Dirt Bike Freestyle Tricks

Freestyle dirt biking, better known as motocross, is one of the fastest growing extreme sports in the world. Each year, new tricks are experimented and displayed in competitions. The sport is filled with innovators, such as Travis Pastrana, who challenge each other to create new tricks.

  1. The Backflip

    • The backflip is one of the most popular tricks in freestyle. The single backflip was first attempted by Carey Hart in 2000. Since then, over 20 variations of the backflip have been created and successfully executed, such as the Backflip Cliffhanger and the Backflip Lazyboy. In 2006, Pastrana landed the first double backflip ever at the X-Games. This type of trick was arguably the turning point of the sport; it started a revolution of creating bigger and more daring tricks.

    The Whip

    • The whip is one of the more traditional tricks and is used as more of a warm-up trick. A rider, once launched off of the ramp, throws the dirt bike out to either side and then brings it back to the original position. The further sideways a rider can throw his bike, the more daring it makes the trick. Today, there are competitions to see who is able to execute the biggest whip.

    The Superman

    • The Superman is another traditional trick that has been used with different variations, such as with a backflip; a Superman Indian Air, where the rider throws his legs out and crosses them at the same time; and the Superman Seat Grab, where instead of the rider extending his legs out while holding the handle bars he temporarily lets go of the bike to transfer the grip to the seat. The success of this trick is based on two things: the extension of the legs and the time the rider holds the extension.

    The 360

    • The 360, although a fairly old trick in BMX, snowboarding, skateboarding and other extreme sports, is fairly new to dirt bike freestyle. Because the bikes are much heavier, it takes more effort to spin around while in midair. The 360 spin is also known as the Mulisha Twist and was first landed by Brian Deegan at the 2003 X-Games Freestyle MotoX competition. The reason for the name is because of Deegan's dirt bike posse called the Metal Mulisha.

    The Heel Clicker

    • The Heel Clicker is when a rider takes his legs and throws them over the handle bars while maintaining his grip with his hands. He extends his legs further enough so that he is able to tap his heels together. This is another trick that has been popularly used as a backflip variation.