Sabiot

Thanks again for the help guys. Even with my shin like this I wanna go out today and practice manualling and such. I need to definately get that front end up higher before I try to jump and lift. I could tell right away when I watched the vid that I wasn't doing it right. I felt completely wrong the whole time I was doing it. I'd like to say normally I do it more correct but I think that would just be wishful thinking. Are there any tips for getting the front end up but still staying nice and crouched so you can jump and explode upwards? I feel like when I want to try a manual that I won't have the compression in my legs to spring myself and the rest of the bike off the ground.

Yeah I agree fully with you guys. I totally need to lean farther back to get the front end up higher. I could tell that as soon as I watched the vid. In a few days when the leg feels a little better I'll go back and try again. Are there any tips at all? When I attempt manuals I usually dont get the wheel too high off the ground and really have to stick my butt out. I'll have to try more stuff that gets me on just the rear wheel and get more comfy throwing my weight backwards. PS: It's not a full suspension. It's a hardtail. And yeah, I know... not exactly the perfect bike for this kinda thing and yes I do notice the shocks absorbing some of the force I use to throw weight backwards. Nonetheless, I have some things to work on. Aside from the front wheel not going up, how was the leveling out? I know I nose dived a few times but is the technique for raising the rear wheel correct?

Yeah I only just learned the technique about 2-3 weeks ago. So it's far from perfect. I definately need to throw more weight backwards. I think it may also have to do with a lack in confidence going backwards. Anywho. Thanks for the comments guys. I'll make sure I post another in a while once I feel I've progressed a bit more.

Hey, I finally got around to making a short vid today. Between the battery dieing and me messing my leg up it's a pretty short one. Basicly, I was looking for some help with the technique. I've never seen myself ride before but what I picked up right away was that I wasn't leaning back much or at all so I should do that to bring the front wheel up farther and thus further my clearance. But yeah... take a look. Any pointers or advice is more than welcome. The link should be on my profile to the left but if not, try this link. http://www.trials-forum.co.uk/forum/index....ils&id=1214

It's about 3 inches long, an inch wide and a solid 0.5cm deep. Lol, you'll see when I throw up the vid. It's pretty savage man. But yeah, I'll give it a few days and then really bandage it up and try to take it easy on the hops. I am going crazy right now and spent like an hour more or less chain smoking and ranting about how I can't ride. Thats never happened before doing hops. It's just... frustrating. EDIT: Here's a link to the vid now... there is a topic in the video section, but just in case... http://www.trials-forum.co.uk/forum/index....ils&id=1214

I'm right 'n' pissed off. I went out a little bit ago to record me doin some bunny hops, endos, manuals and rear wheel hop attempts. My camera dies about 5mins in so I go and pack it up and go back to practicing bunnyhops. I was having an off day, I could feel it. Nothing was clicking right today. I couldn't get the front wheel up as high as normal, I couldn't sync body movements, etc etc. So I hop back on, do about 2-3 hops and on the last one I really jumped and pulled hard. I guess my feet weren't in the right place or I wasn't angling them correct cause they slipped off and I now have the biggest f*ckin gash on my right shin. I immediately threw a towel on it (I was riding in my apartment building parking lot) and took a look. Man, this thing is savage. Later today I'm going to upload the video including the couple bunny hops I got in and a brief shot of the wound. I could go ride, but I mean... I shouldnt for like 2-3 weeks probably. I'm pissed off like you wouldn't believe man. I just got back into this and I'm hurt. I finally felt like I was making progess and when I can get back on, I'll be at square one again. God damnit /rant

I remember seeing this guy riding bmx at the skate park and I was riding... crap I guess, ha. I was doing straight drops from the crummy bowls and quarter pipes they had. I felt like such a goof doing that. Here this guy is getting mad air, landing on his back wheel and then off he goes again. Then you see me... *grunt* Yes! 3 foot drop! I am totally the man now. Hahaha. BMXing is alright I guess. I've never really thought the style was diverse though. I do very much enjoy dirt jumps and drops on this bike. It's rock solid and landing (all be it because of luck) in a manual is very very cool.

Hello and welcome to the trials forum. Um, I think most of the mods/admins frown upon this sorta post (if its your first post) there is a forum dedicated to this sort of thing. "But I cant get in there, so I posted here." Fair enough, but I was told the reason you can't post there is because once you're validated you've shown the mods and other users that you're the real deal and you ride for the sake of riding. I think it's also because they don't want any of their patrons to get jacked up on a bunky sale. I'm not saying thats what you're going to do but I believe thats why they do it. About the bike though, I personally am not interested. I don't like BMXs, never have, never will. I find their riding style to be a bastardization of trials. They grind and they do jumps with 1/4-1/2 spins. We do that, and much much more. Plus you don't look like a crackhead if you're 20+ and ride a trials bike. Unfortunately with a BMX you'd look kinda like you're on the prowl for empties and cigarette butts. Ha.

