Jumping

Bunny hop

Lifting both wheels off the ground without a ramp — front first, then the rear. It clears logs, roots and holes and is the base of every jump and trick.

Also known as: bunnyhop, hop

Key facts

Skill level
3/5
Risk
2/5
Terrain
flat ground, logs, roots
Bike types
MTB, eMTB

Two movements, one hop

  1. Front up. From the attack position, sink down, then drive your hips back and up as in a manual. The front wheel lifts.
  2. Rear up. At the top, push the bars forward and level your feet, scooping the pedals backwards and up. The rear wheel follows.
  3. Land soft. Let knees and elbows take the landing, both wheels together.

Learn it right

Practise the two halves apart before putting them together, on flat ground at walking pace. Clipless pedals let you pull the bike up with your feet — but that is a lift, not a hop, and it will not grow into higher hops or jumps.

Progression

Start with a line on the ground, then a stick, then a small log. Height comes from timing and the push of your legs, not from pulling on the bars.

Related articles

  • Dirt jump (DJ) — Riding a line of hand-built dirt jumps on a small, stiff hardtail — for height, flow and tricks. Close to BMX in spirit, and where many riders learn to fly.
  • Attack position — The standing stance every descent starts from: pedals level, knees and elbows bent, weight centred over the bike and eyes up. From here you can react to anything the trail throws at you.
  • Manual — Riding on the back wheel without pedalling, balanced by shifting your hips back. On the trail it lifts the front over holes and roots and smooths out drops and rollers.
  • Jumping — Leaving the ground off a take-off and landing smoothly on the far side. Good jumping is less about launching yourself than about letting the lip do the work and staying relaxed in the air.