How To Do Hops On Both Wheels Properly?

[mammalwong]

Hello everybody, I am a beginner trials rider from Hong Kong, and I am wondering what is the proper way to perform hops on both wheels.

I can do locked-steer balancing for over 5 mins easily, but I still not mastered straight-steer balancing yet. Is it mandatory to master the striaght-steer balancing before practicing the hops on both wheels?

Some local rider tells me to compress the fork like how to perform the hops on front wheel with forward body movement and arms , while the legs are additionally responsible to compress the rear suspension to make both bike hopping. But some other local riders tells me to only use the legs to compress both the fork and the rear suspension. I am very confusing, which is the proper way to compress the bike?

And all the local riders tells me to use my arms to control the bike movement and balancing the bike in mid air. Is it correct and do you guys have any hints for me?

[lineaway]

I would learn to do single hops front and rear first. It`s a slow progress to really figure out the timing. Hopping both wheels at the same time is hard to do without the silly dab at the end. My son does it both directions rather well. He cheats being 6 foot 4. Lots of leg involved. Good luck.

[mammalwong]

Thanks for your advise. So is it mandatory to master straight-steer balancing (like 10 sec) before praticing the hops on front/rear wheel?

[fivebrick]

Mammal- Everything is easier to learn when you hammer down the basics. I am pretty new to trials so I am no expert, but maybe I can offer some advice. Balancing and turning are pretty much the most crucial things in trials. What seems to happen is that beginners like us get so excited about learning the cool moves and we neglect the basics. Like most things in life, if the foundation is solid, the rest of the house is solid. I would maybe divy up your practice time like this:

 

Balance with the engine off in the yard or garage a couple hours a week.

 

While riding:

 

Turning practice (full lock figure 8's etc)- 40%

Logs and rocks (double blip etc)-20%

Climbing and descending hills-20%

Just riding and having fun (trying more advanced stuff like hopping)-20%

Something like that anyway. The better you are at turns the better you'll be in general. Good luck.

[mammalwong]

Yes, I do practice the basics when I am in the trial club on weekends. But I really cant practice anything which requires the engine on when I am on the weekday evenings, there are no place in hong kong which allows me to practice except the private land of the trial club. So I just keep to practice balancing only. Thats the reason why I want to try the hops.

[faussy]

I would say a definite "NO!" on the "is straight steering balancing required for both wheel hops".  

 

Balancing with the front wheel straight for anything longer than a few seconds is rather hard, and in my opinion much harder than doing complete hops. 

 

My opinion on technique would be to try and compress front and back suspension simultaneously, through both the handlebars and footpegs, but to use the legs and hips to turn the bike while in the air. It is always easiest to perform a two wheel hop while moving, and even easier when you use a small obstacle (around 200mm) to kick the back wheel up. I hope this helps.

[mammalwong]

Yea, I will try the way which u advised. But I found staying myself on the bike after 2 to 3 hops is rather hard.

[lineaway]

Doing two wheel hops with a dead engine is very hard. Two wheel hops are normally done with power and precise timing on the clutch. My son can do two wheel hops with a dead motor easily, but learned with the clutch. You have to drive down hard with the legs for compression and unload with the whole body coming up while using the hips to rotate. Back to basics. Can you hop the front in a 360 both directions? Can you hop the rear both directions? My son has a hard time nose wheelie`s to the left, so that is his bad side with two wheel hops. Hope this helps a little.

[lineaway]

Yea, I will try the way which u advised. But I found staying myself on the bike after 2 to 3 hops is rather hard.

Trials takes years and years and hundreds of hours of practice!

[michael_t]

 

 

 

Edited June 24, 2015 by michael_t

[mammalwong]

@lineaway: no, I cant do all hops , and the local riders insist to tell me hopping on both wheels is easier than hopping on only front/rear wheel, as they are all practice hops on both wheel after they can do basic balancing. I doesnt want to rotate the bike in mid air, I just want to do those hops which stay in the same position or moving in sideway.

@michael_t: yea, I have watched all ryan young video before, and I am following his instruction as the standard regardless how do other local rider's advise. I have the dvd of it . But it also has no instruction on how to do hops on both wheels.

[sectionone]

Ryan Young covers hopping both wheels on his Advanced DVD. He calls them flip turns and says he only uses them for emergencies in sections because they are risky. First you should learn front wheel hops, which is the easiest, then rear wheel, then both. He doesn't cover hopping both wheels and not moving or hopping sideways because there isn't much practical use for that. If you want to go sideways, it's a lot easier to hop one wheel at a time.

[mammalwong]

Thanks sectionone. I understand flipturn is totally beyond my current skill and I never want to try it at this moment. I just want to practice the hops after a landing and recovering the balance. I also can feel the front hops are easier and require less energy to do it.

[lineaway]

Ryan Young covers hopping both wheels on his Advanced DVD. He calls them flip turns and says he only uses them for emergencies in sections because they are risky. First you should learn front wheel hops, which is the easiest, then rear wheel, then both. He doesn't cover hopping both wheels and not moving or hopping sideways because there isn't much practical use for that. If you want to go sideways, it's a lot easier to hop one wheel at a time.

 It also depends on what rules you ride under. Ryan made those videos a long time ago and the bikes have changed drastically since he really competed. I`m a single hopper, but my boy makes the two wheel hop child`s play. The flick turn Ryan speaks of took a lot of effort, modern suspension requires little effort with proper timing. Once you figure out the timing, it`s a great technique to use over and over again.

[mammalwong]

I am sure that I still have a long way to go to learn the flip turns, I just have 8 months of trial motorcycling experience . I have a JTG300 to practice in my the local bike club and I am mainly practicing the basic and jap zap when I am on there. However, when I am practicing the balance at near home, I am using the gasgas tx200 randonne instead, it is extremely heavy