Today, we're going to look at a really comprehensive guide on how to bunny hop.
Talk about lifting both wheels individually, how to do that, what the
most common mistakes are, and if you're struggling at one way or another,
I'll try and address that.
The bunny hop is an essential technique you need to use on a mountain bike.
It's something that I use all the time for getting over obstacles,
something like a very slippy route or a rock section. Rather than driving the bike
into these things, you start taking weight off the wheels, maybe jumping that section
completely or maybe just un-weighting slightly, so you're carrying speed over
these edges. Also, it's the key technique you need to use to make heights on a jump.
This technique should be exactly the same on whatever bike you ride hardtail, full
suspension, also peddles, flats to clips. Good technique is good
technique. So, let's break the bunny hop down into a couple of parts first.
It starts a with pump and a manual. This is where you go from your neutral
position, stood up in the middle of the bike, you pump down into the bike and then
you use this L shape to the back of the bike or your hips. Exactly the same is the
manual technique. Down and back, that's going to take your weight right over the
rear wheel and that should lift the front wheel. It's really important that your
arms go straight as you go back. So actually, you're using your weight to lift
the front wheel. and you're not using your arms to lift the
front wheel. If you use your arms to life the front wheel,
you'll then find it really hard to lift your back wheel. If you've
got that nice L shape thigh and back, you should think about it again,
really loads that back tire. Because from there to then lift the rear wheel,
all I then need to do is stand up and forward. So actually, my legs extend,
my hips go up towards the bars and that pops up the back wheel.
If you're too high with your L shape, it feels like you have to sort of swing your
hips forward, and that isn't a very feeling on the bike, swinging your hips
towards the bars. It's much more natural just to stand up. That's really going to
help with your rear wheel lift. That's probably the hardest part of a bunny hop,
is getting really good at lifting the rear wheel. Remember, it's all about using
your weight, weight is your hips. People cheat with their rear wheel lift,
especially with clips, and they just pull up with their feet,
but it does work, and it's okay. But the main reason you don't want to use that is
you pull up with your feet, your hips still remain over the back tire.
So if you get the timing wrong and dropped that back wheel into an obstacle that you
don't want to hit, all your weight is then on that back tire, so there's a good
chance that if it's a jump, you're going to end up casing that jump really hard,
and it's going to be a really heavy landing. Also, if you're relying
on pulling up with your feet to lift the back wheel,
you'll only be able to pick up your back wheel that much until you
run out of space. So it's much better to use your hips up and forward,
and then lift the rear wheel as much as you want. That's what I call a spot hop,
because most people with SPDs do this. You'll then draw a square shape with
your wheels rather than get this nice shaped front wheel then back wheel using
your hips. So if you are using that square shape SPD hop, that's not really going to
work if you're trying to get over an obstacle like a root, and you're going
slow, because you'll need to get really quick to clearance with both wheels.
So, a really great way of practicing doing one wheel at a time is get an iron stick,
putting it on the trail and roll in really slow at it so that you lift your front
wheel up and over, pause, wait for your rear wheel to get close and then stand up
and forward to lift the rear wheel. So, you're doing one wheel at a time.
Don't worry too much if your wheel just hits the stick, just try and make sure
there's no weight on that wheel when it does hit it. So, the right technique is
standing nice and tall, big pump that does help with the full suspension bike so
you're going to squash suspension in. Same technique with hardtail, but you go
straight down then back in the L shape to your rear tire. Remember,
nice and low to that rear wheel then stand and forward, that's going to pop the rear
wheel off the floor. Timing is a really important part, so actually,
you're standing up and forward as the front wheel is still coming up.
Lots of people do this too late, so they've done their manual, the front
wheel is now dropping, and then they go with it. And that's
too late. It will feel natural if you're going with the front wheel, but
actually, you need to come up and towards the front wheel as
it's just about to peak. Then start rolling quicker at the stick still
doing one wheel at a time and, you should find that it starts turning into a proper
bunny hop, so both wheels are in the air at the same time but you're still using
front wheel then back wheel technique, not doing two at the same time.
If you're struggling with lifting the rear wheel, just practice
getting nice and low to that rear tire and using your hips up and forward.
And also, maybe try and use a little bit of a scoop as you do that.
You can practice just doing the rear wheel for now, forget the front wheel. Get
really confident lifting the rear wheel, and then it's all about timing, fitting
it all in one go is the hard part. The bunny hop is almost the third piece of a
puzzle really, so to do it nicely, you need to be able to pump and manual first.
So, for more videos from GMBN, you can click up here for our "How to pump" video
or click down here for "How to manual." Also, you can click on me. As always,
do subscribe to GMBN. It's free.