You’ve got a busting new kick scooter and can’t wait to glide and spin and turn on your awesome ride. The problem is, you are a beginner and can hardly lift your scooter without falling off. Shameless plug: view here if you want to read about our buyer's guide on kick scooters 🙂
There is no need to worry because all you have to do is practice and follow these few trick tutorials:
No. 1: Bunny Hop
For beginners, the bunny hop is the most basic trick you would want to learn. It is because, from among the kick scooter magics, this will pave the way for more complex and advanced forms of tricks. It also helps develop balance and control over your ride.
This trick is quite easy like a bunny hopping, hence the name. It does not even require ramps or going to the park. But first, you need to find a wide and flat ground, an empty parking lot for example. Having a clean and expansive play area is important especially for new riders for your and the other’s safety.
What you need to do is:
- Kick the scooter to gain a good speed. Make sure that you have the right amount of speed which you can control and comfortable with. There is no need to go very fast.
- Hold the handlebars properly and pull it up.
- While pulling up, you should also be simultaneously ready your knees for jumping and then do the hop.
Here is a video from ScooterCuzins to help you out.
No. 2: Half Cab
Once you’ve mastered the bunny hopping trick, you can level up your tricks with a 180 half cab. It is turning your scooter 180 degrees through hopping.
The trick originated from skateboarding introduced by Steve Caballero, a professional skater that started his career as young as 12 years old in 1976. The trick, however, has been adopted in the kick scooter arena.
Some riders like to do a half cab while you are riding on a fakie, another trick you’ll learn as you go along.
But, an easier way to this trick is:
- Push your scooter to a straight direction and prepare for a hop.
- Hop as high as you can (a higher bunny hop) while turning your body 180 degrees to change the direction.
- You should land going to a different direction from step 1.
It is a bunny hop with a turn. This trick will require you to jump higher than the bunny hop to give you more room to move your body.
Take a look at EmcHD’s simple tutorial.
No. 3: The Barspin
Aside from doing tricks with your scooter deck, you can also play with your handlebars. A barspin is one way to start experimenting with handlebar tricks. Like the bunny hop, this trick is also a standard trick that can be used for advanced maneuvers and combinations.
When doing the barspin, you need to identify which way it should spin, clockwise or counterclockwise. It is dependent on which hand you are most comfortable with. Lefties do not have to feel left out because they can do this trick as much as the right-handed riders can. You can practice spinning your handlebars without the jumping part to familiarize yourself.
You need to:
- Gather some speed and glide with your scooter.
- Jump as high as you can.
- While in mid-air, throw the handlebar using you throwing hand and let it spin 360 degrees. You can complete the rotation by grabbing the thrown handlebar back with the throwing arm. Let your other hand assist the spin.
The trick can be done on flat surfaces, or you can go and try riding with ramps in the skatepark.
Here is how you can do it.
No. 4: Heelwhip
The heelwhip is similar to the half cab, where you do the stint using the scooter deck. However, unlike the half cab, you need to turn the deck 360 degrees while your body stays in place just waiting for the deck to complete the turn before you hop on it again.
Here is the step on how you can do it:
- You can glide to create a momentum before you jump or you can immediately jump and prepare for the next step.
- While you are on air, kick the rear end of the scooter using your heel. Be sure that the kick is powerful enough for the deck to create a 360-degree turn.
- While the deck is making the spin, grab the handlebar tightly to keep it in place and suspend your body on the same spot from when you kicked the deck.
- Once the deck has made the turn hop on the deck as you descent downwards landing on both feet on the deck.
This maneuver can easily be done even flat areas. But, if you’re feeling a little adventurous, you can always go for ramps. One thing that you need to be sure of is that you have now mastered control and flying.
See video here for the tutorial.
No. 5: Fakie
Adding up to your list of tricks, the fakie is a cool maneuver that does not need complicated twists and turns. It is a combination of the techniques you have learned from the bunny hop, heel whip and half cab.
You can begin with slow gliding then:
- Hop from the deck and use one leg to push the deck 180 degrees.
- Once the deck is position 180 degrees with the front wheel facing against you hop on the front part of the deck with your two feet and continue gliding.
- You can reposition yourself back to the standard position by doing the same thing process.
Let Jon Reyes show you how it’s done.
If you are playing with an e-electric scooters you may like to check with experts as to whether such tricks can be done without damaging it. We are not sure the list reviewed by AuthorityAdviser team is suitable.