RockiesDad

For the life of me, I can't do any of these for whatever reason. I studied all the Youtube videos and write-up, tried to practice at my local park but still have not mastered any of this. I can get my front wheel to get over a small curb but that's about it. I can't even do this on my mountain bike. I'll blame my platform pedals but in reality I know is my technique.

Doesn't seem physically possible to even get the rear wheel off the ground but somehow I see it done all the time. So what is the secret to perfecting this? More practice???

the sci guy 

your feet need to be attached to the pedals. start there.

Fastfingaz

You might not be holding your lips right ??

dedhed

Always check your quick release before wheelies - don't ask me how I know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhabgvIIXik

Seattle Forrest

Push down on the pedals, then jump up. When your feet are clipped in, the bike will have to come up with you. Good way to avoid a pothole if you can't go around it.

degnaw

With platform pedals, try angling your feet forward - by pulling your feet backwards you can bring your back wheel up with you when you jump.

As far as pulling up your front wheel, it's easier the higher you are on the bars (so not in the drops).

Bunny hopping is just pulling up your front wheel, quickly followed by pulling up your back wheel. Get the individual steps down first before trying them together.

caloso

I pull up on the bars and then pull the rest of the bike up with my feet. I know it's possible to bunnyhop with platforms because I see BMX riders do it, but I certainly can't. I need foot retention.

mrodgers

No, you don't need to be attached to the bike to bunny hop. I've never had clipless and had toe clips on my hybrid since I bought it 2 years ago up until now but never before that on my cheap Walmart mountain bike or all the bikes I had as a kid.

I remember as a kid being able to get some serious air with bunny hopping as well as some good distance with speed. I can't do it like that any more partly because it feels so harsh to do with skinnier tires than a mountain or BMX bike. Probably more likely is trying to jump up in the air with my 240 fat rear end on a bike versus when I was a kid.

badger1

OK, putz that I am (i.e. no innate athletic ability whatsoever), I'll try to help. I cannot and never will be able to wheelie, but I can bunnyhop reasonably well. Learnt when I resumed cycling back in '02 at age 50; it's a useful skill.

1. Empty parking lot or similar; lay a 2x4 or similar on ground.
2. Approach 'obstacle' (no laughter, please) at a decent speed.
3. Stand on pedals, but crouched -- in mtb 'attack' position: pedals at 3/9 o'clock.
4. As you near obstacle (you learn where/when by trial/error), push down on pedals then 'jump' up, unweighting your bike, while first pulling up on the bars then 'lifting' your feet. See 5/6 below.
5. If clipped in (or using clips/straps), no other thought needed. If using platforms (helps if they're pinned) you need also to 'push back' slightly on the pedals as you lift.
6. All this happens quickly; it's the sequence that counts: push down, jump, pull up on bars, lift with feet.
7. You should come off the ground. Better way to think of it: the bike comes up off the ground beneath you.
8. The more force you exert/speed you carry, the higher you come off the ground. Speed is your friend.

Worked for me; didn't take long for the technique to become second nature. As I said, I'm no athlete at all but I can clear anything up to about 7/8 inches or so pretty much without thinking about it, and can hop laterally onto a curb -- that kind of thing. This little skill has come in handy countless times. Believe me, if I can do this anyone can.

OldsCOOL

I never get tired watching this. And they do it on a Colnago.

Darth Lefty 

I've had no trouble lifting the front enough to get up a curb or bunny hopping, but j-hops or manuals or riding a wheelie are probably not in the cards for me, it seems like the balance is too forward and down.

skidder

Who ever said its impossible to do wheelies on a road bike? One of the more entertaining pro riders showing how its done:

FBinNY 

Bunny hopping requires having your feet attached so you can lift the frame by the pedals.

However wheelies can be done with any bike. Watch any BMX or freestyle video and you'll see it in practice. The key is to use a combination of weight shift and acceleration to bring the front wheel up. Motorcyclists do front wheel lifts purely with acceleration, and that's a key element in doing it with your bike, though since bikes are lighter, it can also be done with weight shifting alone.

badger1

Nope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj6ho1-G6tw

FBinNY 

You're right. I should have said that bunny hopping is much easier with feet attached, but can be done without.

badger1

Agreed. No question it's much easier with foot retention (certainly for me!), but the trials guys can do amazing vertical jumps with platforms.

mrodgers

I am amazed at what some folks can do on a bike. I think it was this thread that earlier was posted a video. He took his foot off the pedal at one point for a moment and you could see he was wearing skateboarding shoes, thus no retention.

I can't figure out how to explain how you do a bunny hop without foot retention. I can just do it. You use your core and your arms pulling a certain way on the handlebars to get the rear tire up. You don't use any kind of grippy pedals either. I never had a "good" bike as a kid, just cheap big box store BMX bikes (Huffy, Murry) and after 27 years being off a bike, I was still able to do it when I cleaned up the old Walmart mountain bike in the garage to start riding for exercise. I was playing in the yard with the kids and said, "hey, watch this." I rode at some toys they had in the yard and bunny hopped over them. Hadn't done it in 27 years and I did it no problem with no grip plastic Walmart bike pedals.

I just can't do it as high as I remember doing it as a kid. I don't like how harshly my Giant hits with 32c tires over a mountain bike tire either. I don't do any bunny hopping when I ride, but when I go from the parking lot at the lake up onto the sidewalk to get to the bike trail, I pull the front wheel up first, then pop the rear up on the curb second.

For the record, I can't ride a wheelie for the life of me. I never could even as a kid for more than a few feet.

Darth Lefty 

I think of it as, jump and carry the handlebars up with you. For a bunny hop you keep it level, for a j-hop you pull back to bring the front up first. I'm not good at either of them, I admit it. My Socal skater-dude BIL is far better, having apparently spent his entire adolescence practicing it.

Looigi

Yeah, like your shoes come with you when you jump. You don't think about lifting your shoes up. Similar with the bike.

OldTryGuy

A description from the EARLY days of BMX. In parking lot behind my bike store, 70's-80's, I had speed bumps to slow cars down. Stupid-dumb me would have some BMX team members line up lying down after one of the bumps and we would take turns bunny hopping over them after building up some speed. Both wheels off the ground at the same time before hitting the bump. I stopped at 2 kids + speed bump but the younger guys hopped 5 with ease. They wanted to line up more but I said no.

milkbaby

This is part of the problem for me, I'm just too afraid to loop out and fall on my butt on a wheelie. Technically on a wheelie you can just hit the back brakes when you're almost about to fall over, and it'll shift your weight forward so your front wheel goes down, but I've found out the hard way that you can wait too long... Ouchie.

fietsbob

Cant do it ? then make it illegal so you are not disadvantaged.

https://www.bikeforums.net/cyclocross...nyhopping.html

MattoftheRocks

Being taught to hop:
"You can pop the front up already, right? Yeah, don't worry about that for now. Just ride around working only on popping the back up as high as you can. Make it repeatable. Only after you have the back pop programmed into yer muscles should you start trying to put the two together."

The kid I learned this from was a D, but probably got his parents to get him one of those Dan's Comp bmx instructional vids bitd.

It took me about twelve hours over a week to learn to get a repeatable >3" with my rubber-top-platforms-equipped 70's schwinn 20" 3sp, but that was with a child's spongey brain.

Retention + the ability to do it without retention makes for silly easy hopping. Watching people who can't hop without retention doing it with retention is sometimes pretty funny. I guess I'm a D.

spdracr39

I bunny hop speed bumps all the time.

Leebo

Umm, no. Helpful, not needed though.