It's a free-form thread, and the topic is "cherrypicker", i.e. what was once considered by many to be the ultimate flatland trick. So go ahead. Post your photos and speak your piece.

I like 'em. But I kept falling over. Truth.

When I was a kid I racked myself harder than I ever have right in front of about 15 of my neighbors while trying to do a cherry picker.

CHERRY PICKERS !!!!
Certainly in the top 5 of all time greatest BMX tricks.

Here is me doing one about 6 years ago:



As usual, I could go on forever about this stuff, but I will just yell out a few things that come to mind when I think of cherry pickers.

I Like the classic old-school way of getting into them - lay the bike down onto the pedal, at the same time turning your bars backwards, holding your bars with only your right hand, kick (push down) the back wheel with your opposite foot- behind you...up she comes !

People are amazed with this trick - even today. Think about it from the non-BMX rider viewers eyes---The bike is standing totally upright and you are standing OVER it -- HOPPING !! Very cool.

Remember the old right sneaker chain marks and holes !! A classic on the Vans shoes...true sign of a freestyler back in the mid to late 80's.

I always hear of people having had realy bad falls doing cherry pickers, and I had a few bad ones in the beginning to. You feel helpless when you fall backwards..and ...BAM on your but/back you land...oowwch. But think about it rationally...one leg is on one side of the bike, and one leg is on the opposite side of the bike. If you fall forwards your left foot goes out and catches you, and if you fall backwards, just take your right foot off and catch yourself. It is actually quite simple to NOT crash doing a cherry picker..just put the proper foot down.

It always seemed like people froze up when falling backwards and tried to get their left foot all the way back over to stop the fall...and if you were too late..BAM. You actually just had to put your right foot out and stop yourself.

Anyways...Cherry Pickers rule. A true trick from the glory days of Freestyle.
Trent

July 1986, practice before a show that night opening up for REO Speedwagon, of all things:



RL20IIs were harder to do cherrypickers on cause the frame was so long and roomy, the steer tube would get right up there by the goobers and you couldn't pinch the frame with your knees easily like smaller bikes.

Disclaimer: it's not a mullet... it's an 80's Duran Duran style do'

My best cherry picker story begins with me arguing with my brother about who was the better freestyler -- me or him.

I was learning cherry pickers at the time, and he said I couldn't do it. Or maybe I said I could do cherry pickers and he told me to prove it. Can't remember, but in order to prove him wrong, I rode into it old school style (described above), and it was the best cherry picker I had done to that point. I was up there bouncing for the longest I ever had, completely in control. At that point, even my brother was cheering for me. And everyone around was like, "Awesome, now ride out of it!" I tried, but that's where this happy tale ends. I couldn't ride out of it that day, but I'm convinced I could have bounced forever if I had let myself.

Other than riding out of it, that cherry picker moment was a real triumph. It ended the argument, for sure. Eventually I learned to ride out of it, but I never learned to fire-hydrant into it, which would have been cool, because I was a pro at the fire hydrant. (At least the part where you coast around on the fork and bring the back end around. To me, that was a fire hydrant, although I know some people who think the fire hydrant was not complete unless it included a cherry/pedal picker. I first saw the trick demonstrated by Woody in a magazine without a cherry picker, and they called it a fire hydrant, so that's what I went with).

Never hurt myself doing them, luckily!

Once I finally learned them, I liked them, but I could never hold onto the tire like everybody else - had to hold onto the fork leg. Dopey.
Anyway, here's one circa. 1986.

I like peddal pickers better.

I never had either 100%

More like 5%

That's the old skin-'n-bones me. 1986. Loved doing the cherry picker....

85/86 or somwhere in between. I had a friend that would come and stay with his dad in Minnesota for the summer, and back to NJ for the winter. While he was away we would write letters and send pictures of the tricks we were doin. Most of the time we'd lie! We'd have to one-up eachother with every trick we could do (or couldn't do).

I sucked at cherrypickers then. Actually, I never did them very consistantly.
He knew that so he'd send pics like this.

Allways with a pretty elaborate story of how he could get in, hop forever, then out every time.

The funny thing is, in the spring he'd come back to MN, and he couldn't do them anymore. hmmm...

That battle of who could pull what went on for a few years.
I got a video a couple weeks ago of us riding BITD. While I was riding he was holding the camera. You could hear him asking me "so, wheres that backyard you said you could do?"
Nothing like being busted... on camera.

Did someone say pics of cherrypickers? Yeah, these are old, but hey it's a cherrypicker thread. ;D

I remember the first time I saw a sequence of Martin doing the cherrypicker on his Torker Freestylist, I was simply dumbfounded. It was my goal to learn and master that trick, and to this day it's still one of my favorites.


strike


strike


strike


KoP


Denny and Scott

The cherrypicker is definitely one of the best tricks. I couldn't get them. I actually sprained my ankle doing one. I didn't put the correct foot down like Trent said. You know what to do if you fall but actually doing it is another thing. I remember seeing video tapes and pictures of RL Osborn doing cherrypickers and I thought it looked so cool, in fact I still think they look cool.