Why not just stick with the lube or whatever that magura has on their website? You know, the official product for another official product? Thats what I would do anyways.

Yeah that makes sense. I definately want to buy a mod as my next bike. Convincing the ol' lady that I want to buy another bike when less than a year ago I bought this Rocky Mountain for like $1200 Canadian is the another thing. Ha. More replies please! I'm just interested to see what people have to say about this not so innovative idea.

I was thinking about something today. I can see how you couldnt add a 26" wheel to a mod bike... but what about 20" wheel on to a stock bike? Would it work? Would it suck? The reason I was thinking it might be neat to try is you'd still have the slightly bigger bike, and with the forks meant for the larger bike you might even get some extra raise from the stem and handlebars. Anyone have thoughts on this? No, I'm not gunna go out and buy this. I honestly don't think it would work, or at least not well... lets chat about it though, I wanna hear your thoughts

I ride a rocky mountain flow 3.0. Excellent bike, check their site out man. It's kinda an all around bike. It does well on trails, street, park and I'm liking it with trials as well. The only thing I'd say is that the stem is very very short. Like almost non-existant short. Make sure you get an extender. I have one at a buddy's place that is about 3-4 inches long, maybe longer. I'm gunna slap that bad boy on... Maybe get your second ring removed as well. I've been thinking about that. Its not a lot of weight to lose, but its some. And you can always ditch your seat for an extra pound off maybe. There are lots of things you can ditch to lose some weight. I guess I should've asked if you're looking for a mod like bike or a stock like bike. Mine is definately more like a stock. 26" wheel. Hope that helps a bit.

That's good and all... but it doesnt help buddy solve his problem. I'd say it's best to just ignore them as they're probably dumb as shit anyways.

Right on dude. Keep the faith. You might want to think about shin/knee pads too? I've seen quite a few wearing them. Safety first!

Tight video man. Talk about using one piece of terrain in a million ways!

My advice would be to have fun. Go out and ride for yourself and no one else. It's about having fun man. Oh, and Trashzen.com That website kicks the biggest a$$

I kinda feel the exact opposite of the original poster. I think about riding when I'm sitting here on my comp or watching tv, and it feels kinda daunting. I feel like I am so terrible and I have many months ahead of me of being terrible before I'll be able to actually ride any kind of line. When I get out there and crank out a few decent moves then I get excited. I dont have the endurance to just ride for more than an hour I'd say but I get the spark when I'm out there. I hope you get it back man. If you're a street rider, try natural... and vica versa. Keep the faith brotha

Nice vids. I like the second one because its just the same hop over and over and over again. Its nice to see it and be able to go okay, he's doing this with his arms, this with his weight, this with his legs. Very nice vid, thanks. I went out and played around for a while, I definately found certain pieces helpful. I first tried to "throw the bars to the stars" and that didnt work for me at all. I then focused on getting the front wheel up. All effort on throwing weight back, pulling on the bars and jumping. That worked really well. Really really well. Sometimes I almost forgot to try to tuck, but the rest of the technique felt good! I think I had some of my best ones today when I just say "f*ck it, lets go" and just tried it. Heh, I was actually doing one and someone said "wow... that was good. Real good" I mean the kid was like 10 or 12 but I'll take what I can get!! PS: Manuals... FUN AS HELL. I flat out stink at them but a couple times when I threw my weight back and almost tried to sit on my rear wheel I could get the front to hover off the ground for a couple of seconds. I almost felt a balance point. Man it was cool. I felt like I should be sitting on the cement with a bike on top of me but for some ridiculous reason you dont fall! Man, physics is cool. How come they dont teach you this kinda stuff in college?! I definately think I'm starting to feel my balance point on the back tire. I was able to catwalk (I dunno if thats what you guys call it, but out here its a wheelie you do while you're standing) for a solid 6 or 7 pedals. Easily 4 more than I was doing just the night before. I was thinking to myself about something one of the members said here when I was messing around today. Something along the lines of "I'm glad I fall off my pedals from time to time, it means I'm pushing myself... if I didn't fall off my pedals I wouldn't be trying to do harder lines" I totally get that now. I fell off my pedals and nearly bailed more than most of the other days. But I feel I've made large leaps in both confidence and technique today. Even though I'm dead tired now, I wish my woman didn't work tonight because I'd make her tape me now. Damn our conflicting schedules! Actually lookin forward to the help I'm gunna get from you guys tomorrow. Maybe I'll get the confidence to go ride with some guys from around town here

Well that makes one of us... I just got home and realized I've NEVER seen myself bike before... lol

Thanks for the help guys. Much appreciated. I have tomorrow off work and so does my girl so I'll get her to video me a little doin some bunnyhops, endos and shit. I think you'll be able to pin point my problems then! What I've been doing to lift the front is, I roll along with all my weight on the handlebars, then I lean back, jump and pull the handle bars to my chest. I suppose I should be leaning farther back as that will give me more space to raise the front. I totally get what you mean about not over analyzing it. When I think too much I basicly nose dive... get the front a few inches off and then the back sky rockets waaaay higher. When I do it "correct" it really does feel effortless to get the bike up there. I'll hop on my bike as soon as I finish my shift today. Thanks again guys!

