You're not getting the front end high enough.

 

I am far from an expert, but it looks like you are mostly manualing at first and then have a much larger weight shift forward to lift the rear wheel, so it's diminishing your rear lift.

If you are able to lift the front wheel from compression and unweighting, without a big weight shift, you'll do better with the back wheel.

That said, you're getting enough height for that to be very useful on the trail. All the "weight throwing" may cause you some other problems, though.

 

the other thing about amplitude with bunny hops is that there's a LOT more upper body involvement than you think, pushing the bars up and away from you so that the rear wheel follows.

 

One year after going back to biking...

Here's my progress:

If you look at my face, that's 300% effort but I'm not getting any higher than that. I'm not sure if that is enough to clear logs at trails..

What am I doing wrong?

I admit that I don't practice regularly, because I don't want to mess up my ride and become an obligation to my buddies if I crash.

First stage - preloading - you should go lower with chest to increase preload and increase front wheel lift.

 

This bunny hop is high enough to be very useful on the trail. I think you just need a little more practice.

As Jeremy said, if you want to jump/hop higher then you have to get the front wheel higher.

Harold is also correct that there is a lot of upper body movement.

Then you need to just work on practicing this at speed. Go around town and hop some obstacles that you feel comfortable that have a very low risk of injury if you don't make it.

Keep working up from there.

 

I’m very far from an expert but I practice a lot and can bunny hop over 2 feet high consistently and weigh over 200 lbs so I have a good idea what to do.
first off, I see no pre-load. You just throw your weight backwards, then jump up while throwing it back forwards. That’ll work for small heights but, as mentioned, you’ll likely run into trouble if you underhop with that and all of your weight is leaned forward.
Bunny hopping is a lot more in the legs than what people realize; first, make sure your body is centered/balanced so you are just very stable. You’ll want your elbows bent outwards some and, to start your compression, you’ll drive your feet into your pedals, your arms will bend down and pre-load the fork some, then, as you’re shoving your feet into your pedals, you’ll drive your weight backwards by literally using your legs as if you’re jumping. You’ll bring your arms to you and lift the bike up a good 3/4s of a tire height. It’s hard to type out but just feel the motions of all of this and you’ll start to figure out timing. Timing is VERY personal to figure out and it’ll just click one day and you’re good. I watched quite a few videos and essentially took bits and pieces from 10-15 videos. I don’t think you’ll learn from just one

 

People overemphasize preloading the front, which tends to make people lean way over the front. They start to think you need to put a lot of weight on the front, really its mostly the weight shift to rear with tug on bars to loft the front. Looks like you've got basic mechanics of it, you just need to practice and up the amplitude. Need to shift more weight back.
Then start playing with jumping over an object, cardboard boxes are great because you can mess up and mash them. Oh, and get shin guards, you will smash your shins with the pedals.

 

If you slow the video down to 0.25 speed, you'll see that you're lifting your wheel with a weight shift then pulling your torso back to center. You're sacrificing a lot of power there. This hop would ideally require very little effort.

For most hops, you don't really have to shift your weight much, if at all. I'd encourage you to try keeping your weight centered over the BB and create lift by pushing down forcefully with your feet and pulling the bars back towards your hips (rather than up) while you raise your torso.

 

Thank for the replies. I thought I got the wrong bike. I'm 5'8" but i got SC's large frame just because the "REACH" is as close as with my XC bike.

Anyhow, thanks for the advice and recos. I am actually more comfortable with "level" hop. I can comfortably do at least 1 1/2 ft high. It's just so hard to unlearn. For years, I've been jumping on kicker ramps by doing the level hop. I just recently noticed (thanks to smartphones) that when I jump on kicker ramps, the rear wheel barely touches the ramp. This is the reason why I wanted to learn this bunny hopping.

Up to now, I still feel uncomfy that I wouldn't risk bunny hopping on to the sidewalk gutters (which is just about 6" thick).

 

Thank for the replies. I thought I got the wrong bike. I'm 5'8" but i got SC's large frame just because the "REACH" is as close as with my XC bike.

