[Closed] people who can't wheelie/jump/other tricky skills...

I reckon it's got something to do with the [i]way[/i] you ride changing.

When I was a kid (even up to uni) I could bunnyhop on flats, manual, whatever.

Now I'm not as good at this kind of riding, but I'm loads fitter and faster.

When I was younger I'd go for short rides and session bits, now I go out on my roadbike or for long MTB rides. Just different I guess.

Or maybe mountain biking is becoming golf and people don't have those skills, just Audis and Santa Cruzs?

says its vital for xc

By this time some of you will have forgotten that I said bunnyhops weren't [i]as[/i] important, not [i]un[/i]important. You can get by without, but you can't really improve at all if you keep looking at the ground for stuff to jump over that doesn't even need jumping over.

When i was a lot younger in the mid 60s i could wheelie for miles and do bunnyhops with ease and that was on a cycle speedway bike with no brakes.
Now i find both skills very difficult to master so i am considering a skills school day.If it was in me in the 60s it must still be there(perhaps)

Is it just me that can't tolerate Doddy in anyway whatsoever!

I spotted him in the Drop Off Cafe, Afan, posing with a copy of MBUK with him on the cover, what a prize plumb!

I can't, I'm as quick as many and faster than some down a lot of trails though! Fitness will get you a fair way 🙂

anyways, getting off topic a bit.

some interesting responses about having skills and losing them, losing nerve or being too old to pick them up in the first place(!).

i'm just always amazed that people either don't have such skills - and i'm not really talking about wheelieing here as the practical use of that is limited - when they wish they did.

and i still disagree with people who say being able to bunnyhop isn't essential, from my own experience. not for speed or comfort reasons, necessarily, either.

In the eighties I was a pretty reasonable BMXer, Could bunnyhop over an upright bike, now and again landed a 720 off jumps, reasonably flowy if-a bit dabby flatlander too, but even then I couldn't pull a controlled (forward) wheelie for more than a few metres.
If anything my wheelieing mojo has got worse with age.

I can't speak for the other ladies on STW but I'm only just learning these skills.
I think the men learn't tp cycle at an early age and progressed through riding a BMX or a similar bike as a boy, whereas all the women I know, learn to ride then maybe took up horse riding (me), or discovered boys, handbags, shoes, shopping etc. This left a big gap before discovering mtbing and realising that I'd lost out on years of skills.

Finding it hard though.

In response to the OP.. this is where I fear the expression 'it's like riding a bike' fails slightly.. when I was a lot younger I could wheelie all round the town if the wind was right.. and bunnyhop and jump.. (and had some pretty mean flatland BMX skills too..) and I could walk on my hands and a few other highly skilled things.. but there is a theory that if you don't practice these things very regularly you will lose the skill slightly... and if you have 5.. 10.. 15 years off for whatever reason then you may lose the skill completely..

I still dream about those wheelies and static 360 bunnyhops inexplicably at night.. but if I try it now I just strain ligaments and pull muscles.. and fall over

I'm dreading the next time someone puts a unicycle in front of me

and i still disagree with people who say being able to bunnyhop isn't essential, from my own experience. not for speed or comfort reasons, necessarily, either.

I think the men learn't tp cycle at an early age and progressed through riding a BMX or a similar bike as a boy, whereas all the women I know, learn to ride then maybe took up horse riding (me), or discovered boys, handbags, shoes, shopping etc.

Well, I don't have the excuse of years of non-riding. I learnt to ride when I was small and have never had an extended time off the bike. But as a kid (i guess age 8 or 9) skills that were important to learn were jumping off curbs and riding with no hands, I can still do these things 🙂 Once I got older I was just into riding not practising tricks in the street. Don't miss having these skills either.

Don't understand why you'd want to bunnyhop over speed bumps, surely hitting them at speed and jumping off the other side is more fun?

I've wondered about the OP's question before. Even riding to school as a kid I played around doing stoppies, wheelies and bunny hops on my Apollo*.

* Does that make me a chav?

Rode push bikes up until I was 17 and then switched to motorbikes.Had themuntil my late 30s.Enjoyed Trail riding and enduros towards the end of my motorbike career.Started mountain biking in my early forties
Never been able to wheelie,or any other skillz. I get up hills ok,got better at going down the other side
When I read the "How to" section in the mags,I'm totally confused...dropping your hips??? When riding roots,I either steam through the section on the 575,or pick a line on the P7. I just stay loose.....not sure it would work with a dead badger though.

