[Quadari]

Hello monkey-folk:

I am a fairly-newbie (although less new then shows in my riding.) I ride manly XC stuff and lately have been trying to improve my jumping/bunnyhopping skills. Basically I can't do anything yet (I have had some nice crashes, though ) so I'm wondering if people have any general or specific tips that might make it easier.

Thanks to all.

 

[-BB-]

It is all in your upper body...
Do not count on pullling up w/ your feet.
It will only teach you bad habits.
Other than that, I don't know. I'm not the best jumper either.

 

[RhinofromWA]

Plenty of pads

Really pads pads pads

And to get over the fear of crashing jsut have your buddy drive your truck down teh road about 15mph and just jump off the back.....get the whole crash thing over with then go jump.

Start small and don't do something you aren't ready for.....

I am nto a jumper persay but maybe start with smaller jumps that you can mess up and not seriously hurt yourself on.

Be safe and if you can go with a friend....he may have to carry you out

 

[-BB-]

Originally posted by RhinofromWA


Be safe and if you can go with a friend....he may have to carry you out

Been there, Done that...

 

[Toshi]

Originally posted by RhinofromWA
And to get over the fear of crashing jsut have your buddy drive your truck down teh road about 15mph and just jump off the back.....get the whole crash thing over with then go jump.

So that's what you do in Washington...

My suggestion to you, Ari, is to come over to my room, borrow my bike vids, then watch them all. If nothing else, they'll inspire you to try harder.

 

[shocktower]

Originally posted by Toshi

So that's what you do in Washington...

My suggestion to you, Ari, is to come over to my room, borrow my bike vids, then watch them all. If nothing else, they'll inspire you to try harder.

,Dam Toshi you could not wait ,you just had to hit on the newby neaky: neaky: neaky: neaky: ink:

Btw ,hit the wings out of drive ways

 

[Quadari]

Oh yeah, you know...me and Toshi....

 

[butthead]

If you are using clipless pedals, you may want to consider switching to platform pedals for jumping and hopping around. The ability to bail is much better than pedal power when you are in the air. It's kind of hard to describe how do bunnyhop here, so find someone who is good at it and have him or her show you.

 

[Motionboy2]

I have been trying to learn and it is tough. I wish i could download the skills like in the matrix... I go with friends that are better than me. They push me and inspire me!!!

 

[Toshi]

Originally posted by shocktower
,Dam Toshi you could not wait ,you just had to hit on the newby neaky: neaky: neaky: neaky: ink:

d'oh, I knew someone would notice if I was hitting on Ari again. Anyways, Ari, all non-dvd vids that I have are packed away for the summer... you're still welcome to borrow CRIII, tho. Lots of dirt jumping in that one.

 

[shootr]

The basic mechanics of the bunnyhop are actually rather simple, I will try to draw you a mental picture.

What you are going to have to bike do is to roll over an imaginary reference point in the air, and how you achieve it is to relocate the "instant Center of Gravity"...
this is a point in the total mass of you and the bike combined that is moveable.
On men it is always higher than on women, biomechanically giving males an advantage in this skill over women (sorry girls).

How you are going to achieve this is by using your legs, coupled with leverage about the rear tire of the bike...it functions very much like how a polevaulter gets height.

So here goes the explanation of HOW to do it.

rolling along at a comfortable speed, approaching a fixed point of given height (use an empty pop can or something of the sort, it is better to try to learn to actually go over something than just doing it over nothing)
Have yourself in a neutral, balanced position with your weight more forward than normal (kinda with your chest over your bars), STANDING on your pedals with them level..and your elbows bent.
When your front tire is about a foot away from the can, in a fluid motion, swing your chest and head up and slightly back, fast, as your arms near the point of being straight, suddenly pull them so that the bars go into your chest,
*at this point you will be in a sort of "manual" position, with your front tire in the air, and your rear on the ground rolling, your front tire will now be passing over the can*
When you reach this point, with the bar near your chest, you will suddenly thrust your arms straight FORWARD. and at the EXACT SAME TIME unweight your feet on the pedals, bneding your knees and widening them so that your seat swings up between your legs and your but is sorta over the rear tire, and the seat should end up just under your stomach.
This will be your APEX or highest point of your arc, to land you will just straighten your legs and the rear wheel will touch down and then you can let the front down.

