Blip, Zap, Splat

[bikerpet]

After a bit of what I saw as misunderstanding around the differences between Double Blips & Zaps from my first couple of videos with bar-cams I thought I'd have a go at making a video with those two plus a Splat.

I'm not pretending these are particularly good specimens of the technique (large understatement!) but maybe they give a fair idea of what I consider the differences.

Double Blip doesn't use any clutch - just throttle, Zap uses rev and dump the clutch as both suspensions bottom & Splat uses rev & dump to launch the back wheel directly into the obstacle.

Willing to be corrected, but this is my understanding.

EDIT - corrected "Zap" to "Splat" thanks lineaway.

 

Edited October 27, 2020 by bikerpet

[lineaway]

 Your film is correct, but what you wrote on here is wrong. Splat is short for splatter, because if you miss you will be splattered all over the ground! The zap came along when our suspensions were not as good as today. The double blip was just an extension of the roll up. The roll up will get you over 90% of what mere mortals ride as long as you `kiss` the front tire off the top of the obstacle to clear the skid plate.

[mercuryrev]

Your blips and zaps are all double blips. Much better examples now you're using a bigger obstacle, well done.

You don't have to use your clutch on the step you're doing but when you move onto larger obstacles you will. There might even be an argument that if you used your clutch on the obstacle in your video it could be slower and more controlled. There is no need to rush it all, in fact there's plenty to suggest you should take it slower. If you don't have room in front or after the obstacle for example.

Your splats are a zap without touching the obstacle. A splat is using a kicker to take off from in the aim of landing on the obstacle and then driving over it.

Have a watch of the video I put up on your other thread.

 

[bikerpet]

8 hours ago, lineaway said:

 Your film is correct, but what you wrote on here is wrong. Splat is short for splatter, because if you miss you will be splattered all over the ground! The zap came along when our suspensions were not as good as today. The double blip was just an extension of the roll up. The roll up will get you over 90% of what mere mortals ride as long as you `kiss` the front tire off the top of the obstacle to clear the skid plate.

Thanks for picking up that error in my writing - corrected.

Perhaps I should have included roll-up's kissing the front in this video.

I just wish I had the skills of Jimmy, Pat and the others who make such good teaching videos so I could actually demonstrate effectively. If they would only put cameras on their bars like this then I certainly wouldn't bother doing it myself! So often I watch the videos and just can't see accurately what's going on with throttle and clutch timing, and if you don't know what you're trying to do with throttle and clutch then what hope have you got? So much of it is about accurate timing of the weighting, unweighting, clutch & throttle, "almost right" is about as effective as "completely wrong" in my experience!

4 hours ago, mercuryrev said:

Your blips and zaps are all double blips. Much better examples now you're using a bigger obstacle, well done.

You don't have to use your clutch on the step you're doing but when you move onto larger obstacles you will. There might even be an argument that if you used your clutch on the obstacle in your video it could be slower and more controlled. There is no need to rush it all, in fact there's plenty to suggest you should take it slower. If you don't have room in front or after the obstacle for example.

Your splats are a zap without touching the obstacle. A splat is using a kicker to take off from in the aim of landing on the obstacle and then driving over it.

Have a watch of the video I put up on your other thread.

 

I'm afraid that leaves me somewhat confused (more so than usual anyway).

Jimmy's videos are excellent, certainly among the best series I've seen (and I've wasted way too much time on YouTube watching trials!). The trouble comes with some of the translations, as in this video.

The first demo. says "Zap / Touch Front", the second says "Double Blip / Zap". They are clearly different, otherwise he wouldn't make two demo's, so why are they both labelled Zap? If we're going to have two different techniques with the same name we might as well just call everything "riding". I would call the first a Double Blip / Touch Front and the second a Zap as there is clearly use of the clutch to launch the bike after the front wheel hits.

