Jumping off throttle

[Tech707]

I am new to motocross and know from road racing how important proper form can be. I have a few questions about jumping. I am asking in reference to 2 stroke 250's(YZ to be specific), so if your input is from a different bike then please specify. Can you jump while coasting? Watching videos it seems like 2 stroke riders are sometimes coasting up to and over a jump. On these same jumps it seems a 4 stroke is on the throttle the whole time. Can you coast off a jump while riding a 2 stroke? Do you have to blip it going up the lip? I am obviously not that fast right now so I am going off jumps with a steady throttle, but there are a few jumps where I slow down before I get to them so I can go over on the throttle. I feel coasting would be the ideal way to take some of these jumps instead of slowing down then gassing it. I have gone over a jump coasting it before when I was new and the nose went straight down. I don't want something like this to happen if I try and coast at a high speed over a larger jump. Thanks in advance for the input and help.

[temporarily_locked]

yes you can. Other times it may look like people are coasting, but they may be on the gas just a little, which gives a similar effect to the blip you some times hear as people hit the face. Blipping keeps the front end up more then just a little throttle. It's something you just have to get a feel for on different faces and at different speeds. It also helps to get far back on the bike to prevent the front end diving. Also little trick like pushing into the bars before you go off to keep the front end light.

Edited April 3, 2012 by Die_trying

[Tech707]

Well when I jump on the throttle my head is up over the bars. Should I be altering my body position when coasting?

[Yellowbanana]

Body back if coasting, but I prefer to hit on the throttle and stay neutral

[temporarily_locked]

Well when I jump on the throttle my head is up over the bars. Should I be altering my body position when coasting?

it depends on what your rolling over and how the bike is reacting. What it is going to come down to is how comfortable you are adjusting your body position to how you think the bike will react to something and how you adjust your body position again when the bike actually reacts to it.

Two different things i was chopping throttle over at the track near me was a steep drop the led into a giant double and the other was a small table at the end of a long strait with a corner right after the table.

There was a corner before the drop, if i did the inside rut well, i would chop throttle as i approached the drop some times even dragging breaks as i went over hanging off the back of the bike, because if you dropped too far down you were loosing time. If i botched the rut i wouldn't hit the breaks and even maintain a little throttle even though i was slowing down, usually still riding pretty far forward. If i went outside where i had way to much speed i would coast at it and blip and the end to make sure i didn't go over the bars.

On the table i would move my body back as i went up the face and pull back on the bars just as it left the lip. It kinda felt like jumping a mountain bike.

[Numkut]

Just study this vid of Tyler Wozney! As you can see he hits some jumps pinned, blips it on some, and on alot is completely off the gas! This is an especially useful tactic when you haul or on little jumps.

[tye1138]

My lil 144 is a quick bike, if I was pinned off most jumps, it would over-shoot me so far, I'd probably crash bad. At the same time, learning how to be pinned off a jump is a good skill.

The nice thing about 2 strokes is, you can build speed to clear a jump without worrying about it falling off too quickly (when you release the throttle) like a 4 stroke.

So as stated above, yep its OK to coast up the jump face, but do practice both coasting and nailing the throttle.

I'll let Die Trying discuss jumping technique ?

[Tech707]

My lil 144 is a quick bike, if I was pinned off most jumps, it would over-shoot me so far, I'd probably crash bad. At the same time, learning how to be pinned off a jump is a good skill.

The nice thing about 2 strokes is, you can build speed to clear a jump without worrying about it falling off too quickly (when you release the throttle) like a 4 stroke.

So as stated above, yep its OK to coast up the jump face, but do practice both coasting and nailing the throttle.

I'll let Die Trying discuss jumping technique ?

It was after watching your videos that I started to think about it. I noticed that you more than most shut the throttle before the jump. All that corner work has got you too much speed, time to start scrubbing ?

[tye1138]

It was after watching your videos that I started to think about it. I noticed that you more than most shut the throttle before the jump. All that corner work has got you too much speed, time to start scrubbing ?

Yea, kinda sucks to have good corner speed and scrub it all off before the jump face! LOL Mind you, most of my videos are from easy tracks. I'll have to post a video of a not so easy track. ?