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- [Man 1] So how do you ride drop-offs? The first thing to learn really is how to
manual properly, and we've done loads of videos on that already, so click down
below. There will be a link in the description for how to manual first.
I'll talk about that briefly now, but a good manual is important, because you'll
be using your weight to lift the front wheel, rather than using your arms.
If you use your arms to lift the front wheel, it's easy for the wheel to go
slightly sideways which can get you in trouble on bigger drop-offs. But
also, actually, you're pulling the bars up, and your weight is staying quite far
forward on the bike. So if the front wheel then drops too early on a drop-off,
you're in trouble. With the nice manual technique, you can then start using that
on drop-offs that are too big just to roll down. So drop-offs become unrideable
when they get so big that, actually, you start catching your chainring on there,
and that can lead to you going over the bars. And if you have no experience with
judging that, a good height to aim for is axel height on your wheels.
Anything above axel height means it's probably unrideable. That means you're
going to have to keep the front wheel up to stop you from going over the bars.
So the technique you actually use on that drop off is going to depend on the run-out
and the size of that drop. Here, we're in a really nice spot to practice the manual
of the drop because it's not very big. I'll get away with just rolling that if it
all goes wrong. So, I spotted my landing, and I'm going to try and do enough for
manual to match that landing. So, by that, I mean trying to land two wheels at the
same time. If you're dropping off into a down-slope landing front wheels first is
okay, because your front wheel's getting there first, but matching the landing is
generally the best way of doing it. So, here I'm going to judge my speed, and if
I'm going slow, I want to pop a nice little manual to keep my front wheel up
and in the air until my back wheel gets there and try to land two wheels at the
same time. So it's really important that you use a good manual technique off a
drop off, because the final position of a good manual your hips will be nice and
safe to the back of the bike. The heels down and head up, so even if that front
wheel drops on you more than you expect, you're right back here, and
you've got a really good chance of getting away with it. Whereas if
you relied on the front wheel pull with the handlebars, all your weight
is then on the bars, and you could be in trouble. So get those manuals now first.
Drop-offs are possible on any bike, but there's a few little bike setup things
that are going to help. Getting your seat low and out of the way is going to give
you more space to move back on the bike. A shorter stem and a more aggressive
bike, maybe full suspension bike, will make it a little bit more forgiving,
especially when you're learning. So, once you've got your manual technique nailed on
the small drop-offs, well done. That's the real technique that you'll always need,
and, actually, when you start going towards bigger drop-offs, it's much safer
to use a little bit more speed. The technique gets much easier when you're
going a little bit faster. You start forgetting about that big pump to
manual to keep the front wheel up, and with the extra momentum, you can just
slide the bike forward in front of you. You'll end up in that same position to
the rear of the bike. You just don't need that pump to keep the front wheel up
higher, so that's much safer to use on a bigger drop-off like this, but
it's not rideable. You've got to do something to get off this drop-off.
Another thing to remember is your entry point and exit point. That's just a
certain point on a trail where you want to stop pedaling, stop braking and look where
you're going. Once you're in, you're in. Do whatever you've got to do to
get off that drop-off and same on the way out. You've got to
let the bike settle before we start cornering, braking, peddling.
So, here we got quite a tricky drop-off. It's got a really steep run in that's
actually quite slippy as well, so I need to be on my brakes here. Otherwise, I'm
going to fire off down the hill. There's that point of no return that when I get
really close, I've got to come off the brakes and do whatever I've got to do to
get off this drop-off and match the landing with my bike.
Occasionally you might find that actually bringing in a good bunny hop off the end
of a drop-off will work nicely. You can get in a bit off extra height and a bit of
length and land into a bit of down-slope that's going to make it smoother.
That's when drop-offs almost turn into road gaps or step downs.
- [Man 2] So there you go, that's how to drop off. Remember, start nice and small
before you work up to bigger drops.
- Yeah, and definitely have a look at our manual video,
which is up there. The manual is an essential technique for this and hopefully
then go a little bit quicker, and you don't have to use it quite as much.
- And for bigger drops like that one, where you can get to a nice
transition, you should check down here for how to bunny hop.
- See right there is loads of fun drop-offs. And as always, you
can click on us to subscribe to the channel.
- You won't miss a video.
- All right, that one next.