bike goinig sideways in air

[pd9264]

hi i come of my bike the other day pretty bad. i came off the jump and the bike just went sideways but i froze and landed sideways and that hurt. how do i stop it or how do i correct it. thanks paul

[KcDavis]

Did you get cross rutted?

[JiveKX]

I have that problem sometimes its due to leaning of the jump without you noticing , just think about the jump a little more.

[Tucraysz2]

I'm to scared to jump, No commitment here...

[OldYelMXer]

Hi Paul,

With the little information that you gave us, it's really hard to know what to say but I'd like to take a stab at it. A lot of how to correct the bike depends on what happened to cause it to go side ways. The hardest part really is trying to remember what happened while you went off the jump. Think about how you approached the jump. Where were you on the track. Did the rear wheel spin as you went off the jump? Did you have the bike tilted to one side when you went off the jump? Were there ruts? Did you possibly get cross rutted? If you can remember these details, it will help you analyze what went wrong and then give you a clue as what to change to prevent it from happening again.

When I was racing back in the day, we had a track that had a long down hill (ran north to south) with a big jump about a quarter the way down. When the wind blew, it would blow west to east so when you hit the big jump, it would blow you across the track and you bike would go side ways in air. To correct this, we would push the bike toward the side where the rear wheel had gone kind of the same way you would pull a whip back. But in this case, it was a big air time jump and you had the time to correct like that.

If on the other hand you didn't have enough air time to correct as we did with our big jump, it gets a little more tricky with trying to land crossed up. I remember in situations like this trying to land rear wheel first and using power to straighten up the bike.

[pd9264]

hi sorry for the poor discription. what happend was i was going up this jump on the left hand side of the face fine. anyway i went up on the right hand side once and it was really bumpy. next thing i no im sideways in the air with the front end slightly dipping.

it was a flat landing jump. you go down a dip and on the way up you jump out of it on to a flat. not really alot of time in the air to correct. but like i say i just froze. what should i of done. i was really peed of with myself that i didnt try to correct. i wasnt leaning to one side and i had a steady throttle and was central on the bike.

i wana go out this weekend but im really nervous now because the track im going to is quite jumpy and i dnt want it to happen again because it bloody hurts. also iv just come back from 5 months of with a shatterd wrist. so my condfidence is really low at the moment.

[Theeebalz]

sounds like you need to learn how to whip, not an expert but a sugguestion, because if you know how to whip you could maybe bring the bike back to vertical if this happend..

[vlad7890]

After your injury and 5 months off you need to take it easy and get comfortable with controlling the bike in the air on smaller jumps.

[humpness]

suspension. try messing with the clickers. Be safe while testing, small changes amplify big time. i know you wont think it will make you go sideways but it will.

If your approach is straight on and there is no side wind this is your answer.

[pd9264]

what way would you suggest going on the clickers. the bike is set up quite soft at the moment

[humpness]

Maybe what's happening is the bikes suspension is not returning very far by the time you lift off the jump. It sort of unsettles the bike doing what ever it feels. I would come in on the rebound a little bit at a time starting with your forks. I'm no expert but that's what I would do

[dirtdudeaz9]

Have someone to see if your rear tire is tracking a different direction up the jump. If the wheel isn't centered it'll show up when jumping. And like the others said....oay attention to how your body position is when jumping, maybe you are leaning or weighing one side or the other.

[Athelite]

I'm a total newb, but I'm learning at a sand-track so I have the luxury of learning the hard-way and walking away.

I had the same problem with the back end of my bike swinging around a bit; I'm not clearing the tables there yet as the shortest one is probably 50+ feet and getting my wee 125 up to speed for the jump has me a tad nervous...that said this past weekend I realized that I'd gotten out of the habbit of squeezing the bike with my knees going over the jumps. I made a concious effort to get back into this habit and problem solved.

Just a thought.

[Gary Semics]

Getting sideways off jumps when you don’t intend to is 9 times out of 10 because you’re hitting an uneven face upon take off. Think of a quad when it jumps off an uneven face; like where the two left wheels are higher than the two right wheels, your going to get sideways big time. It’s the same kind of an affect with a M/C. If there is a rut, a dished out area, a little rock or anything uneven about the place where the tires actually leave the ground it’s going to make you go sideways.

