10 EASY SCOOTER TRICKS FOR BEGINNERS

Have you tried scooting and seeing other riders showcasing some crazy tricks? It might be jawdropping, and it might encourage you to do more than just scooter riding 1.0. But for a beginner, its not going to be easy and starts out frustrating. But don’t worry because we’ve got your back. In this article, we’ll help you learn ten easy scooter tricks for beginners.

But before we get right into it, let’s consider some precautionary measures to keep you safe while riding your scooter.

Precautionary Measures- Tips on How to Ride a Scooter Safely

Scooting should not be taken lightly, because it does pose a high risk of injury no matter how confident you are. So always be mindful, especially of your surroundings. So before operating this one, whether you’re a beginner, intermediate learner or a pro, you must ensure self-safety first and consider the following tips and precautionary measures.

Ensure that your scooter is suitable to your age, height and weight and that it’s strong enough to sustain on tough stunts.
Always wear a proper and good quality helmet with face and ear shield to protect your head from injury as well as some high quality socks. It would be best if the size fits you well and it is made from standard material that absorbs any heavy shock.
At the preliminary stage of learning, it would be better to use sports shoe or sneakers.
Use leather types of hand gloves and clothes to protect your skin from direct contact or friction with anything in-case of any accident.
While scooting on the pipe or something like that better use jockstrap to save the male genital part.
Don’t forget wearing knee pads as well to protect your knees and elbows from permanent injury.
Practise in free and open space to reduce the risk of casualty.

Basic Riding Techniques – The Proper Stance in Scooting

Proper stance is essential for an efficient scooter ride. If your scooter is too small and you’re standing too close to the front wheel, kicking might cause you to pull up on your handlebar and lifting your front wheel. On the contrary, if you’re scooter is too big, and your handlebar is too high, it will cause knee strain. So, if you want to be a PRO and be able to perform extreme stunts, your scooter must suit your height, and you should master this basic riding technique.

Step 1: Place your dominant foot (either left or right) at the edge of the deck to form a 45-degree angle.

Step 2: Place the other foot in front of the dominant foot and parallel with the edge of the scooter. Both feet should touch each other.

Step 3: Hold the grip of the handlebar firmly with both of your hands.

Step 4: You can now kick off with the dominant foot which is placed in the backside to propel the scooter and to move forward. When it’s running, you can keep your feet back to the same position.

Now you know the basic stance in riding your scooter! Practise it over and over again to have good control over your scooter while running. Do not push off too hard at the start. It will be easier for you to learn the following tricks if you’ll go a little slower.

10 Easy Scooter Tricks 

1. The Bunny Hop – hopping with two hives

The bunny hop is one of the basic stunts that might want to learn. It is the technique of flying your scooter in the air with two hives, and it opens the door for learning more tricks such as whips and grinds. It would be best to practice this in a free area. Follow these steps to nail this trick. 

1: Kick the scooter to keep it moving, but it should move a little slower.

2: Then, slightly bend your knees and thrust up your scooter with your legs like you are jumping up.

3: Keep your feet in place on the deck.

4: Now, pull the handles up with your hands to lift the front wheel for about 3 meters off the ground.

5: Then, push up to let the back wheel lift the same height off the ground.

6: As you drop back to the ground, the front and back wheel must touch the ground at the same time. Keep kicking and moving forward with both feet placed on the scooter deck.

2. Fakie – rolling your scooter backwards

Another trick is the fakie that needs balance and control. Learning this simple trick allows you to explore and try out more stunt that requires riding backwards like into fakie and out of fakie such as 180 and nose whip. You can practise this stunt in a ramp or a pipe by rolling it up slightly and letting gravity do the rest. The following steps demonstrate how to do fakie properly:

1: Slowly roll toward a quarter pipe, ensuring that you stay in a straight line.

2: Then, roll back down the quarter pipe without losing your balance. 

3: Look at the front wheel of your scooter to help stabilise your balance.

4: Turn your front wheel for a bit when needed while keeping yourself in a straight line.

5: Finally, to execute fakie, roll backwards for as long as you can and do the half cab.

3. Manual – riding on the back wheel

Manual may seem easy enough in theory, but it takes some to get it right. If you lift too hard, your scooter will fly out from under you, but if you lift too little, you’ll have a hard time keeping your front wheel off the ground. Thus, you need to maintain balance to execute manual, and once you got it right, you’ll be able to do it faster and create some fun combos. Here’s a tip on how to do it:

1: While riding on your scooter, pull the handlebar up. 

2: Then keep the balance of the scooter on a single wheel.

4. Nose pivot – let’s get your scooter deck spinnin’ 

Nose pivot is a useful trick that you should master because it paves the way to transition into and out of fakie. To perform this trick, you need to spin your scooter deck using your front wheel without jumping. 

Follow the steps below to execute it properly:

1: Start kicking and move at a medium speed.

2: The, clasp the handlebars, and lift the front wheel and take a turn as much you need.

3: After turning, lift the back hive and revolve towards the proper direction.

