BMX - Good feeling.

Hey everyone, I started a thread here called "Tips for bunnyhopping" or something like that, asking for, well, obviosly tips for bunnyhops! Well anyway I've been practicing back lifts (where you point your toes and press backwards against the pedals and pull up with you hamstrings) and manuals for about two weeks, and I hadn't tried putting them together. Well on saturday after I had gotten used to my new Monster cranks (wich by the way are extremely awesome!) just out of curiosity I tried to bunnyhop, and to my big astonishment I actually did my very first bunnyhop! On the next day my dad came out to watch me for awhile, and then he asked me to do a bunnyhop. So he got two cinder blocks, and a peice of plastic tubing and layed it across the two cinder blocks for a little bunnyhop stand. Well first I tried it at two inches... cleared it easily. Next at three... no problem. After that, four and a half inches, and after a few tries I cleared it!! It feels so good to see your hard (and sometimes frustrating) practice pay off, and I'm so happy I can finally do a bunnyhop! Now I know that four and a half inches isn't going to get me very far, but it's a great start, especially since it was my very first day trying to clear something. Now all I need to do since I've gotten the feeling is just practice practice practice!! Thanks alot to everyone here who offered their tips and encouragement, it was really nice.


PS: Does anyone have any tips on how to land back wheel first, or is it nessecary? I didn't think that it was since I'm only four or so inches off of the ground, but I wasn't sure. Thanks!

yeah dude i've been bikin for about 6 years now i've gotten soo much better since then i can j-hop about 3 feet now (similiar to a bunnyhop if you didnt know) just lean back and feather the brakes a little bit on the landing and the key is practice and DO NOT GIVE UP send me an e-mail to keep me updated @ dubescalade03@aol.com later bro keep on truckin!

yeah dude i've been bikin for about 6 years now i've gotten soo much better since then i can j-hop about 3 feet now (similiar to a bunnyhop if you didnt know) just lean back and feather the brakes a little bit on the landing and the key is practice and DO NOT GIVE UP send me an e-mail to keep me updated @ dubescalade03@aol.com later bro keep on truckin!


Thanks man, your words are encouraging! I am going to keep practicing, and I'll try my best not to give up! I might keep you updated here though, instead of email. If that is ok. I just prefer boards, they're quicker! Thanks.

yea practice is key. Try J-hopping (ollie) u might jump higher. But 4 in is pretty good - with that height u can grind (feeble) low chairs and what not. I was always afraid to grind until on day i wore my helmet, and that gave me confidence (plus i was at a skatepark) GL guys

yea practice is key. Try J-hopping (ollie) u might jump higher. But 4 in is pretty good - with that height u can grind (feeble) low chairs and what not. I was always afraid to grind until on day i wore my helmet, and that gave me confidence (plus i was at a skatepark) GL guys


Thanks man for the encouragment! And what is the J-hopping stuff? How do you do one? Because the way I do bunnyhops, kind of sounds like J-hopping. I lift the front wheel off of the ground. Then I point my toes and press against the pedals. And then I lift up with my hamstrings. (Kind of like leg curls when lifting weights) Then I *try* and get it even in the air. I usually can't wich results in the front wheel touching the ground first, but it gets me over stuff, so I'm happy! ;) Well anyway, thanks much!

I've said this time and time again: it's a nollie, not a j-hop or a bronco. And for a nollie, you lift your back end up first and then your front end.

I've said this time and time again: it's a nollie, not a j-hop or a bronco. And for a nollie, you lift your back end up first and then your front end.

How in the world do you do that? And isn't it harder to clear things if you use that method?

It's harder to get higher, yes, but it's not ridiculously difficult, either.

I've said this time and time again: it's a nollie, not a j-hop or a bronco. And for a nollie, you lift your back end up first and then your front end.
Dude, come on - You know they are talking about regular bunnyhops. The J-Hop, Bronco, Californian, etc., are all different names for the EXACT SAME F'N trick!

It's called a bunnyhop.

A nollie is a bunnyhop where you lift the rear wheel first then the front, and is way above 99% of these guys heads right now considering they can't do regular bunnyhops more than a few inches, and the few that do, still call them BRONCOS.

Cripes - bunnyhops people.

Oh, and fakies are when you land a trick backwards, when you roll backwards it's called a rollback, not riding fakie. :)

Actually, most of the time when I hear "bronco" or "j-hop", it's in reference to a nollie. And here's the reasoning that's always given: "like, when a bunny hops it jumps with it's back feet, but when a bronco bucks if kicks its back feet up". Granted, it's in different words 99.99[...]% of the time, but that's the basic explanation.

I know what you mean... but really, they more likely are talking about regular bunnyhops. Front wheel first, then the rear wheel. They just don't call them bunnyhops. The two most common terms are bronco and j-hop and neither of them that I have EVER heard have been in reference to nollies.

