[xxFRESHxx]

Utter rubbish. Gravity works just as well when you're not on the ground, moron

of course it works but gravity alone only accelerates you vertically. accept when you are on an angled ground, then gravitiys vertical acceleration gets partially translated into a forward acceleration because the ground stops you from going straight downward.
you don't have that translation in the air, so only the vertical component of your speed will increase while the horizontal component will decrease because your forward momentum gets eaten by air resistance. problem is, the horizontal component is what gets you to the finnish...

 

[scottishmark]

Personally, I think the scrub is a lot more 'show' than 'go' on an MTB, but that's just my opinion. I just think there are other ways to absorb jumps that are just as effective, probably less risky and easier to execute, but not quite as cool-looking.

Thanks for the videos though, guys. Great stuff. BTW, Chris - I would call this the exact opposite of a scrub:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oJvHxAgOXV0&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oJvHxAgOXV0&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

The immortal Doug Henry . . .

(Edit: finally fixed it)

Lengend. I used to have the photo that Fox did of his scar from that crash up on my wall

 

[buildyourown]

Scrubbing and sucking the lip accomplish the same thing. However, a scrub has the potential to dissipate more of the energy.
When you suck a lip, you can only suck so much before the bike hits your body. With the scrub, you can blow off more of that energy sideways.
There is a decent segment in "Ride like a Pro" about this. It makes sense when you see some slow mo footage of Lars scrubbing/sucking tombstones.

 

[ZoRo]

Bubba's srucb vids are AWSOME! It's straight up insance + really really really stylish. WOW!

 

[blackspire]

Why would you scrub to lose speed? That doesn't make any sense at all.....you have these things, they're called brakes....

I'll try to give an example:

Let's say you are riding a MX-bike into a jump with a 50 ft gap. You are aiming to land in the landing area. The reason you might want to do this could be several, there could either be a corner after, maybe another jump you need to hit properly (for example you don't want to land on the lip of the next jump) etc. Lets say this is a race, thus you want to be the fastest around the track.

How can you be the fastest on the track? You accelerate, and you are starting to get closer to the jump. Now to hit the landing you can slam the brakes to get your speed down so you don't overshoot the jump. This works reasonably well but you run the risk of someone passing you before the jump. What if you could lose more speed later? Thus carrying more speed into the jump. Well that would be awesome, but not so good if you are gonna mess up after the jump. So you still need to lose some speed, but later, not 10 metres in front of the jump. So you don't wanna use your brakes.

Then you can scrub the jump, you come into the jump and when your on the lip you turn your front wheel down, causing it to slip (because you can't make your bike turn on a dime), this will cause you to lose some speed and make you go lower over the jump. You will then make the landing. And you can get on the gas earlier. Or prepare for the turn better and brake earlier into the turn etc.

But it's also very important to keep the bike low, as i stated in my first post.

Was a good arcticle on transworld motocross a year ago or maybe even further back, can't seem to find it, I think it was an article with Windham talking about scrubs.

 

[blackspire]

Did you do any physics at all? Are you saying that gravity doesn't act if you're not touching the ground?

Can you explain how you 'scrub speed' while you're in the air?

No I don't believe that's what he is saying but, I think he's saying that while in the air gravity as a force will only accelerate him downwards. But on an angled plane, such as in a slope at 45 degrees, you will get a reaction force from the surface. This reaction force will consist of the components, one vertical and one horizontal component. The horizontal component will give him more momentum. However while in the air there will be no reaction forces except from the air resistance. But the rider will on the other hand be in a free falling state thus reaching a higher speed vertically.

If we simplify things greatly and say that you land in the bottom of a slope but still in it, and manage to convert all your vertical speed to horizontal speed on your way out you would be fine staying in the air. But in reality you will have a lot of energy loss in the suspension system. So you would probably have gone faster if you were on the ground, unless the ground was really rough and you'd lose a lot of energy in the suspension system there too.

 

[TheTruth]

What do you people think about scrubbing like this. This is the way i have been doing it for years. I just slam the bike down has hard as i can the second it starts to go up. It changes the "air curve" dramatically and i can stay super low. It also seems easier than the moto way.

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/85765/

You can see the bike start to pop off the lip, but i shove it down with my arms and then legs. TRUST ME its way easier (i still cant moto style it)

all you did was soak the lip. fail.

 

[rb92078]

No I don't believe that's what he is saying but, I think he's saying that while in the air gravity as a force will only accelerate him downwards. But on an angled plane, such as in a slope at 45 degrees, you will get a reaction force from the surface. This reaction force will consist of the components, one vertical and one horizontal component. The horizontal component will give him more momentum. However while in the air there will be no reaction forces except from the air resistance. But the rider will on the other hand be in a free falling state thus reaching a higher speed vertically.

