Originally Posted by
3S1M
The 26" bikes are definitely more comfy for just riding around casually, getting exercise and such. I've been doing tricks on mine until I get the bmx back together. I put some bmx bars on it the other night and I'm pretty sure they helped my bunny hops get a little higher. At least once or twice. LOL. Which isn't saying much but I'm learning.
Thanks for sharing and good luck with your riding. What tricks can you do so far?
I appreciate that the 26ers are more comfortable for riding (as I came from mountain biking) but they seem much more cumbersome for parks/dirt riding and pump tracks. With the explosion of mountain biking popularity in my area, I have several locations to choose from now that I never had previously. I'm mostly interested in the 26" BMX cruisers so I can consolidate the bikes I own as I'm a little limited on space for this sort of thing. Going to be hard to part with my other bikes as they each served their purposes and I (re)built them from the ground up on my own.
Regarding the height of your hops, maybe try adjusting the angle of the bars? Also remember that hops are as much upper body as they are lower body. You gotta lift the rear of the bike as well to make it happen.
As far as tricks I can do at the moment, not a whole lot. I can bunny hop about 1-2ft if I really mash hard but it's usually about a foot average, way lower than on my mountain bike and I don't completely understand why. I can manual a bike length or two but I'm terrified of doing that now that I looped out and nearly broke my tailbone. Couldn't ride for a week and a half. Going to get some padded shorts and try that again. I can drop in on shorter quarters (6-4ft), while not a trick it's a confidence thing. Can do some fast plants and fast plant 180s with some regularity. I can fakie as long as the bike is rolling. And I can also do silly stuff like ride standing on the seat or top tube and 'track stand' for a decent amount of time.
Current plan is to get higher bunnyhops, land longer manuals, learn to roll out of a fakie, pick up a flat 180, and maybe toss some pegs on the bike and pick up a grind or two. I have little desire to do any high flying super dangerous stuff. I just want to hit the local skate/bike parks and generally ride street when I'm not hanging out with my son.