Tracknicko, i'm 6'5" and if you think the xc bike looks small, you should have seen me on my BMX 😆

GlenP, funny you should mention the forks and wheels. The only items I've changed since new. Both upgraded due to breakages. (rear wheel now 48 spoke Halo SAS)

🙂

I eyed a jump up yesterday following scruff….I wish now that I had hit it without thinking, however, I didn't. Now, I don't know if I would have done it. I also bottomed out the suspension too many times yesterday….

Push not pull – I'm guessing this means you push your bike through the jump which in effect causes an upward movement as you go up the "ramp" as opposed to yanking at the bars on take off?

I am a bit of a scaredy cat but love Danny Macaskill's skills. Gravity defying!

correct plus a couple of other things

What about flat jumps, ie just a little ramp and drops? Is it the same then? I always assumed drops where like bunny hops?

drops are simplest.

Just keep riding and weight slightly back?

You know, Jedi i disagree with you. You say to mark, you can do anything on that bike. And yes whilst i'm sure say Darren berrecloth could ride a scott scale, or a giant anthem through a set of doubles or a road gap, he wouldnt. The bike makes a HUGE difference to how easy it is to clear a jump. Lets take say a set of dirt jumps with steep transitions designed for maximum height. Ride it on a dirt jump bike, then a bike for 4x. Both are good for jumps but the dirt bike will be noticably better. Then do some jumps on a 4x track, and surprise surprise the 4x bike will handle them alot better. Could this be because they are the right tool for the right job?

lyon
the technique of drops, jumps etc.. can all be learned on any mtb,
road gaps, 20ft+ drops etc.. all require specialist bikes. but to learn how/why you can do it on any mtb. dont you agree

I doagree with you there… But only to a certain level.I think I misunderstood you at first..

by the way, i have never said to mark he can do anything on his bike. i said he can do anything on a bike. and he can

I bet I know what that is, and if he stops doing it he'll be even faster on everything else too.

Go on then?

TBH I think that my jumping skills might be a slightly diff level to a lot of the other people here, but some serious over the bar landings puts a bit of doubt in my mind.
I have been told and learnt about riding off 2's and riding off 4's, ie keeping your arms and legs as distinct parts whilst taking off, and the importance of keeping fluid in the air but it seems that the faster I go the harder it is to keep all this together. I'm talking 25+ foot jumps where crashing becomes a bit more serious. Still if one of you guys reckons you can remove my doubts it could be well worth the cash.

25ft+. yeah no worries
a rotation problem is a rotation problem. size matters not

Jedi, you're based in the South East right? Where would you suggest for a training session then? I'm based in Oxfordshire.

email me(in profile) if you wish

i think jedi is selling 'skills' not 'bikes'. if i turned up to a skills session with my short travel 29er hardtail and jedi said 'no sorry mate i cant teach you anything with that bike' i would be pretty pissed off and he would be a crap teacher. from all accounts exactly the opposite happens and that is why he is highly regarded.

what? a 29er………erm :O)

Jumping a bike isn't rocket science if you lean back the back wheel will drop, if you lean foward the front wheel will drop, if you pull up or push down the bike will change it's altitude etc. It's all in your mind, If you hit the jump straight in the centre of the bike and relaxed you'll be fine. If you are heading toward it thinking your going to crash you probably will if you don't think about crashing then you probably wont. See if you can get a hold of Dirt fundimentals (Try CRC), it's got quite a few good riding tips on it.

Iain

it's on my list for this year.

I can ride drop offs ok, couple of feet no issue, any bigger and I start to pucker a bit but that's psychology I think more than any technique thing (I keep getting the thought 'what if the landings a bit heavy and the cranks snap….'). Glenp and his lot taught me the basics there of pushing with your arms and feet to get the bike rotating and so the front wheel goes up.

But jumps still do me in, even though I'm sure the technique is similar / the same. I used to jump Ok as a kid (when you bounce) and cleared a small double with a pit between last year somewhere up by Holmbury on a general XC ride but that was fluke. Or better put – I didn't know it was there, followed another rider on a slightly different line and before I know where I was I was on it with no time to panic or do anything other than 'ride' over it in a nice relaxed trail riding manner. If I'd had time to think about it……

ok jedi, I dont want to cause offence, and i think we may just disagree with a few aspects of mountain biking… Lets just agree to disagree. At the end of the day everyone on here enjoys riding a bike and that is what matters.