I have ridden mtbs for 25 years and have never done any trick stuff at all .Probably cos as a kid I was told to treat bikes as a vehicle and not a toy to trash.As I was 20+when I started mtbing I was also to old for prattimg about like a kid!!

The first bunnyhop i saw was the lad around the corner on some californian something or other. he held the grips with his hands upside down and was managing to lift the back wheel off the ground.. then he got both wheels off the ground together.I was so amazed at this.this all happened about 29 years ago now fs.

I've been riding street bmx since I was 13, which was 14 years ago now. In all that time, I've never ridden dirt, and very rarely ramp, so I've never really had a need to learn to ride dirt jumps. I kinda wish I had now, as I'm no longer bmxing, I've a mountain bike instead.

and i still disagree with people who say being able to bunnyhop isn't essential, from my own experience. not for speed or comfort reasons, necessarily, either.

Well that, in itself, is a stupid statement to make. There are thousands of MTBers that can't bunnyhop but manage to ride just fine, so it can't really be essential can it. Or is it not MTBing if you can't hop?

being able to wheelie for ages is a car park skill as is track standing for more than a few seconds.

I've been riding mtbs since 1989 and was riding my bmx in the woods before that. Never been able to do a proper wheelie or bunny hop. I just have no coordination.

I could do things on my BMX when I was twelve (10 bricker jumps over 7 kids) that I wouldn't dare do now.

age = realising own mortality

When I was a 16 yr old mountain biker I was a much gutsier better rider than the 30+ year old I am now.

I did break my jaw falling off when I was 14, now I don't even go fast enough to fall off 🙂

I can still wheelie, and bunnyhop.

Walking back from a pub I saw some kids on a skateboard. Now back in the day I wasn't too bad. Asked for a go thinking I'd show them a thing or two. WARNING!!!! you may never forget how to ride a bike but this does not apply to skateboards. Few pushes a quick turn and about to ollie on to a kerb slide and I'm flat on my arse with kids laughing at me! Lesson taught

Simple rule of life as you get older you get crapper

the abilty to unwieght a bike at either end is a fantastic technique to learn

jedi - Member

the abilty to unwieght a bike at either end is a fantastic technique to learn

I can unwieght it at both ends simultaneously, i call this trick.....

'falling off'

🙂

Bunnyhopping is a lot harder when you have luggage front and rear.

[img] [/img]

Or does this not qualify as MTB-ing?

bike - check!

Mountain - check!

Yeah - I'd say its MTBing

😉

lyons - Member
The thing that baffles me is how do people ride off road without being able to bunnyhop?

We used to skateboard with a guy who was really good at BMX. Often he'd loan us his bike in return for use of a board so when I was about 13 I could easily wheelie, bunnyhop and even do the odd trick (bar spins out of kickers, grinds on rails etc). Now I can't and would hospitalise myself trying I think.

coffeeking - Member

and i still disagree with people who say being able to bunnyhop isn't essential, from my own experience. not for speed or comfort reasons, necessarily, either.

Well that, in itself, is a stupid statement to make.

saying i disagree with something is as stupid statement to make? i better keep an eye on that...

glenp - Member
How can you disagree? Lots of people have come on here, who all go and enjoy mountain biking and don't regard it as essential.

i probably disagree coming from a position of already being able to do it. but having got my 28 year old friend riding offroad for the first time recently he learnt in a day, while my dad who's about to turn 60 recently went for a 20 mile mtb ride with me and he got me to teach him on the way round as well.

i imagine the people who can hippity hop already see it as essential, those who can't would do if they could.

Started mtb'ing in my mid-30's which probably explains why I have never learnt any of the "basic" skills - in fact I don't even know what they are, never mind able to do them! I would probably regard them as near-essential if I could do them, but remain in blissful ignorance.... Never come across a video on the net either of the more basic skills and how to do them.

i imagine the people who can hippity hop already see it as essential, those who can't would do if they could.

Nope. I can bunny hop. I hardly ever use it out on the trails, I don't see it as an essential skill at all, I have been riding offroad since the 70s.

Most of the bunnyhopping I do is to amuse myself when commmuting

ononeorange - Member

Never come across a video on the net either of the more basic skills and how to do them.

[url=

to bunnyhop[/url]

get involved 🙂

you can ride off road with the ability to hop and you ride off road without it. As long as you smile it matters not.

if you cant do something ,that can be sorted. if you won't, that is another thing altogether

I suppose it depends on how you view the trail. I look for stuff I can enjoy and pushes my comfort zone while enjoying my surroundings, where as I get the impression a few people are content with just enjoying the surrounding and getting some exercise.

