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lifting one's back wheel...


sunny's picture

By sunny - Posted on 19 March 2007

...I've seen it done over and over again in those training videos, and all they seem to say is "lift your back wheel up".

Theres a video up of a ride going on top of a picnic bench, and the rider on the BMX pulls his rear wheel up on to the bench seemingly rather effortlessly...although I'm not that ambitious at the moment I can't for the life of me see how its physically possible to get the rear wheel up that sort of height (or even say, 1/2 to 3/4 height of the wheel, or something that the wheel itself can't go over when starting on the ground)

I can bunny hop ok, and can stop at a point to have my rear wheel off the ground for a while (but can't rock back and forth...having rear suspension kills it?)

So yeh, I have no idea how to do this...where to apply weight, etc etc..

Any tips?

Tags
christine's picture

he does all those tricks
b#*t#@d!

MEE Smiling

Ian's picture

There's another post that links to a bunch of excellent vids on YouTube that explain how to do all of those tricks.

I can't bunnyhop for crap without clipless pedals, but apparently you smear like a rock climber against the pedal in order to lift it. I expect that you build up huge calf muscles in the process. I met someone on a Terrey Hills ride that was pretty good, but don't remember his name (sorry!)

As for lifting it huge heights - the bike only weighs a small fraction of what you do, so if you're already up high, you'll move down a small amount while the bike comes up a large amount. If you're already moving upwards at the time (due to jumping) you can give the effect both moving up a large amount (if that makes any sense). If you watch the videos carefully, you'll notice that the rider doesn't actually move much during the jump, just the bike.

There might be some sort of frame flex/elasticity issue at work too, but that's a bit esoteric for me (and I'd expect tire compression to nullify it anyway).

Rob's picture

It's the You Tube Goodies post you're talking about... with the vids.

The guy you met who can do this was probably Matt... he likes his trails does Matt.

Like you Ian, I can't jump didly without being clipped in.

Matt's picture

but won't get me to be able to boost onto a picnic table just yet!

I'd echo Ian's comments too, his theory is sound. I also think a hardtail definitely helps in the weight department and not having the rear soak up your movements, though if you have a fast rebound you can use that to bounce and get a bit of help from the suspension. Being able to trackstand also helps heaps so you've time to get yourself set etc.

Clips/flats don't actually make much difference here too as you're not lifting the rear with your feet, proper technique here is pushing the bike up and forward using the bars and exaggeratedly shifting your weight.

Ta,
Matt.

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