Here we have listed some of the coolest BMX Air Tricks on the planet. These tricks are primarily geared for Dirt and Vert riding. Perfect for BMX-ers like yourself looking to pointers on what to do while you’re in the air. Below are descriptions, how to’s, and pictures from us to all of you of our favorite tricks. Rock on fellow BMX bad-asses!

Backflip
This is an expert trick, so make sure you’re wearing a helmet and proceed with caution. Start by getting lots of speed. When you hit the jump, pull hard on the handlebars lifting up and then arching your back and shifting your center of gravity with your head and waist. While you’re upside down, it takes a leap of faith to keep pulling hard and shifting your weight to complete the flip. But once your vision comes back into line use your vision to fixate on your landing and eyeball the spot where you want to land. Land your front wheel down first and then your back wheel will follow it down. Make sure to keep your knees bent. Its a good idea to get some practice with the backflip on a trampoline or off a diving board into a pool or on skis landing in powder before trying this on a bike. There is a definite feel and ‘comfort’ level with the backflip that can be gained before doing it on a bike on a hard surface. This is a very dangerous trick, so proceed with extreme caution and make sure to use protective gear.

Bar Turn
During any kind of air (ramp, bunnyhop, jump, etc), you will turn your handlebars to the right and left, 90 degrees one way, and then 90 degrees the other way, before you land. The ‘flapping’ wheel resembles the ‘flapping’ of butterfly wings, which is where the name comes from. This can also be called a Butterfly.

Can-Can
In mid-air, remove one foot off the pedal and swing the leg over to the other side of the bike and kick it out on that other side of the bike. So one foot on the pedal on its side and the other foot kicking out over the side of the bike where the foot is on the pedal. Then move the leg back over to its original side before landing. This can be done with either leg.

Candybar
In mid-air, take either foot and extend it over your handlebars so that it is pointing in the direction you are traveling. (It should be in between your arms, which are on the grips.) Bring your leg back to its pedal and land.

Cliff Hanger
In mid-air, remove your feet from the pedals and hook them underneath the handlebars. Lift your hands up in the air so it looks like you’re hanging on something above. Hold this for a few seconds and then lift your knees and legs up to bring the bike back up to you and put your hands back on the handlebars.

Flare
Perform a backflip combined with a 180 degree turn. When you are in mid-air, in the middle of your backflip, you will turn your handlebars to the right and push the back of the bike around in the same direction to complete the turn. You will land backwards and ride it out backwards. Dennis McCoy is a master at the Flare.

Front Peg Grab
In mid-air, lean over the handlebars and grab onto the front pegs. Then let go of the pegs and grab back onto the handlebars before you land (of course!)

Indian Air
Do a No Footed Can-Can (by swinging both of your legs over the top of the frame while you’re in mid-air). But for the Indian Air, make sure to twist your torso at your hips so that your right leg is on the left side of your body and your left leg is on the right side of your body. This assumes that you swing your legs to the left side of your bike – otherwise, its all the opposite sides.

Kickout
In mid-air, ‘kick’ ‘out’ or ’swing’ the back of your bike to the right or left side using your legs, then bring the bike back to straight using the same motion. You should start small and then try and Kickout more and more as you get better. The farther you can ‘kick’ ‘out’ and ’swing’ your bike out the cooler.

Liquid Sword
This is a trick for big air. When you’re mid-air after a big jump, you’ll hop off your bike to the left side of the bike. Let go of the left grip with your left hand and then, with your right hand, grab the left handlebar grip. Make the bike do a flip by using your right foot to push the front left peg backwards. This way it looks like you’re holding the bike with your right hand like a ’sword’ and since the bike is moving all over the place when its flipping around, it is resembling ‘water’. Once the bike comes back around, you will want to hop back on it before landing.

Lookdown
While you’re mid-air off a jump, keep your left foot forward, then pull up on the handlebars and lean to the right. Move the handlebars to the right and lean to the right. Look back to the left so that you can see the ramp that you just took off of. Before landing, turn the bars back straight and straighten your body to your original position.

Nac-Nac
This trick is the opposite of the Can-Can. It can also be done with either leg. Swing the back of the bike slightly to the right and then take your right foot off the pedal and swing it over the back tire and around the back of the bike and kick it out pointing out and extending to the left side and perpendicular to the left side of the bike.

No Footer
While you are mid-air, remove both of your feet from the pedals and kick them out and away from the bike. Pull them back and put them back on the pedals before you land. This is similar to the One Footer, except with the No Footer you pull both feet off of the pedals instead of just one.

No Foot Can-Can
Similar to a Can-Can, but use both of your feet to kick away from the bike. So both feet are off the pedals and are swung out and over the top tube of the bike frame. Make sure you master the Can-Can before trying the No Foot Can-Can.

No Hander
While mid-air, pull your handlebars into your lap while swinging the bike as vertical as possible. With your bike handlebars being ‘controlled’ by your lap region, throw your hands up in the air or out to the side. Bring your hands back to the bars and straighten the bike out before you land.

One Footer
When you’re mid-jump, remove one of your feet from the pedal, kick it out to the side of the bike that its pedal is on and then pull it back and put the foot back on the pedal and land.

One Hander
In mid-air, remove one hand from the handlebars, stretch it out and then bring it back to grab onto the handlebars before you land.

Rocket Air
In mid-air, move both of your feet to the back pegs. This will cause your body to look like it is extended like a ‘rocket’. The back of the bike will be pushed down relative to the front of the bike. When you are ready to transition out of the trick to begin preparing to land, move your feed back to the pedals and push the handlebars down to level out the front of the bike to even it out to land.

Suicide No Hander
In mid-air, remove your hands from the handlebar grips and extend them out to the side or backwards and then put them back on the handlebars.

Suicide Clapper
Similar to the Suicide No Hander, but instead of just swinging your hands out and to the side, you will ‘clap’ your hands behind your back whiel you are still in mid-air.

Superman
In mid-air, take your feet off the pedals and extend them out behind the back of the bike. You will be stretching your body out lengthwise trying to get your body parallel to the ground so you resemble Superman flying through the air. When you are finished with the trick and are ready to transition back into a position to land, you will use your grip on the handlebars to pull your body back to the original position with your legs on the pedals.

Superman Seatgrab
Similar to the Superman, but instead of keeping both hands on the handlebar grips, leave one hand on one of the handlebar grip and move the other hand to the seat. Again, you will extend your legs out straight back to resemble Superman flying through the air.

Tabletop
While you’re in mid-air, push your handlebars to the right and then rotate the handlebars to the left while using your legs to swing the back of your bike up and to the left. This will put you into a slightly horizontal position which is the point of the trick. A Tabletop is horizontal, and you, the BMX air trick performer is trying to go ‘horizontal’. When you are starting out, you don’t need to try and go horizontal the first time. Its good to start off slowly and then push it further and further till you master the trick and go fully horizontal. The trick can also be done in the opposite direction with pushing the handlebars to the left and then swinging the back of your bike up and to the right.

Toboggan
When you’re mid-air, push down on the front of the bike. Turn your handlebars 90 degrees. Remove the hand from the handlebar pointing forward and move that hand to hold on to your seat. Lean back slightly so that your bike is in a vertical position. When you are beginning to transition back to put yourself in a position to land, level out the seat and land. This can be done with rotating your handlebars to the right or left.