This is a really important skill but it’s one that really frustrates a lot of people. But you’re going to need to take your riding to the very next level. First This is how to pick up your back wheel.
Bunny Hop
The bunny hop is the hardest and most important part. It’s key for riding light on the bike and not smashing the rear wheel.
And it’s what you need to ride technical terrain as fast as possible. Elevating your wheels will let you ride harder trails. Lastly, it’s key for jumping properly.
There are two ways of doing this, though both work but one is better than the other and it’s going to help you the most when it comes to getting really good at riding.
The first method is to pick up your feet and this is clipped in your feet. If you pull with the feet, the pedals follow, and hey presto the wheel comes off the ground.
You might have lifted the rear wheel but your weight is now directly above it. Land that rear tire on a sloppy route and it could be a disaster.
Also, a good manual will have your body weight on the rear of the bike. Heels down, bum over the rear tire. That’s the perfect position to then launch the rear wheel lift.
For better bunny hop performances who love beach biking, they need the best beach cruiser.
Jumping
Lastly, when it comes to jumping, it’s really going to limit how good you are. Once you pick up the rear wheel and run out of room, your rear tire almost hits your bum, that’s all the height you’re going to get.
You come up short, you’re stuffed. Check out this video from Matt in Australia, he sent this in to correct me if I’m wrong and he asked about trying to make more height on the jump as well.
Keep watching Matt, hopefully, we’re going to help you out. Right, so let’s look at the better way, and hopefully, I can give you a couple of hacks to make that magic happen.
Ditch the clips. You’ll probably find it really hard to unlearn this skill and get this right if you’ve always done it on clips. So, switch only if it’s even for practice.
This method is all about using your body weight to lift the rear wheel. That’s the important part and helps a lot if you have the manual dialed first. Cause gets this and boom, your hops are sorted.
But why do I think this isn’t the best way? Because you need to handle the rear wheel a bit. You’re going to run out of a bend in the legs and then that’s it.
But wait, let’s not rush ahead and try and get the manual well then, the rear wheel lift just let. Slow down grasshopper! Okay, have you got grippy shoes and pedals? Check.
Is your seat as low as it will go? Check. Are you ready to change the way you ride forever? Check.
Roll along nice and slow, make sure your feet are in a nice spot on the pedals, ball of the foot, above the axle of your pedals, or just in front. Now lower your bum down to the rear tires low as you can get it.
You should be stretched out with your arms straight. Now slowly go up and forward to your normal ready position, but then keep going until slightly toe-down and your hips care coming up near the bars.
Don’t go crazy, you don’t want to be smashing the bars. Repeat this slowly until it feels normal. Now you need to bring in the pedal scoop. As you move up, you’d scrape back against your pedals with your feet.
Pull down and into the pedals and then back underneath you. Big movement, down and back to up and forward. This is going to take practice by itself for a while.
When you’ve got it dialed then throw in the manual and boom that’s a proper bunny hop. With a bit more practice you’ll be hitting tech trails and big jumps and feeling comfortable.
Conclusion
If there’s anything else you need to know a little bit about trying to unlock your skills. It’ll be well worth trying to practice this, it will really change your ride.
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