Bunnyhop

BUNNY HOPS

The bunnyhop – when you get your bike airborne without the aid of a ramp – is the most important and beneficial trick you’ll learn, unlocking plenty of possibilities, especially in street and skate park riding. Once you become confident, you can use it to hop over logs, rocks or small obstacles on the trail, hop up curbs and over things on your cycle to work, and even onto benches, while adding barspins and 180 spins once you get it dialled! The bunny hop is best learnt in two separate movements, the first being lifting the front wheel without using your cranks to help (like a wheelie) and the second, lifting your back wheel off the ground (this is called a nose manual). Once you combine these two tricks, it’ll create ‘pop’ – the end result being a bunny hop!

T H R O W Y O U R WEIGHT BACK

Get your body weight back towards the rear wheel (bum over the axle) and, at the same time, push both feet down on the pedals and pull on the handlebar – gently to start with and then harder once you get more confident. Cover the rear brake with one finger and if you feel like you’re going to fall off the back, slam the brake on!

LIFT OFF

Firstly, you’ll need to learn to lift the front wheel. In a flat car park or skate park or on a flat section of trail, coast along at a fast walking speed. Any slower and you’ll have no momentum to pop, which’ll result in a nose dive. You’re aiming for the front wheel to be about 1ft to 1.5ft off the ground. It’s important to get your wheel this high – any lower and it’ll be hard to generate the pop to get off the ground.

G E T T H E B A C K WHEEL UP

Now you can lift the front wheel, it’s time to lift the back wheel. Staying at a fast walking speed, push your weight to the front of the bike, at the same time as pushing your feet back, into the pedals (these will naturally go from horizontal to vertical, so you’ll have something to push against). Doing this will create a pop that’ll lift your back wheel up. It doesn’t matter how high you lift it, as long as it comes off the ground.

P U T I T ALL TOGETHER

It’s now time to link these two tricks together. Throw your weight back, push on the cranks and pull on the bar. Once your front wheel is at the correct height, transfer your weight to the middle of the bike while pushing back into the pedals. At the same time, lift the bike – this’ll create your pop and get you off the ground, completing the bunnyhop. As you come in to land, bend your elbows and knees even more to absorb the impact. Then roll away like a champ!

where to apply

Now you have it dialled, you can apply this trick to all of your riding. The basic motion always stays the same, you just go faster and hop higher or lower depending on the obstacle, which is something you’ll naturally learn to judge. This trick is the base for endless lines and possibilities, which can easily take your riding to the next level!

1. UP A WALL/LEDGE Being able to hop up a wall/ledge while riding street can be so handy – it can unlock new lines and possibilities that you wouldn’t have been able to access before. The more lines and features you can hit, the more fun you’ll have!

2. OUT OF A FLAT BANK Before learning to bunnyhop, a flat bank would’ve been an almost useless object, but now you can use the bank to get extra height! Find a cone or similar object, put it at the top of the bank and try to jump over it. The bank and the use of a bunnyhop will give you extra height that you never had before!

3. TO CLEAR A GAP Gapping down a stair set, a curb-to-curb gap or even off a ledge into a grass bank – bunnyhopping enables you to start trying all of these! When doing this kind of stuff, think of the bunnyhop as being like a portable kicker – it means you can get air anytime, anywhere!

4. TO GAIN EXTRAHEIGHT OUT OF A JUMP You can use the bunnyhop to gain extra height from a lip – as you reach the top of the jump, apply the technique and it’ll send you extra-high compared to normal! Just be wary of your speed, as pulling up means you probably won’t travel as far.