[sovietspyguy]

Alright I know this is dumb but I've been curious..why are drops to flat such a horrible thing? I mean I know that it puts a lot more stress on the bike than drops with a transition, but I see people talking about bikes that seem to be built for freeride/urban and saying that they did like six foot drops to flat and the bikes held up. Isn't this kinda expected? When I do drops to flat they don't seem that bad, because I personally don't get beat up all that much. I guess I'm just overestimating the strength of bikes/components or underestimating the amount of stress that it puts on the bike?

Anyways I know it's a dumb Q but I've never really thought about it...just seems like people do 20 foot drops to a tranny and everything's fine but a six foot drop to flat and it's death to bikes.

 

[mxrider489]

Unecessary stress on the bike, on the body, don't require much skill, look stupid. But none of these things keep me from doing it every once in a while.

 

[Guest]

Unecessary stress on the bike, on the body, don't require much skill, look stupid. But none of these things keep me from doing it every once in a while.

Drops to flat are sweet... there is a way to do them (with a HT) that will put much less stress on your bike than a drop to tranny will....

Example (even though its on a tranny)

 

[KevinM[Freerider]]

this is kinda a touchy subject.. but ill try to help a little.
drops to flat, all of your weight is mostly going straight down verticaly, putting quite some pressure on cranks, pedals, bottom brackets, it can also be quite a hit to a rim also. When u hear urban riders, (or trials possibly?), alot of them will do a wheelie drop, where u land on your rear wheel first, most of ur pressure going virticaly up and down still, but the whole intire bike isnt smashing the ground, or both tires at least. i havnt figured this completely out yet, but there is less pressure going down on the bike, because the bike is verticle too so it evens out a little bit. alot of bikes will take some 6 foot drops to flat, but over time, and everytime you do that, you are wearing out a component even more and more. over time, something will break. if you have a full suspension, shocks might get blown possibly (i know mine did), if ur (or other "urban riders" u speak of) are on hardtails (most likely) than ur bottom brackets hava chance of twisting if u dont have a good one, or cranks failing. this happened on my hardtail with a lower end bottom bracket. if you want to, you could try wheelie droppping. its not the easiest thing if u want to do it nicely, but u can drop alot higher to flat. i saw lenosky drop 7 and a half feet on to dead flat cement, (well actualy he landed on a soda can and crushed it) but still, it wasnt smooth, but wasnt ball busting harshness. what i do is get my cranks and pedals so ones down and ones up. ride like this a littl bit, then hit the brake and stop, let off the brake and as soon as u do this pedal half a pedal and make ur pedals evened out,and pull the front up. hit the brake as soon as ur as far back as possible, then let off the brake quickly and make a little pedal forward and hit the brake again and see if u can land staying on the rear tire. i know u prob wont do this on ur first, maybe 10th try but its worth it if u dont have good drops to tranny and u dont wannna break ur bike.

 

[SHIVER ME TIMBERS]

it seems when you are a beginer to riding........doing drops to flat are really easy and drops to transitions are scary. Drops to trannys are scary because you never have done them

after awhile when you become a more experinced rider when you drop to a transition it is so smooth and sweet ...you understand how harsh drops to flats are...but IMO anything under 4 feet ain't so bad

 

[NewBiker90]

Thats funny that you said that smt because i just started doing drops to tranny and it was really scary at first. I could do a drop to flat easy but the tranny just scared me for some reason. But now i relize why drops to tranny are so much easier

 

[crazy Jim]

after I broke my wrists I decided to rule out drops to flat. Thats the only thing I've changed except I'm going bigger then ever now.

 

[SHIVER ME TIMBERS]

Thats funny that you said that smt because i just started doing drops to tranny and it was really scary at first. I could do a drop to flat easy but the tranny just scared me for some reason. But now i relize why drops to tranny are so much easier

you see...you have always jumped off curbs and such...so you are familar with that...the unknown is the scary part

 

[freerider167]

drop to trany can keep more momentum of your bike and body going, unlike a drop to flat you lose more momentum faster which is why people get jurked around a lot. try a drop to tranny and let me know what you think. try a 3 to flat, and then a 6 to tranny.