If we simplify things greatly and say that you land in the bottom of a slope but still in it, and manage to convert all your vertical speed to horizontal speed on your way out you would be fine staying in the air. But in reality you will have a lot of energy loss in the suspension system. So you would probably have gone faster if you were on the ground, unless the ground was really rough and you'd lose a lot of energy in the suspension system there too.

Thank you

 

[seth505]

you nailed it.

if someone really wants to reduce air time and stay low & fast, then the goal is to never leave the ground, totally absorb the rise/jump/lip.

they look pretty slick but that's all they are. it's just another piece of the current top DH racers' obsession with moto. I think if people want to be moto they should go race moto. totally different dynamic and there are only a small number of things that are the same on a MTB as on a moto, the MTB has no throttle to use as speed, line control, braking, boosting.

it's like the current photog/vid obsession with "roost." nobody's "roosting," really, unless they are laying down pedal power at the same time they're tossing dirt off the rear wheel. and the big down-side is that now all the gomers and dweebs are out there ripping trails apart to try to duplicate the "badass roost" they saw in a Clay Porter movie.

the day someone's leg strength and quickness is enough to make the MTB behave identically to a moto, that's the day I'll understand the pretense at moto style on a MTB.

ya I mean god forbid anyone rides or jumps with any kind of style...everyone should go back to jumping like goons like mountainbikers should right?

 

[blackspire]

What do you people think about scrubbing like this. This is the way i have been doing it for years. I just slam the bike down has hard as i can the second it starts to go up. It changes the "air curve" dramatically and i can stay super low. It also seems easier than the moto way.

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/85765/

You can see the bike start to pop off the lip, but i shove it down with my arms and then legs. TRUST ME its way easier (i still cant moto style it)

It's easier than the moto way, but also not as good. As with many things the easiest way isn't always the best

 

[FOXROX]

all you did was soak the lip. fail.

it doesn't look like he even did that. looks like he landed on the landing in a normal spot. wasn't on the ground longer and didn't pedal any more.

 

[demo 9]

it doesn't look like he even did that. looks like he landed on the landing in a normal spot. wasn't on the ground longer and didn't pedal any more.

actually i did, look at how i throw the wheels down, they leave the jump and then go into a downward motion. im not quite sure why you talk so much **** on me, you never seem to be able to back it up...but go ahead, and tell ur sister i said hi

 

[tfree120]

Not sure if this has been posted and don't really care about the answer to this question but Fairclough seems to be able to scrub.

 

[Damo]

Not sure if this has been posted and don't really care about the answer to this question but Fairclough seems to be able to scrub.

Yep.

What a pile of drivel this thread has gone to.

 

[haromtnbiker]

I don't feel like reading all this but I will say my friend Alex Dawson can scrub a bike:

 

[mccdh]

I don't feel like reading all this but I will say my friend Alex Dawson can scrub a bike:

]

Looks more like a downside whipout....not really "scrub" low. But still pretty cool

 

[haromtnbiker]

I would have to beg to differ. This kind of height is what is regularly seen on this jump:

 

[jcaramia]

Looks more like a downside whipout....not really "scrub" low. But still pretty cool

Thats almost a Euro table.

 

[greatwhite]

Looks more like a downside whipout....not really "scrub" low. But still pretty cool

Easy Professor Scrub

 

[buckoW]

So few people can actually scrub a bike properly. I think if you didn't see what the rider did on the face of the lip then it is hard to tell if he scrubbed it or just sucked it up.

 

[Craig Quik]

No I don't believe that's what he is saying but, I think he's saying that while in the air gravity as a force will only accelerate him downwards. But on an angled plane, such as in a slope at 45 degrees, you will get a reaction force from the surface. This reaction force will consist of the components, one vertical and one horizontal component. The horizontal component will give him more momentum. However while in the air there will be no reaction forces except from the air resistance. But the rider will on the other hand be in a free falling state thus reaching a higher speed vertically.

If we simplify things greatly and say that you land in the bottom of a slope but still in it, and manage to convert all your vertical speed to horizontal speed on your way out you would be fine staying in the air. But in reality you will have a lot of energy loss in the suspension system. So you would probably have gone faster if you were on the ground, unless the ground was really rough and you'd lose a lot of energy in the suspension system there too.

I understand the reasons for a scrub - just that JB didn't explain himself very well.