[blue]

So I occasionally ride "urban" up at the University in town on my XC bike w/clipless pedals (Jumping up onto stuff, wallrides, jumping off crap, etc), no fancy supermans or no footers, and yeah. I'm building my gf a bike (Azonic DS1), and the Azonic mag flats for it came today, so I decided I'd put the DH stem and flats on my bike and go up to the university to see how I'd do, not having ridden flat pedals since I was 14. I discovered that I can't bunnyhop on flats...I went through the normal procedure, press down on bike with weight, then lift. Front wheel comes up. Back stays planted. After trying many variations of this technique (IE, lifting feet up...ow), I just started doing stair gaps and trying to wallride and crap. Not able to lift the bike off the ground, I wasn't horribly successful. I went home pissed.

I can go about 2-3 feetish straight up from a standstill on my eggbeaters, but with the flats, nothing. How do I do it? I've asked some people and they're like "you just...do it". How do I un-train myself from the clipless? I really would like to buy a jump bike eventually, but I'm afraid that if I did at this point I'd be putting clipless pedals on it...lame. Any tips for an XC whore?

 

[-dustin]

i used to be in your shoes. it sucks.

i knew in theory what i was supposed to do (searched here on RM and read a bunch of threads), but i couldn't seem to do it while on a bike, until i tried learning how to backwheel hop. somehow, that made the motion of j-hopping click in my brain.

 

[ioscope]

Rotate your toes down. "Pull" the bike up with your toes.
One god practice thing is to just lift the back end.
Then just the front.
Then combine the motions.

 

[bballboy388]

thats how i learned too never had clipless never plan on getting them but i can bunnyhop now my friend ryan gets pritty high on flats and the same on clipless dosnt seem to matter

 

[ahbrooks]

like the previous poster said, try lifting just the rear wheel on flat pedals, without worrying about what the front does. you sort of "scoop" the pedals, down and then back, and torque forward on the bars at the same time, like you're trying to pivot the back end of the bike up using your wrists. that should do it. once you've got that down, work on your timing and try and put the hop together. start small, then work your way up.

 

[-dustin]

lifting the back end never helped me. just stating for the record.

 

[ahbrooks]

fair enough. what made things 'click' for me was the wrist-twisting motion, which I figured out by trying to lift the back end alone. after that I was able to sync the motion....

learning wheelies was what cemented my rear wheel hops - but moreso, learning the brake timing was what I had the most trouble with - hopping backwards felt pretty natural, but going forwards was really foreign to me. timing the pedal movement and the brake action took me some figuring out....

 

[ahbrooks]

that said, reading about this is all pretty useless. once the technique is in your head, the trick is instilling the muscle-memory and dialing the timing. trying to explain what you're doing to someone else is tricky, especially because your movements when you're learning are refined as you progress, and what works now may not have worked the first five (or fifty) times....

 

[-dustin]

fthe wrist-twisting motion

that's one thing i never got. i don't know if i do it sub-consciously, or what. i just never notice it. i think i was over-doing it while i was trying to learn. i don't know...

 

[oscerthegrouch]

I learned to bunny hop by going into a manual then leaning forward... the higher u bring your front wheel the higher your back will get when u lean forward. I have tought other ppl to bunny hop the same way.

 

[tgreathead]

This is probably repetative but here goes:

One thing that most often confuses people is how to pull up the rear tire. The most common explanation is to "push down" on the pedals after bringing the front up. This is better described as "push back." You can understand this concept while you're not riding. Stand next to your bike with one foot flat on the pedal. Now rotate your foot on the pedal so it's at an angle toward the ground, halfway between flat and vertical. Put your hands on the handlebars and squeeze your rear brake. With your foot at the angle, push back (not down) on the pedal and then lift it up. Having your foot at the angle gives you the leverage to lift and pull the back end up. Hop on the bike and roll around at a slow/medium speed. Try it again with both feet and without using the brake. At first you may only get the back end a few inches off the ground.

Now crouch down and pop up pulling up on the handlebars and "back" on the pedals at the same time. If you did it right you'll pop the whole bike up off the ground. This way of hopping is good for learning but is no good for jumping over/onto stuff. If you practiced this way for a while you'll probably only hop a foot at the most. With a true bunnyhop, like described above when you lift the front wheel first then suck up the back, some guys can jump onto a picnic table.

Hope this helped

 

[LeRoy]

Skateboard Ollie!

 

[allsk8sno]

I learned to bunny hop by going into a manual then leaning forward... the higher u bring your front wheel the higher your back will get when u lean forward. I have tought other ppl to bunny hop the same way.

as someone who can hop easily 3ft on my dh rig(47lb 8.5" travel)

use this advice!!!

also instead of leaning forward off the manual, jump and pull up and forward on your bars, this will pull the bike up, practice to keep the pedals with your feet. watch videos too and slow down the motion

 

[DH-DZ]

I second the manual advice.

i started out riding XC and i got sick of the bikes so i baught a urban bike, learned to manual and now i can hop up 2 foot walls eassily.

roll back and pop forward

 

[rpk1988]

Practice Practice Practice, I like Jay Hopping (thats what I think they call it where you pull the front up higher and then kick up the back) much better. Try hugging the cranks with you ankles...hahaha.

 

[rpk1988]

my friend ryan gets pritty high on flats and the same on clipless dosnt seem to matter

Whoa cool...im that kid. Pracitce.