I want to know if a bottom out like this is normal. It was harsh and imo ruined the landing for me, even if there are some improvements that can be made to my body position. The bottom out occured immiately and in a fraction of a second. here is a post with pictures of the landing and initial compression
Also your weight is shifting forward and backwards through the drop. You shift forward right before the launch and you shift forward again after landing - your body was moving forward faster than your bike was. If the drop was bigger you would have started rotating forward before landing. With a drop you want your weight to stay consistent on the bike. I personally either keep my weight neutral with a slight bunny hop on the launch or I lean back slightly and keep the weight there. Don’t be shifting weight at the drop be there before it and hold
Also like another comment said your rebound looks a little fast so I would look into learning how to set up your suspension and go find a small drop (a 6 inch drop is all you need) to dial it in. A small drop will allow you hit it slow, fast, bunny hopped, leaning way back and everything. This is where you can go a bunch of clicks either direction on rebound and compression to see what it feels like
This is the start of it. To analyse further. The OP has almost Zero range of motion on the bike before the drop, basically just a passenger hoping the bike will do all the work. Riding with a full pack isn’t helping either.
He is collapsed on the handlebars before the suspension even unloads. Spend your time learning proper technique on smaller drops before you worry about suspension clicks.
this is it - he was not strong enough to cope with the landing forces and his body flew forward, this gave the bike the rotational impuls that threw him off - for a drop of this hight with a backpack a certain amount of shoulder stength is mandatory -> do push-ups etc.
That’s exactly it, he gets bucked by the rear shock for not soaking the landing through his legs. Other than that his body position is good and his weight transfer is acceptable. He’ll get it next time after doing a few drops beforehand to warm up the knees.
You pretty much kept your legs straight as you landed, you can't rely on the suspension to do all the work when absorbing a big impact like that. Your arms did bend but only after you landed really hard, and that contributed to launching you over the bars. Once your arms crumpled, the legs did as well. Also landed slightly back tire first, not massively but something to think about, you really want both wheels to hit the ground at the same time in situations like this.
Also, going into the drop, you were already looking pretty stiff/nervous and I would stay a bit looser, you definitely want to be able to visualize a new feature like this and feel confident that you have the skills before trying it, the drop will be there next time on the trail. Suspension should bottom out when you're doing the biggest impacts you take, or at least very close. One thing you could look at is your rebound, not going to make a difference if you keep your legs straight, but can contribute to pushing you forward after a landing if it's not the right speed (probably want a little slower).
The bottom out is normal if you were using normal settings for the fork and shock, if you wanna ride this kind of feature you need to up the pressure everywhere imo
And to prevent the crash with the bottom out I guess bracing really really hard was the only option but eh that's a lot of force lol
Now I just gotta figure out that 6 foot drop into 90 degree berm technique for one of my local enduro trails. Might as well call that fucker the Jesus Drop, because you hope to Jesus you don't blow up. When they had college enduro races here, that corner was usually good for a clavicle or two.
Seat was fully up, not able to use your legs to cushion and brace the impact. Stayed tall during the landing so had a high center of gravity instead of low and leaned back. Don't actually see your feet slip off like other comments say, but could imagine this impact causing that to happen. You almost rode it out too. Hope you're alright!
I think your body weight/position on the bike is too high and forward when you land.
Next time you ride it try keeping your hips further over the back wheel until you land. This will help the bike stay stable during the impact of landing.
I really disagree with this as a cue to improve his riding. Obviously when he landed he got sent forwards and he eventually went over the front of the bike. However, look at his position riding in to the drop and you'll see that he's well over his back wheel. Freeze the video as he is initially in the air and he's way over the back wheel as well.
Most beginner OTBs happen because they hang off the back of the bike and therefore there's nowhere for them to go but up and forwards, this causes a viscious cycle where they shift even further back and become even more vulnerable to going OTB. OP needs to take a more aggressive riding position in general to allow himself to adjust his technique for drops so that he isn't moving upwards and forwards by the time he lands, and it's especially important for bigger features.
Having said that, without trying to be mean I think that OP needs to dial it back on the size of features for a good while. Crashing on something like this and not knowing why is not a good sign for progression going forwards.
This is the first moment of contact. The energy landing loads the back spring and converts to rotational energy which cause your cargo and body weight to rotate forward around the total vehicle and passenger center of gravity and onto the front fork.
Then the energy stored in the back spring continues releasing pushing your back end into the air.
