This may sound trivial but this past weekend I noticed that I have been lazy with my throttle on straights leading up to jumps. I'm planning on advancing to amateur from novice class this season and I believe that one place I need to make time is by getting on the throttle on the straights. I feel I have decent skill on jumps (at least relative to my competition), I'm celaring the doubles and triple when many others in my group aren't.
I noticed that as the bigger jumps are coming up I set my throttle speed before the jump and hold a steady throttle instead of getting to wide open. If I go to wide open I will over jump the jump. I have been working on scrubbing speed on the face but there are many times that the jump is big enough that the scrub doesn't slow me down enough.
So what is the technique to go from fast wide open, to slowing down and setting the correct speed to celar the jumps and not over jump them. I'm thinking braking on the face has to be the way but truthfully I am not sure. Any input here?

Are we talking about a 2t or 4t? Your approach/throttle will be different depending on the bike and how advanced you are.

In the meantime, I would buy Semics' "All About Jumps & Whoops." It will show you several different ways to approach jumps.

I'm riding a 250F. What the issue is is not the jump face itself but on the straights. I'm lazy with my throttle opening because I know a big jump is coming up and I'm not sure how to slow my speed the correct amount for the jump. Basically I'm setting my speed 1/2 way down the straight then maintaining a steady throttle.
I have Gary Semics video series which has definitely helped but I don't think it addresses my specific question with the exception of where he talks of using the brakes on the face to "really slow down the bike" which might be the answer but I don't know.

You just need to start practicing. I usually stay wide open until I am just about into the jump face, then I just ease off the throttle or apply a little brake until my front wheel leaves the jump. Then a little bit of throttle to adjust so I don't nose dive. This is easier for 450s because there is plenty of power if you slow down to much. Be careful on the 250.

Another tip is to ride a gear higher so you don't top out whatever gear you are in leading up to the jump. I see a lot of novice riders screaming their bikes in 2nd or 3rd when you can carry more speed and save your engine riding in 4th. Pourcel style, it works.

slidin said:

Well, some easily over-jump'able jumps have straights that are so long that you can't blast down the straight wide open and maintain that speed up the face, unless you want to overjump and flatland. Here is how I ride, and it may not be textbook, but here goes: Hard acceleration as long as I can safely hold it, then progressively slow down as I approach the face (no sudden movements or last minute throttle chops on a 4t). The deceleration will come from a blend of cautiously closing the throttle and braking. Yes, dragging the brake somewhat while on the gas is fine. Use extreme caution on big, high speed jumps.

If you feel like you're ready, start off by dragging your rear brake with throttle on over some very small jumps-do this in moderation and at low speeds. I am almost hesitant to tell riders to drag their brakes because first, you don't want to stop with so much force that it throws your weight forward and the bike into an endo. Second reason I am hesitant to recommend this...I have a habit of dragging my brakes while accelerating/decelerating over many jumps and through most corners (not in deep sandy corners). Is this a good or bad habit? Who knows? I do know that it helps me go through most corners faster and also helps slow me down enough so that I do not overjump tricky jumps with long preceding straights. Just be sure not to let off the throttle cold turkey and slam on the brakes. It only takes a little bit, and the two (throttle and brakes) should work as one. If you finish accelerating/decelerating/braking before the face, do a last minute blip as you go up the face. Did any of this make sense, or am I just rambling?

+1 on that. Maybe not the rear brake part just because its so easy to lock up. I probably do it though.

Its really a skill you have to develop from experience. Just start with staying on the gas down the straights longer and longer until you get comfortable with judging your speed. This sort of stuff will come naturally out of necessity. Try riding with faster riders and see how they do it. That will get you a good feel.

To hit a jump coming off a long straight away wide open. The way that worked best for me was to scrub the jump. In order to do this compress your front forks only and kinda lean slightly to your left or right witch ever is more comfortable for you on the face of the jump, while still on the gas and keeping the bike in a straight forward motion and staying low to the ground in stead of getting height and distence. Your body english helps alot in this.

