Endo

[annistonfire153]

Question: I’m riding a Trek rumble fish elite. I’d say 75% of the time I get airborne, no matter how centered I feel on the bike or even trying to stay weighted rearward, I get the feeling that I’m being thrown/bucked forward. I usually land heavy on my front tire which feels sketchy. Any tips/advice/ suggestions. By the way. Seat is lowered during descents via dropper post. Thanks in advance

[fleetwood]

There are a lot of factors and variables involved here. You can’t just go airborne and expect your bike and physics to make you float magically through the air. In fact, my guess is that both are working against you. You’re responsible for controlling the trajectory and balance of the bike (I originally typed "bile", which conjures up an entirely different image).

It sounds like you need to do some lifting. I’m not sure how to explain it though. Can you bunny hop? When you go airborne, do you just roll off the "jump" or are you pulling the bike up? Most often you need to give a little huck.

Can someone else chime in here? I am a terrible teacher.

[fat_billy]

Dual suspention? Try the seat bounce method. If you put most of your weigh down on the seat up the jump prior to leaving the ground or crouch down on the bike to put most weight on the pedals. This will load the suspension. As the bike leaves the ground, jump up with it to get more altitude on your jump. More altitude better? Tell us after you try it. Centering your weight toward the center of the bike should help not landing on the front wheel. Good luck. 😄 Later,

[trnsprt]

Dumb question but have you set your suspension up properly? Rumblefish is dual suspension correct? Make sure the rebound on the rear isn’t set faster than the fork. Maybe play with the adjustments a little bit at a time. Just a thought. When I first got a long travel trail bike a buddy educated me on setting up the suspension (I had the sag right but that was about it). It made a big difference. I was rebounding way too fast on the rear and I always felt like I was going to go over the bars on a rhythm section we used to ride.

If you do work on it yourself I highly recommend making small adjustments to one setting at a time. Don’t mix changes to both.

[annistonfire153]

Thanks for some great advice. It is dual suspension. I hadn’t thought about rear rebound. I will play with the settings as soon as I get it back from LBS. I had some stripped threads from the bleed screw of the shimano slx brake reservoir. So I’m now waiting on shimano to send replacement.

[stumpyfsr ✓ supporter]

+1 on lifting your front. Even with rebound set too fast lifting should solve a problem. My bike is similar to yours and I usually stay between 3 – 5 clicks from slowest setting (depends on terrain).

[Dustin Gaddis]

This isn’t a bike setup problem, it’s technique. You’ve got to hold the front wheel up until the rear comes off the ground. If you don’t, the front wheel starts dropping as the rear wheel is getting thrown up by the jump, and you end up with forward rotation. People get hurt around here a good bit because they don’t keep their front end up when going over some of our high speed whoop-de-doos.

When you approach the jump get your weight back a little and give a little pull on the bars. Start slow and low, and build up your speed as you gain confidence.

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