How do you drop shit?

[Superstar Punani]

How do you drop shit? I haven't dropped anything greater than 1', since I usually end up nose diving and landing front wheel first, a good recipe for an endo.

Do you just lift the handle bars up and keep the bike level?

(Oh yeah, I'm still on platforms)

[bagtagley]

First thing, I wouldn't recommend doing anything over a couple feet without first dropping your seat. This will make things much easier.

A good thing keep in mind is that you don't want to lift up on your bars, or really even pull back on the bars. I know this sounds strange, but what you're trying to do is move your weight back. Pulling up on the bars is just going to bring the front of the bike up to your chest, your weight and balance will still be forward. On top of that, when you land, your elbows will be bent keeping you from absorbing the drop. When I say you don't want to pull back on the bars, what I mostly mean is that you don't want to yank on them. When you pull hard on the bars, it's difficult to pull evenly, so you often end up pulling the bike in one direction or the other. So, concentrate more on using your whole body to move your center of gravity towards the rear. It's difficult to explain, but it's something that you can definitely feel once you get the hang of it.

[White Chocolate]

bagtagley knows what he's talking about. I try to think about pushing my bike out in front of me off of lips as opposed to pulling up and hoping for the best. If you have a nice takeoff and a steep landing, sometimes you don't have to actually do anything. You just ride off with some speed, and in the course of falling your bike naturally tips down and matches perfectly with the tranny. That is a butter feeling.

I have also learned that the right bike makes a HUGE difference in dropping. I used to ride a gary fisher, and couldn't drop anything over 2'. Long top tube and steep xc geometry didn't agree with air. Now i have my kona, and with the much slacker geometry and shorter wheelbase is is amazing how easy it handles when dropping stuff.

[mildbill.]

what they said.

plus, go faster.

[snow_slider]

How do you drop shit?

I usually start by grabbing a magazine - it doesn't even have to be a good magazine. Then I head into the bathroom....

Seriously though, good advice already given. I find it best to try to land with the rear wheel touching down before the front. This helps me absorb the landing better. So I do tend to pull back on the bars some and definitely get my weight back on the bike. It just takes practice to dial it in.

[basom]

depending on the drop i like to pre-load my suspension a bit, and then give a little mini bunny hop at take off ( as with skiing a more active take off gives me more body controll in the air and i feel tighter). as said before i then push the bike forward which gets me over the rear wheel and the bike seems to find the tranny or lack there of.

go faster also works.

[Oarhead]

pretty much the same as the others posted, however I would also like to add 2 points:

1) as you are approaching the landing extend your legs. You want to be able to absorb the landing with your legs but also you don't want the bike to be falling away from your feet, the reaching with the legs helps a little bit when you are getting started. The more dynamic you are inthe air the more control (for me anyways), you don't want to be static in the air as shit will fall apart and you may go home crying as I sometimes do .

2) When you get better at dropping you can try a few other things. I find I angle my feet a little bit. You say you are on platforms, if you point your toes a little bit towards the ground, you can control the back end of your bike beacause you have more grip on the pedals. The pins in the platforms will grip your shoes better and you can raise or lower the rear wheel to your desired location (results may vary). This is important when you are getting into dirt jumping since you need to move your bike around in the air a lot.

[phUnk]

Originally posted by mildbill.
plus, go faster.

And hope somebody puts a stick in your spokes if you're going too slow.

[basom]

Originally posted by phUnk
And hope somebody puts a stick in your spokes if you're going too slow.

bwa!

[crashnburn'd]

A true friend would right, Basom? Not much to add, other than when dropping to a tranny land both wheels at the same time. If the landings flat ( ) then land back wheel first and bring your front wheel down slow... My recommendation is don't drop to flat, I have some pictures of what happens if you don't trust me.

edit -don't not fon't

[mildbill.]

Originally posted by crashnburn'd
A true friend would right, Basom?

god i hate you guys

[basom]

Originally posted by mildbill.
god i hate you guys

here is a textbook example