Airing out trikes

[BigReds Forever]

Hey guy. A question just popped into my head. Im starting to build a 86 200x, my first "racer" trike. What i just realized is that ive never really jumped a trike before. Ive hit little bumps and stuff on my 250es and 200s and gotten in the air a few inches, but never any full out jumping. However, I have a 660 raptor which i jump quite frequently, up to about 4 feet of air (except that one time i hit that approach at wot, people tell me that was about 12-15 feet, but i dont know, i blacked out on landing)...but we wont talk about that. So anyway, my question is, what tips do you guys have for jumping trikes? I would imagine that hitting it square is fairly important, and using gas/break/body position to level out flight. Anyone got any good tips for me? I know its gonna be the 1st thing im gonna wanna do once i get the x running, and i dont wanna roll it my 1st time out.

[Kintore]

Start little and work your way up, thats the way I learned. Kinda hard for someone to teach you, you know?
Back end should touch a little before the front end. Practise Practise Practise and youll be fine!
Oh also, get some good suspension too, helps alot!

[SYKO]

I never really praticed, I just went for it!! over time, I became used to jumping and not ever worrying about how big the jump was or how I was going to land, sometimes though differnt shapes of jumps will dictate how you will travel, a long jump will new you further distance easier controle but not much hight, but a tall kick up jump will rocket you into the air and you will have to land on the back side of another jump to make a good landing I.E doubles. tripples, as for jumping trikes, alot of people think becouse theres one less wheel up front you need to lean forward, well most of the time WRONG! unless you want to die! lol, like Josh said pratice pratice practice

[deathman53]

I learned from riding quads how to jump, for me it depends on the jump. If I am gonna land on the down side I land slightly on the front(and hold the bars tight), and flat landing jump I touch the rear first. Most of the time, I hit the front first, I find the landings are smoother and you can get on the gas faster than hitting the rear first.

[slothminx]

Start out on the jump you want to try, roll over it faster and faster till you start to get air, keep buiding up and up slowly. Find out how the X handles in the air before getting large air. 86 X's are very good in the air ;)

Once you know how its going to react you can eye up a jump and hit it right away knowing what it will do.

[super90]

200x's seem to be very well balanced in air to me. I never really hit a huge jump but there are some hill jumps right by my house that I can get atleast 4' of air on. The X handles great. The suspension soaks up a 4' flat landing fine, I just pumped up the forks a little and its a ton better. I never bottomed it out yet, even though the rear shock is not the greatest its still great fun. I always though you had to lean forward too, Its the opposite, I usually have to lean back. The 86' seems to be setup alot better for jumping than the older X's.

Just dont over do it the first time, work you way up. First jump I ever did on my X wasnt good. I hit it in 6th gear, overshot the landing really bad, landed on the rear tires and went into some small saplings.

[deathman53]

never pump air into the forks, you will blow out your seals. the valve is there to remove air from the forks.

[longbedGTs]

As was said, just start small and work your way up. Before I hit ANY jump, I always cruise over it slowly the first couple times to get a feel for it. Look at my AV. That wasnt my first attempt at that jump....more like 10th. :lol:

[super90]

Yes I know your not suppos to put air in the forks, But right now I have some old SX? fork tubes on, there blown out anyway and leak air/oil alot. I just add some air when I hit some big jumps. Right now im putting new springs and seals in my X forks, should be done tomorrow. But with air in the old tubes it sure soaks up some big jumps. :lol:

[Rex Karz]

Sometimes if you're in the air and the front end is getting too high, you can hit the rear brake and it will rotate the trike forward.

[ATCR250R]

Good to see this as a topic, I was wondering about the same thing for my 250R. I was always good on my old 400EX but thats apples to oranges. lol

[3 weelin geezer]

Im too chickenXXXX to jump anything higher than washboard on the trail. I did it ONCE and bit it --literally.

[ATC-Eric]

About the corrections, they work if you practice enough. If the frontend comes up to high, hit the brake. If the front end comes down to fast, hit the gas and it will level you out.


I am nervous about getting the Z into some action. The weight distribution is worse then the other sport trikes, with the tank mounted right above the axle.

I guess I just have to get out there and practice. I used to hit triples on my Warrior, so jumping is nothing new to me.

[3leggeddog]

i don't know much about this,but i guess you just practice????????get out there,start small,work your way up.don't be afraid.if your scared,then your tense,thats not good.you gotta be loose,so you can move around to correct the bike.in emergency of the front end bein high,use the front brake,aswell as the rear,that will drop your front VERY fast.otherwise,just the rear brake is effiecnt.don't be lazy,lean forward,lean back.anticipate the face,learn to read the jump face.be prepared for it to kick right or left.most importantly,be loose.you'll wear yourself try-n to fight that bike.let it float under you,using body weight to position it in the air.

keep steady throttle all the way through.don't hit it w.o.t.,unless your ready to stab the brake.just nice steady throttle off the face.

all,in all,it's really experience.start small,work your way up.heres a few pics along the topic!

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c12/3leggeddog/fallride9.jpg
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c12/3leggeddog/sunset8.jpg
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c12/3leggeddog/sunset13.jpg
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c12/3leggeddog/P8136335.jpg

[3leggeddog]

those last 3 you can see how twisted i got the bike,by the time i landed it was flat/square with the landing.sometimes you gotta pull/push the bike where you want it to go.anyway,go air it out bro,you'll get the hang of it one way or another!!!!