Bunny hop photo tutorial (warning: lots o' pics)

[jabberwocky]

Several people have asked me for help learning to bunny hop over the past month or two, so I thought I would put together a quick photo pictorial to help them out.

I apologize for the mediocre image quality, they were captured from a video clip.


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Approach picture. I'm standing with my weight a little bit forward because I am preparing to lift the front tire by throwing my weight back. Note that my pedals are flat, with my favored foot (left) forward. Note also that my seat is slammed as low as it can go; it is very difficult to bunny hop with the seat set at XC height.



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Crouching, preparing to lift the front tire. I am doing this hop about as slowly as I can, so the timing was very important.



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I am starting to lift the front of the bike. I do this by lunging my butt back and letting that sharp movement transfer to the handlebars through my straightened arms. Compared to the previous pic, you can see how I almost pushed the handlebars sharply forward. I don't use the drivetrain at all to lift the front of the bike (my feet are in the same position).



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Weight all the way back, front starting to come up.



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The wheel is still coming up, but note that the handlebars are being pulled closer to my body. Also note that as my weight came forward, my legs remained slightly flexed. This is because as the front wheel comes up, I am going to spring off the back wheel and I need to do so with my legs.



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Now you can see that my legs have straightened and the bike is coming up into the air. The handlebars are very close to my waist, the wheel is up in the air, and I am looking at where I want to land. Also note that I pointed my toes forward to help control the bike in this position. A slight "smearing" motion with your feet helps control the rear of the bike.

[jabberwocky]

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Handlebars as close to my body as possible, bike coming into the air, toes pointed forward, spotting my landing.



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Now I am starting to lift the bike through the handlebars. I always tell people that the bunny hop is mainly upper body, and you can see why. I am essentially lifting the whole bike up into the air with my arms. Compare this picture with the previous one, and you can see I actually didn't jump that high with my legs. The height comes from using your upper body to level the bike out. Seriously, compare my butt to the building in the background: it stays at almost the same height for the rest of the sequence, which indicates I am not going up anymore.



http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/2132/0026qb2.jpg

Jeeze, now I see why my shoulders get so sore when I practice bunny hopping. :) I am using my arms to lift the whole bike. When I do so, it levels the bike out in the air. Note that the front wheel has dropped while the rear wheel came up.



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Completely leveled, about to land. Note where my arms and butt ended up.



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Landed. I timed this one pretty well: you can see that the front wheel almost hit the ledge on the way up, and I landed right on the edge. For the purpose of getting the best video, I was trying to do the hop as slowly as possible.

Thats all folks. Hopefully this will prove helpful to some of you. As always, anyone who wants some hands on experience is welcome to join us on our urban excursions and I would be happy to lend some pointers.

[nocro]

very nice captures and explanations. I've been doing that for a while, but the breakdown definitely helps me to understand what I had learned as habit.

I probably learned some bad habits, too. So revisiting the method should yields improvements.

Thanks.

[piperj]

Seriously, compare my butt to the building in the background:

OK Chris, couldn't let this one go...

Your butt is not as big as the building ;)

But I'll bet they are both rock solid... :eek:

New quote for your sig line... "Does this bike make my butt look as big as a building?"

Seriously, nice tutorial. I only poke fun because I wish I had mad bunny hopping skillz like that.

[rodnreel729]

Wow, awesome pics and explanation. You really can tell from the pics how much of it is shifting your weight and using your upper body. I still have a really hard time getting both wheels more than an inch or two off the ground, I guess I just need to get out and practice it more. Anyway, well done!

[DaveG]

Wow, awesome pics and explanation. You really can tell from the pics how much of it is shifting your weight and using your upper body. I still have a really hard time getting both wheels more than an inch or two off the ground, I guess I just need to get out and practice it more. Anyway, well done!

The problem is, it only happens during a wreck ;)

[GoClipless]

What a great pictorial! Thanks.

You've inspired me to practice. As soon as it stops snowing...arrrgh!

[piperj]

Hey Chris,
OK, so I saw "GoClipless'" name, and it reminded me of question. Since I have never done any freeriding, DH, trials or urban stuff, I have been trying to figure this one out...

Why does everyone ride platforms for these styles of cycling?

I would have figured that if you were bombing downhill, or trying to bunny hop up an obstacle, that it would be beneficial to be clipped in.

What am I missing?

I am just so used to being attached to the bike, it would freak me out to do anything without my clipless pedals...

[Brizn]

Why does everyone ride platforms for these styles of cycling?Lots of body english used in street riding.. a few degrees of float is just not enough. And really, being clipped into a pedal is for stroke efficiency; people don't care about cadence when they're jumping stairs and riding walls! :cool:

[jabberwocky]

OK Chris, couldn't let this one go...

Your butt is not as big as the building ;)I really just wanted everyone to check out my building-sized butt. :D

What a great pictorial! Thanks.Wow, awesome pics and explanation.Thanks for the kind words. :) I'm glad you found it useful.

