How to....hop? (asking)

[borax]

First off, I would like to say hello to everyone. As you can see I am new to the forums, so I have to get that out of the way. By the way, cool site. Found it while looking at mountain biking stuff in MN.

I am a pretty good biker, well, trail biker. I am fast and can maneuver my body and bike well. I haven't done any races because I haven't had the time, but my times are compariable to the top/mid finishers.
Enough about that, I'm saying that so you know that I can bike, somewhat. But I really want to learn how to hop - meaning hopping on my tires. You know, just hop in place. I especially want to learn how to do it on my back tire. I think it would be awesome to jump between obstacles, nothing advanced now obviously.
I think this is a good place to learn, and I hope you guys (and girls if there are any) can help me out. Any drills or tips are very recommended. Thanks!
-borax

[whitt_travis]

You mean like trials stuff? Hopping on a back tire from one stump to another? I take it that's what ya mean. Got a set of good breaks?

First thing you gotta get down is wheelie balance, I've actually never tried this a whole lot on a mtn bike, but I can pogo for days on a BMX bike with pegs.

When I hop my back tire, I usually just pull up on the front handlebars, while hovered above the seat. On the way up I clamp my back breaks, then quickly shift your body weight upward with help from your handlebars, and pull the rest of your body up with you in a jumping motion.

It's tough to describe. But I can pull off a rear tire hop doing this. I rawk some XT V-brakes... So I don't think I could do any successive hopping. But I imagine with a good pair of disc brakes you could hop around and stick the back tire however you want. I'm sure there's some trials doods that could describe this alot better.

[waitabit]

I can't tell you how to do that, but welcome to MORC.

[borax]

Thanks whitt -- I knew that much, or just about that much. I do have disc brakes, so that helps I think. And thanks for the welcoming wait.

I can bounce a few times, but then I do fall back to riding position.
Between trail and just casual bouncing, it's the same difference as far as technique - as far as I know. But I think it would be fun to learn how to jump from one ledge to another, that type thing. I own a few videos somewhere that people do this, but they do some crazy stuff. I just would like to learn the basics and hopefully be able to bounce and balance for a good amount of time - maybe progress into advanced stuff later.

Hopefully that helps.
-borax

[manual63]

If you can get onto the back tire and hop a few times, that's a good start. To stay up there you need to lean way back to where you are almost flipping over backwards, but you can hop back some to catch your weight if you start going too far back. You might actually fall back a few times, so don't use clipless pedals and shoes to learn, use some BMX platforms or something. By falling back a few times you will find that ideal spot. Once you can hop in place for awhile and keep your balance, I can pretty much go until I am just too tired to hop anymore, then you can go onto the next step, the lunge part.

To lunge forward from you rear wheel, you need to be hopping on your rear wheel with the front wheel pretty high and your weight back. Also, have your pedals parallel to the ground and your chest up over the bars. Your bike should be pretty vertical. The next step happens quite quickly. Stop hopping and let your front wheel start falling forward towards the ground. Let your front pedal come up and click a few clicks, like backpedaling a little. Once the front wheel starts to get close to the ground, have your @ss way over the rear tire, let off your brake and lunge your weight forward while doing a 1/3 or 1/2 pedal forward in a snap type of motion and really hard. Hard enough to get the front wheel to come back up again. As you do this you need to hop up and drive your hips into the stem. You will roll forward a little when you let off the brake and snap the cranks forward, this is what gives you the ability to jump forward from the rear wheel. Keep in mind, once you let off the brakes and lunge forward, it's all super fast. You need to be really aggresive to do this correcty. If you have gears, my Mod trials bike doesn't, make sure you are in a good gear to snap the pedals forward. Not too low, but not too high of a gear.

You can practice on a flat surface and just hop forward over 2x4s or something. Then do them off of curbs and work your way up. To go off a ledge, have your front tire right at the edge before you start. If you get there on your rear wheel, then make sure you have room to get that crank thrust in there without falling off the edge.

Enjoy. I hope this helps you.

[borax]

Thanks manual, I will have to give it a try when it gets a little warmer.

[Tex]

Something I'd recomend is to practice in the grass, if you can. As Shad says you really have to get your weight back there, beyond your comfort level. So if you do go over it's better to fall on your arss in the grass. When I was first learning I found a park that had some larger landscaping rocks in it, they worked great to get your front wheel up on then lean back and hop.

[Beau]

First, how do you know you're close to the top riders if you have never raced? There are a lot of "offroadies" out there that are fast, but can't ride.

Anyway, it's all about balance. This year I just learned how to bounce on the front tire. That's really hard.

I find that clipless pedals make it a lot easier, but many will dis-agree. I still can't lurch though.

To find your balance point, try to put your rear tire and your back against a wall and sit on the seat with your, grab your rear brake, pull you tire up in the air and put your feet on the pedals. It will help you find out where the point is, where you're bike will be and where you need to be.

Riding wheelies will also help.

[borax]

Beau, I think I am close to the top/mid riders because when I compared my times to times from people who raced in timed trials, they were close. I was just saying that so people can respond knowing that I know something about biking. I don't want to start anything, and I know it doesn't mean a lot - only means that I am a decent biker (I know how to ride, but I pay little attention to parts and all of the technical stuff).

Anyways, thanks for that tip Beau, I will use a wall. Once it warms up, I'll respond with my progress so everyone can try to help me more, since I will probably not do so hot. I can wheelie pretty well, but I can't manual. Damn that's not my skill!

[Beau]

I can wheelie for a long time.

This past year, I began to stop pedaling. You have to learn how to feather the brakes, and adjust accordingly. It will come. Once you find that balance point, you will be able to do SO much more, and it helps a lot on fast trails and singletrack.

[Thewavebb]

I found that just going out for a couple hours when you have free time and just mess around. I spent so much time in the parking lot of my dorm just practicing track stands and hopping around. Eventually it will click.

[manual63]

Skill sessions.

I had one last summer and I plan to have some this summer.

What I did was announce a time a place, Leb last summer, and we all got together and gave each other pointers. By doing this, the more skilled riders can give pointers to some of the less skilled riders and everyone gains from it. I gave quite a few pointers and watched people improve right on the spot. Sometimes it just takes someone watching you do something and then they can give you little pointers while you practice. Next thing you know, you bustin' out stuff you never knew you could do.

In the 80's a bunch of my freestyle friends and I would hang out in parking lots. We learned a lot off of each other. I was really good at front wheel hops and other hopping tricks and others where good at the rolling tricks. We gave each other pointers and all of us became really good and well rounded riders. It works....and it works well.

[manual63]

Actually, Chris and I are a good MTBing match. Mostly because we have different skill sets. He has the power, endurance, and climbing skills; while I have the technical skills. We have taught a lot to each other and now we both fly, until we get passed by that guy in tights, then reality starts to sink in.

I am amazed at how much skill Chris has gained the last couple of years. He made a comment about it to me the other day. He is now bunny hopping curb on his single speed with platform pedals.........that rocks!!!!