[Closed] Who can do a proper bunnyhop?

me

I can do it but I wouldn't say that it's a remotely essential trail skill. Nice to have maybe but especially with SPDs, not necessary (I know it might make you ride some stuff 'better' but that's not 'essential').

I can do them - big ones + little ones + even sideways ones.

It might not be essential for trail centres but for "real life" riding I reckon it is. Keeps the flow going far better.

Relying on SPDs is very risky - I once released mid air and came down on the top tube very hard. I had been lazy and not hopped properly. It really hurt.

I wish - it's one of those moves that I know if I could crack it my riding enjoyment would quadruple overnight.

Yup... I'm like Jez Avery in Getta Grip jumping over min trees. 😆

as was argued at length, i think it's fundamental too!

i realised since that loooooooong discussion that the focus there was on jumping over objects, eg. steps, rocks etc. i feel it ignored the more frequently used skill, especially given the state of the roads after winter, of jumping over the absence of things, ie. potholes, ditches and ruts. often instinctively. the benefit to comfort and cosseting one's bike is immeasurable.

yes but only a little ones so I couldn't hop a DH bike beyond the sag

easy peasy

I can, the one though that gets me is the manual, I wish I could properly manual - Nearly came a croper the other night and I had thought if I'd manualled between those two bumps it wouldn't have been so bad. Yeah I can pull the front wheel up and using my speed get through a puddle but it's the longer cool looking one I can't do - lol

I could do a proper bunny hop when I was younger. I then had a reasonably complicated injury from football which took me a couple of years to get over. I then went and to live in london and didnt have as much time to practise and now I can barely bunnyhop at all.

In fact now if I learn a new skill now adays I find 6 months down the road I have to learn to do it again.

Jez Avery....forgotten about him.
Of course it's essential to bunny hop, i try to hit up everything i can on our trails and make a beeline for any fallen tree's and stuff...for me it's what it's all about especially if like me your not local to any sort of trail centre so you make the most out of any feature you find...plus i had to hop a jack Russell one time.
Still cant quite hop to manual like the whipper snappers at the bus station do...

Surf-Mat - Member
It might not be essential for trail centres but for "real life" riding I reckon it is. Keeps the flow going far better.

Of course it's not. Most people can't do it and yet manage to ride 'real life' trails just fine. Nice but not essential.

Relying on SPDs is very risky - I once released mid air and came down on the top tube very hard

Flat pedal riders (who know how to bunny hop properly - plenty actually can't) never lose their footing/cock up a jump? seriously?

Once again, it's useful/good/nice to know how but not even close to essential.

Here we go again.

Apparently most people aren't mountain biking, because they lack this "essential" trick.

I am probably lacking in the ability to do all of the 'fundamental' bike skills like manuals/trackstands/bunny hops.

Don't really care though. I would like to be able to do them, but I don't have the time to actually ride my bike enough, let alone take it to the local park & spend all day practicing to hop over things.

And I get around places OK, ride down stuff, up stuff, over stuff, fall off, don't fall off......it would be nice to have some more bike control, but hey ho.

I'd say 2 feet high bunny hops is well and truly into trials territory.

But I agree, bunny hops are a good skill to have. And I wish I could manual for more than a few feet too

hey I have problem pedaling, bunnyhopping? Don't see enough wabbits..

can hop about that much on my bmx, find it harder on my ventana cause it's so much bigger and heavier
but yeah, I can hop
I can 180 hop too, barspin hops are getting there
tailwhip bunnyhops are 3/4 there ha

I hoped about 2.5 foot on Sunday:-) aiming for bmx hanlebar height now...

Oh I have landed a few no foot hops as well, but not allways, and can do 180s, all on the bmx.

Cool. Thanks for that.

lyons, you should be able to transfer those to your mtb pretty easily
although no foot hops look horendously gay on an mtb.

on a HT probably 1 foot with flats, 18 inch+ with spds but my own ego maybe inflating those figures 🙄

OTOH I find my Stinky almost impossible to get off the ground at all though, the suspension just releases its sag

Bunny hops are gay....

[i]This is a max wicked sick BMX. It's a Reliance Boomerang and it's done heaps of maximum extreme stunts. I have mostly done stunts on this bike since forever. Once I did a boom gnarly stunt trick on it and a girl got pregnant just by watching my extremeness to the maxxxx. Some details about sickmax BMX: Comes with everything you see including: TOPS AS SUSPENSION REAR FORKS!! 2 x wheels 1 x seat I will even thrown my sick BMXing name for FREE - Wicked Styx. Has minor surface rust on handlebars and front forks (easily removed). More rust on rear forks (as shown in pics). Tyres hold air but are pretty old. Basically, it's an old BMX, but it's radness is still 100% in tact. Tricks I have done on this BMX: Endos - 234. Sick Wheelies - 687. Skids - 143,000. Bunny Hops - 2 (Bunny Hops are gay and my brother dared me to do them, which I did because I'm Rad to the power of Sick). Flipouts - 28. Basically if you buy this bike you will instantly become a member to every club that was ever invented, worldwide, because you will be awesome. Pick up from Richmond in Melbourne. Throw your hands in the air like you just don't mind.[/i]

2 feet with the seat up? not a chance.