The higher you want to go , the HIGHER you MUST get the front wheel..
it will be your guide , as you get more proficient you will acutally be vaulting off of the rear tire like a pole vaulter uses the pole, and you will get your CofG very high, allowing the front wheel to travel very high with you, and you will be able to clear larger obstacles..
I can clear the hood of a small car on a BMX.
(there are MUCH better bunnyhoppers than I, I am short, and that is a HUGE disadvantage as I do not have the physical reach to go very high, but I have very big chest, back and shoulders, so that offsets it)

the pull comes from your lats,
I hope that helps you out a little, if you want to see bunnyhops in action, get trials videos, as trials riders use them continuously.

 

[Quadari]

wow...that was an intense explanation, thanks! I'll have to try it next time I go out.

 

[stinkyd-lux]

That was a pretty good explanation of a J-hop but a bunnyhop is when you pull straight up by bending close to your bike and then poping straigt up. As for jumping start small and then get bigger it took me two years to be able to jump 20ft gaps but i wasn't trying that hard the first year. If it is a big jump make sure you have a landing.

 

[shootr]

No offense Stinky, but what you are describing is just very poor form and execution of a bunnyhop, I don't really care whether you call it a "j-hop" or not, but to "pull straight up by bending close to your bike and then poping straigt up. "
is just highly ineffectual, and very unstable...feel free to disagree, but this is NOT a regimented activity like figure skating, where what you do is strictly dictated to a name.

Quadari, go to the BMX forum and look under the thread regarding DJing, I think it is titled "why do I suck so bad at DJing?"
I have posted a VERY useful tip for begginers at DJing.

 

[mutasmurf]

this is for hardtails...

1). preload front

2). pull front with arms and body weight

3). use wrists and legs to get the back up

 

[Boardride]

Originally posted by mutasmurf
this is for hardtails...

1). preload front

2). pull front with arms and body weight

3). use wrists and legs to get the back up

you are sooo wrong lol

 

[ant:]

in torque video magazine volume 3 ryan leech give a pretty good bunnyhop explanation... some good slowmotion side views too...

 

[shifty S]

the way i learned to do my bunny/j-hops is by borrowing a friends bike that was about 3 times as heavy as mine and teying to get it on that, then when i got back on my own bike it was like i was floating every time i jumped and i can now get a pretty decent height from my bunny/j-hops

 

[-dustin]

i learned using clipless pedals...boy was that a mistake. now that i've learned how to do good trackstands, i'm working on bunny/j-hops and i suck.

 

[nj_rider]

Actually go out and get Dave Mirras new trick tips video. He does a great job explaining a J hop and also moving to 180 and 360 bunny hops. Its for BMX but it is the same concept.

 

[KrusteeButt]

Hmmmm....I thought the proper way to do it was hit X-X-Down-Up while holding down R1, right?
Oh, wait, that's on the video game.

(I know...dork....I don't care, to me it was funny)

 

[Rapture]

Originally posted by KrusteeButt
Hmmmm....I thought the proper way to do it was hit X-X-Down-Up while holding down R1, right?
Oh, wait, that's on the video game.

(I know...dork....I don't care, to me it was funny)

LOL thats pretty good

At first i was confused but then again, i'm a bit slow at the uptake..

 

[crazybastard]

try to bunnyhop over the small opstacles and build up the hieght on the jumps and drops and you will get there

 

[bibs]

One thing that helps me is when your in the air , do somthing, it doenst matter if you in the air too long and you freeze up("dead salior") you crash or close , so do a cross up or somthing just dont hurt yourself cuase you thought too much about landing, but then I might be crazy too!!! who knows,??oh pads are your best freind!!!:dancing:

 

[shootr]

I completely agree with bibs.

Often if you just "straight air" you will dead sailor because you have so much time to wait for the landing that you start reaching for it (learn that this was wrong the hard way snowboarding, ..broken back)..
if your mind is slightly occupied your reflexes will take over and they are usually more effective than you normally at handling situations...
even just thinking about styling it a little, with a little kick of the tail or something will help, it also allows you to feel your CofG in the air, and that will make you land more neutrally..

 

[bibs]

I broke my neck when I was younger off a big hit and a dead salior, learned my leason thogh. and remember, . .. .baby steps!!

 

[bibs]

how is it going any of the tips help?

 

[madbiker]

Ya, I find that if I am going for a decent sized (for me) or big jump that doing something in the air makes me less squirly on landing. With a small jump or rythem section I find that pumping in the air will accomplish the same "taking your mind off the landing" but will allow you to continue with more speed than say a whip. Just my .02

 

[dee lux]

start small and get the fundamentals down and you will be good