Luke Williams! Posted June 18, 2006 Report Share Posted June 18, 2006 i find it easier sometimes to go from two to one then up if you get me set up on 2 wheels get your balance mark the spot where you want your back wheel tol and on the floor then hop up to back wheel making sure you hit the spot you wanted then go straight up i also find it easier to push your bars forwards this helps level the bike out.i still go to front wheel before i go to back which is kinda oldschool but its what am used to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrashZen Posted June 18, 2006 Report Share Posted June 18, 2006 OK, an update.It appears that all along, in my infinite wisdom, I have been sidehopping to the wrong side.Everywhere, I was reading "sidehop to your 'bad' side, it helps". I completely ignored this advice under the impression of 'if I can't do it to the left (my good side), there ain't no way I'm gonna be able to do it to the right'.Until earlier today. I decided to do a sort of gap-up from the floor onto one of those 12" (or thereabouts) sloped kerb sort of things. So I approach this thing slightly at an angle (with the kerb slightly to my right), thinking that will get me a bit more space to lower the front wheel before take off, so I could then spin it round 45 degrees while in flight and land facing into the kerb right? Except I forgot the spin and realised I'd just almost sidehopped. A couple of minutes later I had it nailed and it feels 'right' now. I'm no better at it than I was to the left, but the whole thing feels a hell of a lot more controlled than it did to the left, so it feels like with a little more practice I should be getting some decent height, rather than thinking I'm never gonna get any higher than a couple of pallets.So for some oddball reason it feels right going to the right, even though historically I always do sideways stuff to the left. I'm a left-foot-forward guy as well so that probably has some bearing on it.Weird.So the lesson is: try it the wrong way if you're having trouble like I did. You may thoroughly surprise yourself. Or the other thing is, it feels kinda like a spinny move rather than a sideways move when I do it from backwheel, so try hopping to the side you spin to.Thus, I probably talketh more bollocks. excellent.. not weird at all , but yes, it's a bit counter intuitive.. some techniques are much easier on the opposite side of your driving foot... and some other will only really work nicely on the same side (like turning 180 while sidehopping)... it's all about how much momentum your initial position on the bike allows you to get.So especially if you are left footed, and you see mostly right footed riders around you, make sure you understand what they do and reprocess it to switch it to your side, else you won't get anywhere (you wouldn't ask a right footed rider to pedal kick with his left foot ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mods Posted June 18, 2006 Report Share Posted June 18, 2006 why we're on the subject of sidehops... i didn't want to start another thread so could someone give me a short answer to my Q. I naturally side hope to the left, and my leading foot is my left foot, will this be a problem or will i have to start the whole learning process again to the right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Drewery Posted June 18, 2006 Report Share Posted June 18, 2006 why we're on the subject of sidehops... i didn't want to start another thread so could someone give me a short answer to my Q. I naturally side hope to the left, and my leading foot is my left foot, will this be a problem or will i have to start the whole learning process again to the right?It shouldnt be much of a problem, I am the same as you I sidehop to the left and have my left foot forward, however only when Im sidehopping onto walls etc. For going over things or going to backwheel on the corner of an obstacle I go to the right , so I dont catch my pedal. I think its because Im scared when sidehopping to the right onto stuff because my back pedal doesnt catch on the wall if I miss, so I fall backwards. Also mech hangers are annoyingly easy to snap! I can go bar height over stuff and bar height onto stuff, so it doesnt matter which way I go anymore. I stopped doing sidehops onto stuff for a while (hence why sidehops onto stuff are never in my videos, only over stuff. They will be in the next one though...) because I tried learning up stuff to the right, and for the reasons mentioned earlier it felt completely unnatural and I got nowhere. Go the way that feels natural to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jez Posted June 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2006 why we're on the subject of sidehops... i didn't want to start another thread so could someone give me a short answer to my Q. I naturally side hope to the left, and my leading foot is my left foot, will this be a problem or will i have to start the whole learning process again to the right?That's the same as me...or used to be. I can do like two-wheel sidehops to the left (but not to any great height), but sidehopping from back wheel I can only do to the right. Try doing it to the right, you might surprise yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaRtZ Posted June 18, 2006 Report Share Posted June 18, 2006 deja vu....People say you should sidehop the other way to your fav foot and i happen to be one of those Im right footed and I started learning to the right but I found it felt quite awkward tucking and I didn't seem to be progressing much. So i switched round (obviously started again at low heights) and got higher + more comfortable quickly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mods Posted June 18, 2006 Report Share Posted June 18, 2006 yea i think i might start trying to go to the right, it bugs me though it always has, but having said that i have never caught my pedal. it would prob be very usefull being able to sidehop both ways as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted June 18, 2006 Report Share Posted June 18, 2006 Learn both ways equally and then you'll know for sure which is best for you. I am rubbbish at sidehops (so you can ignore this if you like), but I find them easier to my "bad" side. I'm pretty sure it doesn't have any real effect until you're doing 40"+ at least Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr ailsbury Posted June 18, 2006 Report Share Posted June 18, 2006 I'd disagree with the two highlighted bits. On natural, you've basically got to do as many hops as it takes to get to the spot where you're comfortable, but also going to be able to send the hop up there. Equally, everyone's well into the comedy tucks at the moment, but you don't really need to do them unless you're pushnig the limits like CLS, Benito, Tunni & Co. are. When people are tucking as much on a 30" sidehop as they are on 55" hops, something's not quite right.i've been saying this for ages but no one listens to me ever lol Istarted learnning by hopping on my backwheel and was going up to front wheel and guiding my backwheel on like profile said but then i realised this was a bit of a shite technique and decided to start sidehopping up from two wheels which helped alot because I got my technique sorted and started going up onto the wall better and landing straight to 2 wheels instead of to front first it also got my sidehop height up from 32'' to 37 which was good once i had this dialed i went back to sidehopping from backwheel and found it alot comfier because i had the right technique to land to two wheels etc and then i kept improving on this and got alot better at itI sidehope to my good foot side because i find this alot easier because i can carry my body over the wall more and stay up there whereas iff i sidehop to my weak foot side i tend to have to hop back down agen once im up because my weight isnt over the wall its over where i've taken off from.at the end of the day it all comes down to trying out differant ways and finding whats best for you hope this makes some sence helps you out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted June 18, 2006 Report Share Posted June 18, 2006 Personally, I learnt sidehopping to back wheel first. Then, I learnt to commit to front wheel moves, and then learnt to do it to two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jez Posted June 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2006 Just out of interest, is this one of those things that feels easiest around one particular height? You know how there are moves which feel silly on small stuff because you ain't got the time to really pull the full move out, and of course it's usually harder on huge stuff, but there's that middle ground where it's easiest?I'm asking because I'm only trying small stuff at the mo and I'm wondering if it'll help to just bit the bullet and go straight for kinda mediumy stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 Sidehops under a foot or so probably feel a bit weird when you're going from back wheel, and you don't want to get into a habit of having the front wheel OVER the wall before you jump, otherwise you'll mess up your technique and it might stick. But generally they're one of those things that's easier on lower stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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