Freeride / Downhill

At 16, you have your whole life ahead of you to learn how to shred the jumps and DH.
I would say you're difinitely getting some decent advice here.

Ditch your clips and spend as much time on flat pedals as you can, you can always go back to clips later.. much much later when you're older and you're worried about pedalling efficiency and all that crap.

At 16 it's all about having fun on the bike and learning bike handling skills that are much harder to learn for guys twice your age. Riding flat pedals will teach you those irreplaceable jedi skills.. and once you develop that balance and muscle memory - you'll have it for the rest of your life!

Get a cheap BMX bike, and ride it all over the place, learn to bunnyhop on and off curbs. Your bike handling skill will improve tenfold! When you take these skills to the trails on your big bike, you'll ride in pefect control and will never worry about your feet slipping off the pedals.

 

Already worried about pedaling efficiency and wearing tight XC jerseys.

Been trying to imrove my skills lately. Coming back from school, (I commute by bike), I ride all the curbs so I'm balancing between the grass and the street. If I'm about to fall off the curb, I'll make my self wheelie off and whenever I cross a street I also wheelie off of the curbs. Really fun + free practice. :drunk: I've got curbs down pretty well. Main reason of my constant practice on the curbs is that I promised my self that I would ride the ladders if I ever got a chance.

 

damnit! why a monday!!?!?!?!? grrrr!!

my advice. ride more new trails.

you can't get any better by riding the same trails over and over. expanding your riding locations will expand you riding skills. oh yea ill mention it again, ride with better rider (but dont ditch your homies)

 

I'm gonna have to join you guys. I've never ridden Fontana. Thanks for putting it together Rock.

Is someone bringing a grill? I'd like to contribute. Lets do it up.

Hey Johnny, you cruising?

busterb, see you there.

 

Good grief Noob!!

 

I would love to. But i cant if it is a monday. Damn work!

 

yeah damn work!

 

:-k Why wont my dad think like this? I have an ok 2006 kona dawg I got on creags list for 600 bucks and I have to take care of it beacause if I have a bad crash and something breaks I am seriously f#%ked, my dad would probably cut off my head and sh1+ down my throat............................... jk but he would be pist and most likely make me pay to fix my bike..... Im a broke sophmore in highschool. FML

 

Quit whining, get a job, I'm a broke senior in high school, it happens. I find a way to pay for everything, plus pay my dad 50 cents a mile to drive my car, which was his car, but I still have to pay for it, any way. Get used to it, it's life...

 

Definitely a +1 on the BMX bike idea. You can get a nice BMX bike for under $300 new or a great deal on a used one.

You will learn to manual, jump, pump over stuff, rail berms, and how to be smooth. Everything will help become a much better downhill/freerider.

 

I won't say what I REALLY think of this.

Afgen, I say that you should stay with what you already have. Maybe get a set of flats or something, and get comfortable with them on easier trails like Rockit or Lynx before moving on to Stairsteps or Five Oaks. Also shoes are a big part of the traction that flats provide. I tried wearing Jack Purcells on my flats and it was terrible so I wore hiking boots and it was almost as good as using clips.

 

my first fr bike was a specialized 2008 sx trail 2 not that cheap 5600 dollars super reliable bike i bent a rim but that was because i hit a curb way too fast and popped the tube my new bike will be here monday or tuesday its a 2010 trek session 88 dh

 

I'm gonna agree w/ Garrett on this. My dad has a Pitch and i've ridden it at big bear and around aliso. Its a great starter bike for FR. I've ridden my glory down rockit and i think i'm faster on my GT w/ less travel. its not the bike but the pilot. Get flats throw them on the Pitch and dominate Lynx rockit and then you can move on to 5oaks and steps. Then come summer time you might have the skillset to properlly handle a FR/DH bike...

 

BMX people huck huge gaps on 20 inch bmx bikes, your Pitch will do just fine. Spend some time developing your foundation as a rider and see where that takes you before you start to invest any more money on bikes (besides pedals/shoes).

I agree with Johnny and Garret, get some flats, and build your skills. Find people who are faster and better than you and your skills will improve drastically.

If you watch videos, you will notice that pros have a plethora of skills that have been mastered. Their balance is keen, their manuals are long lasting, they can manipulate the direction of their bike with pure body english, and the list goes on and on.

 

Andrew - I think you're better than you think you are. You seem to be progressing at an alarming (good) rate. Keep at it. After 18 years riding clipped in, I went to Whistler and rode for 4 days w/ the very same flat pedals you are using. On my first run, I felt like my feet were going to pop off over every bump. By the third run I was jumping (a little) without even thinking about my feet. Follow Art23's advice, if you can. See you out there.

 

Already using my flats. Aside from a two screws falling it, it was really fun. Railed everything on Lynx today. Long pins Ftw. Still waiting to see if a local STR member can hook me up with 5.10s. Liking the flats, aside from slow pedaling. :c

I've already done 5Oaks and Steps. Little sketched out on Steps but 5Oaks is fun, aside from being torn apart by any running water that touches it. Top two jumps + rock step is fun. Three things to jump over... still haven't tried the jumps yet with flats, though.

 

:beer:

Best answer here....

 

first of all, big difference from doing 5oaks/telonics/steps/etcetc, and really doing them.

plenty of pros (steve peat for example..) use clips man, i prefer clips for DH unless its some really loose or slippery cornering...

dno what you ride now, but if it has 6'' or close, thats more than enough for bombing anything at aliso, which is pretty much our best dh.

if u want to do bigger stuff like mammoth etc, youll need to upgrade eventually but id really beat the shit out of what you ride currently so you dont ruin a nice new rig.

You say you suck at jumps, are not confident with flats etc..so id say work on the stuff you suck at and want to learn on the bike you have now, that way if you take some big crashes or something you wont care as much if you beat up the bike a bit.

invest in some pads and test your boundaries, when you can really pin it, and can confidentally say that the bike is the only factor holding you back, then upgrade.