Andy

oh, a bit of advice, its better to over-clear a jump, than to not clear it in my experience…

lyons, im interested

It is a relief to see others share my fear of flying.

Getting confident to take features in my stride has become an obsession and I watch this thread with interest to see how others get over it. Truth is that anything I cant ride straight off and demands a bit of commitment sends me hard on the brakes usually resorting in an hilarious spd topple (much to the annoyance of my riding chums who have lost all their flow because of me)

I am slowly building up confidence but it is really slow.
Tomorrow I am going to try AGAIN to build up the confidence to pop of a tiny root (about a foot drop onto a sleep run-off ). Each time I get to it I chicken out though and it is doing my head in. Going out tomorrow before work; wish me luck

I know if I do it a handful of times it will be on to the next one..then the next one. The holy grail is to take off the brakes, look ahead and just ride it!

be settled before the root drop that you speak of and dont rush to land.

jedi are you refering to the overclearing? In my experience, if I overjump, it results in a near crash, or at worst a slidey type fall.

Whereas if you say hang up on the front wheel, that results in a trip over the bars, which to me hurst more, you may be lucky and hang up the back, but that can still send you over the bars…

Do you think differently?

be settled before the root drop that you speak of and dont rush to land.

indeed. The problem with this one is that is goes uppishly first and you can only see sky infront of you until the last minute. This puts the willies up me. I can do a similar one with a downward approach and it doesnt bother me at all (the landing is at the same angle as the approach)

no andy, the agree to disagree. about what?? i thought we agreed….

dancake, even better. look out, as you approach and ride off it

oh, about the bikes… Maybe its because i have been lucky enough to ride alot of different types of bikes, so one can feel 'wrong' easilly to me.

P.s, I'm rubbish at putting what i think into words, so alot of what i type doesnt make sense to me either…

pmsl 🙂 high5

dancake, even better. look out, as you approach and ride off it

its funny (and sad) really. 2 of my workmates are my ridiing partners who have much bigger balls than me and we have this same conversation.

I usually end up convinced that I am actually brilliant on my bike and walk around with my head held high knowing that TOMORROW is when it will happen for me.

why am I so scared.? I have never broken anything on my bike (ok maybe a rib) and only went over the bars once. That was going over a big jump I didnt know was there sat on a saddle at full extension.

These days the saddle is down and I move around a lot more. I will be fine, right? I dont have much of a technique..just squash the forks a bit and straighten my arms as the fron wheel comes off….simples?? 🙂

erm not quite

😀 I still need to get through that jump section at corby though! I'm possibly going to get my wrist x-rayed though, as it still doesnt feel right .It may be a while if its a bad result

Jedi can definitely teach you how to jump. I saw a picture of my friend 'jezkidd' with both wheels off the ground tonight. That is a miracle, I never thought i would see the see the day!

erm not quite

I knew it!

So could you teach anybody..even me.

joking aside is it one to one or do you do small groups? 3 of us might be interested…

lyons, i told you i would get him to fly 🙂

i still think you broke your wrist at corby

Yeah, its good stuff, he was raving about it… I'm looking forward to riding with him again, I'm sure i'll see a difference.

As i said, I'm gonna try to get it x-rayed. It isnt really painful, most of the time it is ok, but hte odd time i've knocked it its hurt for a few minutes. Then i slipped over in the mud earlier and its started doing all sorts of clicky stuff again. Thing is, ive ridden my bike quite alot since, done tons of digging and it seems ok. Surely it would hurt more? It doesnt even hurt now, just keeps clicking.

( sorry for going waaaaaaaaaaaay off topic)

worth check ing for sure!

i try to jump off little stuff on rides as much as i can and i can do 2 ft step downs, but thats about it. when i crash doing jumps, its because i am at an angle in the air, and dont think about it until i land, then its too late.