Riding technique question

abarth_1200

Hi everyone.

So last time I went out a ride slogging up a technical climb my mates start harping on about putting more weight over my back wheel to stop it spinning, me look at what happens to the front if I do that. Even sitting a little more upright my front wheel starts to lift in the air so I need to lower my torso over the bike and sort of shift my weight back.

Is this the right technique or should I listen to my mate and end up doing wheelies up hills.

Also on a side not, why can't I go into fast corners as quick as he can, feels like if I went his speed and turned in I would wash the front wheel out.

Is this all linked to position on bike? Need more weight forward maybe, only thing I could think of doing is sliding the saddle forward on the rails. But I already feel to far forward anyway.

Any ideas guys

BigAl

What bike are you riding? Is it slack with long forks?

Yes, it's good to keep the rear wheel weighted as you need it for effective traction. But if it's at the expense of lifting your front wheel it's not going to help.

You need to be fluid on the bike and move your weight according to the terrain and incline. Try to keep weight on the rear (for traction) but not if it wanders you off into the bushes!

Ferrals

With your weight covering the back wheel for traction, drop your elbows and pull down on the bars, not only will it keep the front wheel seated into the trail and reduce front wheel wandering but it allegedly allows you to put more power into your pedal stroke.

abarth_1200

It's a mondraker factor, before they made them with forward geometry, 120mm travel, I run my travel at about 30% sag so I wouldn't say slack up front.

So basically shift back on saddle and lean forward.

So if it's technique getting in the way how can I improve my cornering speeds, or do I just need a little more confidence

ricardo_smooth

Instead of buying upgrades for the bike, upgrade yourself on a skills course. You seem to be asking questions which would be much better demonstrated practically with you being given a chance to try them.

Fwiw climbing, normally you shift forward on your saddle to near the front so you can keep traction and weight the front wheel (dropped elbows too). Keeping smooth cadence instead of trying to rip up it like a wild dog also helps

cooldad

Whatever it takes to get up - position might change a lot on even a short climb.
There is no golden rule - it's a balance between traction and doing a spectacular backward somersault.