I've been practicing (pretty much exclusively) for about two weeks now. I know its still really early and as my technique improves so will my height. I guess this is a theoretical question more than anything. When doing a bunnyhop (I'm assuming) that the height of the front wheel dictates the possible height of the back wheel and thus your "clearance height." Through bringin your weight backwards and literally jumping you raise the front wheel and try to level off. Again, I'm assuming as I have no one around to reference with face to face. I can only make these assumptions based on basic physics and from what I've seen in videos and such. Now to get that max height, you need a good strong pull and a nice jump to get the initial height. Right now when I jump I'm only getting maybe 2" of height before I have to try to level out. I'm finding that I feel a little rushed in my movements and because of this I'm only able to perform a decent hope about 25-30% of the time. What can I do to get the initial hop heigher? I mean I would guess "jumper harder!" but are there any other tid bits of information that help? Maybe something on timing? Something to do with slight hand or foot movements? This weekend I'm going to try to get a video of me doing a couple things so I'd expect another thread from me pretty soon. I hope that a video will help you guys shed some light on these somewhat gloomy days of biking progress. For those who are lazy or simple forgot what I asked in all of that... 1) Theoretically speaking... Front Wheel Height = Potential Bunny Hop "Clearance" Height True or False? 2) How can a new guy get his back wheel off the ground a little higher on the initial jump before trying to level out? Are there any small motions to keep in mind? 3) How important is the pushing forward of the arms when trying to level out? I sometimes forget to do it...

I try to think about doing the move as slowly as possible. Ha. I try to will the world to slow down. I guess I just try to make sure I am doing every part of every step of everything I try. Technique first I guess. Balancing longer, jumping higher and such will come in time. But I dont want bad habits EDIT: On any move you attempt, especially explosive moves I think it's safe to say you should exhale. You may not need to if you're doing 1 run thats 20 seconds long. But you'll be tired after. If you give a good sharp exhale as you do each hop (breathing lighter or harder depending on the effort involved) then your muscles and lungs will be able to power your body for longer. It's endurance. If you're riding for 5 mins and thats it, then dont worry. If you're practicing or you're doing a longer run I would breathe. I certainly do while I bike. Or anything really. Breathing is the key. Ask any boxing, singing, guitar, weight lifting, running or wrestling coach. They'll tell you to breathe. Thats the first thing I used to yell at people I saw sparring in Jiu Jitsu class. You see these new guys and they're grunting and eegh! Rrrgh! UHing all over the place. They get tired in 5mins. I'm an out of shape small guy and I can roll for an hour easy.

Okay.... very good. Go back to grade school

I ahve avid hydro discs on front and rear of my bike. One thing I can say is when I first got on the bike I was like "well, these are good I guess but I'm pulling this lever too mcuh to stop" but seriously, as I rode it and used the brakes they got more and more responsive. I pull them like 0.5-1" and they're full on, tight as a mother. I like em. But when I get a trials specific bike I am gunna probably give those maguras a whirl

LOL! Thats not even the same thing man. Haha. You could take the biggest shrew in the world and if you only see her less than once a week, she's gunna want some. When I first started dating my girl, and she still lived a few hours away, there was little talking when we saw each other. We boned like there was no tomorrow. Why? Cause we hadn't seen each other in ages. If you don't see your woman at least 4 days a week, you're exempt from what I said. I live with my woman, and have for 15 months now. It makes things different. When you go like a month or so without seeing her like you probably do. Of course she's gunna go porn star jack rabbit on you. Live with her for a year and lemme know if she's still lovin your man places 2-3 times a night, every night. EDIT: Fat Pants. There is nothing wrong with saying you just banged a girl. Props for that I guess. It's not my kinda thing to go out to a bar or something if that's what you did but whatever man, banging a hot girl is fun . I'd like to just clarify and agree that boasting about how many or how often usually means nothing or very little. I remember my buddy I lived with for a bit, who lived with his girl too, used to brag about how much he got before we moved in together. How he was always getting BJs and always banging her before bed, in the morning and whenever he wanted. I never saw them run off to the bedroom. I never heard noises. And 3months after I moved in he told me he hadn't had sex with her in like a month. Pwned.