Yeah, its mainly a matter of overjumping and flat landing.
I have not tried the brake into the face. I have followed faster riders and they are on the gas longer on the straights. We come out of the corners about the same speed but I get to the speed that is correct to clear the jump knowing that if I say open longer then I will over jump and flat land hard. They pull away for maybe 10ft longer (pull 3 bike lengths on me) then hit the jump.
I figure that they have to be doing something different to stay on the gas longer then I am I'm just not sure what. I can scrub to slow down but even with a scrub I will still over jump. Maybe my scrub technique needs all the work? Maybe there is some else that I should be doing.

slidin said:

I'm not fast enough to consider doing anything like this. I'm actually excited that I've started clearing all but 3 jumps at my local track. :banana:

It seems like the difference in the AMA pros and the local A and B class riders is bike control in the air. The pro's seem like they can hit a jump 20 different ways and manage to land right where they want. I would agree that modifying your scrub might do the trick.

RWYZ450F said:

Your right it is bike control and the way you move your body around on the bike hints body english

Work on absorbing some of the bike's upward energy with your arms and legs on takeoff. This will allow you to hit the jump faster without overshooting the landing. As you get better at it, you can absorb more energy and hit the jump with more speed. Eventually you can't absorb any more with your body and you'll start tilting the bike off to the side into a whip, eventually leading to chopping the throttle, scrubbing, etc.

Those guys that are pulling you on the straits and still landing on the down side are the guys you need to talk to. Every jump is different and figuring them out comes with experience. There is a scientific approach to it but to keep it simple it comes from instinct.

Now that you can instinctively judge your speed to land the jump properly you need to work on being able to judge the speed in a shorter amount of time. Therefore you will be able to run wide open up to the jump and instinctively pick your point where you get on the brakes, let off the throttle, arrest the upward movement of the suspension, and redirect the rebound out to the side to keep you as low as possible and still land at the smoothest and fastest point.

Gary Semics does check this site so you can ask him directly. I'm sure since you have purchased from him in the past he will be happy to help.

If there are fast guys hitting a jump that you want to hit like the way they do it, swallow your pride and just ask them how. Trust me you will live longer.

Would slowing the rebound on both the fork and shock help you stay low when going fast into jumps? That's what DH bikers do on fast tracks with over-jumpable gaps. The balance point is to watch how much the slower dampers pack on choppy sections.

Are you already pre jumping the lip? i can't scrub much to stay low but pre jumping has worked for me really well in sets of tables and rhythm type stuff where you need more speed than you can easily carry...

you preload too early so that you're off the ground before the top of the jump and you'll stay really low.

Just a thought i'm by no means an expert

So I went to the track today and I was focused on trying a few things.
1. Better scrub technique 2. Rear brake to slow down into jumps. 3 WOT as long as possible to get speed on straights.
First observation was that scrub was working ok but with faster speeds scrub was turning into a whip. The whip seemed to slow me down better then my scrub which was great. I'm not that great at a whip but I'm thinking that this may be a natural transition from scrub to whip as speeds increase as someone had posted earlier.
Second was that rear brake things works ok but it really slows me down. Too much in fact for what I'm looking for. Rear brake only when I really have to slow a lot but it will also hurt my momentum.
New goal is to really keep working on scrub with faster run up speeds and probably end up with a whip to help land jumps with a faster speed.
Thanks for the feedback I think I'm on track now. Sound like a decent plan?

slidin said:

I would do whatever feels natural, gets you back on the ground quicker, and gives you the fastest lap times. The stopwatch doesn't lie.

if your bike is set up properly you can preload into the face which naturally slows you down. the reason i say properly set up is that if it is not it could buck you and end up over the handlebars. its normal for the front end to want to drop a little since you are letting off of the gas right before the face but opening up the throttle as soon as you are airborne will even the bike out and land you both tires even. this is what i do when i carry alot of speed into jumps but everyones different and jumps can be made differently as well.

practice getting up to a higher speed, ie acclerating harder or longer, then chopping throttle before the face slowing you down, and a blip at the end of the face too keep you neutral if necessary. You can get on the brakes to slow you down more if you acclerate that fast before the face, on bigger jumps i wouldn't drag either brake, but on some small ones your comfortable with you can drag brakes over.