Hi people, I have a question about seat bouncing and sitting off of jumps. I noticed that some people sit off of jumps even when they don't need any extra distance, but they seem to be sitting farther up on their seat. Is their something I'm missing here? If there's a jump out of a corner, but I don't really need to seat bounce for it, should I just stay seated, or do something else? should I be sitting in the middle of my seat, or farther back, and does it matter how steep the jump is? I don't know right now, and I seriously need an explanation. Please explain this for me!

Ill sit when going over jumps depending on how spent I am lol. Not necessarily to get more distance. Sometimes I appear to be sitting but Im not as well, just barely hovering over top of the seat. Seat bouncing is just preloading the shock, sit far back on the seat and let the shock give you the extra distance. Where you sit going over the jump can help control the pitch of your bike when it leaves the face of the jump. Think of your body position when you stand, when standing you lean forward or back to adjust the pitch, same rules apply when your sitting.

Again, this is one of those skills you've gotta practice and figure out what works for you. As said above, when I'm lazy or the track is smooth, I'll sit a lot more then I should. When the track is bumpy or has lots of altitude changes (hills) then I'll stand up a lot more. I've learned how to seat bounce by doing it by accident one day and then figuring out how to control it better. I learned how to preload and when to preload by again, experimenting one day because this one jump was killing me and I needed more boost, so I started to preload in order to get that boost. Now its all second nature and honestly, there isn't really a definitive reasoning for doing any of it (unlike other subjects we've talked about). You do what you need to do in the slit moment decision making process that you are in when you approach the jump. If I don't have speed for whatever reason, I'll preload the living crap out of the bike, but that decision is made right as I hit the bottom of the ramp sometimes. Which is why I tend to stand up leaving jumps almost every time, so I have the option to preload if I don't feel I'm hitting it quick enough.

tye1138, on 14 January 2012 - 11:15 PM, said:

Thanks for the tips again, but you are supposed to seat bounce off of all jumps immediately out of corners right? That's what I hear. But u know this thread is supposed to be about seatbouncing right? I just figured out how to do it CORRECTLY about 10 minutes ago while watching supercross PHOENIX! I'm actually glad that the car isn't getting fixed until the middle of this week, cuz I woulda got hurt with what I first thought to do........about 11 minutes ago. But, I got it now, plus I learned some other stuff tonight (I watch recordings for hours on end on nights when I got nothing better to do.) If you carefully observe people, you would be surprised at what you can figure out. I just make these threads to confirm what I learn!

I figure seat bouncing and preload belong in the same thread, we should talk about both subjects here since they are very similar.

Don't watch supercross for tips on how to ride. Someday, go to an SX race and get on the track, those jumps are 10x larger then anything you'll ever be forced to ride on. Those guys seat bounce stuff because the track builder forces them to. But on our average tracks, you won't need to seat bounce very much at all. Yes, seat bouncing will be used for jumps where you can't build up the speed necessary to clear them so you bounce and prey you get the nose back down again. It is NOT a trick for the beginner and its for sure not a trick for someone who wants to play it safe. I seat bounce stuff all the time, but its simple stuff, very small little stubs that I won't hurt myself doing, only for practice.

Back on the subject of preloading. I just found a few clips that might explain the extra BOOST/SPEED you get from preloading.

This first clip is not preloading. Notice how I don't get the boost necessary and I loose my rhythm entirely: withoutpreloading.mov

This second clip is with preloading. Notice how much further the bike is thrown forward and how much more in the rhythm I am: withpreloading.mov

I use the "rowing" preload method. Stand on the pegs and push into the jump face with your legs and it gives you instant boost. Problem is, you gotta have the energy to do that lap after lap and in that first video, I was tired... end of the day. The second video was beginning of the day and I was much more on my game.

If I ride tomorrow, I'll make a special video for ya that might explain a few questions you have... should be fun!

I would consider seat bouncing and preloading different things and you can sit down without seat bouncing

seat bouncing is used to get more distance or height, it's down by leaning back and then sitting down (using all your body weight) on the face then throwing your body weight forward at the lip

preloading can be done just like bunny hopping a bicycle where you push the bike down with your weight and pull up, the allows the suspension and your weight to lift the bike up.

certain jumps do allow you to sit down but they tend to be smooth and i find myself doing it on small jumps and i'm always sitting way up front (I don't do this very often)

tye1138, on 14 January 2012 - 11:42 PM, said:

This post is spot on IMO! Watching the pros will get you no where. Most of them have some very "unorthadox" ways of doing things. Those guys are so loose and fast that its uncomparable really, as Tye said, the jumps are really incompable as well! Theres alot more to it than watching the "pros do it" they are so fluent in their motions that there are a million simple steps they take that you dont even notice, like when they blip the throttle and when they tap the rear brake. Often the brake tap is so quick you dont even notice that the tire stops spinning, if it does at all.

Take the tips givin in the post above and work your way up from there. Ive gotten myself in some pretty sketchy situations trying to seat bounce stuff that is way above my head. My general rule of thumb when approaching any obsticle on the track is that, if I have to think about it, I probably shouldnt do it.

tye1138, on 14 January 2012 - 11:15 PM, said:

when ur preloading, do u pull back on ur handlebars? Do you also do this when ur just sitting off of jumps? some people tell me to sit off the jump, pull back on the handlebars, and stand up right as the rebound starts to kick. Is this the right way to do it? what about for slow jumps, do you still pull back for those?

kx910, on 15 January 2012 - 09:56 PM, said:

Heh, well... :clear throat: preloading is all about putting energy into your suspension. You wanna "energize" your suspension so when you take off from the jump face, it will give you back that energy you put in (rebound). Its kinda like charging a battery and then getting the extra "boost" of power as you leave the jump face. The key is how do you charge the battery, how do you put the energy properly into your bike.

