HOw to land BIG drops ???

[lxlx]

How to land BIG drops??
Does anybody know a good way to land big drops, some to flat ??
I am not very tecnical and I think it would be good to know the best way to handle these hard landings...both concerning me and my bike

[darren-R]

with both wheels on the ground... if its a steep enouph trannie its smoother to nose into it a bit.

[243_ht]

no footed nose dive for extra style.

[Curtis]

What height are you dropping from now?

First get comfortable at the height you are at now. Learn to correct mistakes you have made on the take off when your in the air, and learn not to panic when things don't go right. You'll see that happen more then any other mistake. Someone will go off a drop, mess up the take off and be out of shape, they'll relize they're out of shape, panic and just dead sailor into the landing. With experiance you'll be able to correct mistakes in the air or upon landing by tweaking the bike this way or that, or by turning the bars just a bit to help the bike stand up if you're going to land on and angle. It's the little things you'll learn off smaller drops that will allow you to walk away from a BIG drop gone wrong.
On steep trannies land with front wheel just before the back, the less of a trany you have the more you want both wheels to land at the same time. If you doing a drop to flat try to land so the back wheel touches down just before the rear wheel.

Bike set-up: If your doing a one time big drop where your show boating crank up the pre load accordingly on the rear shock along with the rebound, same goes for the preload on the fork except you can back off the rebound so it's faster then normal. What these damping setting do is help with not getting kicked or bucked off the bike. With slower rebond in the rear and faster in the front the bike wil sit down on the landing, the front end will pop up fast then the back. This works great on a drop with very little tranny.
Like someone else posted on the thread about quotes, ......Wade Simmons; "you have to be a good crasher before you can be a good rider".

Just go out and practice tones.

[Putty]

nice explanation curtis. good work.

yes, practice.

[Curtis]

Thanks man, I'm only speaking from experiance. I can crash with the best, I swear my friends ride with me just to see the carnage.

[gooch]

Originally posted by lxlx
How to land BIG drops??
Does anybody know a good way to land big drops, some to flat ??
I am not very tecnical and I think it would be good to know the best way to handle these hard landings...both concerning me and my bike

How BIG is BIG?

[Req]

Originally posted by Curtis
.. and just dead sailor into the landing.

Haha, never heard that expression before :lol:

[Mmmm Dirt]

Originally posted by Curtis
I can crash with the best, I swear my friends ride with me just to see the carnage.

Hey me too! Mmmm Dirt!

[Taylor_P]

Originally posted by lxlx
How to land BIG drops...some to flat ??


just cut any drop to flat over 3 or 4 feet out of you routine of thing to do. flat is bad for you and the bike.

[Bryce]

Originally posted by Curtis
crank up the pre load accordingly on the rear shock, same goes for the preload on the fork

Preload doesn't affect the spring rate, I'd leave it unloaded so that you can use that last tiny bit of neagtive travel - it works with the damping to keep the tire on the ground when the bike rebounds

[mike]

rubber side down

[Voleurz represent]

Originally posted by lxlx

big drops, some to flat ??
I am not very tecnical and I think it would be good to know the best way to handle these hard landings...

learn to ride better before hitting BOG DRORPS to flat...
then you will have more bike control and know that Drorps to flat are the worst things ever. But if you are into doing dumb things, land both wheels at the same time, or nose down a little into tranny.

[Curtis]

Originally posted by Bryce
Preload doesn't affect the spring rate, I'd leave it unloaded so that you can use that last tiny bit of neagtive travel - it works with the damping to keep the tire on the ground when the bike rebounds
Your right, preload cannot change the "spring rate", that is engineered into the design of the spring itself .
When you are compressing the srping via the preload adjustment you are increasing the the static load on the spring within the travel limits of the fork, pre travel. What preload does is increase the force or energy it takes to move or compress the spring a given distance. Am I of base here, this is the understanding I've used to set up suspensions for bikes, motorcycles, snowmoblies etc.
It's also how ride hieght can be adjusted. :P

[T-bone]

Originally posted by mike
rubber side down

DAMN! You beat me to it.........

[wickedmcdougle]

you can't really explain it, you just gotta try it, and if you bail, think of what you could've done different to land it. If it doesn't hurt and feels reasonbly smooth, you did it right

[The_Real_Yeti]

If your riding a ht land a little more nose thatn tail. If your on fs then land both tires at the same time. Stay back seat. Dont jump to flat its stupid!

[ReCkLeSs RiDeR]

just giv'er man

[NickS]

id say dont dead sailer anything do what you have to to stay active in the air watch like wade simmons and how he pumps his bike and has total control over it. Ill also say land both wheels same time.

[Scarface]

land in a manual it seems to be th emost logical way

[FullMonty]

I like to land my big drops to uphill stair landings. It's the only way to go, and so smooth. :P

[ReCkLeSs RiDeR]

for sure and representing the surrey loc's

[banjopete]

If you're asking a question like that you probably are better off staying away from them (big drops that is).

Experience wins every time, but obviously there is a first time for everything so work your way up slowly.

[jedi]

big is one step higher than before:O)

[Broken Fusion!]

drops to flat:
don't land em, cause there's no need to do em

to tranny:
hang on and hope for the best