Footplant foot approach question

Riding Advice
1

Hi all

Learning the footplant trick… I am following the advice from a you tube video and it says to do the rolling hop/approach to the ledge with your front pedal (which I guess is the common crank/pedal grab approach) and handle the saddle/Uni with your ‘back foot’ arm. In my case that would be having my front right foot forward (parallel to the ledge) when jumping, then to land on my front leg on the ledge whilst grabbing the Uni with my left arm.

My problem is that I usually grab the handle with my right hand. Also I find it quite difficult to balance on the ledge with my front foot (much better at it with my left one). Because of all this, it is taking me forever to master a trick which is probably quite basic…

I have managed to learn the crank grab and crank to rubber which relies heavily in balancing on your right leg, but because I hold the Uni with my right hand (my dominant hand) I feel more in control/confident when doing it.

So, in my case for footplants, I think it would be much easier to approach the ledge with the back foot (left one) parallel to the ledge, land with my left leg on the ledge whilst grabbing the Uni with my right hand (dominant hand).

Is there any reason/advantages why they advise to approach the ledge with your front foot side?. Is there any disadvantages to do it the other way round? :thinking:

2

I’m no footplant expert (don’t like them) but, having your front foot on the obstacle lets’s your back foot stay on the pedal, which somehow makes you remain in control of the uni more. Having the free hand towards the obstacle is always desirable for balance and falling reasons.

Flow is the key of making footplants not look terrible. Focus on making it one continous ride-jump-footplant-jump off-ride away motion.

3

In my experience, foot plants work better if you jump onto your front foot because your back foot stays on the pedal better that way. If you try to jump onto your back foot, then nothing stops the wheel from turning, and the pedal will move out from under your front foot.
I think you should just learn to hop with your other foot forward. It’s actually pretty useful for rolling hops to get comfortable both ways.

4

Thanks both for the advice. Much appreciated. I will carry on trying the front foot apporach then… Hopefully I will get better at it at some point :slight_smile: