Seggybop

Any suggestions for learning how to bunnyhop a cyclocross bike? I can't seem to move my weight properly because the seat is in the way.

jfmckenna

I was waiting to see if anyone had anything to say on this. I am no expert but I can at least hop curbs and logs, I have no idea how people hop barriers but it sure is amazing. To hop a curb what I do is approach it with the pedals level at 3 o'clock. Just as I get to it I will pop a wheelie up and over the curb and instinctively at the right time pull up on the pedals lifting the rear wheel off the ground and the whole thing just follows through. I typically am on the bar tops or hoods some times but never the drops. For short hops I will just jump up and lift the whole bike off the ground level to the ground without the wave like motion of the front to rear hop.

I can see how the seat would get in the way of a big hop. It's not like BMX for sure. Perhaps for big hops they stand over the TT more so the saddle goes up behind your back? I don't know?

somnambulant

When you wheelie is it with a quick pedal stroke? Or just a weight-shift? I've never gotten the hang of this style of hop (ie. a "real" bunny hop). I've always just done the "jerk upwards on the pedals as hard as you can", level-bike sort.

shapelike

Somna, you should come by the shop sometime and get Phil to give you a mini-clinic. He showed me some things that helped a lot ... but of course I stopped practicing and promptly lost any progress I'd made. I've seen Phil clear 2' boxes on his DH bike and he's got a carboard bike box hidden away to practice with his bmx.

jfmckenna

It's more of a weight shift. I wouldn't want to be bothered with the timing of a pedal stroke. You may want to just practice on level ground shifting your weight back to bring the front wheel up. Once you have that down you can start to combine it with the hop. Another thing to practice might be to just hop the whole bike up parallel to the ground over and over again. Like I said I am no expert but this works for me on small hops like curbs.

shapelike

I assume the goal for anyone on a cx bike who's learning to bunny hop is to make it over barriers in one piece (ie. 40cm, but 50cm to account for Murphy's influence on course design). The mechanics of the "fake" bunnyhop make it impossible to do that at that height. It might be easier to learn bunnyhops on a bike that lends itself to the move a bit more, like a mountain bike or bmx. Cross bikes are obviously a lot longer and it's harder to learn the "shift your weight back and forward" move.

Someone write into velonews and get them to do a supplimental video on cx bunnyhops to go along w/ the rest of their training movie clips.

JimmyMack

Todd and Ben showing the goods.

https://www.abbiorca.com/bike/cross/s.../a0bb9719.html

slagjumper

I bet that very few CX riders would bunny hop 40cm bearers, but it is possible to bunny hop that high, without the pull up the front first, maneuver. I'd defiantly use upright bars, since the bunny hop tends to put a lot of force on the wrists, so you want to have them in as neutral of a position as you can.

The last 10 seconds of this shows the pull up the front first Bunny hop. It looks like maintaining momentum and timing are critical to doing this right.

https://video.google.com/videoplay?do...463&q=CX&hl=en

slagjumper

Cool site. I noticed that there are a few more photos.
https://www.abbiorca.com/bike/cross/s.../a0bb9720.html
https://www.abbiorca.com/bike/cross/s.../a0bb9721.html.

How do they anchor the bearers? It looks like after a day of pounding they could get wobbly, and that might mess you up a bit. I've been practicing on stuff that is shorter than my chain ring clearance. That's not too bad. I guess that the real challange is during the final part of a race where you might be getting fatigued.

GaryA

I haven't raced in a few years so I don't know what is preferred these days, but at one race I was at the top two guys had quite a crowd gathered to cheer for them. I asked what was going on, seems they had a little challenge one was suppose to bunnyhop every barrier he could and the other was to dismount as usual. By the end of the race the dismount guy was ahead by a very large distance.