Mountain Biking - Stair jumping hurts my wrists a bit

Hey all, new here! I got my first full suspension bike about 3 weeks ago (but not my first bike of coarse). It's pretty nice, it's a K2 Attack 2.0. I wanted a bike that suited me for the lowest price I can get, and it was only $470. It's a pretty entry-level bike I guess, but you know. I think it's pretty cool, but I see how it could be better.

So I was jumping like 5-6 feet worth of steps this evening and after about the third time down, my wrists started to hurt. I wear padded bike gloves made by ip, so I'm set with that part, but I was thinking maybe there was some technique out there to land jumps on a flat surface without pounding my wrists, is there? I do stand up in flight to hold the bike level to the ground, and use my arms and legs for added suspension.

Any ideas? Thanks!

I'm not an expert by any means, but what works for me is standing and absorbing the impact in your knees. Also, try to land both tires at the same time so the impact is spread over your whole bike. Even doing that though, if your landing on a flat surface your still eventually bound to be a little sore from all that jumping.

Wheelie first. Hucking takes time. Wheelie drops puts the pressure onto your bike and off of you wrists. I don't mean a full out landing on rear but a slight incline and then a smooth landing with front wheel.

You have several way to land

1 - rear wheel first - hurts a lot if you tip backwards
2 - slight rear wheel landing - safest but remember to stick your ass out over the rear axle or you will smash your front end down to hard
3 - true landing - landing perfectly level to your landing area. This is the easiest on the bike but is difficult to do skill wise and usually ends up looking like number 4
4 - endo - Different degrees of landing hurt in different ways. You will either a) hurt wrists b) land it wishing you had done it right c) woke up in a hospital trying to figure out what stair you head smashed into

It could also be you have stiff forks. Try letting out some of the preload. Freeride forks are usually plush for this exact reason.

BTW build strength. It will come eventually.

I have a Judy TT, and it's set for minimal pre-load. I can land my step jumps really well, almost like I'm riding on a hill in the air. I think I need to put more load on the rear wheel by doing what you guy's said and let the back hit first. I also use a full-face helmet so I have to look down or I hurt my neck too :p

Whoa, that Trails-Online site really helped! Thanks!!

I am pesronally not familiar with the K2 series of bikes but from what i can tell it has quite minimal travel on the rear and an average 100mm on the front...

The basic deal is if u have minimal travel the more you are goin to want to land on your rear first then drop the front.

If you ever upgrade to much larger travel frame/fork its better to land on front and back evenly... but even so you can still do a wheelie drop and land the rear wheel first.. the only advantage of landing evenly is you keep your momentum going forward rather than down which is only handy if your in racing situation.

Yeah it rules. I use that site a lot to get control tips. They are extremely useful in the bush.

Originally posted by SquigyMoo
I am pesronally not familiar with the K2 series of bikes but from what i can tell it has quite minimal travel on the rear and an average 100mm on the front...

The basic deal is if u have minimal travel the more you are goin to want to land on your rear first then drop the front.

If you ever upgrade to much larger travel frame/fork its better to land on front and back evenly... but even so you can still do a wheelie drop and land the rear wheel first.. the only advantage of landing evenly is you keep your momentum going forward rather than down which is only handy if your in racing situation.

Yeah the rear monoshock only has like 3-4" of travel. Kinda like a dampened hardtail.

I'm been working on that back wheel first thing and it's working great!