 

[rpl3000]

i just had to post a big trials drop. awesome

 

[SHIVER ME TIMBERS]

TRIALS = SICK

i just had to post a big trials drop. awesome

 

[T_FIZZLE_888]

drops

Drops to flat arent that bad. But a 6 foot drop to flat isn't near as smooth or cool as with a steep tranie that makes the veins in your neck explode. Flow is everything!

 

[milhouse]

Alright I know this is dumb but I've been curious..why are drops to flat such a horrible thing? I mean I know that it puts a lot more stress on the bike than drops with a transition, but I see people talking about bikes that seem to be built for freeride/urban and saying that they did like six foot drops to flat and the bikes held up. Isn't this kinda expected? When I do drops to flat they don't seem that bad, because I personally don't get beat up all that much. I guess I'm just overestimating the strength of bikes/components or underestimating the amount of stress that it puts on the bike?

Anyways I know it's a dumb Q but I've never really thought about it...just seems like people do 20 foot drops to a tranny and everything's fine but a six foot drop to flat and it's death to bikes.

Sounds to me like youre smooth and I wouldnt really worry about it too much. 6' to flat aint that high for a DH bike.

 

[XSL_WiLL]

Sounds to me like your smooth and I would really worry about it too much. 6' to flat aint that high for a DH bike.

Roof to flat with an "all-mountain" bike. 5.5 in the rear and 6 up front. Back in the day... I don't care how noobish it was. It's still a roof.

 

[RobsterCraw]

Actual DH and trail freeriders are not fond of drops to flat because: #1 you cannot go as big, and for sizeable drops to flat you pretty much need to be dropping with very little forward velocity. This is becuase large drops to flat require landing on the rear wheel with the front end way up to make the impact gradual. If you fly off a drop and land with your front wheel way up, there is a good chance you are going down. I don't like flat drops because you can't rip off them (when they are big) and it disrupts the flow of the trail.

 

[.WestCoastHucker.]

Sounds to me like your smooth and I would really worry about it too much. 6' to flat aint that high for a DH bike.

seriously, i couldn't even count how many times i've overshot trannys and landed flat from easily double that height.......

 

[carcasshucker]

the only "horrible" thing aboot them is what they do to your ankles well mine anyway
and the issue of slowing down and not being able to rip off it smoothly

 

[namaSSte]

seriously, i couldn't even count how many times i've overshot trannys and landed flat from easily double that height.......

w3rd to that Mike. few things scare me more than doing that. I do it on spines when I lose focus. Its funny how the concrete has a really straightforward way of reminding why I hate dropping to flat so much.

 

[mtbames190]

ive done a 6ft to flat on a hard tail and on DH bike it wasnt harsh at all. bolth of my bikes are fine.
I'll be doing a10ft roof drop to flat off my schools roof.

IF YOU WANT TO CHECK IT OUT IT WILL BE IN A MOVIE WERE MAKING. IT WILL TWORDS MAY WHEN IT WILL BE MADE. I THINK WERE MAKING COPIES. THEY WILL BE $10 THE MOVIE IS CALLED : A LOCAL UPRISING.

my email is [email protected] if you want more info

 

[sovietspyguy]

ive done a 6ft to flat on a hard tail and on DH bike it wasnt harsh at all. bolth of my bikes are fine.
I'll be doing a10ft roof drop to flat off my schools roof.

IF YOU WANT TO CHECK IT OUT IT WILL BE IN A MOVIE WERE MAKING. IT WILL TWORDS MAY WHEN IT WILL BE MADE. I THINK WERE MAKING COPIES. THEY WILL BE $10 THE MOVIE IS CALLED : A LOCAL UPRISING.

my email is [email protected] if you want more info

for ten bucks it better be at least 1/3 of NWD