Motocross Jumping technique

Jumping is one of the first things to learn if you intend riding motocross bikes. I know I’ve had some interesting moments myself when I first took on some table tops at the local track. To share what I’ve learned I’ve got a few pointers to keep in mind next time your at the track.

Keep one or two fingers on the clutch as you approach the ramp to accelerate over bumps and chop.

You will also be ready if you need to give the bike a hit of rpm on the ramp, and you’ll probably need to charge off when you return to earth.

Always keep your bike in a responsive power range on for the takeoff and keep accelerating right through lift off.

Lean the bike over and turn the bars down a little to help wash some height out of the takeoff, losing some altitude and giving the bike a nice flight arc.

Keep yourself central on the bike with your head over the cross bar and your weight forward. The steeper the ramp is, the more you will have to push forward.

Keep the bike balanced in flight, keep your head and body vertical allow your leg on the side you are leaning to lift slighly off the foot peg. One arm will do most of the work, pushing forward and up to lean the bike over and allow your body to follow.

When you have a downhill landing ramp, like the far end of a table top land front wheel first. So if you got your body position correct on the takeoff you should have the bike angled perpendicular to the nading ramp.

Always look ahead at the the place you want to land and then once you have that covered look further ahead again. Remember the faster your speed the further you will have to look ahead. A good rule of thumb is 2 meters ahead for every gear. If you are not looking ahead you will find it harder to balance the bike.

What can go wrong?

If your front wheel is low you have decelerated or shut the throttle off on takeoff. This causes the front suspension to compress and dive as you lift off the face of the jump. If you find yourself in this situation, hold the throttle wide open and the weight of the spinning wheel will lower the back end slightly.

If your front wheel is high then you have given the bike to much throttle or your weight was too far back. Remember to get your weight forward and over the cross bar. To correct this in the air, get your weight forward, pull the clutch in and hit the back brake in the air. Again this will only improve the flight arc slightly. Your main concern is getting your takeoff gear, acceleration, power and body position just right.