……… to help me jump my bike. 🙂

A bit of background – I used to BMX quite a bit and I could do decent jumps then. I've always had a hardtail (20 years!) but got my first full suss, a Pitch Pro, this year.

I just don't know how to get the bike it the air without it seeming completely out of control. If I don't compress the suspension it just absorbs a lot of the jump and I always land fork first, at an angle and nearly soil myself. If I do, it springs up with the same end effect, only from higher up.

And drops, I should be flying off them but I can't seem to get them right at all. I can't get the front up at the right time every time so I just don't have any confidence.

Can't do a skills day thing, don't have time or money.

Any advice you can give me?

If anyone is quite good at those sorts of things in the Huddersfield area then I don't mind being a student! I can supply cake. 😀

sounds like you're riding with your weight too far forwards. How high is your seat when you're doing these things? Have you tried dropping it? I assume the bike is the right size for you.

I always drop my seat if I know stuff is coming up. Can't tell if I'm too far forwards or not, to he honest. It's more on how to set the bike up before the jump with 6inch travel I think. Not sure.

Imagine that you are a beautiful, graceful flying elephant. Forget the bike, concentrate on your trajectory, imagine the ring master applauding as you sail through the air, and your prize for a successful landing is the dazzling behemoth sisters! you can do it!

did that help?

Elephant – check
graceful – errrrr no
beautiful – negative

Behemoth sisters? Crikey. I don't want to go to your jumping spot, no thanks. 🙂

I have a Pitch too – I find it fine for drop-offs, but with kicker type jumps it does tend to soak them up. Try keeping your propedal switched on.

I'm gonna be building up a small hardtail soon mainly for trail centres and messing about on jumps.

Can you manual? I'm learning slowly at the mo but if you can do that then drop-offs should be fine, even at slow speeds. Otherwise just hit em at speed and lean back. 😛

Hmmm the pro pedal idea might work. Thanks.

I couldn't manual a bmx, never mind an MTB!!

Try less pies….
😉

Can you bunny hop on it?

Apparently it is possible (pic nicked off mtbr)

And drop-offs too

🙂

Try less pies

speaks the Piemaster himself!!!!

Someone in the office made the BEST LEMON CAKE IN THE UNIVERSE and was sharing it out yesterday. I'm still dreaming about it.

Those pictures – CHUFFIN SMEG!!! Now that's how to do it!

Stop thinking so much! thought is your enemy!

I know what your thinking: What is I get it wrong, what if the bike kicks me up the Arse, what if the cool kids notice I'm shite on a bike….

Stop thinking about what the bike is doing underneath you, or what could go wrong and just ride it, if you could do it on an HT then you can do it on a 6" bouncer…

If your fancy bouncy bike is holding you back that much, is it actually worth having at all?

Go somewhere where you can practice stuff again and again, not just one or two jumps in the middle of a trail. You have to do stuff to the point where it becomes automatic!

For practicing drop-offs, there's gotta be somewhere suitable in a town centre near you. Rope in a mate and you can feed off each other's stoke… by which I mean, you'll feel like less of a goon jumping down steps if someone else is doing it with you.

great advice from the cookeaa 'facebrake' monster there

full sus is a different style, you can't lazily sail into a kicker and hope, you've got to preload at the right time and pump through it. Try moving your weight back a bit and using you knees a bit more to stop the bike swallowing it up

oh and as mr agreeable says, feeding off your bros and amping up the gnar will also help

I amped up the gnar once, but it went everywhere.

You're not alone robdob – spent most of my life on bikes and I'm pretty comfy attacking anything, even 6ft drops from stationary on my trials bike, but when it comes to jumping I just can't seem to get it right and usually it ends in tears before any skill is gained. Like you I tend to land either nose heavy or nose light and slightly at an angle and cock the whole lot up and end up needing new trousers. I've no idea how some people just flow over jumps. I can flow over rocks, but not jumps.

you can't lazily sail into a kicker and hope

In all seriousness, that's about right.

Yes, because bikes with sails are a bit awkward.

I was expecting this to be a chubby chaser thread, with all the hilarity that would ensure on here.
Disappointed…..

"Pop" harder. I've always jumped on full susses until this summer when I got my BFe. The first time I hit a set of dirt jumps on it was absolutely revelationary in how easy it was compared to riding a 6" sofa. You really do need to pull up hard.

How's your rebound set up? If your front is too slow and your back too quick it won't help the nose down feeling.

I do need a harder spring for the forks TBH. I'll try messing with the rebound a little. Never really been sure what is best.

Would it help if I got rad to the power of sick? 😆

The rebound on the forks should be quicker than on your back shock anyway.

You really do need to pump hard through the take off and pull up hard aswell.

I did the opposite to JonEdwards and learnt to jump on a hardtail, found jumping sus just too much of an effort and went back to a hardtail. Unless you've got a decent sized takeoff which you can hit pretty fast then full sussers are a pain in the arse to jump.

Heres a pic of me laying down the gnar on my old Patriot LT

I've been doing my best to skill up this year (new bike, broken wrist and 18 stitches to prove it)….

I've got drops dialled, what I found helps is saddle low, weight way back, toes pointing high as you get into drop roll your wrists upwards just enough to loft the front wheel. Watch someone else going over to get the entry speed right

I'm not so great on kickers, I know what I should do but it just can't do it. I often nose dive too, for me it's because I am not picking the front of the bike up enough or leaning back. If you watch proper DJers you can see when they leave the lip they are virtually upright with the stem an inch or so from their groin, then they push it out to level up. Very easy to say, alot more difficult trying to do it!

it should be pointed out that a kicker should not be jumped like a dirt jump unless you are videoing it for oops TV

Slow the rear shock rebound down, start small and stay loose. Flying is fun!

What would you classify as a dirt jump and a kicker? I come from BMX and there's no way I'd be touching a proper dirt jump (steep transitions, got to get it right or you wreck the lips etc). I thinking more of small jumps in the trails, maybe tabletops etc. You know, the sort of thing you find at (don't want to say it) trail centres. Later on I could go for the more extreme stuff.

Repeat in your head pull the handlebar pull the handlebar.
Works for me, but wait until the masters of the jump come in.

I try to avoid pulling the handlebars at all. I just place my weight low in preparation, then just kind of "stand up", putting pressure into the face of the jump. No jerking or popping, and just let the bike come up underneath me. Of course, a bit of speed helps, and I don't exactly go huge.

If I land at an angle, or nose heavy then being already relaxed means the bike usually sorts itself out.

If I do that I end up rotating into a backflip or landing rear wheel first on the descent, clipped in.

Errr. Jumping "clipped in"? No. Just no.
Flats for me all the time 'cept for road bike.

I generally call any jump a kicker thats got a curved upwards ramp or lip to it. If it hasn't and it's more wedge like then the technique I use is similar to a drop off.

*disclaimer – I am by no means an expert in this area

mrmichaelwright – Member

great advice from the cookeaa 'facebrake' monster there

full sus is a different style, you can't lazily sail into a kicker and hope, you've got to preload at the right time and pump through it. Try moving your weight back a bit and using you knees a bit more to stop the bike swallowing it up

oh and as mr agreeable says, feeding off your bros and amping up the gnar will also help

the Face braking incident you refer to was what I consider a "learning exercise"

I was thinking too much at the time, not concerntrating on riding and hence got kicked up he arse, plus I didn't actually get hurt (other than my ego)….

Also I no longer ride bouncey bikes; they is for queers innit…

is that first pic posted above by Grumm the old dual course at Chicky? if so the rider is looking a tad back wheel heavy to me and the second rider is a prize plum riding that drop in a Cap!