- Right, if you've watched
any of our mountain bike skills videos,
you're gonna know that the bunny hop
is an essential skill.
But if you don't know how to do it, here's how.
Right, so the first thing that I'm doing
is I'm slightly compressing into the fork,
and then I'm gonna shift my weight backwards
into that manual position you can see right here.
My hip and my ass is over the rear of the bike,
and then I'm gonna drive all that weight forward.
That's gonna allow me to lift that back wheel up,
get into the air,
and then coming into this point,
I'm back into the landing.
I'm compressing my legs,
going into a squat position,
landing both wheels on the same time,
and then rolling out.
You know how to bunny hop now, right?
Well, we're gonna take that skill onto the trail,
and I'm gonna show you five places
where you can use it.
(fast-paced electronic music)
(crunching sound effect)
(fast-paced electronic music)
Right, this might not be the perfect example
of where you can use the bunny hop,
but jumps are the ideal place where
if you want to get higher or you wanna go further,
you've got to get that bunny hop technique dialled in.
I've done it really fast,
and you just saw that,
but this time, it's really slow,
and I'm gonna overexaggerate the bunny hop technique.
(fast-paced electronic music)
So, you can see in this super slow motion clip
that I'm really exaggerating that bunny hop.
I'm almost compressing the bike in.
I'm leaning back,
and then to make sure that I get over the jump,
I'm actually driving those hips really far forward,
using that bunny hop technique and the pull,
and then pushing the bike into the down-slope
and making it over that jump.
(fast-paced electronic music)
Okay, one of the functional uses of the bunny hop,
especially when you're climbing,
can be to get up and over obstacles in the trail.
Take this little step, for example.
Well, it's actually quite a big step.
You want to manual onto it first,
and then you're gonna drive all your weight
from the back of the bike up towards the front.
Picking that back wheel up,
getting onto the obstacle,
and then peddling off again.
(fast-paced electronic music)
Okay, so here's another example of
where you can use that bunny hop.
I'm coming into this section really fast,
but there's this stump right here.
If I hit that square on,
then the chances are I could get a puncture,
I'm gonna slow down,
I'm gonna lose speed or get a little bit out of control.
But if I use a bunny hop,
and there's actually a root right before that
that is completely straight on.
I can almost bump-jump that.
That is another technique that you can use.
So, you can hit that, air over it,
and you're gonna have more speed,
more momentum and come into the next section
with way more control.
Let me show you how to do that.
(fast-paced electronic music)
Right, you've got that bunny hop technique mastered.
You're gonna take on to the trails,
and this is one of my favourite uses.
It's called the pre-hop.
I'm coming into this section pretty fast,
but there's a down-slope right here,
and if I come in too fast,
I'm gonna actually launch off it
just because it's quite steep.
But what I spotted is right here is this root.
All the roots are parallel,
so I know I can cross them,
and I'm gonna find grip.
The tyres aren't gonna slide away from me.
I'm gonna use that root for the bunny hop technique,
almost to bump-jump it.
I'm gonna use that to manual back,
shift my weight backwards,
drive it forwards, I'm gonna look ahead,
and then I'm gonna aim to get into that down-slope.
And that's what the pre-hop is all about.
It's clearing this whole section,
coming into the next bit with composure and control,
and then going down the trail,
and you're in control of that bike.
You've got more speed,
and you're having more fun.
That means bigger smiles.
(fast-paced electronic music)
Okay, so the other ones were just your daily trail uses,
but what about the extreme case?
Well, in this one,
I'm gonna come through this section really fast,
and then I spotted this little line right here.
I can jump from there down to here.
And if you've got that bunny hop technique
absolutely dialled,
well, you're gonna be able to jump this,
go into the next section super fast,
and the best thing is,
it's a great way to impress your mates.
(fast-paced electronic music)
Oh, I think that jumping
might be my favourite use of the bunny hop.
Either that or the pre-hop.
Now, if you guys are struggling
with any of these techniques,
then please send in videos,
photos of you guys doing it to ask@gmbn.
We have a show every week.
We want to make you guys better mountain bikers.
And if you want to watch every video from GMBN,
click on that globe to subscribe
'cause you'll never miss one again.
Down there for four ways to get bigger air
with Brendan Fairclough, and over here,
tips for how to improve your bunny hop.
Don't forget, comment, share, like,
and have a good one.