Ideal for beam transitions and gap jumps.
An absolute must. With a good kick in the pedals and good synchronisation of body weight shifting, you can leap over a gap from a static position. Very clean to land your rear wheel exactly in place of your front wheel, when there is no room sideways. You can even climb up small stuff. This is my favourite move, for beam transitions. You can stay on the rear wheel for ever.

Five variations of the pedal hop.

Jump over a gap from a rear wheel position with a pedal kick. If you have room for "one pedal turn" or half a pedal turn, and if the ground surface is smooth enough, you can jump over a longer distance, or climb up on small stuff. Pedal hop sideways, over a gap and land either parallel to your initial position, or turning 90º during the pedal kick, land perpendicular to your initial position. Combining the backhop and pedal hop techniques, you can climb sideways. Starting from a static position, with "both wheels on a crest", a pedal kick can bring the rear wheel right in place of the front wheel.

If the surface where the rear wheel stands is too rough for a nice roll, or if the rear wheel is not on a crest, then the pedal hop is not the best option. Because the rear wheel may get stuck by some irregularity (i.e OTB crash with style). Then what you need is to do a static hop, pulling all the bike with you in one impulsion. How to practise the pedal hop It takes a while to control the rear brakes to release the back wheel synchro with the pedal kick, and to block it right for landing sharp...Just practise...At the beginning, try to climb on the edge of a small kerb to feel the move. Also, you can practise starting with the front wheel on a kerb, balancing your body above the rear wheel before the pedal kick, then moving your body forward as you kick the pedal, and sending the bike far forward just after the kick. (the final position will look like the initial balance step, but the rear wheel in place of the front wheel on the kerb)