[talf]

Hi all
what is the best way to jump short, slow approach drops ?
i've been to a few trails this weekend that had these kind of drops, and although i managed to clear most of them, i didn't like the way i landed.
just for example - the trail bends sharply and has a few large rocks, so you have to slow down, and about 2-3 meters after the turn you get to the drop.

anyone has a good technique for this kind of drops ?

tal

 

[scrublover]

Hi all
what is the best way to jump short, slow approach drops ?
i've been to a few trails this weekend that had these kind of drops, and although i managed to clear most of them, i didn't like the way i landed.
just for example - the trail bends sharply and has a few large rocks, so you have to slow down, and about 2-3 meters after the turn you get to the drop.

anyone has a good technique for this kind of drops ?

tal

slow speed wheelie drop. as you aproach, give a power pedal stroke at the same time your are leaning back and lifting the front end up. get the weight back and off the seat a bit. do this right as your front tire is approaching the edge. done properly, this should have you landing back wheel first, then putting the front end down. much batter way (IMO) to do slow speed drops, and stuff with short approaches/flat-ish landings.

i'm much better at these kind of trialsy drops than i am at the haul ass fly off to tranny kind of drops. i find this is what works for me. YMMV. and i'm sure some other folks can give a better description/other options.

or, if a slow enough approach, and you feel comfortable doing it, get your self way back behind the seat and roll them.......

 

[misctwo]

slow speed wheelie drop. as you aproach, give a power pedal stroke at the same time your are leaning back and lifting the front end up. get the weight back and off the seat a bit. do this right as your front tire is approaching the edge. done properly, this should have you landing back wheel first, then putting the front end down. much batter way (IMO) to do slow speed drops, and stuff with short approaches/flat-ish landings.

i'm much better at these kind of trialsy drops than i am at the haul ass fly off to tranny kind of drops. i find this is what works for me. YMMV. and i'm sure some other folks can give a better description/other options.

or, if a slow enough approach, and you feel comfortable doing it, get your self way back behind the seat and roll them.......

that's trials style, not really for the 'trail' as he said. if you use the power pedal stroke method, you're already going pretty slow and you'll drop from the edge immediately. that method is great for small and slow dropoffs from the end of logs....

best is to keep momentum through the turn, one or two pedal strokes right out of the apex, then level the cranks for the setup. of course thisdepends on the landing zone too.

a decent speed makes cleaning drops easier..

 

[Hardtails Are Better]

that's trials style, not really for the 'trail' as he said. if you use the power pedal stroke method, you're already going pretty slow and you'll drop from the edge immediately. that method is great for small and slow dropoffs from the end of logs....

best is to keep momentum through the turn, one or two pedal strokes right out of the apex, then level the cranks for the setup. of course thisdepends on the landing zone too.

a decent speed makes cleaning drops easier..

Yes, speed helps. But wheelie drops have their place on the trail in certain low speed situations. Hitting 5'-6'ers with a wheelie drop works fine if the setup is right, ie. no gap.

 

[scrublover]

that's trials style, not really for the 'trail' as he said. if you use the power pedal stroke method, you're already going pretty slow and you'll drop from the edge immediately. that method is great for small and slow dropoffs from the end of logs....
a decent speed makes cleaning drops easier..

which is exactly why i described what i did, since he says he ends up approaching the edge at lower speeds........

and you odn't have to be going super slow to do it that way, either.

 

[michaelsnead]

3rd Vote for Wheelie Drop!

Hi all
what is the best way to jump short, slow approach drops ?
i've been to a few trails this weekend that had these kind of drops, and although i managed to clear most of them, i didn't like the way i landed.
just for example - the trail bends sharply and has a few large rocks, so you have to slow down, and about 2-3 meters after the turn you get to the drop.

anyone has a good technique for this kind of drops ?

tal

Hi talf,

Depending on the LZ you can safely roll up to 2 foot drops. After that if the approach requires slow speed and there is no gap to clear then the best technique is the wheelie drop. Trials riders regularly use them to drop 6'-8' heights. I have a 3' tall platform in my yard that I use to practice on. It drops to a transition so the LZ is almost 4' from the lip of the drop. If you build up to it slowly you can comfortably get to that height in a few days. There is an excellent description of the wheelie drop in "Mastering Mountain Bike Skills" by Lopes and McCormack. The book also covers many other useful skills. Excellent resource!

http://www.leelikesbikes.com/mastering-mountain-bike-skills/

Have fun,

Michael:thumbsup:

 

[shopvet]

ok - maybe modified wheelie drop...

Living and riding in Pisgah, we run across these short-approach drops all the time. I've found that the answer here is probably 1/3 bike setup and 2/3 technique. If you're running a typical XC setup, ie longish stem (say >100mm), flattish bars at a level somewhat below your seat, you're going to find it very hard to do this, but it's possible with a little more muscle. I run a 90mm stem with my bars exactly level with my seat at climbing height.

As you approach the drop, get lined up with your landing. Bend your knees and elbows, getting low and a little forward, preloading your body for the next step. As your front wheel is about ready to leave the edge, "punch" the bike forward off the drop, using the stored energy in your body to accelerate the bike off the ledge. This is not so much "pulling up" as it is leaning back, while simultaneously pushing the bike forward with your upper body and your legs. It should naturally assume a slightly front-wheel-up attitude if this action is done correctly. Throughout, you should be looking at your landing.

I personally don't try for a rear-wheel landing so much as a two-wheel landing. The angle of the bike should match the incline of the landing as long as you're carrying some speed. On trials-type drops, or below walking speed, a rear wheel landing can be controlled and will be softer. At any kind of speed, though, the front end is going to "slap" down (think Josh Bender) and cause other problems.

