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Front wheel hop training tool


bikerpet
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I've been trying to learn to front wheel hop. I can do reasonable beginner hops on my bicycle, but the moto eludes me. A timing thing and also the bigger leg movements needed I think.

So I was thinking how I could help the process along. I knocked up a very rough and ready jig to hold the bike up so I could hop without continually having to stop after every attempt. It has a few problems being so rough, but it works. In just two short sessions my hops have improved more than they have in the past few weeks (still absolute garbage, the video certainly isn't a how-to!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PCeKD7R8Qs

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Something mildly hilarious about that video but well done for ingenuity.

Could perhaps achieve the same effect by just backing the bike up to a wall and sticking a brick in front of the back wheel? Or just holding the back brake on?

Edited by cleanorbust
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Glad to provide amusement :D

The wall might well work, maybe I'll give it a shot. One thing I found with my dodgy stand was that if the bike is held rigidly upright it's nearly impossible to hop the wheel sideways. With the straps a bit loose I can move the wheel sideways a bit and learn that technique.

Another few hundred hours and I'll have it. :rolleyes:

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15 hours ago, section swept said:

Front forks don’t look as though they are responding as well as they should to your input, not binding at all are they. Top marks for effort?

I think they are OK, probably just the rider. I've replaced LH seal and oil, still need to do RH and replace bushes. They feel pretty free, and my results are pretty similar on the other two bikes I've tried in it. I will take a careful look at them though and see if they are at all sticky, thanks.

It has made a pretty quick difference to my hopping. Still rubbish, but in 3 short sessions I've got better faster than in the previous weeks of effort out riding. It just saves the hop-foot down-step up-repeat. I can now do several hops left or right before completely loosing balance.

As Cleanorbust suggested, I tried the back wheel against a wall - complete fail. With back brake on the wheel has to be able to roll backwards in order for the bike to rotate, With brake off it just moves away from the wall and you're no better off and also not learning to hold the brake on throughout.

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  • 1 month later...

here is another take on a rear wheel holder...

 

I would say I find it simpler to practice hopping the front wheel while moving (slowly) so you don't have to worry so much about the static balance part of the equation just drive along and hop the front wheel as high as you can and from left to right to get the proper knee and body motion and the flow of one hop into another then apply the back brake stop and toss a few hops in and get moving again if you start losing balance (instead of dabbing)… can do it in circles if you are tight on space :). 

Edited by michael_t
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  • 1 year later...

Having started to get on top of my static balance, the front wheel hop is my next endeavour, for when I'm kicking my heels at home.

The first problem I had was just trying to compress the suspension properly. I then came across a YouTube video and in that it was suggested that you start with one foot on the ground and just get the idea of the leg movement for suspension compression. That's given me a start.

Next problem was that my static balance is so poor I struggle as soon as the front wheel is pointing straight ahead, so next step along the way was to have the wheel turned and just try seeing if I could compress the suspension with leg movement and keep my balance; single moves, one at a time, not actually trying to lift the front wheel yet.

Quite quickly I've got up to 4-5 compressions before I lose balance.

Once I'm a bit more secure with that bit, then I'll see if I can actually get the front wheel off the ground :)

 

 

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