As the Thai's would say "Same same but different" It's all good!

Thanks theflatboy. I'll have a look when I get home from work.

Good job!

saying i disagree with something is as stupid statement to make?

Disagree all you like, doesn't stop it being stupid. Your disagreement was suggesting you thought it was impossible to MTB without bunnyhopping skills [i.e. essential], which has been completely and utterly disproven. Disagreeing with something that has been emphatically proven is bordering on insanity.

i probably disagree coming from a position of already being able to do it

I can already do it. In fact I've developed sufficienty tricky skills to be able to ride end-on at a picnic bench, hop up, spin 180, hop on the rear and gap jump to the next. But I don't use it [bunnyhopping] offroad very frequently. As with TJ, it's more of a fun thing when I fancy, rather than required.

coffeeking - Member

saying i disagree with something is as stupid statement to make?

Disagree all you like, doesn't stop it being stupid. Your disagreement was suggesting you thought it was impossible to MTB without bunnyhopping skills [i.e. essential], which has been completely and utterly disproven.

wow, it gets better and better - good to have different view points, eh? and i obviously missed the bit where it was "completely and utterly disproven"! 😆

ononeorange - no probs, mate - that's the same vid my friend used, though i imagine they're all pretty similar, and he was hopping all over the place in a few hours practice.

🙂 The bit where it was disproven was the point where many people pointed out that they MTB without using bunnyhops. It's not a viewpoint thing, its right or wrong. Some people don't bunnyhop while MTBing, so it isnt *essential*. Simple as that! You might like it, you might use it, but it's not essential. A bike is essential for MTBing. The ability to pedal helps and could be argued to be essential, but hopping isn't.

ah i see. yes, i accept you can go riding offroad without being able to do basic skills such as little hops etc. but we have a different perspective on their importance and value to anything vaguely technical.

Last Friday as I was heading down the last long hill before home after a pleasantly brisk cycle through the woods when a car timidly overtook me. Two minutes later I caught up with the car as it was stopped in the middle of the (singletrack) road with hazard lights on. Approaching with caution I was to find that the lady driver had got out of the car and was moving a dead badger to the side of the road! She must have identified my lack of bunnyhopability in the passing. This actually happened btw!

I too could hop and wheelie in my yoof, but on a break from biking from 16 to 36, the beer seems to have taken its toll!

coffeeking...

you can hop onto a picnic bench table? then 180 and hop onto the next one?

backwards?

As a kid I loved bmx- utterly crap at it and I distinctly remember always hitting my nuts.

Doesnt mean I cant enjoy mountain biking now though does it?

hora - Member

As a kid I loved bmx- utterly crap at it and I distinctly remember always hitting my nuts.

Doesnt mean I cant enjoy mountain biking now though does it?

no, i don't think anyone's said or implied that... 😕

I think I see the problem here - understanding the meaning of the word "[b]essential[/b]".

[i]–adjective
1. absolutely necessary; indispensable[/i]

We actually have a lesson in our starter session which is negotiating a log laying on the track. The point of this exercise is to get trust for the equipment [i]up[/i] and undue respect for the bump [i]down[/i] in the mind of the rider. The purpose being to get them looking through the trail and carrying their flow rather than looking down at the trail looking for stuff that doesn't need anything doing to it.

If there are two bumps (or three, or four) at inconvenient spacing along the singletrack - if your normal MO is to insist on hopping over things you will very often jump over one and into the next. When you could have just ridden over them all and carried you attention through the trail. Not only is bunnyhopping rarely essential, it can actually be a bad thing because you end up never realising that a few tree roots can just be ignored and ridden over.

bigdonx - Member

the lady driver had got out of the car and was moving a dead badger...

She must have identified my lack of bunnyhopability in the passing.

you're confusing bunnyhopping with badgerhopping there. 😀

glenp - Member

I think I see the problem here - understanding the meaning of the word "essential".

not quite. as a different example, a small bridge over a stream with two steps to get onto it.

some would suggest that you could simply stop, carry the bike onto the bridge and carry on. my view would be that that is unacceptably disruptive to the ride so it is essential to learn how to hop neatly onto it and carry on without stopping.

different opinions, as i've already stated. i really wasn't trying to get into an argument about this, either, as you're clearly entitled to your view that i have no interest in changing.