 

[trialsrookie]

Depending on your actual speed and confidence level I guess you should either apply shopvet's technique or the wheelie drop (which I personally use very often, because the low speed increases my confidence level. But watch your front end!). A really cool video that introduces the latter technique can be found here, courtesy of flowmaster:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=91487

 

[twomanywh33ls]

if u r going too fast to peadal drop off of it, but to slow to just manual drop it, try to pick ur front wheel up and holdit as long as possible. and when ur front wheel gets out over the edge by a good distance try to do a weight transfer or a J hop kind of thing. then after ur rear wheel clears the edge try to level out the bike so that thewheels land in the best way with the ground

 

[ChipV]

No one every mentions using your brakes. Holding your brakes and preloading you pedals against them can give you alot of stored energy. Even from a dead stop above a drop, with the brakes locked, you should be able to pre-load the pedals at about and 8 & 2 position, then when you release the brakes lift up like a wheelie drop, and the stored energy will launch you out.

Sometimes this is handy if you are abvove 2-3" drop w/ a real hairy approach that lands in a hairpen or a rock garden. You can actually go from a stop, to a launch, then land and stop again.

Even at a slow roll I hit my breaks before the drop to get a little "spring".

 

[michaelsnead]

Picnic tables are the secret answer!

No one every mentions using your brakes. Holding your brakes and preloading you pedals against them can give you alot of stored energy. Even from a dead stop above a drop, with the brakes locked, you should be able to pre-load the pedals at about and 8 & 2 position, then when you release the brakes lift up like a wheelie drop, and the stored energy will launch you out.

Sometimes this is handy if you are abvove 2-3" drop w/ a real hairy approach that lands in a hairpen or a rock garden. You can actually go from a stop, to a launch, then land and stop again.

Even at a slow roll I hit my breaks before the drop to get a little "spring".

Hi ChipV,

I agree and picnic tables are a great place to practice this kind of super slow restricted approach drop. They work so well because there is very little distance from the end of the table where you start to the end where you drop. Therefore there is no ability to huck the drop and you have to develop a good wheelie drop with a short approach.

Michael:thumbsup:

 

[El Chingon]

The pedal kick is the way. If you find that your approach is less than 5 mph, then make sure you are in your middle ring in the front and gear 2 or 3 in the rear. Just as your front tire is starting to leave the lip, give a good have stroke on the cranks, and pull up. Landing rear tire first makes for a softer landing. We use this technique all the time for riding Gooseberry Mesa, and LIttle Creek Mesa here in the ST. George Utah area. This techniqe works great for drops up to about 6 foot.

 

[talf]

thanks guys
these are all great ideas you gave me, so i'll try them all and see what works best for me :thumbsup:

 

[Frankenschwinn]

The pedal kick is the way. If you find that your approach is less than 5 mph, then make sure you are in your middle ring in the front and gear 2 or 3 in the rear. Just as your front tire is starting to leave the lip, give a good have stroke on the cranks, and pull up. Landing rear tire first makes for a softer landing. We use this technique all the time for riding Gooseberry Mesa, and LIttle Creek Mesa here in the ST. George Utah area. This techniqe works great for drops up to about 6 foot.

I do something similar but I do a j-hop off of the edge. (j-hop=stand up wheelie to bunny-hop from rear wheel). I find If I pick my bike up off the edge I have more control over the attitude of the bike in the air.

 

[theodore_kh]

Does all these methods works with a hardtail?

I've tried landing with the small wheelie drop on my hardtail and the landing was hard.
Not that high, bout 3 steps.

Moreover my seat post was adjusted high for on road cycling, I landed myself hard on the saddle, forcing my whole seat post inside the seat post tube.

 

[scrublover]

Does all these methods works with a hardtail?

I've tried landing with the small wheelie drop on my hardtail and the landing was hard.
Not that high, bout 3 steps.

Moreover my seat post was adjusted high for on road cycling, I landed myself hard on the saddle, forcing my whole seat post inside the seat post tube.

yep, better to put the seat down, at least until you get a bit more technique dialed in.
not that you can't do some with the seat up, but i find it easier, especially if you don't have the greatest landing.

(no riding lately for me, but at least i can remind myself what it looks like) Though I recall landing a little nose heavy on the both times with this one.

at times, making the blowfish face can be a key technique. rroeder here has it down.

EricTheRed here has a nice one her, though it has a nice easy approach. (where is that guy, anyway?)

Another timer shot. This one was a pull the front up/weight back one, though this one you could have a bit more speed on.

As was this, a slow up on a rock, then down the other side with the loft-the-wheel thing, not much pedal kick.

And just 'cause I like this one.

https://s44.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=https://vid44.photobucket.com/albums/f12/scrublover/Summit%20Rides/westridgewmv.flv

 

[Low_Rider]

Nice shots! :thumbsup:

 

[carbuncle]

Here's a video I just found that might help you. This was produced by one of our local shops and Decline: http://declinemagazine.com/visuals/fluidride/visuals_fluidride.htm

 

[Alpenglow]

Thanks

Here's a video I just found that might help you. This was produced by one of our local shops and Decline: http://declinemagazine.com/visuals/fluidride/visuals_fluidride.htm

That was a great video. :thumbsup:

 

[fsrxc]

Does all these methods works with a hardtail?

I've tried landing with the small wheelie drop on my hardtail and the landing was hard.
Not that high, bout 3 steps.

Moreover my seat post was adjusted high for on road cycling, I landed myself hard on the saddle, forcing my whole seat post inside the seat post tube.

On a HT it helps to land back wheel first (to a flat-ish landing), it's less harsh than landing both-wheels-together. Be sure to have one finger on your back brake.