Is there an advantage to whips. I know it can set you up for a corner but I see pros whipping it when they are no setting it up for corners. I find it hard to believe they waste energy just whipping it for show. Am I missing something?

So me learning to whip would be a waste of time other than for show. I just want to get faster and I think I will spend my time and effort on other skills. So many people whip I just thought I was missing something.

I've always understood that whipping keeps you lower to the ground and so gets you back on the ground faster after a jump. When you're in the air, you're losing speed so you want to land as soon as you can to keep up that speed.

rnl42, on 15 January 2012 - 01:36 PM, said:

There are many ways to throw a whip, its not a singular methodology and its not as simple as people make it out to be. Most people who throw vet whips, they arn't doing anything but showing off. Professionals on the other hand, they perform the whip the same way they would a scrub. They lean the bike heavily on the take-off, which keeps the bike, especially the front end, lower to the ground. This sideways flying, is the key to staying low to the ground and its a very advanced skill. So yes, the pro's use whipping as a method of staying lower to the ground, most everyone else uses whips as a way to show off to their friends.

blakers213, on 15 January 2012 - 01:09 PM, said:

Learning how to whip is most definitely not a waste of time. It will teach you how to control your bike in the air so it becomes natural. That way if your back suddenly kicks out in the air, you will know how to bring it back.

rnl42, on 15 January 2012 - 01:36 PM, said:

It depends on how you whip it. If you throw it sideways after you leave the launch all it's going to do is increase air resistance and slow you down more in the air. Stayong lower means you have to lean it over on the launch to redirect some of the rebound out to the side. That's what makes you stay lower and is the basis for the scrub technique, where sometimes, they actually lean far enough and are going fast enough to break traction as they go up the face. I actually did that on accident one day on a hard packed track. Thought I was going to die. Luckily I got it back straight enough to not crash.

Edited by Ih8Hondas, 16 January 2012 - 03:49 PM.

as said above whipping is not a waste of time. Having an automatic response when your back end unexpectedly kicks out instead of just freezing up can make the difference between staying upright or taking a soil sample. I also believe it does help you set up for a corner. While you can just lean before landing, the act of flicking that rear end out, even just a little, and leaning in the direction of the corner you are entering feels smoother and more flow-y. A slight lean on the face does all this and so to me it also feels like it conserves energy.

Edited by Die_trying, 16 January 2012 - 05:08 PM.

Basically just like said before, it gets you back to the ground faster because in the air you are slowing down. So by getting back to the ground faster you put the power back on and get a faster time.

isnt it a shortest distance between a and b is a straight line thing? the high arc of a jump hit straight is much longer than the low flat line of a whipped jump

The shortest distance between a and b is a tesseract, did you have no childhood?!?

whipping and scrubbing is not just for show it is much faster, if you can scrub and whip. you could hit a jump going a gear higher then normal. if u hit a jump straight up in 4th gear and u clear it just fine in 3rd, you would overjump it 30 feet, but if you scrub it in 4th gear you stay lower to the ground and your flying through the air faster because you hit the jump gong 10-15 mph faster. increasing speed and getting power back to the ground faster, and overall just going faster, if you want to become a faster rider and better scrubbing/whipping is critical. I am not very good at it yet but have been working on it personally. If you have to slow down for a jump because you have to much speed on a straight away, your losing time and speed, why not hit the jump as fast as possible scrub and still clear the jump? I know just from wathching A and B riders at the local track that scrubbing and whipping is much faster and has way more benefits the anything

Alot of guys that cant scrub or whip think it isn't necessary in racing. It's simply not true. Before scrubs and whips were happening on the track we were taught to keep low and absorb as much of the jump as possible with the lowerbody. It was all that was taught be 20- 30 years ago. The techniques being taught now are amazing. Just watch some of these young guys coming up through top amatuer ranks and the lites class...amazing technique.

blakers213, on 15 January 2012 - 01:09 PM, said:

Learning to whip would not be a waste of time, as it was already mentioned, the bike control you'll gain will help ya out..   But if its speed your after...  Figure out how to get through corners faster.  Thats where races are won and lost...