:banghead:so im new to the mx scene but am no stranger to bikes. i went to our local track a bit ago and tried some jumping. i was doing fine for the first little while. but my front end was diving when i was in the air. these werent big jumps probly 6 footers. and i knew that it was because i didnt have enough speed so i hit the next few jumps with twice as much speed and i leaned back. the first one i hit fine but it felt really weird. the next jump i hit i got a wake up call. i leaned back and did the same thing and went right over backwards. i ate dirt hard. but im a tough guy and i want to learn i just dont know how to go about it. i dont know what to do im pretty discouraged. if any one can help it would be appreciated. and i know there is a way to hit jumps but ive never done it before so i dont know anything.

Go to the MX forum for some more in depth advice. But basically hitting the lip on the throttle will project you nose high, chopping the throttle before takeoff,nose low. Try steady medium throttle to start. Should get a nice even flight. You want to land either front or back tire first, but only by a hair.

Coming to a message board instead of asking your local advanced riders?

Pay for some lessons before you get hurt.

CamP said:

X2
also when jumping stand so as your weight is centered on the bike.

this way you can lean forward if the front end is too high or back if too low.

if the front end is low lean back and hit the throttle a bit and this will bring the front end up

if the front end is too high lean forward and back off on the throttle a bit.

but as the previous poster said take some lessons:thumbsup:

Guranteed you're chopping the throttle at the face of the jump.  Accelerate all the way through the jump and use gas/brake to set the nose where you want it.

bbohannon said:

+1, this ^^  your letting off the throttle on the face of the jump.

+2 on chopping the throttle, steady throttle is the key when you are learning to jump, then from there you can adjust your throttle on the face depending on the style of jump to tailor your flight

+3 Yes, steady throttle.

Agreed, steady throttle and neutral body position will make for a nice level flight.

Start small and work your way up, your body will thank you for it later. Find a table top and experiment with throttle, brake, body position... etc. It will give you some insight on what you should be looking at when approaching a jump and what to expect based on the face/landing.

BDubb106, on 29 February 2012 - 08:09 PM, said:

Definitely start on a table and start small. If you have any friends that ate more advanced get them to help you out and show you what's up.

Why are you guys digging up a thread from August of 2011?

IDK how threads like this get dug up.

It was at the front of the list so I responded... I dont pay much attention to the dates. Whats it really matter? Still might help out the next guy rather than starting another post regaurding the exact same thing.

BDubb106, on 01 March 2012 - 05:20 AM, said:

HAHA! Exactly. I'm not so good with paying attention to stuff like dates...

suzuki254385, on 11 August 2011 - 08:16 PM, said:

The most important part of the jump is where the bike actually leaves the ground, where you have the compression and rebound part of the jump.  What gives you control at this critical part of the jump is your body movements and throttle control.  Along with this body movement and throttle control is timing.  The timing is so critical that the body movement and throttle control has to be an automatic reflex reaction.  This is why it takes so much time and practice to learn to jump well.   Key into the compressing and rebound part of the jump, move your body back a little as the rear wheel kicks up and blip the throttle a little at the same time.  This will cause the front wheel to stay level or come up a little.  If the front wheel is too high don’t move back as much or give it as much throttle.  If you want the front end lower it’s just the opposite; don’t blip the throttle as much and don’t move back as much.  When you want to accelerate after the landing it’s best to land with the throttle on. I have 3 Technique DVDs that cover Jumping and Whoops and more available to download.  You can see a free Motocross Technique DVD preview of these and many others at: www.gsmxs.com

My Theory of Jumping for Beginners (...or...what worked for me)

OK...I bought a bike back in 06...started riding..then got hurt (not while riding...) and just got back into it this year.  All told...I have about 20 hours of practice time..total...on real MX tracks with real jumps...so I am a complete newb when it comes to jumping on a MX track.  In the case of jumping...actually understanding what is going on made it much easier for me to understand what to try and do in different situations.  Better riders can often not explain what they do.  They say things like "throttle control and body position are important"..."work on that".  OK...how?

When it comes to jumping, what you are trying to learn to do as a beginner is maintain a stable and controlled trajectory through the air.  Whether that happens or not, depends about 75% on ONE factor.  That factor is the net rotational moment (twist...the rotational equivalent of force) on the bike during that period between when the FRONT wheel leaves the jump..and the REAR wheel leaves the jump.  This moment, or twist, is dependent on two primary factors.
1.  How the suspension was loaded into the jump face.
2.  What you are doing with the throttle.

Your position on the bike will also change the total inertia of the bike, and if you are ENDOING or LOOPING OUT, the bike will be rotating about differing axis.  When you are endoing...the bike will tend to be rotating about an the motor.  Shifting back away from the center of rotation will slow the rotation.  If you are looping out because you applied way too much throttle...being to far back will have the opposite effect...it will reduce your inertia...and you will loop out faster.  But those are factors that effect how the bike and rider REACT to the loads.  Concentrating on controlling the loads to start with is a good beginner approach.  Again....what determines whether you are going to land on your head, your ass, or two wheels comes down to the period between when the front and rear wheels, respectively, leave the jump.

• The moment created by the rear suspension AFTER the front wheel leaves the face, but BEFORE the real wheel leaves the face, causes the bike to endo....so we can call this our ENDO Moment.
  