Anyhow, thanks for the advice and recos. I am actually more comfortable with "level" hop. I can comfortably do at least 1 1/2 ft high. It's just so hard to unlearn. For years, I've been jumping on kicker ramps by doing the level hop. I just recently noticed (thanks to smartphones) that when I jump on kicker ramps, the rear wheel barely touches the ramp. This is the reason why I wanted to learn this bunny hopping.

Up to now, I still feel uncomfy that I wouldn't risk bunny hopping on to the sidewalk gutters (which is just about 6" thick).

One drill that might help is hopping over something small and seeing how slow you can go and still clear it with your back tire. Then once you get that down, progress to bigger things and start going a little faster.

 

I actually think your technique looks pretty good. You just need to give in more jandle. Go bigger in every way.
Go find something to bunny hop up. That usually gives you impetus to go higher. When you have achieved that height. Go higher.....

 

Here's my progress (best take of course):

I was pretty much doing it the whole day and ended up spraining my left wrist. No practice for weeks.. but would still appreciate more tips.

 

I was pretty much doing it the whole day and ended up spraining my left wrist. No practice for weeks.. but would still appreciate more tips.

It looks like you have the motions right so now it’s just timing. You’re not quite smooth with it yet but it’ll get there with practice. Right now, it probably feels like the bike is pretty heavy. Focus on your pre-load and compression to really get the height. It’s all about timing so once you do the full motion in a slightly quicker manner, you’ll notice improvement again.

 

Not bad but it looks like you're rocking back a lot for the front not getting that high. Try not to sink back so much and make it one fluid motion.

 

Slow motion bunny hop:


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I know these aren’t the greatest photos but to give you an idea… I can hop a large sized mountain bike frame pretty easy. I think my highest hop was in the mid 30’s the key is to tuck the bike up into you. Pretend you’re pulling a weight bar towards you at first. Once the front wheel is up thrust your whole body upward (you see me almost standing at this point) and then try to bring the bars to your chest and level out. There shouldn’t be any harsh movement of your legs or any serious body throwing. I usually touch the bars to my lap briefly when I’m fully extended. I know mountain bikes load a bit different but the general movement is the same. And a low seat. The first photo I was manual hopping and manualing out. Oh and put your butt over the back tire

 

Youre looking good. Yeah, repetitive stress can sometimes get you. Its good youre motivated to practice that much, because thats what it takes. But remember to take breaks.
Again, dont get too hung up on trying to really preload and push off the front. You really dont need much, it almost all weight shift. Youll notice in those pics and videos just posted that once youget the front up, they’re practically standing straight over the rear wheel jumping with legs to move your cg up. To change things up a little, practice regular wheelies to get feel of popping the front up without a whole lot of preloading.
Other thing you can do is place your front tire already elevated, like on a park bench or low wall, get on bike, and start leaning back until the front starts lifting up.

 

Update: 3 years after

How am I doing?

This is the best take from 10 tries.

Few questions though, is the height limited to my height v.s. the frame size? I should be using a medium, but my bike is a Large - I like the stability of a larger frame on a real trail.

 

A large bike doesn't help. Only thing I see to improve is to shove the bike forward more as the rear wheel is leaving. This will help bring the bike up and give you a bit more range of motion.

 

Thanks. I keep trying to remember that. But always forget when I'm in the air.

 

HI! I recently added 4 volume reducers on my rear shock (Rockshox Monarch RC3), which gives me more comfort on the trail I ride on.

When I tried practicing my bunny hop today, I barely hop over 6". Before the mod, i was able to hop over 13".. though not consistent, i can.

Did I put too much volume reducers and not making the compression I had before?

 

If you lowered pressure or compression you might not have as much to push against while hopping.

 

I was hoping this was an update. I agree with @jeremy3220. Push the bars forward at the top, and you'll gain a little extra height.

 

Watch some Jeff Lenosky videos on YouTube. He's the jump master!

 

How am I doing?

I finally made a rig because I'm planning to bunnyhop higher. In the video, it was still set at 13". I can't still hop over it consistently, but at least I'm getting a good percentage out of 10 tries.

Is there such thing as off-saddle exercises so I could boost my bunny hop higher?

Also, my perception on timing is way off. It really feels awkward to compress and lift the front wheel earlier just to clear the jump. This messes up the series of actions I needed to do.

 

Sick bro! You are doing well.


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