Starting to get air time

[2_SL0]

Ok, last trip out I was starting to get a little air time, (it was very small amount) however I'm noticing the bike is moving at one speed and normally tends to land a little earlier than me, difficult to explain, but basically we don't seem to be coming down together in one fluid motion.

I am guessing everyone is going to say hang on more with your knees, which I except is most likely what I am doing wrong, however any tips on this would be much appreciated. I'm not going for the big superman move or anything, more its a natural progression of me getting a little faster.

[B0000M]

Ok, last trip out I was starting to get a little air time, (it was very small amount) however I'm noticing the bike is moving at one speed and normally tends to land a little earlier than me, difficult to explain, but basically we don't seem to be coming down together in one fluid motion.

I am guessing everyone is going to say hang on more with your knees, which I except is most likely what I am doing wrong, however any tips on this would be much appreciated. I'm not going for the big superman move or anything, more its a natural progression of me getting a little faster.

yea grip a bit with your knees, but dont be rigid on the bike in the air, try to flow with it to get it landing nicely in a manor suitable for the next part of track.

the thing holding most people back from nice jumps is the fact that you will tend to back off the gas on the up ramp. you want to be either holding steady power up the ramp or ideally accelerating a bit. take the acceleration gently while you're getting the hang of jumping, but if you hold your power up the ramp your air will increase significantly as well as making the bike so its not trying to nose dive every time.

important basic things to know too are if the bike is nose diving in the air, feed it throttle in the air, if the nose is too far up, tap the back brake in the air, the momentum and weight of the rear wheel will assist in correcting the angles.

the best jumps for learning on in my opinion is a table top with little to no lip on the down ramp

[theblacksmith]

I totally agree with what BOOOM says. Another factor I found was suspension setting.With mine i had to stiffen the rebound on the back shock as it tended to "bounce" a bit when I left the ramp - resulting in the bike pushing me up and landing earlier than I did.(Yuk feeling) The stiffer setting and applying a bit of throttle on leaving the ramp corrected this. Some jumps have a nasty little lip on them(due to rutting) which I find I have to throttle quite hard as my back tyre leaves the jump.Id much rather land on my rear wheel than the front.

[Pierce]

Defo some good points there. Gotta grip the bike with your knees but also be lose on the bike so that the bike can do what it wants without throwing you off. Steady hand on the throttle is best for a normal jump. Table tops or small doubles are good to learn on. Where are you riding 2 slo?

[telliman]

get off the side of the bike!

[camchain]

I've found the biggest thing to watch out for as confidence builds is - over confidence. As in: "Hey, I'm really starting to get the hang of thi- SLAM."

Those rutty jumps with a steep, short face and a 'knuckle' on the top edge always psych me out, and being too tense just adds to the problem. Steep take-offs have a lot of potential to mess you up due to suspension suddenly compressing hard as you hit the face then uncompressing suddenly (and unevenly) as bike leaves the ground. All that stored energy has to go somewhere and it happens fast.

Lotta physics going on there and takes a lot of time to get the feel for it all, so I reckon above all, take your time. IMO you don't have to push too hard to make solid improvement especially when focussing on one particular aspect of riding.

BTW finding with the new super light 200 it's a lot of fun to compress the suspension (with pushing down bodyweight) and popping up off stuff I used to basically roll over with the heavier bike.

[telliman]

yea grip a bit with your knees, but dont be rigid on the bike in the air, try to flow with it to get it landing nicely in a manor suitable for the next part of track.

the thing holding most people back from nice jumps is the fact that you will tend to back off the gas on the up ramp. you want to be either holding steady power up the ramp or ideally accelerating a bit. take the acceleration gently while you're getting the hang of jumping, but if you hold your power up the ramp your air will increase significantly as well as making the bike so its not trying to nose dive every time.

important basic things to know too are if the bike is nose diving in the air, feed it throttle in the air, if the nose is too far up, tap the back brake in the air, the momentum and weight of the rear wheel will assist in correcting the angles.

the best jumps for learning on in my opinion is a table top with little to no lip on the down ramp

na holding neutural revs when learning to jump just puts the shits up ya if ya throttle control is no good, unless its a kicker id stay away brom the gas, line your jump up dude and give it shit then let the gas off on the up ramp then maybe blip it a bit in the air,that way your covered,using revs on the up ramp only leads to loops for beginers.

[Pierce]

unless its a kicker id stay away brom the gas, line your jump up dude and give it shit then let the gas off on the up ramp then maybe blip it a bit in the air,that way your covered,using revs on the up ramp only leads to loops for beginers.

I'd have to disagree there. Especially if it's a 4T. Way too much engine braking and it will cause bad nose dive off the jump. Steady hand on the throttle, not excellerating nor buttoning off. Steady gas so that if it goes nose down you can rev slightly or nose up you can tap back brake but it shouldn't do too much of either.

[telliman]

I'd have to disagree there. Especially if it's a 4T. Way too much engine braking and it will cause bad nose dive off the jump. Steady hand on the throttle, not excellerating nor buttoning off. Steady gas so that if it goes nose down you can rev slightly or nose up you can tap back brake but it shouldn't do too much of either.

thats cause you never get it out of third bro,haha, so you advise someone new to jumping to start working the clutch and brake in the air and thats easier to learn to jump? hes never going to know how a bikes going to react on take off.
nose dive from engine braking, classic.

[telliman]

thats cause you never get it out of third bro,haha, so you advise someone new to jumping to start working the clutch and brake in the air and thats easier to learn to jump? hes never going to know how a bikes going to react on take off.
nose dive from engine braking, classic.

in saying all that, im still learning myself so oooo yea.

[B0000M]

even better, learn jumping on a 2stroke. heaps easier,

by the time you've mastered that you would have realised 2 strokes are just better to ride and you wont bother going back to your noisy 4stroke

[Pierce]

thats cause you never get it out of third bro,haha, so you advise someone new to jumping to start working the clutch and brake in the air and thats easier to learn to jump? hes never going to know how a bikes going to react on take off.
nose dive from engine braking, classic.

No i'm no saying clutch and brake in the air. i'm saying if you hold a steady throttle up and off the jump you'l be less likely to need to adjust in the air (button off once you're in the air of course). You're telling him to button off on the up ramp...? 4T - excelleration = engine braking, engine braking on a jump means the nose will dive... I don't see much sense in that. I've not yet come across a ride that say's to button off before they leave the ramp.

Oh and third gear on a CRF250 is a heap slower than 3rd on a CR250 niceone:

[Pierce]

even better, learn jumping on a 2stroke. heaps easier,

by the time you've mastered that you would have realised 2 strokes are just better to ride and you wont bother going back to your noisy 4stroke

I wish i had this advise in Aug last year when i bought my CRF... CR250 is heaps more fun

[B0000M]

I wish i had this advise in Aug last year when i bought my CRF... CR250 is heaps more fun

still got your crf? i pm'd youu the other day regarding a softcock who wants to go from a cr to a crf


edit: the pm just came thru! lol. nevermind, and i guess this answers the question. yea the mrs's crf is going great, works a treat as a backup bike for me too

[telliman]

I wish i had this advise in Aug last year when i bought my CRF... CR250 is heaps more fun

bro, you look scared of your 2t, you say more fun but you looked like you enjoyed your 4t heaps more.haha