Gapping Without Pedal Kick?

[ghosts_cloak]

Hi guys (-:

I went out on my bike tonight and was trying to practise hopping forwards on the backwheel without a pedal kick, but found it rediculously hard!!!

I can gap 5.5 feet on a good day with a pedal kick see Video. I notice when watching it, two things:

1: That my pedal kick is quite a large movement compared to people in other videos I have seen - gear ratio too low or too much emphasis on the pedal kick as opposed to the hop?

2: My bike never really goes very steep. I was watching a video by Felix (the super smooth guy on the pink bike) and he goes really steep whilst gapping and balancing on the back wheel. Is it my technique that is wrong, or just the design of my bike means thats where the balancing point is.. Maybe my bars should be lower?

So, I would be interested if people could post there largest static gaps with pedal kick, and approx. how far they can go without the kick, and would also would really appreciate feedback on my technique as it doesnt look anywhere near as good as the people I see on the videos!!

Is hopping forwards without the pedal kick tricky to master?

Thanks very much,

~Gareth

[Tomm]

Yeah, gapping without pedalling is REALLY hard. You can try letting your tyres down to silly pressures, that makes it easier sometimes. Also I find it easier on mod bikes, but I can't say I've really tried very much. I can only do about 2 ft max though, some people can maybe do 4ft. Not much more than that though. The only thing it's really useful for is hopping to the edge of a drop/gap or something really precisely, in which case you only need to move a few centimetres.

1. Don't worry about it. I have a friend who does almost a 180* rotation with the cranks, yet he could gap 8ft. It will depend on how you gap too - if you do a "pinch" gap (which is what the UCI boys seem to be doing at the moment), you can't pedal very much anyway. Whereas if you take off from the flat, you can roll further and pedal harder, but you don't get the upwards bounce. I don't think there's much in it in terms of which technique is "best", but I reckon people can go slightly further using the pinch gap.

2. That will probably just come naturally as you go bigger. Don't worry about it really. The video doesn't work for me, but if you are getting 5.5ft, you are clearly doing something right. It'll come with practise.

[rathergoodpie]

in terms of being upright on the back wheel i find this has a lot to do with the wheelbase of the frame you ride. For example i used to ride one of the old skool giant frames (the yellow ones) and i found that my weight was pitched far back of the end of the bike, with my front whell was still quite low. After having a couple of frames i now have a lenghty bt frame which enables me to be much more upright on the back wheel, and makes manuvering on the back wheel a shit load easier. chainstay lengths obviously play a part, but i think the reach is the main factor.

basically, when on the back wheel...

short reach = lower front end, harder to manuvre on the back wheel

long reach = higher front end, more steep on back wheel, generally easier to manuvre (easier to boon)

this is just from my expirience.

Rob

Edited December 2, 2005 by rathergoodpie

[ghosts_cloak]

Hiya (-:

Thanks for the replies!

What you both said makes sense! The wheelbase of my Leeson is 1020mm so I guess I would have the front end a bit lower doing things compared to the people I see on vids with their 1080 etc bike and longish stems.

I am determined to get the hang of hopping forwards without pedalling, and its good to know that even a few feet is hard as I can only manage inches at the moment!

Thanks for the advice! I am also going to try the hopping from the edge thing you mentioned Tomm and see if I get a bounce out of it!

Cheers,

~Gaz

[Luke Drewery]

I was once in your position, I had to adjust my gapping technique. I decided to try and pull up as well as across, and make sure you crouch down and preload before you gap, then you will get much further. To sum it up, heres a fairly old clip of me gapping that might help you get your technique how you want it. (I figured its on the internet why not use it again? Yes I am aware my tyre lands slightly on the grass);

Gap

Also, look at my even older topic here with many replies on gapping here

Hope it helps :ermm:

[Ash-Kennard]

this may not be too helpful to what you want to use it for, but if i am ever trying to gap with the brakes locked, then I always turn the bike 90degrees and hop like a side hop with no kink, dunno why but i find it easier, although i have never used it while riding, just pissing about

[Tom Booth]

Cant believe how good youve got in like 3-4 months :ermm:

[ghosts_cloak]

this may not be too helpful to what you want to use it for, but if i am ever trying to gap with the brakes locked, then I always turn the bike 90degrees and hop like a side hop with no kink, dunno why but i find it easier, although i have never used it while riding, just pissing about

Hiya,

I see what your saying - thats a good idea :- Although I still want to hop forwards without pedaling! I went out for a bit tonight until the rain made sure my back brake wasnt working anymore (Y)

~Gazz

Thanks for the other replies too (-:

Thanks Tom Booth if it was aimed at me, lol! I have only been riding less than once a week for < an hour so I havent really made much progress since uni started again. I have started riding in the evenings now and hope to improve significantly! Its a pain riding in the wet and dark though (and by myself, I need some riding mates in York!!

~Gaz