Mechanics of Drifting?
 

So I am curious of the mechanics of drifting a bike on pavment, while taking corners, I'm thinking to get on the front brake to take some weight off the rear tire, and then swing the back end out. Am I right?

Pavement I wouldnt know as Im a dirt monkey. On the trails, I always use the rear brake when cornering, always. When it starts fishtailing, I feel cool :) I never lose control of the bike, alot of it is head and body placement.

Ya I know, it feels cool. When I used to race Superbikes, I could break the back tire loose with the throttle and down shifting, and drift the back end all over the place, but there is no throttle, nore serious down shifting to do it on a pedal bike. Drifting in dirt I think almost happens naturally as allot of time you'll get both wheels floating out there. There is a sweet video around here somewhere of a guy on a tandum bike doing some sweet drifting on the streets of San Fran. Lots of back end to play with there. :)

DO NOT LOCK YOUR REAR ON TURNS this damages the trail, and makes it less ridable over team, Id rarther look dumb and carve it right than look cool and F%$# up the trail.............Drift is inherent and and often avoidable, speed and dumps play a large roll in the dynamics, a drift is dfferent than locking your rear. With a drift your wheels are still spinning and they do less damage to the trail, and you dont loose as much speed.

Two wheel drifts are funnerer..........:D
-Jacob

Locking your rear tire is not drifting, it is called skidding, I was also speaking of drifting on pavement not on dirt, in dirt, a two wheel drift will get your attention quick, and happens more often than not. I agree don't lock your rear up on tails, I mean why would you want to slow your momentum, just more pedaling out of the corners if you do.

Drifting corners is no problem on pavement. First, get used to skidding in a straight line; get going at a resonably good speed, then lean your weight all the way forward and jam on the rear brake. After a while, you'll get to know where you and your bike balance re. deweighting the rear wheel. When you get good at this, try to skid in a straight line and tweak the rear around with your legs. Get good at that and drifting corners should be no problem.

I learned this way on a track bike, then I applied it to a road bike and still use it.

Or you could just come into the corner with a lot of speed, jam on the rear and put your foot down. Much less style but essentially does the same thing.

I came into a sharp turn in a high speed drift one time.I heard something crashing through the woods and realized it was me minus the bike. :roflmao:

Ya if back tire hooks up anytime through that drift it can rely give you a wiggle, and if you are drifting both tires, and they both hook up, well you can say hello to mr. dirt, and give him a kiss.

Who are you, the trail police? Fishtailing doesnt "damage" the trail, it keeps me from slamming into the brush or worse yet a boulder. If youre going fast and you hit a sharp turn what are you going to do? Slow down and take your sweet pansy time to make sure you dont "damage" the dirt? :rolleyes: Trails get "damaged" even when ppl arent riding on them i.e. wind, rain, natural errosion, wildlife.

I think the trail is damaged as soon as it's made...

harder to ride? guess that makes you a better rider over time....

the whole world is going to be destroyed in due time, may as well have fun while your here. or, ruin someone else's...;)

Easiest way to get long skids is to stand up, lean over the bars, and lock the rear brake. You get used to controlling it. If there's a beach near you, that's a great place to practice skidding. No tire or trail damage. Be warned that if you skid on pavement, most knobbies will last you about 10 minutes.

WHAT? You mean tires wear out when locked up on pavement???? :)

hahah

In a word... yes.

the dirt will be around long after we are gone.

Your the reason bikes are getting banned from trails.

No, I am not.

you've never ridden with me....... :rolleyes:

Yeah, tell that to the thousands of freeriders and dh'ers out there.

It’s a waste of momentum and rubber ....... and mountain biking is done in the dirt not on pavement. You may want the BMX forum.

In a downhill situation on a fire road surface you can scrub some speed in a corner if you need to but if you do it in front of me I will pass you and may (depending on your ranking) see to it that you go down for making me eat your environmentally inappropriate dirt.

You can run a clean fast line that minimises trail erosion... locking up your brakes and skidding through shows intent for disregard to preserving the trail. IMHO, if I've overcooked my entry speed into a turn and it's a choice between slowing down or skidding through then I'll slow down. I most likely want to be able to ride that trail again in the future. If you made a mistake in neglecting to keep your speeds appropriate for the conditions of that portion of the trail then suck it up and slow down. Doing otherwise shows a sense of inconsideration on your part.

Regardless of how you ride, the trail is going to errode. Rain is worse than riders are. The trails I ride are also horseback trails, try telling them not to "damage" the dirt. Perhaps you guys are misunderstanding the term "fishtail". I dont lock up my barkes to begin with, that sjust stupid. I squeeze the rear brake enough for the rear tire to hydroplane (for lack of a better word) over the surface allowing me to make a sharp turn with my front tire. My riding technique is far from inconsiderate.

The thing is, skidding is not usually the fastest way through the corner anyway. And braking without skidding slows you down quicker so you can get back on the power sooner. Skidding regularly is poor technique.

I dont like skidding at all. I feel like i have much less control of the bike, and when im clipped in i just dont like that

Drifting happens. However on properly made trails you shouldn't have to brake in the corner and nail it with tonnes of speed...

I think one thing some people are mixing up is the differences. Skidding is annoying and almost pointless, drifting is a very useful method for turning the bikes in the proper situations (at least thats how I was taught). Drifting you don't use the brakes and end up countersteering. Skidding is for kids who haven't learned body position turning. Most dhillers (generally signifigantly faster than most freeriders) don't use their brakes much and I doubt ANY of them would ever recommend using your brake mid corner. When you engage your brakes on a full suspension you lock or partially lock your suspension in place. This removes the ability of the bike to assist in the turn by adding traction and in a sense you end up riding a ht through the corner, thats pointless. You brake before enterring the turn and then explode out of the apex. 180 degree, switchbacks, berms...the theory is the same. In all honesty if you are braking in the turn you need more practice on the bike, because you are braking at the wrong time anyways.

Both drifting and skidding cause more damage than just pedalling through, I tend to only drift when I am on a maintained mountain/trail. I have the bonus of living in an area with a paid for mountain and a very very active trail crew.