When we come to Splats I don't understand what you mean by, "Your splats are a zap without touching the obstacle."? My understanding is that if the front wheel doesn't touch, then it's not a Zap. In my demo there is a rock being used as a kicker, and the back wheel lands on the obstacle - so why is it not a Splat, albeit not a startlingly good one? I'd add that a kicker is not requirement for a splat as Jimmy shows in technique 4. You could Splat with or without the clutch, the key as I understand it is launching the rear tyre airborne directly into the obstacle without touching the front tyre.

If there's a word or term, there's a definition. So what's your definition of Double Blip, Zap and Splat(ter)? That might help clear things up.

I've asked Jimmy Ertzer if he'd mind setting up bar-cams and making videos - that would be an excellent outcome!

Edited October 27, 2020 by bikerpet
Added Ertzer request

[lineaway]

My son doing a splatter from a dead stop.

[mercuryrev]

20 hours ago, bikerpet said:

I'm afraid that leaves me somewhat confused (more so than usual anyway).

Jimmy's videos are excellent, certainly among the best series I've seen (and I've wasted way too much time on YouTube watching trials!). The trouble comes with some of the translations, as in this video.

The first demo. says "Zap / Touch Front", the second says "Double Blip / Zap". They are clearly different, otherwise he wouldn't make two demo's, so why are they both labelled Zap? If we're going to have two different techniques with the same name we might as well just call everything "riding". I would call the first a Double Blip / Touch Front and the second a Zap as there is clearly use of the clutch to launch the bike after the front wheel hits.

Yes I agree the labelling could be better, but then English isn't his first language and he may be trying to point out that the two techniques are very similar. I think you are getting confused over the use of the clutch. As far as I am aware it is perfectly possible to do a blip and a zap without using the clutch. The clutch is only used to add a quicker boost of power. I have always used the clutch but only as a way to learn the technique. In practice I doubt I use much clutch for anything other than a large rock, log or bank.

When we come to Splats I don't understand what you mean by, "Your splats are a zap without touching the obstacle."?

My understanding is that if the front wheel doesn't touch, then it's not a Zap. In my demo there is a rock being used as a kicker, and the back wheel lands on the obstacle - so why is it not a Splat, albeit not a startlingly good one? I'd add that a kicker is not requirement for a splat as Jimmy shows in technique 4. You could Splat with or without the clutch, the key as I understand it is launching the rear tyre airborne directly into the obstacle without touching the front tyre.

Apologies I didn't notice the kicker, strictly speaking you're correct.

If there's a word or term, there's a definition. So what's your definition of Double Blip, Zap and Splat(ter)? That might help clear things up.

I am far from being an expert, I'm just trying to help, so please feel free to critique........ A double blip is a blip of the throttle after dipping the knees to lift the front onto an obstacle, once the front hits there should be a second blip (and possibly a jump) to lift the rear onto the obstacle. If the obstacle demands it, you should use the clutch for better, or quicker, lift of the front and/or rear wheels.

A zap is lifting the front wheel in the same manner as the blip, allowing the front to hit the obstacle to further lift the front. The rear tyre is then driven into the obstacle. Again the clutch can be used for more, or quicker, power.

A splat/splatter is lofting the front wheel and then lifting the rear wheel either with the throttle and clutch and body or a combination of those and a kicker. The wheels then hit the obstacle driving the bike up the obstacle. (I will never get to do this other than in my dreams, I'm too old and brittle!)

I've asked Jimmy Ertzer if he'd mind setting up bar-cams and making videos - that would be an excellent outcome!

 

[bikerpet]

7 hours ago, lineaway said:

My son doing a splatter from a dead stop.

 

Nice!

Maybe when I get to his age I'll be doing that too. No, wait, that was decades ago. Oh well.?

[bikerpet]

2 minutes ago, mercuryrev said:

 

Great, thanks.

I think we'll have to disagree on the definitions.

