The term seat bounce gets thrown around quite a lot these days. The basic meaning of seat bouncing is sitting down on the seat of the motorcycle into a jump face as the bike is on the ramp and taking off. And while it is a skill they may only be needed in a certain situation, it is a skill definitely worth having and imperative that it is done correctly.
WHEN TO SEAT BOUNCE
The purpose of sitting down up a jump face is to help the bike gain a higher altitude in take off. An on track situation maybe a double jump right out of a turn where you need the extra height to clear the gap. By loading up the suspension on the ramp, the bike rebounds higher on take off to assist clearing the following obstacle.
WHEN NOT TO SEAT BOUNCE
Never sit down into the face of a high-speed jump. Never sit down into a very steep ramp, regardless of speed. Never sit down just for the sake of it, if you can stand up before the ramp and don’t need the height out of the jump, do it. It is easier on your body, suspension and has far more scope for error than sitting down.
BODY POSITION
Slide your butt forward right to where the seat bottoms out before it runs up the tank. Pull your head all the way forward over the cross bar, have your elbows up and be in the attack position. Don’t get behind the bike with either your head or weight, this will cause the bike to take off at all sorts of angles.
THROTTLE CONTROL
The key word here is accelerate. As the front wheel approaches the base of the ramp, pull your body forward and roll the throttle on up the ramp. Keep the power coming all the way through the ramp until take off. Don’t chop the throttle or roll off the gas, that will only cause the front of the bike to drop and for it to take off front wheel low. The better you get with the throttle control, the more clutch you can use to determine how much power and lift you want.
TIMING
With your body position right and the throttle control perfect, now you need to time both movements together. If either isn’t right, the way the bike takes off will be effected. So, it’s sit forward, head over the front, roll on acceleration.
AIR TIME
The bike will leave the ramp more aggressively than if you stood up all the way through the jump. As the bike leaves the ramp, the suspension unloads and tosses the bike higher. As it climbs, have you legs extent just like the suspension so by the mid point of the jump, your body position is identical to that of a normal jump.
LANDING
Stay standing for the landing as generally you are trying to hit a landing ramp to clear a gap. Very rarely will you need to sit for a landing on a motocross track, so stay on your feet, have the tragjectory right, vision up and start to roll the gas bike on to accelerate away.
HOW TO PRACTISE IT
Find a small tabletop style jump and tyre out a corner near the base of it leaving you with just enough run up to clear it. Starting slowly, make the turn and then ride up the jump face sitting down, but not trying to clear the entire jump. Start off jump part of the way and slowly increase the distance as you feel more confident. When you clear the jump, to make it more of a challenge, bring the corner in closer, as this will require more throttle and improve your skills.
Chris Urquhart
Y-Aim QLD Agent
