Centralized body position, feet level, chin over the stem, hips over the feet. Pretty much my riding position.
The total opposite of what people were saying on here (weight over the back, opposite pedal down through every corner)
I'm new to all this after over 20 years as a roadie. If I try the outside pedal down and put all the weight through it I can't react quickly enough at the next corner, in other words, I can't swap opposite pedal down technique quickly enough as the trail changes direction. In addition, I can't lean the bike in to the corner as much as I'd like and keep the body more upright when the outside pedal is at the bottom as the saddle's in the way and I can't afford a reverb (don't really know if I'd ever get in to the habit of upping it and downing it all the time to be honest) and I don't have a high saddle either, quite low actually compared to my road days.
I'm off out later and will try the pedals level thing and see if it works for me, that's the bottom line I suppose, find a style that works for you?
One thing I do know is that riding on he road sucks and this is a swap I should've done 20 years ago. Carry on.
I didn't see the previous discussion, but body position on the bike is majorly influenced by what you're actually riding, and how fast you're riding...
If you're riding major steep stuff pretty slowly (or even quickly), you'll want a more rear ward body position, but if you're riding jumps or whatever, a more central body position is desired.
interesting with the feet bit:
some bike coaches go for outside foot down - for stability.
some bike coaches go for feet level - to minimise potential of foot/pedal strikes
My best guess it depends on conditions: on a smooth berm at a trail centre? the former. on a natural trail in spain with big or loose rocks, left right & center? prolly the latter.
Big DH bike riding over rough stuff, stand strong and neutral, keep weight centralised, suspesnion will prevent you going over the bars when you hit stuff most of the time. standing strong will put you in a good position to attack stuff.
hardtail or short travel bike down the same stuff, your body has to be the suspesnion, hence riding in a different way. Slightly rearward, pushing through your feet, knees and elbows acting as the suspension.
Then there's different types of turns, open wide flat ones, tight bermed ones, again they're approached in different ways. open flat out turns, if i'm not on it, pedal down, if i really want to nail it, i have my foot position so i'm turning into my front foot, this means i sometimes have to switch my stance. Big berms, you just ride it like flat ground, level feet, pumping.
No one rule for everything.