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Long Term damage

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
Anyone concerned about long term damage to their knees and stuff from doing drops to flat on hardtails and such? I mean i'm fairly smooth and absorob everything slowly with my arms and legs and such, but I wonder if i'm slowly destroying my body. I mean I probably wouldn't stop if I was but, oh well. just wondered if its on anyone elses mind.
 

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
Sir_Crackien said:
personnally i don't thing trials riders joints take too much abuse because we learn how to absorbe much more than normal riders
true, but its repeated, and were still putting large loads on our joints. I only know physics though, not anatomy/medicine :(
 

iridebikes

Monkey
Jan 31, 2004
960
0
seattle
hucking to flat on a hardtail yes... trials riding... not so much. if you're on a freeride hardtail and doing stairsets and ledge drops to flat, you're hitting so hard that yes, you will start causing damage to your wrists, and ancles most of all. But trials riding is much more about being smooth and landing softly because trials bikes are full rigid most of the time
 

bigdonut

Chimp
Mar 10, 2005
78
0
PHX
iridebikes said:
hucking to flat on a hardtail yes... trials riding... not so much. if you're on a freeride hardtail and doing stairsets and ledge drops to flat, you're hitting so hard that yes, you will start causing damage to your wrists, and ancles most of all. But trials riding is much more about being smooth and landing softly because trials bikes are full rigid most of the time
I agree. My ankles hurt hucking off bigger stuff to flat (not tranny). And I have landed a bit uneven a couple times which really tweaks them. I havn't had any problems with my wrists except when I have crashed. Can't speak for trials style as I'm not good enough yet to do big moves. Will be building up a Zebdi with a rigid fork so I'll see on the wrists.:monkey:
 

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
what do you guys considering hucking to flat vs. smooth drops to flat? I'm not talking about anything bigger than 5 foot ledges or so, usually more around 3-4. Anymore than that and eggghhh.
 

iridebikes

Monkey
Jan 31, 2004
960
0
seattle
i've done 7 foot to flat... 16 stair gap to flat(roughly 7 or 8 feet)... I also used to ride a hardtail with a super t... Ah, the old days of freeriding. I don't do that anymore. My urban/dirt jumper/4x bike is a custom DeSalvo with a custom tuned 2002 DJ1 with only 55mm of travel... The biggest thing I've done to flat on my bike has been about 4 feet, but that was off a ledge that was 4 inches wide and 100 feet long that I rode all the way and I couldn't just stop and get off! did i mention I only have 55 mm of travel? (that's why it can hurt the wrists)
 

iridebikes

Monkey
Jan 31, 2004
960
0
seattle
i'm tricky like that... it's custom valved and converted to air too.

You really only need to add top out springs, or spacers, and then get a sorter main preload spring. It's pretty easy if you know what you're doing and what to look for.
 

Ascentrek

Monkey
Jul 17, 2003
653
0
Golden, CO
gemini2k said:
Anyone concerned about long term damage to their knees and stuff from doing drops to flat on hardtails and such? I mean i'm fairly smooth and absorob everything slowly with my arms and legs and such, but I wonder if i'm slowly destroying my body. I mean I probably wouldn't stop if I was but, oh well. just wondered if its on anyone elses mind.
Shins, wrists, and ankles seem to be the common injury I've experienced/witnessed.
 

iridebikes

Monkey
Jan 31, 2004
960
0
seattle
ya, it all depends on what kind of shoes you have, what kind of pedals you have, where your foot is on the pedal, and how strong your feet and ackles are. There are so many varials that can change if something hurts or doesn't hurt. If your shoes are super flexy then ya, your souls will hurt, if you have narow pedals, ya your fit will hurt moreso than if you have big platforms. It also depends on how smooth you are and how big you go.

But everything is different from person to person.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,562
24,182
media blackout
i get foot cramps from time to time as well. the only real soreness i get is in my wrists/forearms but that's if i haven't been riding trials in a while.

gemini2k - smooth dropping to flat involves touching down w/ the rear wheel first (typically i try to get mine around a foot lower than my front wheel) and using the brakes to lower the rest of the bike to the ground in a smooth, controlled manner. how much brake you use depends on whether its a static of dynamic move, and whether or not you are going to roll out or stall to prep for another move.
 

Changleen

Paranoid Member
Jan 9, 2004
14,335
2,448
Hypernormality
Suck it up, princesses. Watch a BMX video. It's all about technique. If you seriously feel you are doing yourself an injury when making drops, you probably are. Find smaller drops to practice on first. Get the style right first and you'll be all good.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,562
24,182
media blackout
bmxer's have evolved in the last 3 decades from neadethals left over from the last ice age who were living in underground caves in nevada. 35 years ago they emerged from these caves and started riding BMX and have been going ever since. Unfortunately, within the last 2 years they have discovered girls jeans and have since reverted to their primal urge of "going commando"
 

Changleen

Paranoid Member
Jan 9, 2004
14,335
2,448
Hypernormality
Fortunately the whole 'Girls jeans' thing never caught on over here very much - I saw a couple of kids wearing 'em but in general Kiwi blokes aren't really down with that sort of fruity stuff...