# How to hit a steep tabletop?



## T.H.Huxley (Nov 5, 2009)

I ride mostly at Diablo in NJ. Therre about 12-15 tabletops mostly about 15' tranny to tranny give or take. I love the table tops as much as anything and on the "regular" ones I can really pop off them and clear to the transition or even passed the tranny to flat which witht the IH Sunday at that speed is no problem. 

My question is about the tabletops with a steeper takeoff transition. There are a few TT's with noticably steeper take off angles. Sometimes I hit them just right and its great but several times Ive hit them at speed and come down deep in the landing transition very nose heavy, land front wheel first and had to ride the nose wheelie for what seems like an eternity until my rear wheel finally drops to the ground. I suppose if I meant to do that I'd be the man but...no. 

Its happened about three times and each time I was pretty damn sure I was going to endo with disasterous results, thank god that hasnt happened. This never happens on the TT's with less severe takeoffs. Any ideas of what I'm doing wrong? I'm hitting the lip fast, maybe staying too back in the cockpit, preloading too much, too little etc. 

I've played around a little with my preload on the lip and played with my forks preload to a lesser extent but I havent been able to figure exactly what I'm doing wrong and I'm hoping it's a relatively simple answer as to what puts me in that nose down posture. One problem is that I'm not yet good enought to know in the air, when its going to happen so I can correct and I suspect thats a big part of the answer but I'm sure take off is big too. Any help appreciated.


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## 187 (Oct 28, 2005)

Chin over stem cap no matter how steep the takeoff. 

My guess is your are weighting too far back and the bike is bucking the back wheel up.


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## sambs827 (Dec 8, 2008)

i know exactly which tables you're talking about. the one day i was at diablo (and the one day i've ridden a park with a big bike) those were the only jumps I just couldn't get. granted, most of that was because I was being a little ninny.....

I'm with 187 though. It's difficult to commit yourself to a steep lip the same way you do a more tame one, but apparently that's what has to be done. Steep lips just scare the bajeezus outta me.


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## rat7761 (Apr 20, 2008)

If your body position is ok, you can increase the rebound damping in the rear shock a little to slow down the rebound and help keep the bike from nose diving. Try going a couple clicks in at a time and see how the bike reacts. You want to have a neutral body position on take off. Basically be in the center of the bike.


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## juan pablo (Jan 17, 2007)

Slowing down the rebound will definatley help. With a bigger bike you will also need to do more a bunny hop type motion off the take off tranny. you want to land front wheel down so you arent far off but it sounds like you are landing to far, in which case you need to slow down your run in or aim for more height for the same speed you using now.


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## essenmeinstuff (Sep 4, 2007)

T.H.Huxley said:


> My question is about the tabletops with a steeper takeoff transition. There are a few TT's with noticably steeper take off angles. *Sometimes I hit them just right* and its great but several times Ive *hit them at speed* and come down deep in the landing transition very nose heavy, land front wheel first and had to ride the nose wheelie for what seems like an eternity until my rear wheel finally drops to the ground. I suppose if I meant to do that I'd be the man but...no.


There is your answer, you have to get the speed right.

If you go too fast onto a steeper take off, you're going to get sent way further than you want. If you're too slow on a shallow take off on a table, its a gentle case, if you hit a steep take off too fast you miss the tranny and land to flat from 20ft in the air, or worse, endo... not good lol.

You have to learn the trail, and know which tables have the gentle take off that you can hit fast, and which ones have the steeper poppy lip, and dump speed before you hit them.

Basically not all jumps/tables etc are the same.


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## Monk_Knight (Aug 1, 2008)

Sounds like you are hitting them too fast. Tables without a steep lip don't really require you to do a whole lot with the bike... you can just hit them with speed and float. When there is a steeper lip you have to work the bike a little more. Try going slower into them, preloading the bike into the jump (push it into the lip... try to make the bike really follow the contour of the jump). 

If you just plow into the jump then your pretty much at the mercy of physics. Your fork is going to compress and then pop back off the lip... tossing you rather suddenly into the air, and then the same thing is going to happen with your rear shock... which pushes the rear wheel up higher then the front... causing your awkward landings.

If you've ever ridden a pump track or a bmx track... think of it like pumping a roller. If you just fly into it you bounce awkwardly off it. If you pump it and make the bike follow the contour of the terrain, it's smooth and controlled.


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## ajd245246 (Sep 1, 2008)

I know exactly what you're talking about, having also ridden at Diablo. Are the jumps you're referring to like the ones on Lower Dominion and Reality Show? Anyway, like other people are saying, you probably have to dump speed, but I think I've heard of another method called "squashing".

I feel like I've heard it from a Steve Peat lol, but you basically soak up the lip of the jump with your arms, the opposite of preloading. That way you should be able to carry more speed into the jump without soaring into the air. I believe the term is also used with dirt jumping, though i may be mistaken.


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