Seasoned MTB'er but new to DH bike

dirty face

Will soon be taking delivery of my new (and first) DH bike. I am a very confident rider in general but I've never owned a full suss or DH rig (been riding lots of DH routes on my HT). My question is this, what technique should I be using when approaching jumps. I understand the concept of compressing before the jump but to what extent / exactly how and is it the same technique for jumps of all sizes etc?

agg25

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-Mount ... b_title_bk

Highly recommend this book, been getting though it the last week or so, pretty much everything you need to know.

dirty face

Thanks, might see if I cn get a free copy somewhere (i'm as tight as a ducks a**e).

have you done any jumping on a full suss based on advice from this book?

styxd

Jumping a full sus is much the same as jumping a hardtail. Pump through the take off like you normally would. You wont get as much lift though since the suspension tends to absorbed some of your "pop". Some sus designs tend to jump better than others. I always found a single pivot seemed to soak up the take off less than a virtual pivot bike did.

Practice on a jump you're familiar with and stay loose! You may find the bike kicks funny at first due to rebound/sus settings. But you'll get used to it in no time.

dirty face

thanks for the info. I plan to take it to the FoD for my maiden ride as I know the trails quite well. When jumping on my HT I find that its quite hard to stay in line as the bike tends to float around quite easily and i've had a couple of nasty crashes due to this. Will the bigger DH bike be more stable in the air?

dirty face

additionally, the bike i'm getting is the 2012 Trek Session 8 which has the single evo link, is this the kind of thing you're talking about when you mention single pivot?

agg25

Not had a chance to use the books advice yet (but still jumped on my full suss before it), but it says get in attack position, upper body parallel with ground, low to the bike before the lip, compress the bike before the lip and push off. Then stay relaxed, let the bike come up to you, loose arms, just before landing extend legs and arms to soak up the landing, push the front wheel down to let it land on the lip first making sure the wheel is pointing in the direction you're landing. Absorb the landing with your arms and legs.
Thats it in a few sentences for a "normal" jump but there's many variations all of which are discussed in the book with nice pics and a lot more detail.

styxd

When jumping on my HT I find that its quite hard to stay in line as the bike tends to float around quite easily and i've had a couple of nasty crashes due to this. Will the bigger DH bike be more stable in the air?

Just sounds like bad technique to be honest. Downhill bikes are more stable generally, but if you're struggling on a TH then I imagine you'll struggle on a downhill bike.

dirty face

but should i compress before the take off or compress 'into' it? and do i pull up on the bars at the same time?

cooldad

I'm the last person to offer advice, being a rubbish jumper and a coward, but never pull up on the bars.

386ka

cooldad wrote:

I'm the last person to offer advice, being a rubbish jumper and a coward, but never pull up on the bars.

This. Once, I tried to get some more air, yanked the bars towards me... The rest is history. Landed sideways, and crashed very silly. Bloody knees and elbows was the ultimate result, and a few scratches on my now replaced juicy's.