For the longest time, I just thought that guys were balancing rather than hopping. That led to a good number of contusions of the groin. Once I found out that they were hopping, I still couldn't ride into them--so no luck there, either.

Strike,

The pic of you at the MFS contest, I'm sitting watching you. That's me in the Haro uniform with the yellow hat on, all kicked back trying to look nonchalant. LOL.

Ahh yeah, I was wondering who that was biting my style later on in the day. Small world, isn't it?

It took me about a year to finally learn them, and was always the mind-blowing trick for the public. I was doing cherry-picker drop ins on a mini-ramp up 'till 1998 when I stopped riding regularly.

I used to love that trick, I could do the no handed bar spinning version too, but I also had to hold the fork rather than the tyre. Preferred pedal pickers and backwards pedal pickers.

I always found getting into cherrypickers a bit laborious, until I saw DMC do a fire hydrant into a cherrypicker, one of the most awesome things I'd ever seen at the time, which made the trick a lot slicker IMO.

I'd agree that the general public still find it a very impressive trick.

You should have known something was up when he sent you a pic of him cherry picking in the grass -- No way! Beware of kids on Dynos.

Funny but I'd have to say the cherry picker was and still is one of my favorit freestyle tricks of al time. For some reason they are also pretty easy to do for me. In fact about a year ago I went riding with some guys here in Houston I met through vintageBMX.com and we started a little flatland session and someone yelled out "CHERRYPICKER " I said I use to be able to pull those about 98% of the time. Well needless to say they talked me into trying one and WOW !! about 18 years since the last time I pulled a cherrypicker I pulled it on the 1st try.

Now I am inspired again, I'll try to get a pic of a modern day 38 year old 240 lbs. cherrypicker this weekend.

Mark

I didn't know it was a hopping trick at first either. But when you're imitating still photos from a magazine, that happens. I always liked RL's method of riding into it. He would endo and start hopping right away as he was still stepping over the top. I think he does one like that in the opening or ending credits of RAD.

Cherrypickers were cool, but pedal pickers (and backwards pedal pickers) were my favorite. Ahhhhh...good 'ol coaster brake tricks. I learned both pedal pickers with a freewheel but coaster brake was so much better for flatland IMO.

How would you even do a pedal picker with a freewheel?

I had to concentrate SO hard to make sure I turned my pedals the right way or I would shoot the bike right out from under me.


*** duh *** I just thought about it. Squeese the brake.

I could never pull those. I'd get up there, spaz out for a couple seconds then usually fall sideways. No, I was not the best freestyler, but hey, it wasn't for lack of tryin'. Fear breeds disaster, and I was always afraid I'd nard myself or fall backwards.

Yeah, you had to use the rear brake and put your weight on the forward pedal instead of the rear for a regular pedal picker w/freewheel. You had to have the bike a bit more vertical for your weight being on the other pedal.

Backwards w/freewheel wasn't really a pedal picker. I think it was called a cherry bomb. Had one foot on the pedal, one on the rear tire (like a cherry picker) and facing bakwards with both hands on the forks like a regular backwards pedal picker. I think I have a pic somewhere of one of those.

This was probably around 86 or 87, I think, and after a big snow. I would ride into them by doing an endo first. This was my favorite trick. I can still do them. I could never do pedal pickers.

Jim

Found the freewheel pedal picker pics.

Regular (I always thought this was a pretty cool shot)



And backwards. (these look a bit more like a pedal picker when you have the pedal forward a bit more)

My pedal picker is also done with freewheel..........


I lean the bike as close to vertical as I can, cranks reversed compared to coaster brake pedal picker, putting pressure on my right foot, hold the brakes TIGHT and go for it!!

One of my favorite tricks and I still do all 3 of them (cherry - pedal - and cherrybomb)


PedalPicker 2007




Cherry 2006




OUCH!!!!!!

I will make an exception to my first post on the cherry picker above...I mentioned I like the old school way of getting into them....(just shows how old I am getting) BUT, I read above about the fire hydrant way of riding into them, and the flashbacks of DMC doing them on my old VHS tapes (and now on Jeff S DVD"S!) came rushing back, and I will have to agree...that is a killer way of getting into the cherry picker...I stand somewhat corrected !! He He.

Trent

Very cool stories guys...keep 'em coming.

Anyone ever do one on top of a quarter pipe during a show, to get the crowd going...what a rush to be on a 4ft x 8ft deck doing a cherry picker...scary stuff, but that's what made it so amazing as well...can be a bit tricky to keep the bounce going while the ramps is shaking from a rider doing airs ! Wish I had some pics of us doing those. Similar to doing the bar layouts during shows, but just a bit scarier.

BELOW : Double bar Layout on a 4ft x 8ft deck while rider catches air. Notice the ramp kickers are gone...stolen during the weekend, but the show must go on! ( I was just in my beginning stages of BMX while watching this Sportwheels show...These guys were like pros to me..great stuff!)

