mjsca07

I just bought a Gary Fisher Tassajara yesterday, and was browsing the maunal that came with the bike, and it stated it's not designed for jumping. It states "momentary loss of tire contact with ground" is the design capabilty. Now, I know the bike isn't made to go off extreme jumps, but am I not to jump it at all? I'm thinking I'd be ok with 3-4 feet or something like that. I'm new at this so I'm just trying to find out what limits I shouldn't be exceeding. Thanks for any feedback on this. I'd hate to think I can't jump my $600 bike I just bought.

WISHBONEjg

"momentary loss of tire contact with ground"**********
That's weird... I never heard of a MTB that you jump on.
I don't have any info for you, but i would call up Gary Fisher and ask them.
Or just return it and get another bike.

LowCel 

You would be suprised what different mountain bike companies state in their owner's manuals or warranty cards. A few of them even state that the warranty is void if the bike is ridden off road.

Lego Man

How do you like the bike so far and what year is it?

mtnbiker66

No jumping for you!!!! You can just roll around and thats it. Just kidding, if your gonna ride it off road it's gonna leave the ground.

wethepeople

My Devinci Magma said in the owners manual that the bike is not designed for drops, jumps or downhill. But yet the toptube has the Devinci freeride logo printed right in the middle..

willtsmith_nwi

I think reasonable people would consider 3-4 "momentary" loss of ground contact.

BTW, Gary Fishers are lightweight racing frames. If you're even remotely heavy (200+), you shouldn't even be doing 3-4 jumps. Think more like 1-2 drops.

Finally, your frame is under warranty and unless you come in with a pair of tacoed wheels, the dealer won't be able to tell the difference. They'll likely replace the frame at least once if you break it.

At 280 lbs, I broke a Giant Yukon frame. My maximum drop was about 1 foot. I didn't taco any wheels. Unlike steel and titanium, Aluminum frames are VERY prone to stress fracture. Every little hit adds up. Steel and titanium are more flexy and more durable.

iamlucky13

3-4 feet really is exceeding the design intent of a cross-country hardtail. They simply aren't designed with that sort of thing in mind. Cross country generally entails more roots and rocks than air. Which doesn't mean they can't take it. I've done drops of up to 3 feet on my Trek 4500, after I practiced the technique and learned how to land smoothly on smaller stuff, but I wouldn't dare do it on a regular basis. Trust me though, on a good technical trail, you can have a lot of fun while not exceeding "momentary loss of contact with the ground."

AusTai

Not to start another war between aluminum and other frame fans, but do aluminum frames fail more often than steel and titanium? (I have a 10-year-old steel Fisher bike that's still going strong but recently bought a Cannondale bike.)

iamlucky13

Not necessarily within their service life. Aluminum is different from steel, however, in that it will eventually fail due to fatigue if given long enough, with larger forces decreasing the time. With steel, as long as the stress is kept below a critical level, known as the endurance limit, it can theoretically withstand an infinite number of loadings cycles.

It's hard to say exactly when a fatigue failure will occur because too many factors go into determining it, but a mountain bike should give at least 5 years of use, preferrably 10, assuming it isn't a faulty design and doesn't get abused.

mjsca07

Thanks for all the responses. I did a few little drops the other day, but I found that I was still having a blast doing some little jumps on a rocky trail. So with that, I'm not too worried anymore about not being able to do higher jumps. To answer Lego man, it's a 2006, and I love riding it. It feels great, and it's pretty responsive. I'm still figuring out the shifting though. My first MTB, hehe.

Lego Man

Cool, I have a Tassajara Disc 2006 Do you have any pics?

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