As I’m regaining my fitness, I’m finding my bike skills are not good enough for the speed I’m going at. Recently, I’ve been going a lot faster on some downhill sections with mini bumps in them, proably 450-600mm high, these are just bumps in the trail for the younger ones to jump off and get a little air, they are totally rollable at lowish speeds, but once I get up to my current speed, I find I’m speeding over them, sending the back wheel skyward, and thus landing on the front wheel, which has caused a few moments when the landing hasnt been straight, so a large wobble, or, I think I’m going over the bars. This is not big jumping, just both wheels are leaving the ground, and it seems the rear is going a lot higher, causing the imbalance.
The dropper is always down, I think I’m putting weight back a bit, but it still happens. I’ve seen other people going over the same humps,and they land with both wheels at the same time, rather than front wheel first.
What do I need to do make it a bit safer, and land rear/both wheels down?
Thanks.
Bend ze knees.
Relax.
Pump or jump. Don't do nothing or you will get bucked about.
this
you need to do something...
if you cant absorb them and pump it back down.. then set up to jump them, sounds like they are the perfect features to learn on...
start watching some videos..
The dropper is always down, I think I’m putting weight back a bit, but it still happens.
Don't put your weight back. You're loading up the rear of the bike before hitting something, so making it have to try and recover from even more load... therefore pinging you forward.
Cathro's How To Jump video is very good imo. Worth a watch
Is your suspension fully dialled in, and well maintained/serviced?
Where are your feet on the pedals, specifically the heels of your back foot?
It sounds like your weight is forward, and when you feel that you're getting back, you're just getting lower by bending your knees?
You're loading up the rear of the bike before hitting something, so making it have to try and recover from even more load... therefore pinging you forward.
My money would also be on this happening.
A lot a instances of folks getting pitched forward are due to suddenly weighting the rear.
It's kind of a natural reaction to want to lean back in some situations because the rear has kicked.
The reality is it's just loading up the shock for an even bigger kick.
Supercross riders use the seatbounce trick* to purposely make the bike kick higher off the face of a jump.
Useful if you can control it, less so if you think the front will come up higher because your weigh is back.
But without seeing what is happening it's hard to say.
*Hit the face sat down on the rear of the seat.
As above, pump/squash it or jump it.
The dropper is always down, I think I’m putting weight back a bit, but it still happens.
the great thing about droppers is you dont need to put your weight back (like back in the day when there was a saddle in the way)
very much a problem I suffer with too - the Jedi said he was just going to shout "hips" at me rather than "hips forward" because I was always too far back.
Thanks all. I’ve done a quick YT search, and this one just about sums it up, the top video is what I’m doing, though a lot faster. If it was a nice flat landing, it’d be no problem, but it is Southern Scotland, so there are always rocks and lumps of stones on the landing that are pushing the tyres in multiple directions. I need to work on my technique, and practice more. Yes, I think the suspension is set correctly, though I will check the pressures before going out tomorrow night.
Yep, as above, it will be your weight going too far back that causes you problems.
This does many things. Firstly as folks have already said it loads the rear up for a bigger kick... which because your weight is back puts more forward momentum into your body making the buck even more likely.
But the second equally important bit is by being further back your arms are outstretched more. This means when you do land a bit wrong you have much less control over the bike because there is much less weight on the front. Hell, even if you land right you are more likely to be squirmy with your weight too far back.
Finally you also don't have any space to push the bike forward if you land nose heavy because the bike is already forwards. So you end up collapsing into the bike and once that happens it's time for an unscheduled lay down.
Chin over the stem and hips back makes for a decent riding position. Ben Cathro has a good series on Pinkbike.
I had the back wheel kick up a few times at FOD (one was quite scary) - turns out the rebound had clicked back when cleaning the bike. Returning it to its proper setting made a difference on my second runs.
It also made me quite wary of my technique, which isn't a bad thing - I had a lot more respect for my position, weighting, and speed from that point onwards.
sending the back wheel skyward,
I'd be slowing the rebound settings on the rear shock, it's surprising how much difference a couple of clicks can make
Yes, I think the suspension is set correctly, though I will check the pressures before going out tomorrow night.
It's not just about pressure, compression and especially rebound are just as important - handy also to understand the difference between high & low compression/rebound.
