A keo spin starts from fakie (riding backwards) and turns into a spin on your rear wheel. Technically, if you start it with one hand, it’s a keo spin; otherwise, it’s a keo.
First, you should know how to ride fakie. I say “should” because I can already see some of you frowning: at the very least, you need to be able to do one full backwards crank turn from a trackstand. It’s good not to skip steps, but you can give this a go even if your fakie isn’t quite there yet.
Find your dominant foot
Your dominant foot is the one you’d rather start pedaling with, kick a ball with, or skid with… It’s less obvious for some people, so try both sides.
In the photo, Maceo is blocking the cranks with his left foot forward: that’s his dominant foot.
Above: left foot forward, spinning right, with (or without) the right arm thrown out. Reverse it if your dominant foot is your right.
See how @brokevirgo throws his hand out to get those insane keo spins. Zoom into the pixel marmalade and you can see he’s looking in the direction he’s spinning.
His foot position also tells us the picture wasn’t taken at the start of the spin: since he’s spinning right, he would have started with his left foot forward. If your dominant foot is your right, you’ll spin left.
Work on the backwards-to-forwards transition
Start by learning a 180° on your rear wheel:
- While riding fakie, as your dominant foot comes up, before the pedals are horizontal, try to block the pedal by pushing on it.
- At the same time, turn your head and shoulders halfway around to face forwards.
- You can also throw your arm in the direction of the spin, then bring the handlebar to that hand to complete the half-turn.
- Right foot dominant → left hand.
- Left foot dominant → right hand.
As with any trick, in fixed gear or otherwise, look in the direction you’re going or spinning!
At first, it probably WON’T work :). If your weight stays too far forward (which it won’t if your fakie is good), you won’t have enough force to lift the front of the bike. Don’t hesitate to “pull out your straps” so you feel more confident and can put more weight over the back.
Keep in mind that all the energy for the spin comes from your fakie. Your job is to channel it into the keo spin: turn that backwards movement (fakie) into rotation (keo spin).
Putting it together
Getting the feel for this trick isn’t easy at first, but it looks harder than it really is. A keo spin feels like pinching the rear wheel, with all your body weight on the seat, while twisting your body to guide the bike around. If that way of picturing it makes sense to you, give it a go. You might just get it!