You don't wanna sit on the seat because putting energy into only the back of the bike, will energize the rear only. You don't wanna just push into the bars, it will just energize the front. Get on your bike in the paddock and roll around in 1st or something. Get into an attack position and bounce on the bike using your bars and legs. You'll notice when you bounce down, it energizes the forks and creates lift back up again (rebound). The energy you put in, you get out the back side on the rebound. Its gonna be the same thing when you leave the jump face, you get into a good body position where you can use your legs and bars, and right before you leave the jump face, you wanna push on the bike, just like you did in the paddock.

No pulling or pushing on the bars, get that out of your head. Just simple, straight-forward, loading of the ENTIRE bike and let it rebound as you leave the jump face.

Maybe, just maybe that makes sense? LOL

One more thing that no one has mentioned yet is that you need to make sure your suspension is set up 'within reason' or you'll be playing russian roulette trying to seat bounce. A bad suspension set up will get you in trouble in a hurry and you can end up hurt before you know what happened. Ive seen it time and time again by kids getting in over thier heads on the local tracks.

BDubb106, on 16 January 2012 - 07:45 AM, said:

I'm glad you mentioned that and not me... last time I tried to blame suspension on someone's inability to ride, I got claim-basted! LOL

tye1138, on 16 January 2012 - 09:52 AM, said:

LOL I can only imagine where that happened. At least your not alone!

kx910, on 15 January 2012 - 09:56 PM, said:

Sometimes I'll pull back on the bars when I'm pre-loading (although I don't pre-load often, your usually trying not to go too far). I almost always pull back on the bars when I'm seat bouncing. The harder of a seatbounce I'm trying to get, the farther back I'll sit, and the harder I will pull back on the bars.

kx910, on 14 January 2012 - 04:57 PM, said:

Like db330 said, there is a big difference between sitting down going over a jump, and seatbouncing. For a jump out of a corner that you don't need a seatbounce for, you can stay sitting down, leaning your weight forward, and not pulling back at all on the bars. If you can get more than enough speed for the jump in the corner... and if you have time to stand before the jump, you can do that too. But if your trying for speed, make sure that you are standing before you hit the face. If your still getting into the standing position on the face, you are pushing your body up, while at the same time, pushing your bike down, which is pre-loading the suspension.

kx910, on 14 January 2012 - 11:33 PM, said:

No, you are not "supposed" to seatbounce all jumps immediately out of corners, but you can sit down for them without seat bouncing. Your only seatbouncing the ones that need a seatbounce. I disagree with what was mentioned about whether or not to watch pro's. I think that watching pro's is a good thing to do. But you have to make sure that you are understanding everything that they are doing... And keep in mind, there are a lot of things they are doing, that you can't see. How hard they are pulling back on the bars, you will never know... a slight twitch of the bars to scrub off speed, you'll never see. Did the bike come up to them? Or did they pull the bike up to them? If your watching a pro, just make sure that you really do know, what you think you know.

98cr250r, on 16 January 2012 - 02:39 PM, said:

If you pull back on the bars, you arn't preloading. The physical act of preloading dictates you need to PUSH on the bars and pegs.

98cr250r, on 16 January 2012 - 02:39 PM, said:

Umm, yea you just said watch the pro's, but then said you'll really never know what they're doing.

I watch a lot of pro's, I'm not saying "don't ever watch the pro's". I was saying, if you wanna learn how to ride, watch people who are good at YOUR track because with that knowledge, you'll learn more because they usually arn't pro's and your home track is probably not a Supercross track.

tye1138, on 16 January 2012 - 10:12 PM, said:

I also said to make sure that you know, what you think you know. You can learn a lot by watching.

umm so, pulling back on the bars, does not preload the rear spring?

98cr250r, on 17 January 2012 - 09:06 AM, said:

We have a supercross track 10 feet from the track I practice on, and pretty much all the top pro's practice there whilst they are on the west coast. Needless to say, when you see them in person, you notice, they all push their entire body into the bike, bar's and pegs to preload the ENTIRE suspension. Dean Wilson actually makes an action with his body whilst he does it, he kinda collapses into the bike when he preloads.

I'm not saying that's the only way of doing it by any means. But if you preload just the rear, you are basically performing a lighter version of a seat bounce. Obviously you don't have the leverage from standing on the pegs to perform a normal seat bounce, but the reaction from the bike is similar; the bike will want to nose down. If you preload the entire bike, you will need to push on the front end as well as the pegs. This is how the pro's do it...

I actually can't think of any situation where you would want to pull up on the bars when hitting a jump face (which is where you preload). The last thing you want is the front to become light when hitting a jump face, you want the front to be loaded so you have boost coming off it. If you don't do anything hitting a jump face, the bike already loads itself up, thats who you get boost normally. Its not MUCH load, but its something.

We gotta dig up some footage of this stuff. I would love to see Dean Wilsons method of collapsing into the bike Like you mentioned Tye. Funny I always thought you preloaded if you weren't fast enough. But I am starting to pay attention to it now and realize that these guys are doing it.....just quicker and not standing up straight!

mikerides33, on 21 January 2012 - 11:19 AM, said:

Just watch last weekends supercross race. On short stuff, where he doesn't have a lot of run up, he will push into the bike and you'll see the whole bike unload underneath him as he leaves the jump face. Its pretty easy to see if you look for it.

But yes, I only use it for stuff where I need the extra boost. On a lil 125, that happens more so then a bigger bike where you can just blip and clear.