You really can tell from the pics how much of it is shifting your weight and using your upper body.Even though I know its all about the upper body, it still surprises me to look at the sequence and see just how much is done with the arms and shoulders. My little point and shoot camera does reasonable video, so as I was learning I had my friend Steve shoot videos of me so I could look at them later. Really though, the best way to learn was to watch him (he has a really good bunny hop). It took some work to undo my urge to lift both wheels at the same time, but I could look at him hopping up and over things and see he was almost manualing for a second before hopping.

Why does everyone ride platforms for these styles of cycling?As Brizn said, theres a lot of body english involved. You need to be able to move your feet around on the pedal at will. Also, falls tend to be much more sudden riding street, and the ability to hop off the bike quickly can mean the difference between injury and escaping unscathed.

After riding platforms for a while, I feel just as connected to the bike as I do with clipless. It becomes second nature to control the bike with your upper body as well as your legs. But, as Brizn said, pedal stroke suffers. I can't put down the same amount of power climbing with platforms as I can with clipless, so I doubt I'll ever give up clipless for XC riding.

[urbaindk]

Here's a few notes on riding flats.

Physics lesson: ever action has an equal and opposite reaction.

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/1983/0024bq6.jpg

Notice in this picture Jabberwocky's toes are pointing down at about a 45° angle. His legs are exerting a pressure not only downwards but backwards as well. (x and y components of the vectors and all that physics jazz) His hands are pushing forward a little on the handle bars (not just pulling up). The combination of these two things is effectively locking Jobberwocky to into the bike. He's using a little of the friction from the pins on the pedals and that backwards force to lift the back of the bike up as he hops. That's why you can hop really well on flats.

Keeping your toes pointed down really helps connect you to the bike in other situations as well. If you keep your feet flat on a rocky downhill for instance you will just bounce off the pedals. Pointing them down will keep you connected to the bike giving you more control.

Give it the parking lot test. Try lifting the rear wheel with your feet flat versus lifting with your toes pointed down with a slight push in the bars. You should be able to endo pretty well with out applying any front brake with your toes pointed down.

Another reason urban and free riders use flats is that it makes it really easy to get away from the bike in the likely event of a crash. Learning to ride skinnies clipped in is very very painful. Also on fast downhills it can be nice to have an outrigger as you take a fast corner. More skilled downhill riders my opt for the control given by clips over the safety factor offered by flats. It's really 6 of 1, 12/2 of the other.

[rhizopogon]

Great idea to use the video cam! Thanks for all the effort it no doubt took to produce the tutorial. This will be a great thread to reference in the future.

Also, I would like to point out that the maneuver in your tutorial is referred to by many as a "j-hop," because your front wheel leaves the ground first. In the same lingo, "bunny-hop" specifically means that both wheels leave the ground at the same time and remain basically level for the entire hop.

Each one has different applications, and I should mention j-hopping stuff at high speed can be very dangerous!

[jabberwocky]

Notice in this picture Jabberwocky's toes are pointing down at about a 45° angle. His legs are exerting a pressure not only downwards but backwards as well. (x and y components of the vectors and all that physics jazz) His hands are pushing forward a little on the handle bars (not just pulling up). The combination of these two things is effectively locking Jobberwocky to into the bike. He's using a little of the friction from the pins on the pedals and that backwards force to lift the back of the bike up as he hops. That's why you can hop really well on flats. .This is what I meant by using a "smearing" motion, but urbaiandk did a much better job explaining it than I did. The motion with your feet feels a lot like you are scraping some mud off your shoe on the edge of a curb: you point your toes down and push down while pulling back.

Great idea to use the video cam! Thanks for all the effort it no doubt took to produce the tutorial. This will be a great thread to reference in the future.Thanks! I actually used my little Canon point and shoot camera (SD300). It has a mediocre video function. I'm glad people are finding the tutorial useful.

Also, I would like to point out that the maneuver in your tutorial is referred to by many as a "j-hop," because your front wheel leaves the ground first. In the same lingo, "bunny-hop" specifically means that both wheels leave the ground at the same time and remain basically level for the entire hop.I have heard this argument (j-hop versus bunny hop) before. For what its worth, I skateboarded for a loooong time and over the years I rode with a lot of BMX guys, and I've never heard it referred to as anything other than a bunny-hop. The term "j-hop" seems to be confined to mountainbiking.

But whatever you call it, its a pretty useful skill to know. :)

[urbaindk]

For what its worth, I skateboarded for a loooong time and over the years I rode with a lot of BMX guys, and I've never heard it referred to as anything other than a bunny-hop. The term "j-hop" seems to be confined to mountainbiking.

But whatever you call it, its a pretty useful skill to know. :)

I've always heard it in terms of MTB trials. It seems to be interchangable. American bunny hop = j-hop. Who cares really.

http://www.trials-online.com/the-videos.php <- fun stuff and very frustrating for the underskilled, i.e. me.