front end nose diving!

When i take jumps i power up over the jumps .dont hesitate at the top or the front will drop someone once told me :lol:

You need to give the throttle a little 'blip' just before take off, this keeps the front end up a bit, too big a blip and you'll land on the back wheel or your arse.
If in mid air your nose is low then a bit of throttle will bring it up. If in mid air the nose is too high the hit the back brake and the nose will fall.
It's all a case of practise makes perfect, not that I am perfect, we all have our dodgy landings but the only way to perfect jumps is trial and error, the more you do it and try out the tips the better you'll become.

possibly completely out of fork oil? simplest way to find out is to drop what you have and you should have around 450-500cc from one leg.

i can't think anything else would make a bike do that?

regards

Taffy

what riding experience do you have?
nose diving over the jumps is more likely to be down to your riding than any mechanical or set up defect.

i agree w/ cypher and freaky. you have to launch a bike off a jump or the top will kick the rear.

My bike used to do this, and it worked out that my rear spring was to small for my weight and it was bottoming out and then rebounding the rear wheel up making the nose drop. This may also be your problem.
Regards Pids

bergiefe400 said:

hi
we went out to our local practice track at the weekend on my berg, every time i went over the jumps the front end just wanted to be on the ground and nose diving nearly throwing me off every time and i was leaning as far back as i could!
the forks are about 8mm up in the clamps, what do i need to do to stop this. help please :?

thanks. matt

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if the front is diving on landing or getting stuck down after landing look to the forks and as taffy suggests a proper ammount of oil will also help stiffen the front in relation to the back and lift the front on takeoff. my bike is different geometry so may not be relevant but i run the forks flush with the top of the clamps.

sounds as though the problem is on take off? so either the back is too stiff in relation to the front or the shock is too soft like pids' near bottoming or bottoming on take off and rebounding too quickly throwing you after that.

just an idea to try winding Ls and HS shock comp adjusters full out. set rebound till your happy ie not getting launched after gouts which should help stop launching on the jumps too then wind comps in after that to firm things up as needed. if the rebound adjuster doesn't do much the shock res pressure may be too low.

watch someone else ride your bike over the jumps to decide which way to go with the shock.

before doing all that with the clcikers, winding the shock spring preload off to make it softer or in to stop bottoming makes more immediate sense than fiddling with clickers. setting "correct" sag is only a starting point. after that its out for softer, in for stiffer. unless you have a cupboard full of springs.

just what I reckon, doesn't mean its spot on or not achievable in other ways. HTH

regards

Bushie

RE: Re: front end nose diving!

Matt I had the same prob last time I went out to the MX track, it was bloody frustrating too because the week before I was nailing the 30ft double and tabletop smooth as silk.

so in this instance, Im going with Pitt and freaky, as my eventual diagnosis was technique, I was rolling off the throttle slightly at the kicker of the up ramp, which immediately noses down the front end and kicks up the arse end of the bike, so keep the throttle driving at your normal approach speed to the bottom of the ramp, with a little (meter it carefully) blip as you launch up the ramp.

also try riding the track with only 4 or 5 litres of fuel in the tank, 10.5 litres = 10 kilos, i have found the berg feels more balanced in the air when not totally full of juice.

Azza.

RE: Re: front end nose diving!

closing the throttle on a jump on a 4st has more of an effect than on a 2st due to the engine braking effect. i does take a slight change in riding style to when you swap strokes.