Should imagine most of us have done it! Probably the worst feeling you get biking. Got quite good at catching it before the point of no return by slamming my arse down on the lowered saddle, but it’s only a matter of time before I’m caught out by it!

So I guess it’s down to being too far forward when pumping the transition, a badly timed boost or combination of things? Now I’m not blaming the jumps 😀 but I’ve noticed short takeoffs with a pronounced lip really flick the back wheel up if you make a hash of the transition, where as it rarely happens on smooth tabletops!

What say you?

My guess is weight is not centered on the bike when hitting transition.

1) practice
2) don’t be as tense going off the lip (this usually comes down to 1))
3) make sure you’re not running too fast rebound on the rear. It’s unlikely to be this if the bike’s set up properly but worth mentioning. People blame this all too often though.

Isn’t over rotation when you land on your ass after pulling a sik back flip. 🙄

@ Superficial – Had lots of practice but seems to rear it’s ugly head every now and then, not every-time I jump the bike, I’d be smashed to bits if that was the case!

Suspension seems ok. The fork is set up stiffer than the rear shock, the shock also having a slower rebound.

Often from too late a pump from ones legs i suspect? Especially when you run into a jump, know you’re going a bit slow, and try to, badly (in my case) boost it to make height. Done too late, all you end up doing is throwing yourself OTB in mid air…….. (don’t ask how i know this 😆 )

Are you dragging your brakes in the air? Can lead to some _exciting_ effects. The good guys use it to gain some extra height-raise the back of the bike without dropping the front. Not for the faint hearted, but can make a rough transition into a smooth one.

@ maxtorque – So bad timing then.

I’ve got away with most of mine by the skin of my teeth and not been dumped on my head Mannon, Myriam Nicole or George Brannigan style yet! Having said that the jumps I’m doing are Micky Mouse compared to what they do.

@ superdan – Nope never touch the brakes in the air. I know it’s standard for MX riders though.

one way to nose dive is to ‘jump’ off the lip – i.e. to essentially push off and bunny hop as you take off. This can pitch you forwards. Don’t do this. Just ride off the lip and don’t try to get any air. Let your speed and the lip send you skywards. I learnt all this bmxing… never ‘try’ and jump the doubles, let the speed clear them.

Have had this happen to me once. Over rotated and landed on my head. Never again (hopefully). Looked into it and often the cause is having your weight too far back as you launch off the lip. If the back gets flicked (those pesky lips), it creates a pendulum effect. In my case the first point at which I realised something was wrong was when I started skidding along on my head with the bike on top of me. Trick is to be centred in the attack position and then drive your weight up through your legs as the front wheel comes up, naturally bringing the bars up to your chest. You’re then pushing the bars forward to bring the bike through underneath you and transition into landing. That’s the theory anyway. The amount of people I see with their weight pinned back as they hit the jump…makes me wince every time..

Ate we talking front or back flips that are over cooking.. ?

Get somebody to take some pics of you, or set up a video. Watching it happen is one way to actually see what you are doing right and wrong.

Just ride off the lip and don’t try to get any air. Let your speed and the lip send you skywards. I learnt all this bmxing… never ‘try’ and jump the doubles, let the speed clear them.

Wow I never thought it possible for the fun to be sucked out of jumping but congrats sir, you have managed it.

You need to video yourself to work it out. Problems I’ve had in the past include:

1. Not loading the bike properly before taking off.
2. Not fully extending my legs whilst taking off.
3. Timing the loading badly. In a lot of ways, smaller jumps are actually harder for this reason.
4. Backing off when preparing to take off.

Edit: Speed is not important when jumping. It’s interesting to see how slowly you can actually go and still clear jumps.

Speed is not important when jumping

Well despite what I said above… it is quite important 🙂 But its pretty humbling to see a good rider hit a jump at half the speed that mortals do and clear it effortlessly.

I read the title and thought the question was about over rotating 360’s off jumps.

Then I realised this was STW and that no-one would be as naive as to ask that here thinking they would get an answer! 🙂

Yes please don’t refer to pitching front or back when jumping as ‘over rotating’ 🙁 it makes you sound like you’re practising for the red bull rampage.

Speed is not important when jumping

Well despite what I said above… it is quite important[/quote]
Speed hides poor technique, then when speed isn’t enough it’s hospital

[url=https://flic.kr/p/A1fpyt]IMG_3697[/url] by Mike Smith, on Flickr

Its not all about speed as others said. Some people pop effortlessly off a steep lip and clear a double where others would need to go twice as fast. I’ve been nosing jumps lately, ever since getting a 2nd hand Banshee Spitfire with a CCDB Air. Never suffered with this before. The high speed rebound adjustment makes little or no difference wherever its set so I think its just rebounding too quickly on steep lips and bucking the back end skywards. Or maybe I just don’t know how to set it up and can’t ride for shit. Anyway the CCDB air is going in for a service next week so will get checked out then.

Hanging off back of bike does that, practice on pump track.

Hanging off back of bike does that, practice on pump track.

This. Prime suspect if you are nose diving is that you are hanging off the back as you take off. Stay upright above the pedals as the bike comes up the face of the jump.

This. Prime suspect if you are nose diving is that you are hanging off the back as you take off.

Yeah but if your off the back and lifting the front then your fine… I’d always say get someone to watch you and tell you whats going on!!!

I’m at the pump track twice a week on my BMX, clearing the tables and doubles perfectly

EDIT : Having said that a recent video of me clearing a 12ft gap on my Spitfire did look like I was more towards the back of the bike – I’ll work on that next time I’m out, cheers

I had a few “moments” at BPW yesterday.

I found that being tense meant I couldn’t react to the problem. When I was less tense I could move my weight forward/back to compensate while in the air.

Also found that pumping only with my legs and leaving my arms relaxed really helps, as it gives you a more upward push. I could then stay centred over the bike which allowed me to move my weight forward/back to adjust it.

If I got the pump right I found I could slow right down to half the speed I originally used. So for me the right timed and executed pump was way more important than the speed.

But you really need someone to watch and help. Its bloody near on impossible to sort it all by yourself.

If talking nose diving jumps and drops, I do that a fair bit. I seem to scrub low unintentionally when I get air and think I’m pushing down. It’s like I have a natural urge to get back on the ground asap.

But could also be the push before the lip and weight isn’t right. I had it more sorted after a session with Jedi, but got back into old habits. Though improving now with more local sessioning and generally a lot more riding with jumps in them. Still though I’m chickening out on things because I’m used to it ending up in a nose dive.

A lot of the ones where it goes wrong have log etc on the lip. I push before to get clear but then nose goes down. Flat surface to the lip and far more success, and yet I still do the push before.

@ reggiegasket – Thanks for the advice but Dead Sailor style is definitely not the way forward! As others have said it’s the reason most people get hardly any air when jumping and experienced riders get good height at low speeds. Not only that but I find if you don’t pump the transition and suck the bike up, the bike falls away from you in mid-air causing bad landings. You can get away with it on small single jumps, but will come a cropper on big jumps and sets.

So the consensus is too far back and late pumps are most likely the cause, right I’ll test that out.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t do it often, so catching it on video as suggested won’t be easy and TBH I’m not really a film the ride sort of person either!

@ Stevelol – Over rotating is an OTT description. Thanks for pointing out the mistake, my social media liaison has been severely reprimanded 😉