Hopping

Clippless is NOT the answer. I ride a 35 poundish specialized P2 and I can hop up 2' - 2.5 foot things cleanly, with the use of a bash guard i can get up on 3.5+ foot things. I have platform pedals and they are crappy ones at that. I have clippless pedals on my XC bike and they actually inhibit me from hopping to my full potential (by alot).

Clippless pedals will do two things. Major increase in climbing power/efficiency (good for XC riding), and help with the "high speed" bunny hop (the single stage hop that entails one motion also good for XC). You are very limited on how high you can jump with the single stage bunny hop. i can only get about 8 inches, with clipins maybe a whole foot.

If you want to hop much higher than a foot you must use the two stage bunny hop. It almost mimics a aolly on a skateboard. In short it involves pulling up the front end of the bike, and having the rear follow (front end should not hit the ground first when landing). Clipins are not needed for this (watch some trial videos). There are some really good websites that will instruct you on how to do the "american bunnyhop" or the two stage bunny hop (check out "trial" websites... those guys know the physics behind hopping).

oh and work on those lats if you have a heavy bike like mine... those muscles are really important for hopping high. i"m not a big guy and i can do 250lb plus on my lat pulldowns, and it helps me heave my bike around.

This is basically how I do a bunny hop but to really learn it you should probably go watch trial videos on the internet.

First I roll at a fast jog pace towards whatever I am jumping. Generally the slower I go the higher I jump. So if I’m jumping my max of around 2.5 feet I’m rolling at about a fast walk (maybe a tad faster). If I’m jumping less than that I go faster because I can. It’s a comfort thing you just got to feel out for yourself.

Right before the jump I make sure my pedals are in the proper position. My strong foot forward (I don’t even think about this it just happens… I don’t even know which foot is my strong one). Then as I’m a foot to 3 feet away I will pull up on the handle bars into a wheelie (the distance before the jump depends on how fast you are moving). Its good practice to try to get your front wheel as high or higher than what you are jumping on the wheelie stage.

Second step is going to be a little vague. It’s hard to explain what to do because I’m not quite sure of how I am doing it, but you will know when it happens. As I am in a wheelie I push on my pedals extremely hard (your rear tire should smush like you hit a bump or something), and then it’s a leap that consists of using your legs to lift the rear of the bike up along with a little of your arms. You might ask how do you lift the rear end up using platform pedals. The answer is: not easy…. you kind of scope them up by applying pressure with your feet backward.

If all goes well you are now in the air, and you should try landing on your rear tire or at least flat on both tires. If you are hitting nose first you are doing too much rear hop and not enough wheelie. I learned this type of hop in two stages and I think it’s the quickest way to learn. First practice wheelies. Not too high at first just get your front end up like 6 or 8 inches. Do this until doing a wheelie is second nature. Then try coasting at a slow pace and hopping your rear tire off of the ground. Not high again just around 6 inches. Remember to apply backpressure with your feet and pull up too. Do this a lot since its not something you do on a bike regularly. Now put those two motions together. The trick is to get a very smooth transition between the front hop and rear hop to gain max height. Think skateboard Ollie. Front wheels go up first on a skateboard (like doing a wheelie), foot drags up along the grip tape on the deck of skateboard (like applying back pressure and using a little arm strength), and rear end comes up.

For me my legs get tired first when practicing, yours should probably too. If they do that means you are probably doing the hop correctly. Its going to be a rough learning experience since you’ll most likely be “out of time” and clank your front wheel down hard a lot. What I like to jump over is stacked up 2X4’s so if you hit them they fall over. If you find yourself consistently hitting nose end first. Find a table top like structure to jump on that and land evenly on the top of that structure. Good luck its going to take a lot of practice to get good at this. Have a buddy watch you so he can explain to you what you are doing (that will speed up the learning process).