5.180°  – jumping and spinning to face the opposite direction

After mastering the bunny hop and nose pivot down, you can now try out the 180 jumps. Combine some decent air from a leap and twist your scooter around to face the opposite direction. Add some power behind the jump and loosen up for the turn before bending your knees on impact. Then, throw in a fakie into a nose pivot, and you’re done with the first combo!

1: Practice hopping high and spinning 90 degrees first to prepare yourself for a more challenging one.

2: If you’re up for the next stage, do a hop and spin yourself around 180° using your shoulder and head.

3: You need to jump high enough to regain balance before landing in a fakie.

4: Keep you back wheel high at all times to avoid catching on the floor and keep your rotation.

5: Execute a fakie in landing and do a half-cab or revert out.

6. Air – a 180 air turn above the coping

This stunt is a 180 air turn above the coping commonly performed on a quarter pipe or half pipe. It is essential in learning other tricks but getting it right needs time and more practice. As you get used to landing in air, you can jump higher and start creating more combos. The key in nailing this trick is to let your head lead your body and scooter by turning and facing the spot you desire to land. Here’s how to perform this trick in mid-air:

1: Speed up for the quarter pipe and stay loose while approaching.

2: Then, let your front wheel bonk off of the coping to keep you from hanging up on the coping.

3: While in mid-air, spin for about 180 degrees by turning your head and facing the spot where you are going to land. 

4: Your goal is to land under the coping for you to be able to pump the ramp and keep your speed.

5: If you keep on hanging up, it means that you haven’t pulled out of the transition enough.

6: But if you’re landing flat at the bottom, then you have pulled out of the transition too much.

7: Make sure that you bend your knees while landing and maintain your speed.

7. One hander/no hander – taking your hands off the bars

Once you get used to playing with air, you can now test yourself by releasing one or both of your hands from the handlebars. It can be challenging, and you might get shaky at first, but it will help you gain full confidence and add a sweet move to your combo list. Here’s how to do the one-hander:

1: Jump or do a bunny hop and fly in the air as long as you can to do this stunt.

2: Then, take one of your hands(the non-dominant one) off the handlebar. 

3: Stretch your released arm to be parallel to the ground and ensure that the other hand holds a firm grip on the handlebar. 

4: Watch your hand as you grab the handlebar grip before landing.

5: Ensure that you level yourself out in mid-air, and you have a secure grip. 

6: Now land and roll away smoothly. Repeat it over and over again.

8. No footer – taking both feet off the deck

This trick requires timing as you have to jump and take off your feet from the deck. You can learn this either on a flat or a quarter pipe. There’s a variation to no footer in which you can push yourself on a flat without jumping, but it requires arm strength and balance. Here are steps in executing a no footer:

1: Jump at a height that is comfortable for you without losing balance.

2: Take both feet off the deck simultaneously and stretch it out as much as you can.

3: Watch your deck as you bring your feet back into it.

4: Get your feet back on the deck’s position while keeping your balance for a smooth landing.

9.Bar spin – Spinning your handlebars 360

This trick also needs a little help from the air. It would help if you practised spinning your bars in a 180 and throw it from your dominant hand to the other side. If you can do this in the air, then, you can try a 360 spin by throwing your handlebars around until you can hold a grip of it again using your throwing hand. Here’s some help to do it:

1: Try practising the motion of the trick on the floor or with your scooter’s front wheel hanging on a curb.

2: Simply pass your bars around and don’t let go of it completely.

3: Hop or jump as much as you can and maintain your balance.

4: Pass your handlebar around with your throwing hand and keep it underneath you.

5: Let go of the bars at about 1/4 of the way around.

6: Allow the bars to spin freely while getting your catching hand ready, and your arms crossed over.

7:  Securely hold a grip on the handlebar with your catching hand when the bars are about 3/4 of the way around.

8: Get both hands back on the grip and keep your balance for a smooth landing.

10.Tailwhip

A good tail whip requires arm movement and some fancy footwork too. You may need to get enough air before giving the tail whip a shot, and it would be a good idea to start by practising on a flat surface or a quarter pipe. Then, you can move on to something more advanced once you’ve mastered this trick. Your back foot is going to kick your deck to get things moving, and then your arms take over to swing it 360 back to your starting stance.

1: Do a bunny hop as high as you can so that you can have enough time to do this trick.

2: Keep the front foot on your deck and kick it with the toe of your back foot while holding the handlebar tightly with your hands. 

3: Now, use your forearms and wrist to rotate the scooter 

4: Keep the scooter close and reachable to you.

5: Look as the deck come round and reach out your back foot to catch it.

6: Get the deck back underneath you.

7: Keep your balance and roll away.

So, those are the top 10 easy tricks that you can try as a beginner. You don’t have to be in a rush in learning those stunts. Take it easy and always keep your presence of mind while applying it. Get help and advice from an expert rider if necessary and practice with full concentration and in a safe area. Once you’ve mastered these tricks, you can now proceed to the next level and execute different stunt combos either in a flat or a pipe.