I think that people finally get told that the bunnyhop is front wheel, then back wheel, but they still have the term 'bronco' floating around in their head so it has GOTTA mean something right? Wrong! It is just what 5 year olds started calling the correct way to do a bunnyhop and then when they found out the term was wrong, they start applying it to something else.

Meh, kids. ;)

I know what you mean... but really, they more likely are talking about regular bunnyhops. Front wheel first, then the rear wheel. They just don't call them bunnyhops. The two most common terms are bronco and j-hop and neither of them that I have EVER heard have been in reference to nollies.

I think that people finally get told that the bunnyhop is front wheel, then back wheel, but they still have the term 'bronco' floating around in their head so it has GOTTA mean something right? Wrong! It is just what 5 year olds started calling the correct way to do a bunnyhop and then when they found out the term was wrong, they start applying it to something else.

Meh, kids. ;)


I've always called a bunnyhop a bunnyhop, because that is what it is! Until now I hadn't even heard of a J-hop or bronco. But they do sound more advanced. I still think you could probably bunnyhop higher the nollieing or whatever it's called, but that is from my perspective. But anyways thanks for clearing it up guys. Oh and by the way, how do you get your back wheel off of the ground that high? Do you do back lifts, or nose manuals or what? I'm just curious about how in the world you'd get it high enough to clear bigger objects.

The way to get height is all about practice. Once you have the basic bunnyhop technique down the correct way, then you work it so that it is second nature to do it properly.

Once it really is second nature, you start to push the trick. You learn that your bike can go higher if you tuck your body up. Don't just jump and lift the rear wheel with your legs fairly straight, but continue to lift your legs and pull your arms up towards your body. You can tuck your body a good foot or more and if you would typically have a two foot bunnyhop, that gives you an extra 12 inches of clearance.

Seriously though, it is about small progression. If you are serious about getting more height, then you can build a bunnyhop bar (couple of nails between 2 measuring sticks with a broom handle between) and work on clearing it. Then chart your height over the next YEAR. Not month, or months - but a full year.

After the first foot or two, things can get a lot harder with bunnyhops and progession really slows down, but if you continually work at it, you will get higher all the time.

i dont think it will take him a year to get a higher bunnyhop.i started riding about this time one year ago.i can hop about 2 1/2 to 3ft high. he shold try to manual some benches when he can bunnyhop higher

The way to get height is all about practice. Once you have the basic bunnyhop technique down the correct way, then you work it so that it is second nature to do it properly.

Once it really is second nature, you start to push the trick. You learn that your bike can go higher if you tuck your body up. Don't just jump and lift the rear wheel with your legs fairly straight, but continue to lift your legs and pull your arms up towards your body. You can tuck your body a good foot or more and if you would typically have a two foot bunnyhop, that gives you an extra 12 inches of clearance.

Seriously though, it is about small progression. If you are serious about getting more height, then you can build a bunnyhop bar (couple of nails between 2 measuring sticks with a broom handle between) and work on clearing it. Then chart your height over the next YEAR. Not month, or months - but a full year.

After the first foot or two, things can get a lot harder with bunnyhops and progession really slows down, but if you continually work at it, you will get higher all the time.


That, is very helpful BMXTRIX, thank you very much for your tips. I do want to try and get higher, and whenever I ride my bike, I practice bunnyhops. Now that's not the only trick I practice, but I do try and clear things, and BH off of stuff. But really, thank you for you encouragment and tips, they mean alot! Now if only it would stop raining here.... :(

i dont think it will take him a year to get a higher bunnyhop.i started riding about this time one year ago.i can hop about 2 1/2 to 3ft high. he shold try to manual some benches when he can bunnyhop higher


Thank you queensrider! I don't know if I will be able to progress as fast as you did, but thank you so very much for the encouragment! You don't know how much all of you guy's encouragment means to me! And by the way, what do you mean manual some benches? Would that lead to a trick or something? I'm sorry, I just don't know what you mean exactly.

bunnyhop to manual. just for practice.

bunnyhop to manual. just for practice.


Ohhhh, I see! It sounds hard though. But I won't let that set me back! Thanks for the idea.

Like this:
http://jonbuder.com/videos/ryan_leech_manual.wmv

Only on a bench. If you can do it that high and that far, sweet, if not, practice :P


Clip is from 'The Collective'.

I hate when people hear that I call "bunnyhops" pro hops they think I am some stupid idiot that doesn't know crapabout biking. In my town I am the 1 of 3 bikers so we don't realy care or realize what we call it we just say it, bunny hop or pro hop doesn't matter. After this one older kid from out of town started talking **** becasue I call them pro hops I decided to show him up with a 360 tail tap to manual 180 out on flat. After that he didn't seem to care what I called them.