Learning to ride with flats

Had some success today with bunny hopping.. Seems to be a lot more in the shoulders/wrists for me to get it. Wouldn't come naturally on the trail but on the fireroad I could get something happening as long as I was focused.

Coming off the pedals on jumps and drops though was my main gripe. Never lost my footing completely but plenty of times landed with feet all wrong and then not enough time before the next trail feature to get feet right again. Probably just need more time eh, only 2 rides in..
Enjoying there challenge though!
 
JoelFitz said:
Had some success today with bunny hopping.. Seems to be a lot more in the shoulders/wrists for me to get it. Wouldn't come naturally on the trail but on the fireroad I could get something happening as long as I was focused.

Coming off the pedals on jumps and drops though was my main gripe. Never lost my footing completely but plenty of times landed with feet all wrong and then not enough time before the next trail feature to get feet right again. Probably just need more time eh, only 2 rides in..
Enjoying there challenge though!
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For me its all about the pre load. Push yourself down like a spring before you make your movements, it really helps
 
JoelFitz said:
Thanks all for your comments, helpful stuff!
I've got a pair of nukeproof electrons on the way. Stolen my wife's diety compounds for the time being.

Some vids and reading advises I would need to learn to wheelie and manual to confidently bunny hop on flats.. Is this true?
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Wheelies have little to do with bunny hops but manuals are an essential step to bunny hop correctly.
 
JoelFitz said:
Had some success today with bunny hopping.. Seems to be a lot more in the shoulders/wrists for me to get it.
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I've never understood why people have trouble with flats, haha.
Been using them since my 4th birthday though, so it's just natural.

I'm pretty sure I'd die if I were clipped in. :)

As for using shoulders/wrists...

[video=youtube;Df8TVTQyNk8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df8TVTQyNk8[/video]

Maybe practice out in the street, trying to hop up gutters, or put a piece of wood on the side of the road and practice hopping over it without touching it.
You can even do one wheel at a time just to get used to weight shifting to lift the rear wheel up, then start moving into the manual to hop process.
 
mason33 said:
Wheelies have little to do with bunny hops but manuals are an essential step to bunny hop correctly.
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Not really.

A bunnyhop just requires you to lift the bars and match that height at the rear wheel flicking the bike forward/upward and lifting the pedals. That's one short, smooth motion. Fundamentals DVD has a great tutorial on bunnyhopping.

A manual is balancing the bike rolling on the rear wheel for a length of time.

Other than the fact both require the front wheel off the ground its not really quite the same thing. Bunnyhop is lifting the front wheel over an object, manualling is balancing your weight over the rear wheel.
 
Maybe I am getting into nitty gritty of semantics.:peace:

But I personally would not consider the motion of lifting the front wheel for a bunny hop to be a "manual". But I can accept its kinda the same thing. Sorta.
 
scblack said:
Maybe I am getting into nitty gritty of semantics.:peace:

But I personally would not consider the motion of lifting the front wheel for a bunny hop to be a "manual". But I can accept its kinda the same thing. Sorta.
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It's definitely not. Did someone say it was? Lifting the front of your bike is called lifting the front of your bike.
 
Ideate said:
It's definitely not. Did someone say it was? Lifting the front of your bike is called lifting the front of your bike.
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Watch Ezkaton's video - that guy says its a manual. Mason33 is saying manuals are essential to bunnyhopping.


Ideate said:
Did someone say it was?
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Above is two people in this little thread saying a manual is needed to bunnyhop.

But it just ain't.
 
scblack said:
Maybe I am getting into nitty gritty of semantics.:peace:

But I personally would not consider the motion of lifting the front wheel for a bunny hop to be a "manual". But I can accept its kinda the same thing. Sorta.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's really thought of as a manual, but the technique of lifting the front should be a weight shift (ala the beginnings of a manual) rather than yanking up on the bars, which can cause the bike to become unstable if not yanked evenly... which is most of the time for most people - especially those learning.

Same as yanking on the bars to lift off a jump instead of pumping into the jump and letting the bike do the work, I guess.
 
I've just changed to flats in the last 12 months and love it.

My main reason to going to flats was for the convenience. I only have the one bike and got sick of having to put on spd shoes for just a spin to the shops or muck around with my kid at the park. It's a pain in the ass climbing a tree in spd's...

One great spot I found for mucking around with flats is at my daughters primary school. We often ride to her school to climb the rockwall or kick the footy and generally stuff around. It has a heap of kerbs, steps, ramps, timber logs and random crap to ride on or over. We do stupid stuff like trying to not ride on the white lines on the netball/basketball court. The school installed a little pump track for the kids last year which is also a bit of fun. Basically go back to acting like a 10 year old, it has improved my shit skills and its fun.

It helps if you have a kid though... probably looks a bit suss riding around an empty primary school on your own...
 
Your schools not fenced in? Damn. All the lpcal ones around here have 7 foot fences surrounding them.
 
I did the same as OP around 12 months ago for many of the same reasons and it worked a treat, I've really improved technique particularly on jumping and I'm now doing respectable sized jumps. I've recently clipped back in on my xc/trail bike and I'm finding the bad habits that lead me to switching to flats are now gone. That said, I doubt I'll ever stray from flats for jumps/steeper riding.

I went for maximum grip when I switched - 510s and DMR Vaults. It's hard to reposition your foot when it's in the wrong spot but I basically never slip a pedal
 
Realise the topic has continued, but for those looking at 5.10s ForTheRiders looks like they're got the "Freerider contact" for 180ish. Cheapest I've seen local/domestic online
 
Anyone know which stores in Melbourne stock these? Would love to try some on as my other shoes vary about 1.5 sizes.
 
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