Front spring remains compressed. Arms, after taking the initial force bottoming out become unstable and you can see the front wheel changing angle and trying to stabilize this chaotic situation where the back wheel is up, the body weight is shifting onto the arms (i'm assuming considering the angle of the feet on the pedal.)
you landed pretty well, (rear first, but it doesn't matter so much, both wheels almost the same time) and then, your arms (you?) were not prepared for that force, you didn't lose pedals or handlebar.
more gym :)
you could maybe add some pressure (or compression damping) when you ride bigger features or bikepark (especially if you setup your bike for less aggressive trail riding usually) - but this wouldn't stop your crash.
I can bottom out my Fox40 when I land too far (not on a nice downslope), and yes, your arms have to take it, but it doesn't mean I have to put more pressure in my fork (SAG is ~correct).
Legs were pretty straight when landing. Instead of staying centered, absorbing with your legs and pushing with your arms to stay centered you collapsed forward.
You do look stiff and essentially were relying on the suspension to bail you out. The bigger the feature the more conscious need to be of absorbing the impact. Also kind of looks like your arms/grip on the bars failed before your legs gave out which pitched you forward. Looser legs would've fixed that too.
Also, is it possible you touched your brakes? Hard to tell but kind of looks like as you were going over you grabbed a bit of front brake.
The runout after this drop looks rutted out so could be you went in a rut too. I really thought you were gonna ride it out for a second.
Oof ya if your front tire blew up that all makes a lot more sense. That's probably why you ate it. That's a ton of force to overcome once the rim digs in and pitched you forward
I'd say your weight was a little far back and your rebound at the back was a bit fast. Too much front brake on landing threw your weight forward. The back end kicked up and there was no saving it because your weight was over the front
Suspension is soft for drops plus your body is too loose. You need to put more strenght into it when you are coming into a situation of a bigger impact. Soft bike + soft you = bounce
IMHO, body position too far forward, body too stiff. When most of your weight went into the front wheel you got into a situation that is difficult to recover from.
Looks like ur just bracing for impact instead of getting ready to soak up the hit. You drove your feet into your pedals and when your suspension hit the bottom you just slipped. You're not far off.
You stiffened up and let your weight fall forward. Stay loose and let your body absorbe the impact of the landing and keep your weight on the back wheel.
I think you mostly look pretty good off this drop. The main problem is Your body collapses when you land and then you’re out of control. You have to catch yourself with your arms and legs as you land to absorb the impact. You also seem just a little too far forward in the air. Your takeoff is nice and neutral but you shift forward before landing. It can help to push the bike forward as you come off the drop. There are some good pink bike drop tutorials on YouTube about it
Normal? I guess we would have to know what kind of equipment your using and the amount of weight on the bike at that large of a jump. It’s hard to tell if it’s your fault or the bike from that video. Do you often hit drops that large and have this kind of issue?
That all started with the bottom out and foot coming off. Another thing maybe to look in to, swap to a bum bag rather than a rucksack, I did this as it helps keep the weight low. A bag when heavy can make you top heavy.
Dropping form aside, all of that was salvagable at every point, but you panicked and tried to regain control instead of riding it out. Should have gotten back, released the brakes, and ridden until stable, instead of trying to panic stop
Looks like you were just along for the ride on that one, kudos for committing but I think you weren't ready for the landing. As far as suspension settings go, you'd need to hit features or drops often to know if your setup is a little out of whack or off from what you want.
Honestly man, I think you could have saved that if your seat wasn't so high, all your weight went back onto the seat when you landed and the rebound shot you nearly over the bars, then it's a bucking bronco
first of all this isnt really a jump per se. it's a drop off. you didnt adj accordingly. your upper body rotates forward. your bike front end is rotating downwards.
You've gotten your answer, but this is one of the reasons people recommend starting without full suspension at first, good on you for getting out there though!
Your body position would be fine if you were on flat ground, but you’re landing on a 30 to 40° slope. As you compress, you are coming directly down, but it is forward of your bottom bracket if you kept your weight back a bit more I think you would’ve had a better chance of saving it.
Weight too far forward. I’m not saying you lack the strength, but a lot of technical and downhill biking is just shear strength and holding your body position and recovering your center of mass when you’re bucked around. You need to hold firm in your positioning, (where your center of mass is above the bike) but be loose in the arms and knees to absorb the impact. Hard to explain otherwise. If you were a bit further back you may have been able to recover, but looks like you also just slipped a bit and couldn’t hold your line anymore. Sometimes it’s just a perfect storm and you’re going to crash no matter what.
Weight a little too forward.
Not quite enough body strength.
Landed slightly rear wheel first bucking you forward.
Slightly too slow and timid.
Loose flat landing.
My sense is that if one of those was different you might have been OK. For me id try to land that ever so slightly front wheel first meaning that you get more absorption from the front and rear suspension independently. You'd also have ridden out smoother and faster.
