How to bunny hop a mountain bike - tips & mistakes

Bunny hopping is a technique that everyone wants to master, but some riders have a lot of trouble learning. If you're having trouble and feel hopeless, this tutorial is just for you. If you already know how to bunny hop, I need your help in the comments section. There will be others with questions, so do your best to offer them helpful and friendly advice. No one should be deprived of bunny hopping.

Let's start with a quick overview, then we'll go into detail.

To bunny hop, you need to lift your front wheel off the ground, jump upwards, and push your bars forwards.

To do this, you'll need to get your front wheel off the ground, so let's start there and talk about what could go wrong.

First of all, if you're small like me, you'll need a small bike. If you're big, you'll be okay on a big bike. This is important because you'll need plenty of space between you and your bike to pull up and transfer weight around. If your bike is too big, you're going to have more trouble. So, make sure your bike is the right size for you.

Second, bunny hops are much easier on a mountain bike with an aggressive slanted back geometry. By this, I mean that the top of your seat tube is lower than your bars. Dropping your saddle is an obvious way to achieve this geometry, but some bikes just aren't shaped right for this. In that case, you can get riser bars or a taller stem, which should help a little.

Third, you probably have front suspension, and maybe even rear suspension. Because suspension is designed to absorb changes in the terrain, it will also absorb your movements, thereby dampening your efforts at a bunny hop. To counteract this, you need to preload. Preloading is when you compress your suspension and use the recoil to work with you instead of against you. On suspension forks, this means pushing down before you pop up, kinda like the spring on a pogo stick. You see how the shocks can actually help pop you off the ground? Well, they won't unless you preload.

For bikes with rear suspension, you'll need to pull back even further to preload the rear suspension before you pop up. I find that it's just as easy to hop on a full suspension as it is on a hardtail, provided you take the suspension into consideration and get a feel for the recoil.

[Create_o_raptor]

I was completely ready to quit ... This video is the only thing that got me going with full spirit.. It kinda felt like something hapoend overnight... I watched this video over and over for a whole night.. The next day, I bunny hopped on the first try... Thanks mate.. A big thumbs up

[SkillsWithPhil]

I'll definitely be forwarding my viewers your way, if they need additional information on how to bunny hop. I think you did a good job adding onto some of the things I've tried to touch on.

Keep it up Seth

[jojoaspi]

Best bunny hop tutorial out there. I would recommend this to all MTB beginners!

[BrunoJanev]

Yo Seth, I tried bunny hopping a few times back in the past - it didn't work out. After watching this video and using your tips and avoiding mistakes I learned it after approximately 1 week. I'm also able to do an English Bunny Hop now.

Much (or many?) thanks,
Bruno

[SethsBikeHacks]

I'm wondering what you guys think about the frame-by-frame walkthrough at the end. Would you like to see more of those? If it's helpful, I can start to include that at the end of more videos.

[Diego-ncdv]

Man about the pogo part...that changed all my perspective thank you great videos btw

[vicentjanuary]

Thank you very much. Probably the best bunny hop tutorial I ever seen. And I've seen a lot.

[matheuscirillo]

After giving up trying to bhop I found this video and after watching it once and trying for less than 10minutes I already can do small hops. Nothing perfect nor consistent, but it's a bhop. Best video ever

[accountimadetocomment]

''Its pulling those bars like a bastard''-Seth

[robwasnj]

The frame by frame with commentary is truly excellent, rather than be a show off and make a look what I can do and you can't video you're actually posting something that can help others achieve better skills. Thank you for posting!

[timkiwinz]

I like the idea of bunny hopping up I can seeing me eating shit though 😂

[robinshoroscope]

I have never seen anybody explain a bunny hop better. It's something I've been able to do for years and have tried to teach to my friends (they do get it eventually) but I've never been able to describe it so accurately as you do in this video.

[chris]

This is exactly what I've been wanting! Information about the bike itself! Thank you very much Seth, I found this video very helpful and realised my bike is way too small for me to move my weight around and that I can do it on my friends bike which is bigger. Thanks again - Chris

[rushthezeppelin]

I've been able to do an English bunny hop for ages now but always had trouble with this kind no matter how many tutorials I watched. This one finally helped me realize what I've been doing wrong (and I think and what I've been doing wrong with manuals too). Thanks Seth.

[josephsmajdor]

Hey Seth, just want to let you know that this was the best bunny hop tutorial ive seen, thanks for going into specific details because it helped me FINALLY bunny hop:]

[MrAndrew]

I have never learned how to american bunny hop... I have trying and failing. I watched this video, and the meerkat video, and about 3 of the others. I have been practicing for 2 days, and now I am finally getting some good lift most every time. I would say between 1 and 2 feet. A huge improvement! Thanks Seth.

[RGCastro]

Hello, Seth.

Thank you for the video! It's very helpful.

I know you have lots of experience, but I think it would be very good for you to wear at least a helmet while filming these videos. You're trying to get newbies to develop some very helpful skills, but many of them disregard the importance of safety gear, and seeing you without it might reinforce negative habits. Lead by example, you know?

Thank you for your time. Keep up the great work!

[johnmadden]

Best hop explanation ever!!! Never could understand how people get so high off the ground until I saw this. It all suddenly makes sense when you look at it like a pogo stick.

[theotht]

Out of all the cycling tutorial channels only Seth emphasizes so much on bunny hopping,

[rattlesnakz]

Just... The best video man, honest, so much depth and explanation and no presumptions or condescension great job