self powered air

[sid_marx]

I know the topic of bunny hopping has been covered before but I want to talk specifically about attaining real height.

I have a heavy downhill type bike that I want to lift 18 inches into the air without using a kicker.

At the moment I can bunnyhop about 12 inches.

How do I get that extra air??

Any red hot bunny hoppers out there care to explain their advanced techniques?

[LEX]

12 inches on a heavy Dh rig is pretty impressive man. My advice would be buy a dam Ht if ya waqnna hop high lol. Mby practice practice practice

[Superman]

12 inches on a heavy Dh rig is pretty impressive man. My advice would be buy a dam Ht if ya waqnna hop high lol. Mby practice practice practice

didnt you hear the man- he said he wants to bunny hop his DH rig

[Mahoney_007]

Is your rebound set to Full blown BOING? That might help.

[360xup]

yeah, just lean back real hard, so you feel like your gonna dead sailor then chuck your weight forwards and tuck ----> takes a bit to get used to an first attempts are always nosedivers but i reckon this method rules...
i can get over a park bench on a 26incher with this method so it works at least for me

[bykrman]

push down as far as you can, front and back. then just pull up into a mono, and as soon as you get into the point of balance just jump with your legs and arms, then with your legs, try to bring the back end up. works for me fine, just never use clips when you practice.

[sid_marx]

Thanks for your suggestions/comments guys.

LEX & Superman – The bike is around 19kg so it’s a lot of ballast to get airborne, I reckon a foot is pretty good but I definitely feel there’s some more inches in there somewhere if I can find a more efficient technique.

Mahoney_007 – That’s a damn good idea and one I hadn’t thought of. It’d be great for practicing in the car park, but impractical for use in the real world as I’m not willing sacrifice on-trail handling characteristics to get extra height.

bykrman – You’re pretty much describing (at least part of) my current technique. I compress the bike on approach to the obstacle, pull the bars up into a manual a split second before reaching the obstacle then hop and try to drag the bike as high into the air as I can. It’s a double movement so right there I’m probably losing some efficiency.
I usually land rear wheel first – which I suspect is not all that efficient, as it means the rear tyre is going to be the lowest point on the bike during the entire manoeuvre.

360xup – It sounds as though your method is totally different to my current method. From what I understand you’re using more of a see-saw motion to clear an obstacle, meaning the bike pivots on an imaginary axis centred on the bb. Given the bb is located at least a foot above the bottom of the tyres would appear that this method would require less energy to execute.

I use platforms exclusively, one day I'll find out what the grass is like on the other side of the fence but for now I'll just keep on imagining it's greener.

[naz]

practice. is the only way. or ride trials. i got on a trials bike my bunnyhops were around 110cm, get my 243 (19kg) it only goes 80cm
just practice.

bunnyhop, pull and lean back like ur wheelings, as ur front wheel reaches the height u want to hop, spring straight up, and suck the bike up then KICK ur legs straight, this is how u get real height. so ur rear wheel is almost touching ur balls when ur at the highest point of the bunnyhop

[sid_marx]

naz, you make outrageous claims but alas they are probably true.

Still, I'd like to see anyone put a bike over a highjump bar set at 4ft from flat without assistance of any kind...

But this is not a "how high can you fly?" tpye thread so thanks for your technical advice which I'm still trying to work out.

You say "kick you're legs straight" but If I was in the air over the top of an object and I kicked my legs straight I would expect the bike to drop down vertically... unless you mean kick you're legs straight out behind you or straight out in front of you? Can you clarify?

[naz]

kick them striaght out in front of you!

outragous claims hey. wanna go for a ride :P

[sid_marx]

Cheers for the clarification. I'm a bit of a cynical b@satrd usually but I've seen you ride so I don't have too much trouble accepting your outregeous claims.

[naz]

Cheers for the clarification. I'm a bit of a cynical b@satrd usually but I've seen you ride so I don't have too much trouble accepting your outregeous claims.
likewise :) but im more of a outright asshole

[MUNGUS]

why is 18 inches the golden mark??

[mtb_man]

A french BMX rider called Thomas Allier (sp?) holds the record for highest bunny hop over a bar at 54 inches, which is around 4 1/2 feet. I saw a picture in a BMX mag and it looked crazy. Trials guys could get higher with a jap tap but meh, that's not the point...

[Ride_Guy]

A french BMX rider called Thomas Allier (sp?) holds the record for highest bunny hop over a bar at 54 inches, which is around 4 1/2 feet. I saw a picture in a BMX mag and it looked crazy. Trials guys could get higher with a jap tap but meh, that's not the point...

Ive seen like very half decent trials rider get higher then that.

I think its a bit more then that.

[_J_]

practice. is the only way. or ride trials. i got on a trials bike my bunnyhops were around 110cm, get my 243 (19kg) it only goes 80cm
just practice.

Geez, that's still pretty awesome for the weight of a .243 WITH DC forks...
well done.

[steamfrog]

On aus trials there is an video of a guy doing a 1m high bunny hop over a piece of wood he's mates are holding.. i htink it was some kinda comp..

I hop my DH by compressing back spring and yeah when wheel is at the height i shift forward, hard to explain, so ill give up.

[naz]

ahh the world record is like 130-40cm i think, held by ot pi, or caesar can...(sp?)
some trials rider could correct me