So – I have googled and watched youtube videos etc but I have no idea how to ride drops.

I can manage ok with the double kerb height ones you get on red runs (GT / Laggan / CV) by either blasting them at speed and soaring over them or if I am unsure of how the trail goes after the drop just rolling them but neither of those skills is readily transferable to the size of the drops that I have met on my one attempt at a black run.

Ideally I would like to find a way that lets me get through bigger drops at a slow(ish) pace while I find my feet on blacks.

Any tips? Any good guides? Any good videos on how to do it?

I ride a 100mm hard tail so its good enough for blacks – its not a bike issue, its 100% a rider skill issue.

(Also I can't wheelie / manual at all – do I need to learn that first?).

Cheers,

David.

Best tip i heard was to push the handlebars like your shoving a shopping trolley off a cliff when your front wheel hits the lip of the drop-off.

Oh and lean back a smidge.

Shopping trollies rock!

Shopping trollies rock!

😉

Weight back, pedals level .. don't let the bar drop too fast – also riding faster helps!

I lean back over the back wheel so that my centre of gravity is moved backwards and the front wheel can move vertically and match the gradient of the landing.

You don;t need to be able to manual as you don't need to get the wheel up that high. If you do when youy lanmd a big one the bars will throw themselves forward and you may well go over them

I hear shutting your eyes helps too.

Three inch drop off NAILED by me….. ******** Awesome.

😉

get your weight back and do a tiny manual at the lip then move your weight back center but don't think of any of that whilst you do it!

redthunder that is totally sick man, you should call your bike "the white lightening"!!

redthunder, you have teh mad skillz! Soccer shinpads FTW!

@mrnutt.

It was well Gnarley as well on the landing 😉

The soccer pads save the shins from the brambles etc. Dont give a monkeys what they look like but but my shins are in now in good nick.

I cant find decent shin only armour and I dont what my knees covered as they get hot 🙁

PS They are 661 prototypes BTW.

Redthunder – did you land it OK? Looks well rocky 😯

(Slight hijack –

Red, how about orienteering gaiters? http://www.ultrasport.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=&products_id=182 )

Pfft! that ain't nowhere near 3 inch – more like 2 😉

@bushwhacked

Had a bit of moment in mid flight but gathered it all together and then planted it 😈

TSG Shins you say. Are they armoured ?

I use TSG Shins but might be too hot for riding XC.

@snaps

2 and three quarters mayby.

snaps – Member
Pfft! that ain't nowhere near 3 inch – more like 2

Is that what she told you?

😉

I'd say even 2 inches was generous. More like 1.

@flash

The gaiters would get ripped I reckon and offer no pedal whack protection.

It would be good if someone like 661 would do a solid shin protector. The good thing about the soccer pads is that the back is open and your legs stay cool.

They do work even if they do look naff.

It's all relative – let him have his moment 😉

Actually this is Daves thread not mine 😉

Here is a photo of me preparing for my XC MTB ride…

Redthunder, may I just say,

RAD!

And indeed, Gnarly.

Dude.

😀

Top man…

Are those engraved nipples?

red thunder – got some of these last summer as I'm fed up with having battle-scarred legs.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=27766

What's she doing looking under that Trojan's skirt?

Those are schweeet skilz from RT, and no mistake

All you haters saying it's under 3 inches, don't forget the air he's taken off the lip too. We may even be talking FOUR

Is it a secret location RT? – wouldn't mind bringing ma crew & sessioning that for a while

For larger drops at speed the trick is don't try to lift up at all, push down with the bars or your feet to adjust your landing angle to match the downslope. Do not let the front rise much unless it's a large drop to flat. Landing rear heavy is a recipe for disaster in most cases.

For most drops you'll find on a trail keeping your speed and leaning back alittle and nothing else is likely to be all you need.

What's she doing looking under that Trojan's skirt?

Seeing if he's Scottish?

Ha "push down" c'mon that's just cruel

So Yeah don't pull up, pull back. On the run in up in the ready position start with a slight weight shift forward, then back(not up) till your arms are straight continue your back shift so you can build up pressure through your palms, as this happens imagine you've just fell over on ice (feet flying forwards from underneath you)
DO NOT LET YOUR ARMS BEND UNTIL YOU WANT THE FRONT WHEEL TO RETURN TO EARTH.

Practice all this on the flat many many times (top tip put a squeaky dog toy on the floor this becomes the lip of the drop, your aiming not to squeak with your front and to squeak with your rear before or as the front touches down.

Remember back not up

my tactic is to try( please note try)to time a manual so that I popo the front of just as it rolls off the edge usually works….. 😉

As for shins got some 661 vegge shin gaurds just brilliant as I had got all SPD in my riding, and the terror pins were leaving me lookinng like a shark attack victim! Not issue with long ride s in them but all day stuff 50k+ meridas I stick with SPD's

top tip AJ, like the falling on ice analogy- i have felt that and not known quite how to describe it.

i do always prefer a squeak from the back rather than the front too. 😉

Line it up right, then get paralysed with fear, that way you can't do anything stupid at the last minute.

never pull. either up or back.
push your heals down and forward, pedals level and head up.

simples

AJ's tactic is how I usually try, but do make sure you have practised, as I tried it once coming off a step that was only about 12-18 inches and cocked it up, it ended up with me lifting the front wheel and almost instantly dropping it again again, with the front kinda plummenting off the drop. Thankfully my forks saved me… just. I've never managed full travel and to hit the bump stop on them before, or since…

Since then I think the paralysed with fear has helped as well..

:o)

drops are a simple thing to learn physically. mental skills need building too

seat right up,clipped in, pre-jump everything.jobs a good un.

Bunny as you hit it then hope for the best 😆

Jedi is right… its simple! Best way to practice is to ride but you can try or imagine trying to drop a trolley off a kerb both sets of wheels landing at the same time. No pull just push forward 🙂