The best way to solve this problem and keep your short clean is to make sure you take off in the center of the rut or dished out area, make sure you’re taking off on even ground. If there is no even ground you have to compensate for the sideways pitch.

The other possibility is that he’s weighting one foot peg way more then the other.

This is explained in visual detail on my Basic Jumping and Launching Technique DVD. Find this at; www.mxraceschool.com Or you can see a free preview and/or order other jumping techniques DVDs online at; http://wp.gsmxs.com/dvd-3-all-about-jumps-whoops/ Or find the download at: www.mxraceschool.com

I hope this helps.

I mention and try to point riders to my DVDs because many riders still don't know about them and these Motocross Technique DVDs and DVD downloads will answer all your questions and more. I've made them very affordable in these hard economic times by discounting all 22 of them by up to 60%. off. I also have a download site that costumers can download a complete DVD for a one time to one year viewing for very low prices. I have put so much thought and time into these DVDs to make them as useful as possible for all the things about becoming a better rider. It's like why recreate the wheel.

Sure it's fun to post riding questions on TT and see what answers you get. Many times there are some really good answers. But if you're really serious about improving why not get the info you need in visual, slow motion, stop action while I explain it in my DVDs? The info in these DVDs have helped riders like; Jeremy McGrath, Kevin Windham, John Dowd, Ezra Lusk, Ryan Villopoto, Brock Hepler, Brock Sellards and so many more, all riders that I have trained extensively. Do you want to know the techniques and practice methods that have helped make these riders so great? That's the type of info you'll get out of the DVDs.

I hope you still have fun posting on TT and getting good answers. But if you haven't already visited my site to get free technique DVD previews, free riding tips, order online with free shipping and more maybe you should give it a try.

Ride smart and have fun,

Gary Semics

[thebug]

Couple things that might help:

1.) Turn handlebars in opposite direction that the back end is going.

2.) Hold bike with knees. Weight outside or highside peg. If feet off pegs, pushing down on Handlebars on highside will also do this.

3.) Move bike with legs/hips to pull it back

4.) Add throttle. Spinning of the back tire will assist in straightening the bike, but will also lift front end.

5.) Land with GAS on if sideways.

I am no expert at whipping it, but I have been studying, asking, watch and learning because I DON'T LIKE GOING SIDEWAYS!!!?

All things considered, practice on a jump you are comfortable with.

Ride Safe,

The Bug

[TIM696]

sounds like suspension or body position to me

you said you fly straight on the smooth takeoff but get sideways on the bumpy takeoff its either suspesion or body position

[willbilly]

Sorry, but suspension has nothing to do with making a bike go sideways off of a jump. Like Gary said either the surface was uneven (rutted) or one peg was weighted more or he was turning on the face.

[humpness]

I guarantee if your suspension is not dialed in, it amplifies what ever your doing wrong and then some. So a little uneven going off the jump can be a lot more catastrophic. Sorry

If he says the approach is good etc then the only thing else is equipment.

[Eric_mx]

Alot of these threads explain how the bike ends up going sideways, but there isnt much explanation on how to bring it back straight to land properly. Everyone says just panick rev, but from personal experience, when a bike kicks out by accident it takes more than a panick rev to bring it back.

Gary do your videos explain the technique to correcting a sideways bike in the air? If so which video covers this, I really want to master this!

The bug, you brought up some interesting points, I have never tried pushing down the highside of the handlebars, i'll have to try this out to see how the bike reacts. When you say turn the handlebars the opposite way the bike is going, do you mean if the rear tire kicks out to the left, to turn the handle bars to the right? If my rear tires kicks left i seem to turn the handlebars left aswell to "try" and correct it, but i havent been successful either way lol.

[showtime280]

pinch the bike with your legs ALL THE TIME. helps keep the bike tracking straight n will help when uneven take offs or unexpected things come up.if you are a little sloppy with your legs the bike has room to move around on you which could cause it to snap out. someone did say check if your rear wheel is tracking straight, i would also take a look at that