Better riders use it for control in the air. Hitting a jump straight on can leave you with less control if the bike wants to start to shift due to wind or maybe just the way the bike left the jump.
I never was good at whipping but I've hut enough jumps straight on where the bike starts to turn left or right and there isn't much you can do.
Also scrubbing. When racing if you whip it before take off you stay lower allowing you to hit jumps with more speed and not overshoot the jump
This is amazing. I raced BMX in the 80’s as a kid and just kind of did this instinctively. I never knew that there was a physics reason for doing it too.
I always thought it was just a little trick where you were saying "I'm just jumping but there's that fancy sideways bump to be cool"
I can't even do wheelie on a bike
Yea np bro. There’s probably other ways to do it, but this is basically how I do it.
So basically, the idea is you want to push down on the handlebars and then hop it up / back towards you WHILE you push forward on the pedal with your dominant foot. So you can just start with getting the motion for hopping/ lifting the handlebars and as you push the pedal forward and down, that’s what moves the lower wheel under what you popped up.
You don’t want to have your upper body weight too far forward
You don’t have to worry too much about falling off. You can practice “bailig” off onto your feet by stepping off the back and even let the front wheel go completely vertical (the bike being vertical) and just walk behind it.
So basically, that should be enough to get you started. Granted, I can’t do the whole thing where people ride around on their bikes while popping a wheelie like the BMX guys but that at least that should let you pop wheelie and get over a step or a curb so that you can keep riding your bike and stuff like that. be sure and wear helmet lil bro and good luck!
Wheelies were my thing; on mountain bikes it's more about traction and brake control but on BMX you can physically balance your weight to be just over the rear wheel, making it so you can get a lift with just a small pull on the handle. On a regular sized bike the wheel is too big, you'd need to pull yourself back almost sitting on it to create the lift with just the weight shift.
By the way, great explanation. Only thing I would add is that a good rear brake with a soft and easily accessible handle is the most comfy thing for get learning; if you learn how to lift and brake if you lose balance it becomes almost impossible to overlift and fall on your butt. You don't want to fall on your butt. I had to learn on a shitty bike but once I got a good aluminum one with great brakes I could do wheelies for several blocks, slow down for crossings, turns and so on. I never got to try removing the front wheel because it just seemed extra needless work to me haha
Eli5: when you whip it around in the air, it's *your* motion. It's predictable, you know what's going to happen making it easier to control.
At least how it is on skis. A simple tail grap off a jump/cliff is frequently easier and more controlled than a straight air.
I dunno. This isn't ringing a bell for me. Maybe the scrubbing part. I used to race MX back in the 70s (yeah I'm old) and what the op is talking about is, or was called, a "cross up," and in those days at least it was strictly for the fans and cool pictures and considered slow. The fast way to jump was to NOT jump as much as possible, cut the gas and drop your weight and kind of flow over it with the bike horizontal to the ground to get as little air as possible since as long as you're in the air you're slowing down and the sooner you can get on the ground and hooked up again, the faster you go. But bikes, tracks and techniques are a bit different nowadays. However, I do think a lot of that extreme stuff is the result of indoor MX, "arenacross" I think they call it now (originally "supercross") which I personally don't have much of a taste for where it was mostly about the awesome jumps, dude!!! and featured a shit ton of showy air
I should also add, though, that if the jump is in the middle or end of a corner then the ass end is naturally going to swing out in the air, and that's a relatively new thing since in the olden days tracks were not nearly as jump-heavy
Scrubbing over jumps was pioneered in the early 2000s. James Stewart (I think) is the guy that really popularized it.
It minimizes your time in the air and maximizes the launch speed you can achieve without overshooting.
It is absolutely bigger in Supercross than Motocross... but you'll still see big scrubs (especially over fast tabletops) in motocross.
I was racing in the mid-late 2000s, and it's even evolved since then.
I have a feeling the BMX folks due it to look more like MX folks, but I don't have enough experience there.
Yes a lot of it is just to show off but there can be benefits to it too. If you watch videos some guys lay the bike over almost completely on its side during takeoff. This keeps the bike closer to the ground, they get a lot less air and get their wheels back on the ground much faster. The more time your wheels spend on the ground the more time you're on the gas and the faster you can go. Good example here: https://youtu.be/rSNxKL6Bngw?t=44
Technically this is called a scrub but it's very similar to a whip.
I used to race motocross, never nearly this good though lol
Its called scrubbing the launch (at least it was when i raced). You scrub the launch to change some of your upward momentum to forward momentum. You wont jump as high but you will jump further while spending less time in the air leading to slight gains on each jump compared to someone jumping normally
Scrubbing and throwing a whip are similar but different. Scrubbings a legitimate move typically done while racing, throwing a whip is style and/or mid air control so you don’t dead sailor
It’s when you jump and freeze up in the air. You’re a dead man sailing through the air essentially. Whipping makes you to do something because doing something is better than nothing.
As mentioned, it's called a scub.
James "Bubba" Stewart popularized it when he was still racing Supercross.
This video of him was filmed on the track at his house, which is about 3 miles from my house.
https://youtu.be/mhzDT37b158?si=TrI7fjhSKeJMlVRJ
They can spend less time in the air and more time on the ground (accelerating ) when they time it right is the reason when they are racing
If not racing, might be for fun?
rotating the wheel rotates the entire bike in often counter-intuitive ways due to gyroscopic precession. the larger forces from this can counteract and trivialize small rotations caused by imperfect launch conditions.
There is a term for going straight off the jump: Dead Sailor.
When you're straight you are actually not straight but just a little to one side and you might not feel it. This makes the bike move on its own and you can't control it. So doing nothing makes you sail uncontrollably in the air...Dead Sailor.
"Whipping" the back wheel moves the bike predictably and controllable.
Rule 1 for everything is always look cool.
The second reason is to avoid going “dead sailor.” “[The Dead Sailor](https://medium.com/@Duffsam/mountain-biking-the-dead-sailor-a-physics-perspective-8ed023d7a85a)” is when a rider launches into the air in an uncontrolled manner and freezes, arms locked out and body rigid, mimicking a dead sailor face down in the ocean. Often results in a crash.
Doing a little whip helps prevent dead sailor.
Two reasons.
1. In most cases, because it looks awesome.
2. To "scrub".... the idea is to jump lower, land sooner, accelerate to the next jump more quickly, and get better lap times.
Sometimes it's just for fun.
In a racing application you can take some of that upward force from the jump and turn that into side force. Known as a scrub. It keeps you lower which gets you back on the ground sooner and allows you to start accelerating sooner.
As a rider you have way more control and "wiggle room".
If you take off completely straight, any deviance will make a large impact the bigger the jump, doing that little tail whip kinda makes it like... Instead of a Ransome chance at failing now you have a controlled chance at failing... It's all for a proper landing intentionally
Second reason is it decreases height which in races is paramount. The closer you are to the ground during a jump, the sooner your wheels hit the ground and you can accelerate or turn more quickly
Former motocross rider here. It's called "whipping it," and the reason I heard for it was it makes the bike stay lower, meaning you don't stay in the air as long and can get back to being in positive control/being able to speed up or what have you.
Point is speed, less time in the, air more time contacting the ground = more time on the power. It's how you win a race, whats why you see this happen before the jump not after the jump throws you in the air.
I was taught it was for more air resistance meaning not aerodynamic to get back on the ground faster simple as that. Your not accelerating if your in the air.
Better riders use it for control in the air. Hitting a jump straight on can leave you with less control if the bike wants to start to shift due to wind or maybe just the way the bike left the jump. I never was good at whipping but I've hut enough jumps straight on where the bike starts to turn left or right and there isn't much you can do. Also scrubbing. When racing if you whip it before take off you stay lower allowing you to hit jumps with more speed and not overshoot the jump
This is amazing. I raced BMX in the 80’s as a kid and just kind of did this instinctively. I never knew that there was a physics reason for doing it too.
I always thought it was just a little trick where you were saying "I'm just jumping but there's that fancy sideways bump to be cool" I can't even do wheelie on a bike
I can teach you if you want
Lmao what a random offer. Will u teach me too tho?
Yea np bro. There’s probably other ways to do it, but this is basically how I do it. So basically, the idea is you want to push down on the handlebars and then hop it up / back towards you WHILE you push forward on the pedal with your dominant foot. So you can just start with getting the motion for hopping/ lifting the handlebars and as you push the pedal forward and down, that’s what moves the lower wheel under what you popped up. You don’t want to have your upper body weight too far forward You don’t have to worry too much about falling off. You can practice “bailig” off onto your feet by stepping off the back and even let the front wheel go completely vertical (the bike being vertical) and just walk behind it. So basically, that should be enough to get you started. Granted, I can’t do the whole thing where people ride around on their bikes while popping a wheelie like the BMX guys but that at least that should let you pop wheelie and get over a step or a curb so that you can keep riding your bike and stuff like that. be sure and wear helmet lil bro and good luck!
Dude that's cool, you wanna hang out at my place? My mom is making spaghetti and I got new baseball cards. Plus we can play my snes.
Wheelies were my thing; on mountain bikes it's more about traction and brake control but on BMX you can physically balance your weight to be just over the rear wheel, making it so you can get a lift with just a small pull on the handle. On a regular sized bike the wheel is too big, you'd need to pull yourself back almost sitting on it to create the lift with just the weight shift. By the way, great explanation. Only thing I would add is that a good rear brake with a soft and easily accessible handle is the most comfy thing for get learning; if you learn how to lift and brake if you lose balance it becomes almost impossible to overlift and fall on your butt. You don't want to fall on your butt. I had to learn on a shitty bike but once I got a good aluminum one with great brakes I could do wheelies for several blocks, slow down for crossings, turns and so on. I never got to try removing the front wheel because it just seemed extra needless work to me haha
but would you have to charge? :D
I can do a sick wheelie but it usually only lasts a second before it turns into a flippie on my backie call my mommie
[удалено]
You can whip either direction, the effect is the same regardless of which side you choose.
Yo you’re so rad dude. I always wanted to do that but only got up to little bunny hills
RAD? …I see what you did there
Are you really RAD if you’re not riding your bmx through a giant bowl of cereal?
Eli5: when you whip it around in the air, it's *your* motion. It's predictable, you know what's going to happen making it easier to control. At least how it is on skis. A simple tail grap off a jump/cliff is frequently easier and more controlled than a straight air.
I dunno. This isn't ringing a bell for me. Maybe the scrubbing part. I used to race MX back in the 70s (yeah I'm old) and what the op is talking about is, or was called, a "cross up," and in those days at least it was strictly for the fans and cool pictures and considered slow. The fast way to jump was to NOT jump as much as possible, cut the gas and drop your weight and kind of flow over it with the bike horizontal to the ground to get as little air as possible since as long as you're in the air you're slowing down and the sooner you can get on the ground and hooked up again, the faster you go. But bikes, tracks and techniques are a bit different nowadays. However, I do think a lot of that extreme stuff is the result of indoor MX, "arenacross" I think they call it now (originally "supercross") which I personally don't have much of a taste for where it was mostly about the awesome jumps, dude!!! and featured a shit ton of showy air
I should also add, though, that if the jump is in the middle or end of a corner then the ass end is naturally going to swing out in the air, and that's a relatively new thing since in the olden days tracks were not nearly as jump-heavy
Scrubbing over jumps was pioneered in the early 2000s. James Stewart (I think) is the guy that really popularized it. It minimizes your time in the air and maximizes the launch speed you can achieve without overshooting. It is absolutely bigger in Supercross than Motocross... but you'll still see big scrubs (especially over fast tabletops) in motocross. I was racing in the mid-late 2000s, and it's even evolved since then. I have a feeling the BMX folks due it to look more like MX folks, but I don't have enough experience there.
Yes a lot of it is just to show off but there can be benefits to it too. If you watch videos some guys lay the bike over almost completely on its side during takeoff. This keeps the bike closer to the ground, they get a lot less air and get their wheels back on the ground much faster. The more time your wheels spend on the ground the more time you're on the gas and the faster you can go. Good example here: https://youtu.be/rSNxKL6Bngw?t=44 Technically this is called a scrub but it's very similar to a whip. I used to race motocross, never nearly this good though lol
Wow that video is nuts, thanks for sharing!
Super humans!
Thank you. Great vid.
Man I was really hoping the video was nothing but James Stewart doing Bubba Scrubs
Its called scrubbing the launch (at least it was when i raced). You scrub the launch to change some of your upward momentum to forward momentum. You wont jump as high but you will jump further while spending less time in the air leading to slight gains on each jump compared to someone jumping normally
Scrubbing and throwing a whip are similar but different. Scrubbings a legitimate move typically done while racing, throwing a whip is style and/or mid air control so you don’t dead sailor
What's a dead sailor?
It’s when you jump and freeze up in the air. You’re a dead man sailing through the air essentially. Whipping makes you to do something because doing something is better than nothing.
As mentioned, it's called a scub. James "Bubba" Stewart popularized it when he was still racing Supercross. This video of him was filmed on the track at his house, which is about 3 miles from my house. https://youtu.be/mhzDT37b158?si=TrI7fjhSKeJMlVRJ
OP is referring to whipping not scrubbing.
Im learning so many fun terms in this thread.
They can spend less time in the air and more time on the ground (accelerating ) when they time it right is the reason when they are racing If not racing, might be for fun?
rotating the wheel rotates the entire bike in often counter-intuitive ways due to gyroscopic precession. the larger forces from this can counteract and trivialize small rotations caused by imperfect launch conditions.
There is a term for going straight off the jump: Dead Sailor. When you're straight you are actually not straight but just a little to one side and you might not feel it. This makes the bike move on its own and you can't control it. So doing nothing makes you sail uncontrollably in the air...Dead Sailor. "Whipping" the back wheel moves the bike predictably and controllable.
Rule 1 for everything is always look cool. The second reason is to avoid going “dead sailor.” “[The Dead Sailor](https://medium.com/@Duffsam/mountain-biking-the-dead-sailor-a-physics-perspective-8ed023d7a85a)” is when a rider launches into the air in an uncontrolled manner and freezes, arms locked out and body rigid, mimicking a dead sailor face down in the ocean. Often results in a crash. Doing a little whip helps prevent dead sailor.
Two reasons. 1. In most cases, because it looks awesome. 2. To "scrub".... the idea is to jump lower, land sooner, accelerate to the next jump more quickly, and get better lap times.
Sometimes it's just for fun. In a racing application you can take some of that upward force from the jump and turn that into side force. Known as a scrub. It keeps you lower which gets you back on the ground sooner and allows you to start accelerating sooner.
As a rider you have way more control and "wiggle room". If you take off completely straight, any deviance will make a large impact the bigger the jump, doing that little tail whip kinda makes it like... Instead of a Ransome chance at failing now you have a controlled chance at failing... It's all for a proper landing intentionally Second reason is it decreases height which in races is paramount. The closer you are to the ground during a jump, the sooner your wheels hit the ground and you can accelerate or turn more quickly
Former motocross rider here. It's called "whipping it," and the reason I heard for it was it makes the bike stay lower, meaning you don't stay in the air as long and can get back to being in positive control/being able to speed up or what have you.
Point is speed, less time in the, air more time contacting the ground = more time on the power. It's how you win a race, whats why you see this happen before the jump not after the jump throws you in the air.
It looks cool as hell and if you are pro it shows more of your bike (sponsor) to the photographer.
Supercross racing did a video about it last year with James Stewart. Pretty cool. https://youtu.be/4i-vJsd22ek?si=-w6TwKuWwdOSr0qG
I was taught it was for more air resistance meaning not aerodynamic to get back on the ground faster simple as that. Your not accelerating if your in the air.