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Turning In Tight Spaces


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hey folks,

Im not sure if anyone is gunna be able to explain in text but...

Im trying to master turning in tight space by lifting up the rear wheel and turning the back of the bike left or right,

There was a guy up killkenny where i practice who did show me but i still cant do it,

He says about compressing the rear shock using clutch front brake etc, then lifting bike moving hips etc etc, but i can only swing it about 10 inch and i always loose balance and dab my foot down!

If you can explain how you do it then it would be a great help!

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hey folks,

Im not sure if anyone is gunna be able to explain in text but...

Im trying to master turning in tight space by lifting up the rear wheel and turning the back of the bike left or right,

There was a guy up killkenny where i practice who did show me but i still cant do it,

He says about compressing the rear shock using clutch front brake etc, then lifting bike moving hips etc etc, but i can only swing it about 10 inch and i always loose balance and dab my foot down!

If you can explain how you do it then it would be a great help!

If you can move it that far it is good, just hold the brakes and work on your balance, turning the wheel to "lock"your balance again will help. Practice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(

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If you can move it that far it is good, just hold the brakes and work on your balance, turning the wheel to "lock"your balance again will help. Practice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(

I think balance is my problem here, I find it hard to get into position ready to lift without loosing balance

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I am hopeless at hopping, its something I really need to work on but I do use it from time to time, heres how I do it...

learn to front hop first, rather than trying to pull the bars up with your arms, compress the suspension with your legs (bending your knee's) and snap the legs back straight, the backwards momentum coupled with having your rear brake on will lift the front, then you are free to move it left or right. try not to hop too far in one go, make lots of small hops rather than a few big ones, its easier to correct it that way.

as for moving the rear, its a very useful skill to have, try it rolling first, you dont need alot of speed but that little bit helps lift the rear. a good solid rear hop can make a hell of alot of difference, I can turn 180 degree's and be facing the other way in 1 rear hop followed by 2 or 3 front hops.

if you are struggling to get any height on the rear, if grip is availiable, you can blip the front up and inch or 2 and use the momentum of the bike coming down to lift the rear, its surprising how much more lift you can get from doing this.

The problem I usually get is when the rear comes up high, I tend to over-do it and my body ends up too far over the right of the bike and I have to take a dab.

some people take to it really easy (annoyingly) and some people (like myself) really have to work at it.

All the best

Tom

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I am hopeless at hopping, its something I really need to work on but I do use it from time to time, heres how I do it...

learn to front hop first, rather than trying to pull the bars up with your arms, compress the suspension with your legs (bending your knee's) and snap the legs back straight, the backwards momentum coupled with having your rear brake on will lift the front, then you are free to move it left or right. try not to hop too far in one go, make lots of small hops rather than a few big ones, its easier to correct it that way.

as for moving the rear, its a very useful skill to have, try it rolling first, you dont need alot of speed but that little bit helps lift the rear. a good solid rear hop can make a hell of alot of difference, I can turn 180 degree's and be facing the other way in 1 rear hop followed by 2 or 3 front hops.

if you are struggling to get any height on the rear, if grip is availiable, you can blip the front up and inch or 2 and use the momentum of the bike coming down to lift the rear, its surprising how much more lift you can get from doing this.

The problem I usually get is when the rear comes up high, I tend to over-do it and my body ends up too far over the right of the bike and I have to take a dab.

some people take to it really easy (annoyingly) and some people (like myself) really have to work at it.

All the best

Tom

I will give the rolling start a try, it sounds like i will be able to get the back wheel higher that way, then i could possible work on body movement, It is a very hard thing to explain in text!

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or you could buy an evo, they turn so tight you can actually get between your own a*** cheeks :(

even the rev 3 turned bloody tight, too tight in my opinion, its nice to have something there to stop the front end from locking if you know what I mean.

Tom

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Check the rear shock, if its to stiff you can never bounce the rear tire. I've had people come to me and say the same thing and their shock was as stiff as an Enduro bike. The shock is what picks the bike up. But always remember hopping is nice but at the end of an event and your tired a good basic full lock turn is nice to have in your bag of tricks.

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Check the rear shock, if its to stiff you can never bounce the rear tire. I've had people come to me and say the same thing and their shock was as stiff as an Enduro bike. The shock is what picks the bike up. But always remember hopping is nice but at the end of an event and your tired a good basic full lock turn is nice to have in your bag of tricks.

Nice one dude, i have had a fiddle about with the rear shock settins and been bouncing around the garden

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Lock the back brake and your arms when the back end lands. This will stop the rear suspension from bouncing back and causing unnescesary loss of balance.

Nice info, I had a trial today and strugled on some sections, At present im still just doing tight turns rather than a hop etc, It will be nice when i can master hopping confidently

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Depending on the turn then actually going around it with the proper "turning" technique is much better than hopping. You can keep your momentum for what is after and you have much less chance to lose balance. A proper turning technique will leave you coming out of the turn perfectly in balance ready for everything :(

Edited by bikerdude2006fr
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  • 1 month later...

One thing we've done is remove the turning-stops on our Gassers (rubber spacers that are there to keep the the fork-brace from hitting the frame...we put a piece of tape against the frame now to protect the frame just a bit...does turn sharper.) No need to do fancy bunny-hopping (front or rear) if you can simply TURN sharper.

Has anybody else done this, or not? If so (or not), then WHY? Any other suggestions?

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Depending on the turn then actually going around it with the proper "turning" technique is much better than hopping. You can keep your momentum for what is after and you have much less chance to lose balance. A proper turning technique will leave you coming out of the turn perfectly in balance ready for everything

Sometimes an ordinary turn (even a tight one) puts you at the wrong angle to / too close for the next hazard which is usually a climb or a step. The rear hop method enables a rider to line the bike up at the best angle (straight on) to attack the hazard. Even if good at slow tight turns, being able to hop the back end gives a significant advantage.

Edited by Fivemeister
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