cycle-powered
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Munich Germany (formerly Portland OR, Texas)
Posts: 1,848
Bikes: '02 Specialized FSR, '03 RM Slayer, '99 Raleigh R700, '97 Norco hartail, '89 Stumpjumper
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
hey lot of cool pics guys!
bikeCOLORADO, nice shots of that drop. but a question: wouldn't it be "better" to do a wheelie drop and land more on the rear wheel?
i'm still working on my wheelie-drops. i have no problem doing small stuff like curbs and up to 2 ft and all, but for whatever reason (uh, fear) the bigger it gets, the flatter i do it so i've landed a few flat (front and rear at the same time) which sucks.
anyway, i've got a little motitvation: i found a drop on my local trial that is unrideable without a wheelie-drop (about 3 ft but with sloping backside up to about 4.5 feet - if you tried to ride it front-wheel-first the crank would hit and with only 80mm in front i would flip if i tried to ride it front-wheel first)... and the real motivation: it looks like my x-girlfriend whom i haven't seen in 2 years is coming to Europe to visit me 5 weeks from now and ride (she's single again too!)) and she has been getting way into freeriding and downhill... so i'd like to be at least near her level and, well, it would be cool to be able to do a few "impressive" things (not that i have to, but well, would be cool) - so i've set my goal as a solid, confident wheelie-drop...
any of you guys got any tips for going to bigger wheellie drops? and to fight the fear factor, what typically happens when you screw up? one possiblity is landing the front first which is bad... can you as screw up by leaning too far back and go over backward? (hitting your head). when learning and going bigger is it better to go mid-speed, slow or really fast?
BigHit: for those stair gaps, are you landing on the flat part after the stairs? or on the bottom steps? i only have an XC bike (Specialized FSR) so i think i would kill my bike (i've already worn out the rear shock spacers twice in 1 year)
wait: i wish my wheelies looked that good... my flat "hopping" (with both wheels on the ground) is almost flawless now - i can hop backwards and turn around or go sideways... i've been trying to practice the rear-wheel only hopping - by finding either logs or a drop and placing the front wheel on it for balance... but i'm not really getting very far - also i have clipless pedals w/o platforms so i am clipped in for everything which makes it a little more risky... anyway here's one of my wheelies - but not really that impressive: