Getting a 500 airbourne...

[ShanMan]

After my first full year back on a dirtbike in over 15 years, I can call it an even fight I think. I have ridden my 500 in almost all types of terrain (minus woods) from tight mountain singletrack to desert and dunes. For the most part, I found myself spending more time enjoying the riding than fighting it, and also appreciating the power of a 500 instead of fearing it. I think years aboard seriously fast road bikes taught me good throttle control. Of course, I did pay my pound of flesh with a broken wrist and a very serious deep bruise. Par for the course right?  

Anyway, the one area that I am still uncomfortable and dangerously unknowledgable is jumping. I know that a 500 rides differently than 125's and 250's in large part to the inirtia of a heavier crank assembly. I know that to get a 500 to turn reasonably well you have to chop the throttle so the bike will more willingly turn in. Does any of this come into play when the time comes to go airbourne? Do you accelerate all the way off the face of a jump but then chop the throttle mid-air, or do you chop the throttle before leaving the face? The one thing I suspect is that you don't want to have the gas on when landing. I hear bad things happen on a 500 when you do that!  

With all that said, any help will be very much appreciated. TIA.  

[DrMojo]

Shanman......

Rule #1...have no fear .   If there is any doubt before you take to jumping, start small and build your confidence.  This is key.

Regarding the rest, I have found that lifting yourself off the seat a bit, staying centered on the bike and keeping power up the face of the jump is very important.  Once you clear the face of the jump, let off of the gas.  This will slow the rear tire and cause the bike to level out and arc over.  If you need to drop the front more, you hit the rear brake and this will push the front end down.  If the bike's nose is too low, blip the throttle and it will bring the front end up a little.

In my photo gallery, I have a shot of me taking off of a rather large jump.  I topped out at about twelve feet at the crest of the jump.  The picture is poor but you get the idea of where I ended up.

The big KX is very easy to jump as you have enough power to clear whatever you have the balls to jump.  Its fun yet, again, you must start with small jumps, table-tops are great as you do not have to worry about "casing"    if you are short.

Have fun.........

[MontanaMike]

I grew up riding dirt bikes, but not motocross.  Mostly trial bikes on the trails  After years of not riding whats the first bike I get?  kx500!  Go figure.  

Anyway, after spending all summer getting my nerves up for some jumping, I have found that pouring on the power leading up to the jump and chopping the throttle as I hit the face of it works for me, at least on step-ups and table-tops.  I also try to use the techniques that DrMojo posted above, but it never seems that I have the time to worry about the brakes and throttle while I am in the air.  Oh-well, just have to practice more.

I still haven't gotten the hang of doubles and triples yet, but there is a couple of months before the snow flies up here so I got the time.

[teamgreen500]

ShanMan,

You're a smart guy for thinking and asking before "doing"!

Jumping and turning are both easily accomplished with just a little practice and "timing". Infact, playing with both scenarios and learning to manipulate your K5 while doing them will be like all the fun you had when you were first learning how to ride.

About turns:
1. Most people brake "into" a turn and "Gas-it" out of a turn. While this is fine (AND a lot of fun on your K5), it's not always the best way/fastest way to get thru a turn. In-fact, this method of turning often takes more energy than learning to gas-it "THRU" the turn.

To learn to "gas-it"/accelerate "thru" a turn-try this: At a track or trail that you're familiar with...enter a gentle/smooth/fast turn by carefully slowing down BEFORE you enter the turn and gently/cautiously give it some gas as you start to enter the turn/turn-in. This is best when done in a Berm or a mild rut that will track like a berm. You're trying to "roll-it-on" (the throttle, that is...) as you enter and go thru your turn. You need to be using your low-end-torque as you learn this. While learning this the focus is on "Smooth" and with some practice you'll learn to "Drive thru" your turns instead of just rolling in and accelerating out. This is really the ONLY way to turn in deep sand and the wider/smoother the berm or rut...the easier it is to accomplish this task.

2. Try watching a National MX race on t.v. and pay close attention to how the riders approach and atttack a fast turn...this is the method that you're trying to master. If you can take the time to record some races you can play-back in slow motion and actually see when and how the throttle, brakes and suspension are all used to make "smooth" and "fast" corners happen. You simply want to apply these same tactics slowly and steadily (i.e.-carefully on a K5/use the torque...NOT...the H.P. as you're learning...)in some smooth and easy turns.

About Jumps:
1. Don't try/practice on any jumps that are big enough or steep enough to get you hurt. Find a couple of small mounds that are far enough apart that you're pretty sure that you could SAFELY gas it over one and smack the next one with out really using up too much suspension or causing any real loss of control.

Now, what you want to work on is "timing". You want to be able to "Blip" the throttle and cause the bike to "Hop" from one jump to the other with relative ease. Ultimately you want to land on the "Backside" of the second jump/mound and give yourself the smoothest landing possible; however, you need to practice on jumps that won't penalize you if you come up short; hence, the term...mounds.We start with rather small bumps/jumps so that we can learn to time our body, throttle, suspension and brakes (when necessary)and let the bike do most of the work "lifting off" and we guide it to the landing. You want to accomplish this, once again, on VERY easy jumps and using the 1st 1/3-1/2 of the throttle and you want to accomplish this while "rolling" in 3rd or 4th gear (2nd if you really know how to control the power...).

I HIGHLY recm'd learning this only in the presence of mature & talented riding partners.

Make it fun and take your time...you're entering into a new realm that will really increase the amount of fun you can have. This is the kinda stuff your KX500 was made for!

Best of Luck,

Manny

[Rick]

Wow, good responses.  I just have a couple of additional thoughts:

Corners:

Manny is right, braking into a corner is often not the fastest way around the corner.  You have those knobs on the sides of your tires for a reason, so don't be afraid to lean that bike into a sweeper and drive around the corner.  Also, DO NOT look at the corner.  Look at where you want to go AFTER you exit the corner.  Too often, folks will be so focused on the corner, they watch their front wheel as they go around the corner, which will only slow you down.  The only time I brake into a corner is if it is a really tight short corner that does not allow driving through the corner.  In these cases, I power hard from corner to corner to help compensate for the lost momentum caused by braking.

Jumps:

On a 125, you pin the bike, and keep shifting.  On a 250, just stop shifting a little sooner, and don't keep it quite as pinned.  However, on a 500, I jump a gear high to avoid wrapping the motor up like a 125 or 250.  I have found that the bike is much easier to control in air and on landing with lower RPM's at liftoff, and much easier to straighten out if I leave the jump wrong.

Manny also has it right on with the practice.  Don't start too big, as you might end up taking time off while you heal...

Have fun.

Rick

[ShanMan]

Great replies guys...just the kind of top notch knowledge I have come to expect from this forum. The cornering stuff I feel like I know a fair amount about...I road raced for several years and did pretty well. I must admit that I have yet to truly trust the way a dirt bike can handle in terms of lean angle...thusly I am too cautios and tend to loose my rythm. I will have to work on that.

The jumping advice based on your techniques sounds right on the money. I am thinking that maybe hitting a local vet MX track with lots of table-tops might be the ticket for building my confidence and honing my skills. I know what its like to have to wait for the bones to heal, and you can believe I don't want to repeat that process if at all avoidable. So thanks again to one and all!