I'll stick with my definition of:

• Double Blip - blip throttle to lift front wheel, when it hits obstacle second blip to drive the rear wheel in to the obstacle.
• Zap - Lift front wheel (either blip or a bit of clutch), when it hits obstacle clutch dump (combined with building revs prior) to snap the bike up and get extra rear wheel lift.
• Splat(ter) - Aggressive acceleration, usually with clutch dump but not necessarily, to launch the rear wheel directly into the obstacle. May involve a kicker or not.

These fit a multitude of situations and have clear points of difference.

Look at lineway's son in the photo he just posted - no kicker but assuming the front tyre never hit, that's a splatter by anyone's assessment surely? Plenty of the indoor trials obstacles require huge splat(ter)s off a smooth stadium floor, so there's certainly no requirement for a kicker of any sort. Some of the really big splatters happen at pretty high speed, so I doubt there's much if any clutch involved - that's not something I have any intention of finding out for myself!

My personal analysis of the zap vs blip is that the zap gets so much more lift for two main reasons:

• The extremely fast acceleration of the bike from the clutch dump with the front wheel compressed against the obstacle causes it to very rapidly rotate which results in the forward mass (front wheel, forks, engine) accelerating almost vertically - this gives some good vertical momentum to help carry the bike that direction.
• With the throttle snapped closed, as soon as the rear wheel has accelerated to the speed of the flywheel the tension drops off the chain, allowing the rear suspension to extend and help spring the bike up (the front suspension is doing the same as the bike rotates up away from the obstacle).

The blip uses the same compression of the front forks and resulting rotation of the bike, but without the fast acceleration it has much less result, and using engine acceleration to drive forward means the chain isn't going to drop tension so the rear suspension can't extend as freely. This also helps explain why you have to contact the obstacle below the top (something I know I'm not good at) - so the front of the bike gets forced up when it's driven forwards. Maybe if you drove into the obstacle quite fast you'd get a bigger lift as the bike rapidly rotated up - another thing I'm not sure I'll be doing any personal research on!

A good discussion anyway.

 

[lineaway]

 The real good riders do not need a kicker!

[Motopv]

On 10/29/2020 at 5:51 AM, lineaway said:

 The real good riders do not need a kicker!

I will need a kicker. : )

[Motopv]

Started this sport after getting a bike about 3 months ago, and at first all the terms were all inner twined with the 3 terms came across like more or less doing the same thing. But over time watched videos and got the idea and concepts. I see how people that come from outside the sport are confused, as at first it looks so similar at first. 

[Motopv]

To expand on my post above..  As a newbie to me it looked like the splat was different.. but DB and zap very similar. Now that i have studied it a bit and practicing i get it. 

[bikerpet]

For some time now I've been getting professional coaching (do it!) which has changed my perspective on the double blip.

Now I see 3 fundamental techniques for obstacles: Ride up, Zap, Splatter.

Ride is anything where the rear tyre drives all the way up. It doesn't matter if the front wheel clears, glances or hits the obstacle, it's all still the same basic technique.

So a double blip is just a minor variation of the Ride.

With this idea in your head it all becomes much simpler and puts more focus on where the real action is, the back wheel.

I think @lineaway said something along these lines ages ago, that the DBL blip was a historical technique, a hangover from twinshock era.

Don't get me wrong, there's still a call for DBL blip, and the ability to accurately place the front is important but the whole DBL blip is only as important as lofting the front clear or letting it skim the obstacle. Actually getting over the obstacle depends entirely on how you drive the rear into and up the obstacle, not what the front wheel does.

If you take a look for "Neil Price Mind over Matter" you'll get the pro explanation rather than my amateur interpretation.

[boogerblaster]

Bikerpet, I have a suggestion for your video production. I like that you show the clutch and throttle views, but next time try putting the throttle view on the Right side of the screen. This would allow our stereo vision the interpret it as a real-world riding situation. I believe it would be much easier to follow and understand, and also help to get the timing right. 

[boogerblaster]

Bikerpet, I don't double blip. After I get the front wheel up I leave the throttle on ( a little for small obstacles, more for larger ones ). It keeps the rear suspension from bottoming so hard , because it encourages an anti-squat reaction in the rear suspension.