Moto Tip | Bouncing Over Bumps
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Welcome to the new Answer Racing Moto Tips feature! Answer Racing has been producing the highest-quality motocross and off-road gear since 1976, and this month launched its new line of 2020 apparel. With riders like Alex Martin, Ryan Villopoto, Nick Wey, and Mike Sleeter flying the Answer flag, there is a wealth of knowledge and know-how when it comes to riding a dirt bike efficiently and effectively in the Answer camp. Each week, Answer will bring you some riding tips to help you become better at the sport you love! Have a specific skill you’d like to improve? Comment below and we will cover it in a future post!
The ability to hop over braking bumps is one skill that the European motocross riders have over the Americans right now. The guys on the other side of the ocean tend to stay light on their bikes, manage to make the little moguls into a series of small jumps, and hop through rough sections, a skill that saves them energy and cuts down their lap times. American riders are quickly starting to follow suit and during the RedBud Motocross, we watched as Tyler Bowers blast up and over some knee-high bumps. How does he do it? “It’s one technique that I’m still working on myself. It gets real tough here at the Nationals when the tracks are rough,” Bowers explained of the trick. “The braking bumps will start so before you get into the corner, almost like ‘pre-braking braking bumps,’ and that’s something you have to deal with.”
The basis of hopping bumps is simple, but as Bowers went on to explain, it requires proper body positioning and understanding when and how to brake or accelerate. Here’s what TB had to say…
“There will be times when you need to slow down and then gas it before you get into the corner. It can become a technique and when the braking bumps get so big and gnarly that you have to treat them like a rhythm section.”
“Coming out of the orchard section at RedBud there were some smaller braking bumps when we went down the off-chamber. Those are obviously smaller and if you can bounce through them just right, they are almost like little whoops.”
“The turn after LaRocco’s Leap, it was one that you had to hit pretty hard. You had to go fast to compress your suspension off a small braking bump, then bounce over, double the next two rollers, and find a rhythm. You could double them with one large braking bump, then get over the next two rollers. It is just like when you see whoops at the track and at the Nationals we are to the point that our braking bumps are that big.”
“It gets you into a flow. The worst races to me are when you are hammering into the braking bumps, needing all of the suspension to get through it all. But once you get into a flow and can find the rhythm, you can do it almost around the entire track. It can feel effortless, it’s easier on the bike because you’re jumping over small things and not stressing the engine as much.”
