and you put weight on one side it will go right into your leg. Think about it as just hopping on one foot really fast then when you get more comfortable then it tends to work better;)
thanks guys, i tried it with more tilt and just a bit of weight and i could get about 1 out of 3 skate mounts and go anywhere from 0-30 feet… im definatly pretty stoked. Im using neoprene knee braces over my calves to help with rubbing. They work awesome.
thanks again for the help guys
What some people don’t realize is wraps arn’t just to keep your leg from being burned from the tire, but for intentional rubbing/braking on the wheel. After time, you dont even ride down the street without rubbing, You learn how to control your ballance, speed, turns ect with rubbing.
