Benito Ros pulls a massive bunny hop during a warm up session.
To be used as a climbing technique, the bunny hop requires more run up distance than the pedal up because all the momentum of the move is built prior to the vertical action of your jump impulse.The whole move
Janos Boudet lands sharp over the rear wheel.
Find a comfortable cruising speed, building up enough momentum to reach the obstacle after performing what will only be a vertical extension at a distance of the obstacle. Then stop pedalling and lean forward.Pull on those arms...Not so smooth...
1° At moderate speed, stop pedalling and lean forward as you approach the obstacle, crouch on the bike and
compress both tyres.
2° At full compression, spring up with both your arms and legs, with your full weight over the rear hub to lift the front wheel.
3° Finish up your jump impulse, with your arms straight to maintain pressure on the ground, move up on your front pedal.
4° When ready to take-off, fold back from your extension, pull up on the bars and lift the bike in front of you while tucking your knees up.
5° As you lift the bike, maintain the tucked position until the rear wheel hits the obstacle, block the rear brake to a solid stop.
6° The bike tilts forward upon impact with the obstacle, try to stay supple and absorb as much of the impact as possible.
Risky Business?
Benito Ros launches a bunny hop on top of a dirt bump.
The bunny hop is best performed on a smooth predictable surface, with no terrain irregularities or bumpy surprises.
Bump boost and jump kickers
Hannes Herrmann uses a kicker to boost his bunny hop into a full jump.
Jack Carthy tucks his knees and pull the bike up to jump further.
If there is a small bump on your path right before the obstacle, or if the obstacle starts with a small step (like the first step of a stairway), then you can use a double tyre compression effect which will really boost your jump up.Bumping the rear wheel for a boost.
The extra compression from the bump and the rear tyre rebound will send the bike flying up as you tuck. This works very well even on small rocks, roots, small wood logs and obviously on small kerbs and stairways where the first step can be used as a bump (beware of snake bites, that's why you'd want more pressure in your tyres).Bump boost for big jumps
1° Once at moderate speed, stop pedalling and lean forward as you approach the obstacle, crouch on the bike and compress both tyres.
2° Find your marks so as to bump your front tyre first while crouching, then pull the front wheel up (it bounces up so it's easy).
3° Finish up your extension with your arms straight to push on the ground until the rear wheel bumps into that small step.
4° The extra compression from the bump and the rear tyre rebound will send the bike flying up as you tuck your knees up and pull on the bike.
You can bunny hop with minimal run-up distance, stretching synchronised body movement to the limits (then it looks more like a side-hop without he pedal kick).
The next technique would be to roll over the obstacle. Quite safe, this is a true
biketrials technique and it requires very little run-up space (one pedal stroke). And it is a much smoother move, as
you don't need to pull like mad on the handlebars. You don't land on the rear wheel but it's more like rolling up and
stopping once on the obstacle.