A shot of my buddy Eric doin' one.

I'll throw one out here, I'm thinking this is late summer '85......

That shot of Dopple on the green Haro from a few years back brought another cherrypicker thought to mind.

How many people put their left heel on the inside of their right leg and how many crossed it over to the outside of their right leg (like the pic of kmpap's friend)?

The latter was DMC style (my idol at the time) so I had to cross it like him. LOL.

I still remember my worst crash ever flatlanding.

cherrypicker. And my cranks spun around and locked my foot on the tire. And I fell backwards, Landing on my elbow on the curb...

Ughh. Still hurts to think about it.

I have video of the first time I ever pulled a cherrypicker. The look on my face is priceless. I'll try to remember to pick up the tape and upload it.

You know - I've actually never picked up on that foot position difference!

I always wondered why my buddy's 'pickers seemed a bit more controlled than my own, and now I think I know why...(lol). I was a left-foot-on-the-inside-of-my-right-leg kind of guy.

Definitely one of the best tricks invented. Who actually gets credit for inventing it anyway? Was it Martin?

I remember seeing Rad for the 1st time and being BLOWN away during the opening credits when I saw RL doing the Cherry Picker.

I agree with Matt... RL to me, had the coolest way of getting into them.

Jeff

I've actually seen video of R.L. getting into cherrypickers two ways:

1) the RAD way (endo > bike vertical with right foot on rear tire, hopping) > swing left leg over top of bike > tadaa, cherrypicker.

and

2) X-up bars and lay bike on side, holding rear brake > place right foot on rear tire, kinda in place > bump the back of the rear tire (w/left foot) to give the bike some bounce > swing the left leg over in position > tadaa, cherrypicker.

I liked R.L.'s RAD method best, until I saw Pinky Pollock spin into one from a fire hydrant - blew my mind.

I cant remember who used to do it this way.

Ride on the back pegs and just swing the bike in a circle and end up on top.

I tried and tried and tried and tried.

Always either over rotated or under roatated.

I agree.....that way was awesome, and I've seen a few different people do it.

Lying the bike down in a "poser" position was the worst in my opinion. In fact, I never liked it when people rode in or out of any trick this way!

Jeff S - yes Martin invented the cherrypicker!

Like This?? I also cross my left leg over the right foot. My rear brakes were slipping on the decades I tried after landing the cherrypicker......sorry for the quality, this was taken with my friend's cell phone.


http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o135/di.../video%20links/


Ryan

Awright, Ryan - you made that look TOO easy (lol). On a big ol' Redline no less...sweet!

Ryan,

That is still impressive now. Nice job.

Jeff

Thanks!! What I really want to get back is my G-Turns. I remember the first time I saw that trick, BLEW ME AWAY!!! One of my buddies used to run Comp Pool tires all the time and I wondered what was so good about them......and then I tried them and let me tell you, I would sail G-Turns so long it was incredible, absolutely NO rolling resistance on these tires. My best friend hates them though cause he was riding with them in the rain and crashed! LOL!



Ryan

I used to call Cherry Pickers "Nut Crackers". I learnt to do them in the winter of '87 or '88. My feet were always wet from all the rain and they would always slip off the frame.

About 2 months later I discovered Grip Tape, which made me (and my nuts) very happy.

I love the way Martin did them in the end credits of RAD. The way he takes his hands of the bars while he spins them seemed impossible at the time.

Cherrypickers are still a great trick to do. So many of the young kids have never seen one so if you bust one out.....they freak! My favorite way to get into them has always been out of a fire hydrant.

Just an FYI to everyone.......I just got off the phone with Grutolla and we're planning a Photoshopped pic of him and I doing cherrypickers NOW........he's gonna take one and I'll take one and I'll photoshop it....

I have this funny pic of him and I doing cherrypickers leaning against a tree....from like....86 or 87.....and I wanna try and make a before after type of thing....LOL.....

he was laughing at me....the bike he rides right now has no back brakes....so he's gonna do it in construction boots....LOL...

This thread has been certified an official VintageBMX "Topic On Fire," earning Dave Muggleston a limited edition T-Shirt for starting the thread. Thanks to STRIKE for the nomination.



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One of my favs definitely along with the miami endo and backside walkaround! It was easy to learn for me, long legs but I always had troubles with any type of rolling tricks and never could get a boomerang down for some reason.

It is possible to scuff and roll a cherry picker ..... This pic was around 1996 , me and Bryan Huffman Both did this trick . I got a pic in Ride BMX in 97 and also a small cover shot in BMX Plus soon after .

I wanna learn cherrypickers..I was trying them this morning by stepping into them..I can balance there for a few seconds..when i try to hop the back wheel kicks out and goes all over the place...Ive never been good at hopping tricks..

I'd recommend beginning to hop instantly. For me, there was no balancing about it. Just hopping. (Obviously, there's a balance element to the hop, but you know what I mean...)

The R is right, just start hopping right away and eventually your body will get it.