What is/how do I go about 'riding the fork'?

I have a hardtail, I am not the most technically gifted rider but then again I don't have the most challenging terrain to ride. Normally I drop my heels and keep my weight reasonably far back, so that I can brake with confidence, then hang on for dear life and just try to blast through everything. I keep my legs bent for shock absorption and lift the front end for any small drops. I once tried putting my weight much further forward on the bike than normal, but I just felt like I was about to go over the bars any minute.

Any advice?

Forward and low.

You get more weight on the front wheel for increased grip and cornering.

Is the idea that you absorb a lot of the impact of hits with the fork, whilst the back-end skips over them?

I use a 50mm thomson stem on an 16 Orange subzero with marzocchi 66's (180mm travel) and EA70 685mm lo-rise bars (, I could easily ride an size 18 frame but I find that the smaller size is whippier and more chuckable when on the fun stuff, with that in mind I ride in a similar way to you (heels down slightly, knees bent, weight back) but due to the size bike, travel of the fork and the width of the bars its possible to "drive/put" the front tyre where you want it and chuck the rest of the bike around it, the travel in the fork (and the HR tyres) give plenty of traction and the idiot grin on my face at the bottom of the run makes me think it works! 😀

maybe that didn't make much sense? try riding with your elbows up.

yes

Don't. Nice short answer.

You might temporarily shift weight to the front, but only so that you can make a little extra bite on the front tyre at the critical moment, and also to give you a bigger range of movement from front to back – there is a very powerful dynamic going on as you transfer your energy.

When you press down through the pedals you are weighting the front wheel, but you are doing it via the frame, not rolling your weight forward and pressing on the top of the bike.

glenp I think you are forgetting a vital part of that post. Here I'll do it for you.

'perhaps you should look at booking onto a skills coaching session, such as the one's that we provide'

😛

Hmm. I could have just put the plug only, rather than give away valuable tips now couldn't I?

Thanks for the endorsement though.

Make sure your elbows are bent (about 60-90 degrees). This will bring your weight forward and you can load the front wheel. No weight on front wheel = no grip.

Check the last section of "summer" on the Seasons DVD, watched it last night, there's a slo-mo of someone landing a fast hip front wheel first, but the back wheel stays off the ground (and still hipped) while the front suspension works away at tracking the landing, before the back wheel eventually touches down.

Maybe doesn't come across in text very well but i rewound it several times just to watch again, amazing!

No weight on front wheel = no grip.

Interested to know how it can be possible to balance on the pedals and not drive weight through the front as well as back wheel? In a balanced position (no weigh on bars but not leaning back either) plenty of weight goes down through front tyre, and you will only ever need to top that up moderately and temporarily.

You need to adopt the poo stance.

I don't see how reading a book whilst riding is going to help.

I don't think it's all about keeping your weight foreward as such, more about finding grip and power. I tend to ride twisty but not too steep stuff stood up, arms bent a bit and let the fork take the hits. I don't mind if the back end waggles and bounces around, but I don't like loosing the front. This way I can pedal hard and use my legs to absorb the rear movement without the saddle giving me a battering
I wouldn't ride steep stuff like this, though. Weight back for that and lay off the front brake

Weight on the back of a hardtail slows you down like dragging an anchor(do you ride a full susser as well, you'll see the diference clearly if you do)

The trick is to keep weight foreward as far as you dare, obvioulsy this is easier on a flat out corner when your doing it for grip than on a steep rooty chute deep in grizedale forrest. Horses for courses, sometimes you want to be over the fork letting it do its thing, othertimes over the back. As a general rule my fork seems to spend 90% of its time in the middle third of its travel, if you lean back it tends to chatter arround in the first third, lean too far forewads and it bumps arround in the last third feeling like your about to go over the bars.

One final clarification, before I stop wittering on – having no weight on the bars is not the same as having the weight on the back wheel only. Balancing on the pedals does weight the front wheel, and only if you drop behind the bike quite markedly does the front wheel become light. When you set the fork sag (about 30% is what I prefer) you do that standing on the pedals, not leaning on the handlebars.

Thanks guys! Slightly conflicing info at times but much food for thought. I will probably just try a few different body positions on descents/flat rough sections to see what works. I think the biggest message here is to be dynamic on the bike, and distribute my weight according to the terrain.