• The moment created by positive throttle during that period where the front wheel has left the jump, but the back wheel has not, will drive the the bike to loop out...so we can call this our LOOP OUT Moment.

Jumping in control is all about making sure these two factors are in balance.  That is it.

That is why different riders can never seem to offer consistent explanations of what they do.  One rider may adopt a body position up the face much more forward.  What does this do?  During the compression loading of the suspension into the jump face, it results in the front suspension getting compressed more..and the rear less.  In other words..you are putting energy into the suspension in a way that will result in less ENDO moment when the front wheel leaves the jump...because the rear suspension was not loaded as much.  This jumping technique will not require as much throttle to stop you from lawn darting...because there is less ENDO moment to start with.  A different rider may have a body position much farther back on the bike.  When his suspension loads up, more of the energy is going to go to the rear...relative to the first rider.  This second rider is going to have to be more aggressive and precise with the throttle to keep the nose up.

There are of course things you can do AFTER you leave the jump to resist the rotational energy that was imparted during the take off....but that is really closing the barn doors after the horses have left.  If you are going to endo...you can push the bike forward, drive your butt back, and pin it.  Pinning it creates a reactionary torque that can bring the nose up a little...and driving your body back/bike forward will slightly increase the moment of inertia of the bike...slowing its angular velocity (ENDO rotation motion).  In fact...for short steep jumps that have evil kickers, you will see experienced riders do all these things.  They will be forward and accelerating hard up the jump face....and as they leave the face...they will drive the bike out and their body back.  Right before they land...they will then get forward so they can accelerate.   A lot going on...and most of them will not be able to explain it step by step.  The just feel it.

This dynamic of balancing these two moments is I am sure the reason that seat bouncing is tricky.  You are sitting...so much more of the total energy or suspension compression is going to be put into the rear suspension, and a lot of throttle...precisely timed...is needed to keep things in balance.  

When all this clicked in my head, I quickly realized that my (novice) throttle control skills were not nearly good enough to keep things in balance if I really loaded up the rear suspension...so I decided that the way I would control my jump trajectory was by being very forward on the bike, so that I put less energy into the rear suspension, and throttle control was less critical.  I had been spending a lot of time doing peg balance drills, where I try to keep my body in balance vs braking and acceleration forces.  This resulted in a fairly aggressive forward stance during acceleration for me, which has started to become automatic. (It has also reduced my arm pump about 90%)  Because of this, my solution, as a beginner, to jumping more in control was simply to accelerate up the jump face more.  Because I had worked on anticipating acceleration, and putting my body very forward during acceleration...and in balance with the acceleartion...I end up in this position where I am way way forward, low, with my butt a bit back...and the foot pegs are driving me up..and my arms are not doing anything really.  It is a very relaxed take off.  This minimizes compression loading into the rear suspension, and the fact that I am accelerating in a balanced position usually results in a very consistent, ever so slightly nose down flight path.  It is by no means THE single way to jump, but for a new rider, I think it provides a way to get a lot of repetition and gain confidence and consistency, while going larger and larger.  It is also safe...and that is the most important thing.  One downside...is that this technique takes significant height off your jumps for a given speed level. This is of course because you are putting less energy into the rear suspension.

Edited by Blutarsky, 07 April 2012 - 10:57 PM.

Blutarsky, on 07 April 2012 - 10:27 PM, said:

I like what you said Blutarsky, good stuff!

I whole heartedly agree that explaining jumping online is kinda silly because everyone has their own opinion and honestly, every bike and every jump is different to deal with. This is why most people who reply to beginner jumping threads, usually talk about body position before anything else. Heck even you ended your posting discussing body position; being more forward on the seat. This is a great suggestion until you have a jump with a kicker on it and guess what, it puts you nose down and if your already over the nose, you got a problem. Some jumps you've gotta stand up and preload before the jump face to get some boost, other jumps you can take lazy sitting down.

Anyway, good post and its always funny to dig up threads from a year ago! heh

bbohannon, on 12 August 2011 - 07:12 AM, said:

Also make sure you hold the clutch in when you tap your rear brake or you will stall the engine.

im very new as well, only about 3 or 4 hours on my bike, basically what i am trying to do is hold good body position and a steady throttle through the jump for now, then with time i will try to add distance and technique as i get more comfortable with my control.

The most important part of the jump is where the bike actually leaves the ground, where you have the compression and rebound part of the jump.  What gives you control at this critical part of the jump is your body movements and throttle control.  Along with this body movement and throttle control is timing.  The timing is so critical that the body movement and throttle control has to be an automatic reflex reaction.  This is why it takes so much time and practice to learn to jump well.   Key into the compressing and rebound part of the jump, move your body back a little as the rear wheel kicks up and blip the throttle a little at the same time.  This will cause the front wheel to stay level or come up a little.  If the front wheel is too high don’t move back as much or give it as much throttle.  If you want the front end lower it’s just the opposite; don’t blip the throttle as much and don’t move back as much.  When you want to accelerate after the landing it’s best to land with the throttle on. I have 3 Technique DVDs that cover Jumping and Whoops and more available to download.  You can see free Motocross Technique DVD previews of these and many others at: www.gsmxs.com