Been riding for some time, have basic skills I got by reading Lopes and Strickland, now riding with more experienced riders on more difficult trails and find I need to get better beyond basic stuff. What's a good way to learn how to:
Manual -can't get air and can't maintain balance
Hop - bike doesn't go up much more than 1 inch
Make the bike float over rattling downhill sections.
Pump the backside of obstacles?

I ride a rigid rockhopper with new tires.
Would a newer full suspension bike help?

Thanks for any suggestions.

if you can find it there's a skill video by Fabien Barrel that will help a ton. Seriously one of the best instructional vids ive ever seen and he covers everything from the basics to advanced riding techniques. I think somebody posted it on here awhile back so if you do a search you'll probably find it.

Manuals i cant help you still workin on those myself.

Bunny hopping IMO is directly related to upper body strength and technique. How far you can get the front end of the bike up is going to determine how far the back end will come up. Basically your picking the front end of the bike up at the same time while almost jumping and then throwing it forward to get the rear wheel of the ground. Practice makes perfect. Also try bunny hopping off stuff like speed bumps etc it will help to get the timing down.

For rough downhill sections line choice and stance are key. Once you pick a line stick with it and always be looking ahead. As far as stance goes you wanna be low and off the back seat of the bike heels pointed downwards. Also no deathgrip on the bars. Having a somewhat loose grip will help absorb impacts and keep you more fluid though out the decent.

Pumping the backside of obstacles is just that. Basically just pushing off the obstacle as you roll over it giving you more forward inertia. It does take timing. Again practice makes practice makes perfect. After awhile youll be "pumping" off of everything with out even thinking about it.

Having a full suspension bike helps. Especially in rough terrain. But its not 100% necessary. Though i wouldnt ride my local trials without one i always see people shreddin on hardtails. So i guess that one really depends on the rider.

please keep in mind this is just what i have found to work for me others may have a different answer.

I am interested in acquiring skills also.

Can you provide links for the Lopes and Strickland info?

Brian Lopes and Ned Overend both have excellent books on riding MTB. Worth the $ in my opinion.

one way to learn to manual - pull up on your bike until you come off the back. keep doing this, keep pulling up and coming off the back of the bike. eventually you will learn where the balance point is. do this on a forgiving surface.

to make the bike float over rocky sections - speed is important. bend knees and elbows and use them as extra shocks, stay loose, look where you are going and try to pick the smoothest line. this is where a full suspension bike makes it soooooooo much easier.

Thanks all for the great advice. practice practice practice, fall a few times. Gerat advice on learning manuals - down I go!!!
I got grass.
The books are
"Mountain Biking Skills"
and
"Mountain Biking Skills"

check out the local library or amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Moun...4309522&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Magaz...4309522&sr=8-3

there - I did it for you.

To bad you couldn't acquire the skills at Jensens or some other bike shop. Downhill expert- $799.00. XC racer expert- $499.00 (extra lung capacity upgrade add $49.00) BMX Tricks Package.... Sigh we actually have to ride our bikes and learn on our own...

Naw, I love the learning process! I want to get as good on my bike as I am on skis. I can do ANYTHING on skis. I'm a complete klutz on my bike. but biking feels like backcountry skiing in the summer, so I'm stoked to get to the point where things just go by themselves. I got a lifetime to figure it out, and I'll try not to get hurt so I can stay on my bike for many seasons.

but I'll take the extra lung capacity!

they need to work on getting the matrix up and running, so we can say "teach me biking skills," they plug us in, and we become like a mix of ned overend and danny mcaskill.

tanguy - i love your enthusiasm. seriously, reading your posts make me want to go ride my bike. you kick ass.

No kidding. I'll take two orders of that!

+1

I live to bike. I'm a roadie for more years than I've been on the planet. I started mountain biking in 1978 when I lived across the street from a mountain and I found an old schwinn bomber in the garage - the bike was from like 1945 and it had a front shock where the fork pivoted about an axis perpinducular to the line of travel at the low end of the head tube, constrained by a big ass spring. Baloon tires. I took that bike up the trails and thrashed.

Got my rockhopper rigid in 1997 and learned some basic skills, but didn't get out much due to stuff. Now I have the flexibility to get out on weekly local rides and I'm getting my ass kicked by my friends on their double squishies. So in addition to getting skills, I'm looking for a great used bike. I'm taking my rockhopper to Mt. St. Helens on Saturday to check out Ape Canyon and Planes of Abraham. Ride On!

I can only manual on MTBs that are WAY too small for me with bars that are WAY too high for my taste. I'm kinda OK at wheelie into manual though. Advice above is good for finding balance point.
You have to really push down on the bike then really pull up on the bike.
Can you ride a horse @ gallop? It's kinda like that.
Go to Burnside when the skaters aren't there (5:30 am) and work those trannies.

Only on the rough spots in downhills portion of your post. It would probably make everything else a little more difficult at first.

The simplest thing to do is just keep doing it. You're going to fall that is just a part of learning and it's going to hurt.

Lester,
where on burnside? what tires to use?
Last night at mook I ripped the downhills like never before and took 15 minutes off my time for University Falls loop. I was stoked!
And I didn't fall into the bees nest that I kept hitting these past few weeks, in fact, I only fell once trying to cross a stream bed. The first 2 were cake, so I just went for the third one, but the front wheel stopped and turned, I went endo, and the seat came up and smacked me in the coxis - OUCH!

Also, I sailed over a log that I used to have to stop for. and that put a huge grin on my face, until the next hairpin which took some attention.

On the ride out my buddy let me try his bike, It's a Gary Fischer, carbon hard tail. Let me tell you - I can hop that bike. It's the rockhopper's gravity sinking into the dirt that keeps me down!

you can also do this in san fransico at night, down by the mission district.

*edit: oh, wait, were we still talking about bicycle riding?

It depends on what kind of racing you will be doing. Some full suspension bikes now like Rock Hopper have smart shocks on the rear and ride like a hard tail until you hit a bump then it absorbs.