Style Check - Jumping Techniques

Everyone has a distinctive style while riding a bike and will interpret a corner, jump or other obstacle their own unique way. Lets look at 3 different ways one jump can be handled. Remember, these are just about specific styles over a jump! If you want to learn the basics of jumping a bike, watch our jumping skills video here.

The straight jump is the easiest and (usually) best way to carry maximum speed.
Photo by Steven Rummukainen

1. 'Straight jumping' or 'boosting'. This is the most basic jumping style, but also the fastest as it doesn't use any unnecessary body movements. As the name implies, straight jumping is simply clearing a jump with no fuss, just a clean, simple jump. If you're planning on racing downhill, every fraction of a second counts and this is the quickest way to clear jumps.

Turn-bars can be made to look quite stylish and are easy to do over practically any jump.
Photo by Steven Rummukainen

2. Adding a bit of style with a 'turn-bar'. Turn-bars are the easiest way to add a bit of style to a jump. As the name suggests, it involves turning the handlbars mid air and bringing them back straight before you land. This can be taken to the extreme with a 180 degree handlebar turn, known as an 'x-up'. Turn-bars are easy to learn, but be careful not to get carried away too quickly. Start by doing a very slight turn of the handlebar, and work your way up as you get comfortable with turning it further.

The transfer is only needed when encountering a very specific type of jump.
Photo by Steven Rummukainen

3. The 'transfer'. This technique is used for a specific type of jump. Normally, jumps are straight - the landing is aligned on the same line as the lip, making the jump nice and easy. However, sometimes you will encounter a 'hipped' jump. A hipped jump is when the landing is pointing in a different direction to the lip. This means you must turn the bike in the air to change your direction and angle. Learning how to successfully land these jumps is difficult and should only be attempted once you have done many straight jumps of similar sizes. To land a hipped jump, you must learn the transfer technique:

• As you're riding up the lip of the jump, start turning in the direction you want to transfer to. This doesn't mean you have to literally turn your bike sharply up the lip, just use your body weight to start weighting yourself as if you're initiating a turn.
• After leaving the lip, initiate a turn-bar towards the direction you want to transfer to. 
• You then push the whole bike out to bring it to the same angle as your front wheel. This is where your body movement comes in - after turning the bars, you should have your whole body swivelling to make the bike align with the front wheel/handlebars. The swivel movement comes from the 'turning' as you were riding up and leaving the lip of the jump.
• The whole bike should now be on an angle, pointing towards your hipped landing.
• As you land the bike, be prepared for a bit of a jolt. Your bike's momentum is difficult to change and the landing may be a bit rough, so just be prepared to hang on tight as you're learning this technique.

Remember, these are just tips on specific jumping styles. For a full skills video on how to jump, click here.