Mountain Biking - I'm curious how much my bike can take?

I have a '98 Norco Java I heard that it used to be a xc racer but I don't know if thats true, but anyway back to my question how big of drops fo think this bike can take, I'm a beginner so my landings aren't going to be perfect. I'd like to do some freeride, djs and somme urban. Would this bike take it?

Is it Aluminum or Steel. If it is steel then you will probably be able to make it last as the flex and life of steel is superior to Aluminum. If it is aluminum it is reaching is life expectancy anyways so do some drop but the material may snap. This life expectancy is also based on how it was ridden previous. If it really was used as a racer the torque a racer can produce can in fact damage the bike greatly if it is aluminum...My uncle stapped his bike in two just from pedalling. This of course was the product of 2 years of racing it. In short if it is steel it should be 'ok' if it is aluminum expect some scrap metal soon.

All of this depends on your skill of course :)

I guess I also forgot about Ti...but really I know nothing about that material except it is light and too expensive for me to bother with it :)

That would be sweet if it was Ti but its only Aluminum. It didn't used to be a racer, its the demo at the lbs, what I was saying is that the model may have been a xc racer not this specific bike. I've been trying to learn to do trials and have done like 2 ft. drops on it so I don't know if thats hard or not for this frame or how hard I can go. I don't wanna be flying of this 5 ft. drop then have the frame break on me.

With aluminum of that age there is a chance. But in trials there is always that chance and no guarantee of bike survival. Be a smooth as humanly possible and you should be good :)

Thanks for the info.

Just FYI
My roommate rides does a fair amount of trials riding on a GT Aggressor (HT) frame. It's pretty basic: Judy TT, wide rear tire at low pressure, decent rims, etc. He does a lot 1-2 foot drops (and some bigger) with no problem, but is mostly focused on control and getting onto things rather than jumping off of big things. It's taken some abuse but is holding fine. The key is in learning how to land (back tire first, GIVE with the knees).
He's actually hoping to wear it out before too long so he has an excuse to buy a trials specific frame.
You might surf the internet for videos to help you learn technique. Watching them will make you feel terribly untalented at first, but you'll start to pick it up and have a blast (and get plenty of scrapes and bruises). Try this site to start with:
http://trialsride.com (http://users.aber.ac.uk/sjs9/index.html)