Jumping

[Richie612]

Are any of you guys good at jumping?

What Trials techniques are similar to the correct jumping method?

Rich 

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

Trials basically teaches you how not to jump in my experience. Trials is all about front wheel high and you basically have to unlearn that habit when jumping so that the bike stays on a natural trajectory with the jump. I've also found that riding trials for about 25 years has made it pretty much impossible to remove any limb from the bike to do any form of trick when in the air... just doesn't happen!

[forteh]

In my experience, jumping is about relaxing on the bike, trials is all about tension and forcing the bike to move rather than letting it fly it's own path.

I dunno about trials stopping you from removing like from the bike, I think my own innate natural fear did that for me

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

2 hours ago, forteh said:

In my experience, jumping is about relaxing on the bike, trials is all about tension and forcing the bike to move rather than letting it fly it's own path.

Yeah that's very true. On big (for me) jumps I'm now happy letting the bike just do its thing beneath me but on smaller ones I'm still bad for basically bunnyhopping out of the lip to get extra air which isn't how jumps are supposed to work!!

[forteh]

Stiffen up and you dead sailor, that's how I ended up with 3" of bmx handlebars punched through the top of my right thigh and into my groin

Relax the back and shoulders, let it all flow and you're much more likely to be able to throw the bike away and bail if need be.

[La Bourde]

I partially agree with you guys.

 

I think trials gives bad habits too. I have also problems at jumping, this is my weakness on a MTB for sure. I really noticed that riding pumptrack. I used the wrong motion. And I can't remove my hands from the bar too!

 

But on the other hand, I think trials helps me on technical jumps, that require one to be really active (you can either use speed or an impulse). Here is why:

• The motion differs from the bunny hop slightly: the steps stay the same, just the execution periods change. I understood this recently. The first steps of the bunny hop are to lower your chest/body (1) and then to push against the ground (2). Then you move your upper body backwards to lift the front wheel (3). But if you want to go really high, somehow you have to "push against the ground". As you do during some static hops too. When jumping a kicker, you will do the same. But the pushing (2) is more relevant in this case than pulling from the bar (3), due to the kicker and the angle of your body with the bike/ground.I understood this while trying to bunny hop higher. So trials helps me a lot there. As soon as I understood this, I did some progress in DJ. I am still not good, but at least I think I understood the correct motion and it works well on some doubles on the pumptrack .
• One other relevant aspect: in DJ, you have to move your hips forward, to land front wheel first and to fly a nice curve in the air. This is similar to a bunny to front. You have to drive the motion of your bike.
• Trials helped me to get a better impulse with my legs on the jumps. I noticed this on jumps where the impulse has to be really quick (for example on a jump directly at the end of a berm)

This is based on my experience and as I said, I am not a good jumper. So please feel free to correct me!