If you’re looking to improve your bike control skills, get around tight corners on the trail or turn around on the spot, Endo turns are a great skill to master.
Being a relatively advanced skill, there are a few things you’ll want to be comfortable doing on your bike before you start learning Endo turns. First up, you’ll want to be able to lift your back wheel off the ground without the use of your front brake, this should come naturally if you can already bunnyhop. If this is something you might need to work on, head over to my video on how to bunnyhop.
The most important skill you’ll want to be comfortable doing is the endo. To perform an endo, pre-load into your bike then rapidly straighten your legs, making sure to point your toes down and use your pedals to scoop the back wheel off the ground. Once your back wheel starts lifting, you’ll want to engage your front brake. I find the easiest way to balance is by looking straight ahead and moving my knees to re-distribute my weight. At this stage it can be quite easy to go over the handlebars, so be prepared to release the front brake to quickly drop the back wheel.
If you’re looking to learn 180 endo turns you’ll want to be comfortable riding fakie.
Now that you’re ready to try your first endo turn, you’ll want to make sure that your chain is roughly in the middle of your cassette, this will help to stop your chain from falling off while riding backwards out from the trick.
To initiate an endo turn, you’ll need to carve into it, preloading into the bike at the same time. Once your front wheel hits around 45 degrees, grab your front brake and pop your back wheel off the ground by quickly straightening your legs. Make sure you point your toes downwards to keep a grip on your pedals. Now that your back wheel is off the ground you’ll want to focus on pivoting the bike around the front wheel. I find the easiest way to rotate is to turn your head towards your inside shoulder, spotting your landing, while driving the back of the bike around with your hips. You’ll want to release your font brake as soon as your back wheel touches the ground and begin pedalling backwards to fakie out the trick.
Endo turns can be a frustrating trick to learn as they require precise timing and a decent amount of commitment. If you’re having issues initiating the spin, practice the timing of your carve, preload and pop. Your back wheel should feel weightless if you’ve done this correctly. Timing your braking is critical, you should be aiming to grab the front brake just as your rear wheel leaves the ground. The final, but most important thing to remember is that you need to be turning your head to spot your landing position, if you don’t do this your bike won’t continue to rotate.
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Filmed in 4K on a Gopro Hero 7 and Fujifilm XT-2
Trail Atlas is a video index of Mountain Bike trails based in Wellington, New Zealand. Discover new trails, research lines and gauge difficulty in 4K quality.
Timecodes
0:00 - 0:13 - Intro
0:13 - 0:41 - Prerequisite Skills, Rear-wheel Lift
0:41 - 1:19 - Prerequisite Skills, Endo
1:19 - 1:27 - Learning the Endo Turn
1:27 - 1:34 - What Gear to be in
1:34 - 1:50 - Carve and Preload
1:50 - 1:57 - Point Toes Down
1:57 - 2:15 - How to Pivot the Bike Around
2:15 - 2:50 - Common Problems
2:50 - 3:00 - Outro