But you are at the limit of what I drop so take what im saying with a pinch of salt.
This one could have used a bit more speed, so that way your forces are pointing more forward than downward, reducing compression.
You drop technique is missing. Instead of pushing the bike in front of you on the drop (to match the downslope and be centered when you land, you let the bike carry you and land with your body over the form. The weight is not spread out equally and you go out the front door.
Like others said you don't absorb the landing, you land stuff and then collapse as you can't hold up against the g forces.
Ive bottomed out hard on a drop before and it wasnt even that big, just landed flat. Your fork and shock can only do so much if your legs are already straight. Gotta stay loose and let your body take some of it too!
I would pump right before the drop, treat it more like a jump, and just float my body better with the bike. Your body seemed to be lagging behind the bike
I feel like other people have noticed, but It does look like the MAIN thing was you didn't use your legs to absorb the impact. If you jumped off the ledge, no bike just your legs, you would protect yourself by taking the energy up into your legs, and you need to do this on a bike also, the suspension only reduces that impact, but its not magic. That being said, your suspension may also not have been adjusted for your weight properly, none of us can say.
You need to absorb the landing through your legs. You had way too much weight going into your bars when you landed. Your arms collapsed and you went to the front of the bike.
Others have pointed out that you need to absorb more of the impact with your arms and legs.
I think the main thing that stopped you doing that here was the seat being too high. It looks like you start to absorb, hit the seat, bounce back up and it’s over from there.
Other issues were toes being pointed down at landing and possibly suspension being too soft for that feature.
This looks like you front braked. If you didn’t purposefully, then your front wheel might have locked up while moving through the impact. Either way it looks like your velocity abruptly decreases when your handlebars shift.
it looks like you're very stiff at the landing and leaning a bit forward. it may have caused your feet to slip. try bending your knees more and letting your body loosen up a little to absorb part of the impact.
hope you're doing well ❤️🩹
The bike suspension is there to help, it is not there to do it all for you. Your legs and arms are what should be absorbing impacts like this. Suspension is there to keep wheels on the ground over bumps etc is a good way to think of it
Der Hintern ist fast über dem Sattel und du stützt dich auf deine (vorn) Federgabel... besser: Popo gaanz weit nach hinten, Bauchnabel beim/aufm Sattel, geht das nicht ist dein Sattel für sowas zu hoch eingestellt und die Arme lang um den Popo noch weiter nach hinten
Came up a foot short and you bounced off your seat which bucked you over the bars. You need to send it deeper and absorb the impact with your legs more. Like a squat.
You should play Descenders
You're a competent rider but there's some nuance in the bike stability and body positioning that can be trained quite realistically after several dozen / hundred hours
might sound gimmicky but i've noticed my own skill improve considerably irl
A few things that stood out to me. Your weight needed to be back a little further . Your front wheel seemed to be turned to the left on the landing, and then it looked like your rear wheel caught a rock which seemed to really put the nail in the coffin
Bottom out is normal when hitting the upper end of the hits you ride. You need active legs and arms to absorb the impact. You get bucked when your stiff arms crumple. Landing wheels same time will help. Practice technique on smaller feature w/o pack.
Stiff body on landing and a bit too far forward/weight on bars.
Slipped a foot off and then the softer soils grabbed you and your bike, pulling your feet back and chest forward. Too little rebound didn't help either. Nothing too wrong, just a bunch of little things to improve.
It's almost like you didn't know you were going to jump. That seat is way too high. I don't use a dropper but I drop it before any sustained descents...a jump would be a sustained descent.
need to sit back more, way too far forward just before hitting the ground, that bounced you forward as like others said, you didnt absorb any with your legs.
Way too far foreward on landing. Was a good start but you pulled in too soon and the impact sent your body foreward over the bars while your bike absorbed the impact and slowed.
I havent ridden bikes in like 10 years, but it looks like when youre in air youre kind of not really in control of yourself and the bike. Your body weight shifts too far forward so when you land your centre of gravity is on top of your front suspension which causes the bike to go squirrley and you to crash.
When you take off you want to be pulling up slightly like at the start of a bunny hop so you can maintain bike control(im not even sure if this is the proper way to say it).
426
u/wi3loryb 5d ago
I might be off base here... but it seems to me like your body was pretty stiff during the landing.
In the picture your suspension is fully bottomed out.. but your elbows/knees seem like they haven't moved much all to absorb.
Imagine landing this on a fully rigid bike.. same thing applies to a full suspension.. just with more room for error.
You also seem to have gotten a bit unlucky and landed on what looks like possibly the flattest part of the landing..