Probably need to work on your body position more. Tall legs, pivot at the hips, and bend your elbows more (and keep them wide - aim for like a 90 degree bend). Get a friend to video you to see how you look because when most people think they’re hinging and bending the elbows, they aren’t nearly as low as they feel.
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May be helpful, maybe not… The only times I can remember actually washing out the front are when I am uncommitted not leaning hard enough and breaking in the turn.
If you’re riding position is good and you have weight on the front tire you’re way more likely to break into a two wheeled skid if you’re actually leaning over Good… And then it’s all good and you’re just getting rowdy!
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I’ll try to remember tall legs and hinge at the hips, thanks @amy !
I have always struggled with keeping my weight far enough forward. Always feel like such a newbie when I find myself getting scared and pulling back on the bars. I also comfort brake a lot.
i couldnt find a photo i agreed with on google image search (lots had their knees bent far more than I think is needed personally), but this drawing is a good visual of what to shoot for.
try to keep your chin over your stem. if your butt is moving back, youre losing front wheel traction.
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Move saddle forward?
The number one thing I learned for handling and pumping and railing berms and hitting gaps and landing smooth is to roll your wrists forward. I keep forgetting this but when I remember to do it I notice a huge difference, especially if I run the line again.
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems to reinforce proper body positioning throughout and everything feels better
Won’t help you standing up.
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Conventional wisdom is to roll your cockpit back to reduce arm pump.
I’ve used to have my levers at a pretty sharp downward angle to reduce my wrist angle on the brake levers. But with a more modern long reach, that’s not necessary anymore.
I don’t think it fixes hip angle. Most people have too much knee bend and not enough hip hinge.
Putting your brake levers in the right spot should be all you need to get your wrists right.
Generally only the old schoolers are still pointing their levers way down.
We advise people to rotate their wrists back (and drop the heels) to brace for hard front braking, which is usually a good check on lever placement to see if they can still reach the brakes with the wrists back. Should be easy to brake with neutral wrists but can still reach with the palms behind the bar.
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Thoughts on this video by Gwin? It’s mostly about bar positioning/setup and grip, but it factors into making the standup position work.
I used it to set up the Banshee and it fixed a lot of issues I was having with grip, and magically, when I got rad on some swoopy downhill it made standing on the pedals and leaning forward with my upper body a LOT easier and more intuitive.
I assume it’s my own poor form, but if I set myself up with my palms behind the bar I don’t get enough weight over the front and start getting squirrely. Wrists more forward and elbows out makes me feel more 50/50 balanced front and rear.
I don’t have my levers all the way down of course.
Wait that all sounds like I’m arguing but I’m not! You know a hell of a lot more about this than me, so I’m gonna try palms back/heels down and see how that works.
I forgot to note that wrists forward and elbows out started on my BMX on the track where it absolutely helped and I moved it over to the MTB so maybe I took it the wrong way?
Kid I worked at the shop with is an enduro & downhill racer and commented on my downward pointed brake levers one day by asking if my hands ever blew off the top of the bars. Bit of a revelatory moment because yeah, that used to happen to me constantly.
Rotated them a bit farther up and I don’t have that problem anymore.
That’s just for hard braking. My levers are pretty neutral - probably around 45°.
Lever reach is also really critical due avoiding arm pump imo.
Another trick to play with is popping your elbows forward in the turn and seeing how that changes grip.
I rode the chairlifts with my bike today and it was pretty darn fun, I’ve only done it once before and that was many moons ago. My bike felt great too so that was nice.
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I’ve been riding the rigid ICT with 29x 2.8s a lot exploring the trails around the reservoir behind my house. I like it a lot except the Q factor is a bit much for this tire size. I can live with it but it does definitely have me Jones curious.
Anyway, I’d like to haul my electric chainsaw up there and clear some bigger deadfall stuff off of the lesser used trails. Should I get a big old front basket or a cheap chainsaw bag with a shoulder strap or something else?
Rear rack might be the way to go in this circumstance. I just don’t want it on there all the time.
all the cool kids are building custom front ends for their chain saws
I’m in the same boat. There’s a poorly maintained section of rail trail a short ride from my house. I cleared all the trees and branches I could handle with a hand saw but now I need to go back with my electric chain saw. I like the idea of getting a cool trail maintenance rig but I’m not riding far or doing this often. I think I’ll remove the battery and jam the saw in the smallest pack it will fit with the bar sticking out the top. If I remember to try it next weekend I’ll take some photos and let you know how it goes.
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