Haven't ridden a BMX for many years - would probably just fall off one now -but that's what I learned to bunny hop on properly. They certainly make it easier.

Clubber - so what else isn't essential? Removal of stabilisers? Being able to change gear? Yes flat pedal riders lose their footing but because they aren't pulling up on their SPDs, they are more balanced. I'm detecting defensiveness and I'm going to exploit it... 😉

Just like an ollie is essential in skating and a solid cutback is essential in surfing, I still believe a bunny hop is essential in MTBing.

18" comfortably on spds, between 6" and 1' on flats depending how much I've been using them recently.

The "getting over logs" bit is rarely used - using the "shape" of the hop - that I'm doing all the time pumping down into hollows, going light over roots, rough bits etc.

NOT doing that would rely far more on the bike doing the work, rather than me.

the suspension just releases its sag

You have to time it very differently on a full sus - load it up (bottom it out) and then use the rebound to help the jump rather than letting the sag hinder it.

SM - it's not essential, no matter how much you may try to stir 😉

Like I said, I can do it just fine, thanks 😉

Yep - preload the suspension and it gives you a boost - you can do similar on a HT too with the forks - just gives a bit more spring.

You have to time it very differently on a full sus - load it up (bottom it out) and then use the rebound to help the jump rather than letting the sag hinder it.

yeah, I'm sure you're right. But I'm 40 and if I practice these things out teh back of my house then the local kids point and laugh at me

bluebird - Member

I'd say 2 feet high bunny hops is well and truly into trials territory.

But I agree, bunny hops are a good skill to have. And I wish I could manual for more than a few feet too

Agreed, 2' is a big hop but I think he must be talking about a internet 2' bunny hop.

For me personally it depends on the bike I'm on, BMX a good sized hop easy, my current MTB 10" at a guess would be a very good hop for me, higher saddle and stretched out position. Flats vs spd makes no difference. You can't compare hopping a jump bike with hopping a cross country bike to hopping a DH rig. I had a go on a BMW frame once just down the street and could bare left the front wheel much more than curb height!

In fact, now I think about it, one of the best riders I know can't do it (well, he's never learnt to do it without SPDs but no doubt could if he spent a bit of time to learn) but would almost certainly drop most people on here on any technical descent so it's clearly not essential to him 🙂

I used to hop the kids in my street... they thought it was essential.. 🙂

non of that sounds right does it!!!!

yeah, I'm sure you're right. But I'm 40 and if I practice these things out teh back of my house then the local kids point and laugh at me

So very true. It's like trying to remember how to skateboard (could once do it okay now definitely pretty dire) and looking very daft!

43 and took my longboard into the skatepark the other day, it didnt scare me as much as it did in 1976.. (I was with son btw)

most of the folks we coach start off by "bunny hopping" by simply leaping upwards and relying on their grip on the bars and their feet in the spd's to pull the bike up with them.

it's not that hard to master a smooth hop but the biggest problem is usually getting riders to change from pulling to pushing, so that you get a smooth pumped manual for the front wheel to come up followed by either a pumped, pushed or hooked back wheel lift.

that sounds complicated, but it's all progressive stuff and its just about breaking it down. i've taught it to 6 year olds and 60 year olds.

having said all that, i know plenty of great riders here in The Lakes who do some really technical descents off big mountains and they rely more on a smooth manual front lift and just an unweighting of the back end to get through, but that's more on gnarly rocky stuff than log-hops in forests.

Chris@CycleActive

I can hop on flats but i find i need a lot of body movement to gain any real height. So whilst with flats on my little jumpy bike with the saddle down getting 12 - 18" off the ground is doable. On my XC bike with the saddle up using SPD's i would struggle to get up to 6".

So in the real world it is very little use as i rarely ride the little bike on anything except very local rides.

I can bunnyhop fine, I used to be able to ride end-on over a picnic bench on a rigid bike, but I never use such things on the trail.

Does this mean I can't ride my mountain bike anymore as it's supposedly 'essential'?
If that's the case it's a bit of a bummer, as I've not long ago spanked £2k on a Stumpjumper & £300 on an Inbred frame (plus bits to complete the build). Seems like a bit of a waste. I'll also have to cancel my biking holiday to Ciclo Montana in July,my evening ride at Thetford on Thurs & tell my mates that this years 24/12 is off as well as the D2D, unless I get practicing.

I thought the essential bits were things like pedalling, looking where you're going, steering, having fun etc.

going with your son is cheating. go on your own and see how scary it is. 😀

see this was the basis of the argument before - what 'essential' means. 😆

Okay - I'll downgrade it to "pretty damn useful" just to keep the peace... 😉

Could hop quite well, then beer and the ravages of time robbed me of the skill, now slowly getting it back.
It's one of the more useful trail skills but it's not essential, do find it much harder to hop my FS than my little hardtail though, I know compress and wait for the rebound but my head tries to hop normally.