sidehop with latent pedalkick

[blushark]

hi guys,

i'm a fairly good rider, but have problems when it comes to finding out the mechanics of the mentioned move. i wonder, how do you do the pedalkick in sidehop?
(i don't mean that kind of sidehop where you first pedalkick into a backhop, and then sidehop; i mean when you trackstand and then launch a sidehop while putting in a small pedalstroke)

any tips on stuff that would help me get it?
i can currently hop about 50cm from a backhop position, and probably the same out of trackstand position.


yeah, one more thing... do you usually pedalkick-sidehop to your choco or non choco side?
currently i sidehop to my non-choco side, and i noticed many many riders do the same. however, when i analyze video footage, i see riders who sidehop to their choco side and use a pedalkick.
so i was wondering, is this related? does every rider tend to sidehop to his non-choco side, and pedalkick-sidehop to his choco side?
the theory sounds silly, but i still wonder.

[AgrAde]

learn to go to both sides. i'm hopeless, i can sidehop somewhat over bar height to my left (chocolate) but only about 28" to my right. i start from a backhop and then launch up with a kick of the pedals too. i can only go to front wheel to the left, and only go straight to rear wheel to the right :greddy:

with the move you're talking about, sidehop with a kick from two wheels, there isn't that much to it - you just need to get the power and the timing right. lean down and back, explode upwards while letting off the rear brake and giving the pedal a hefty kick. keep pushing the rear wheel into the ground as hard as you can until your bars hit you in the legs. from there just suck the rear wheel up and land on both wheels, front wheel then back or straight to rear.

[unlimits]

That's the explanation i was looking for. you've said letting off the front brake, but i have to let off the rear brake too? i'll try....

[AgrAde]

lmfao, i meant rear brake :rofl:

if you're all euro stylee, your front brake will most likely be off anyway, until you land.

if you want to get super technical, you can say that the sidehop will take less effort with the front brake off because you won't have to rotate it 60 degrees back then forward again while you do your hop, you only lift it. but that's as worth it as saying you can use your flexy frame for pop for higher sidehops.

[blushark]

AgrAde> thanks for answering! however, i mostly knew this part about exploding upwards and giving pedals a kick from reading other explanations.
but what i don't understand is what is this pedalkick supposed to do? it doesn't really get me forward, does it? is it used just to compensate backwards movement that i'd do if there wasn't for pedalkick?
does it get me extra height? how? doesn't it launch bike forward, not upwards?

also, why do you say "push the rear into the ground"? this sounds like a good tip, i'd just like to know what it does?

as i don't understand move mechanics, it's hard for me to actually try anything: i feel like a monkey hitting the keyboard randomly trying to install Linux. :bigthumb:


thanks again!

[AgrAde]

the pedalkick is meant to keep you in the same place. if i tried to do a powerful sidehop with no pedalkick i'd fly backwards. it gets you extra height because i guess you can go harder without going backwards, and it makes for a much easier technique. when i do it, the kick *feels* like it's pushing me upwards. i guess it is pushing my rear wheel under my feet more and therefore pivoting the bike upwards faster, but i dunno, it just works.

i say push the rear into the ground because that's what you should be doing when you jump up. try and make the rim touch the ground when you're jumping up, and keep jumping up/pushing it in to the ground until you're extended as you can get.

watch videos to see how the timing goes - when to kick, etc.

[nidoss]

I wish i had my bike, I'm been waiting for an explanation like that one thanks agrade

[Bryan]

Blushark, the pedal kick does help both you and the bike ascend.

depending on the mass distribution of your bike, chainstay length, etc, the center of gravity is higher on the bike when it is vertical than it is horizontal, so you are in fact bringing the bike higher by pedal kicking. It also makes the BB about a foot higher off the ground, which means that you are a foot higher off the ground when you take off than you would be without the kick to raise the bike up.

[blushark]

hey guys, thanks for clearing that up for me. :-)

just one more question: when you sidehop from backhop position (ie. not both wheels on the ground), do you do a pedalkick while launching upwards?

if you do, is it as powerful as the pedalkick when you're going from both wheels, or it's much more subtle?

[Matt]

hey guys, thanks for clearing that up for me. :-)

just one more question: when you sidehop from backhop position (ie. not both wheels on the ground), do you do a pedalkick while launching upwards?

if you do, is it as powerful as the pedalkick when you're going from both wheels, or it's much more subtle?
I do it at the same time I'm jumping... like when my body is springing upwards. I would say its similarly powerful to the one where you're leaving from two wheels, but I think it has a shorter stroke if you understand.

[rush]

Definately a very intergrated pedal stroke. Its something I dont even really notice as im going up. I think it helps with your body movement.

[blushark]

thanks everyone, it's clearer now!