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What's it called when you pull a wheelie and hold it while you ride around on just the back wheel? I learned the term as a kid and I think it started with "c", but I could be wrong or the term could be wrong. It's been bugging me ever since I found this site and went through the glossary and Wikipedia's.

Edit: I'm specifically looking for something to distinguish riding on the back wheel from stopping on it (a manual). Both involve pulling up the front wheel (a wheelie). shufler's answer captures this distinction, so I'm just looking for other words for it at this point.

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Matthew Read
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    We always just called it a "wheelie". – Daniel R Hicks Nov 30 '11 at 01:38
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    As a kid in Australia, we called it a "mono" – asgeo1 Nov 30 '11 at 09:48
  • wheelie is simply a peddling manual. you can't just pull up your front tire and call it a wheelie, there has to be some sort of balance point involved. – dotjoe Nov 30 '11 at 20:57
  • @dotjoe Can and do :P that's how I learned the word and how the people around me use it. – Matthew Read Nov 30 '11 at 21:23
  • In Spain it s called "caballito" as in little horse. That matches your "c" constraint, but while it is not expressely expressed I assume you refer to an English word :) – gaurwraith Sep 23 '16 at 14:33
  • A manual is not stopping with the front wheel in the air. A manual is coasting with the front wheel in the air. Incidentally, that's a term that's not unique to cycling. A manual on a skateboard is the basically the same thing, front wheels off the ground and not touching with the tail. . – jimchristie Sep 23 '16 at 17:55

2 Answers2

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Balancing on your back wheel (with the front wheel in the air) while pedaling is called a catwalk.

(Sorry about the wikihow link, it was the only source I found other than youtube)

Edit: It seems the wikihow link is dead. As far as I can tell a manual is leaning back and raising the tire but not pedaling. I found a couple of other links that make reference to it being called a catwalk:

Basic Bike tricks and Skills, user Wesley666 comments:

Not a Wheelie. Its a Cat Walk. A Wheelie you stay seated and ride on your back tire. If I am correct you actually stand up and pedal up and keep pedaling, which is a Cat Walk.

Learning how to catwalk wheelie -- this video is specific to a dirt bike.

It's very possible that catwalk is a regional term.

shufler
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  • I don't think that's the word I was thinking of, but +1 for matching all the info I had. I'll accept this if I don't get the "right" word. – Matthew Read Nov 29 '11 at 23:03
  • That's the word we used growing up, probably a local thing. I never understood why though now that I think about it looks sort of like a cat trying to walk on its hind legs. – shufler Nov 29 '11 at 23:07
  • so catwalk is a sitting down wheelie? – dotjoe Nov 30 '11 at 20:54
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    @shufler Can you possibly provide a source that does not require a login? Even after registering on that site, the link didn't take me there. – andy256 Sep 24 '16 at 11:08
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    wikihow now requires a login to view, so I assume they've also pulled the open-source part from their copytheft terms. Another reason to make answers stand-alone and links only for further explanation. – Móż Sep 26 '16 at 00:13
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    I see @shufler hasn't visited [bicycles.se] for a while, but he's active on other SE sites, from time to time. Since this is the accepted answer it would be helpful if it were updated. – andy256 Sep 26 '16 at 02:10
  • Yeah, sorry I don't have any other links. It worked at the time FIVE YEARS ago. :) – shufler Sep 28 '16 at 03:36
  • Feel free to un-accept if it's no longer valid. I don't have another source but growing up we called it a catwalk. – shufler Sep 28 '16 at 03:37
  • I'd forgotten this term. Used to use it all the time when I was a kid (not that I could ever do one). –  Sep 28 '16 at 20:37
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Pulling a wheelie and holding it - isn't that just a wheelie? Unless you have stopped pedaling, and then it becomes a 'manual' or 'manny'.

Manual:

Wheelie:

Criggie
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cmannett85
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  • Nope, I'm specifically looking for something to distinguish riding on the back wheel from merely pulling up the front wheel (wheelie) and stopping on it (manual). shufler's answer captures this distinction, so I'm just looking for other words for it at this point. I've added this clarification to the question. – Matthew Read Nov 30 '11 at 17:22
  • Err.. I can't tell if we are arguing over the same thing here. – cmannett85 Nov 30 '11 at 18:03
  • Manual: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sME1mhAnrf8&feature=related – cmannett85 Nov 30 '11 at 18:03
  • Wheelie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhvuEa9CjBM – cmannett85 Nov 30 '11 at 18:04
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    @MatthewRead cmannet is right - there are just different words. However, you are not being very clear, because you are saying 'stopping' which implies no movement - is the bike moving, or is it not? Peddling with the front tire in the air is a wheelie, no peddling with the front tire in the air is a manual. – cutrightjm Dec 28 '12 at 00:14