Originally Posted by
staehpj1
It is harder, but not impossible with a loaded bike. At the very least you can manage to take most of the impact off even with a heavy load. I have managed to hop stuff even with a fully loaded bike. It is one of those skills that I am better at when I actually need it and don't have time to think about it than when I am doing it for the fun of it.
I agree. I too have at least lessened the impact of a sudden hole that I cant avoid, by putting all into at least lightening the bike as much as I can.
and as you say, we have usually a half second or whatever to just do it...another reason thats its good to play around with bunny hopping and other avoidance manoeuvres like emergency braking, makes it more instinctual--this is the basis behind motorcycle defensive riding and practice practice practice, same with bikes push bikes...