well this march break i finally got out on the uni after not really ‘riding’ for almost three months:o anyways, I thought I would do some trials riding, that’s where I received a blessing in disguise, my trials riding was REALLY shaky. for the first time ever my SI was about as bad as my SIF. I decided to use the opportunity to try to switch in order to become a SIF rider!
Well 4 days later I’m getting the hang of it, I can already hop at least 2’’ higher than last year, I am extremely close to landing a crank grab and I can do ‘better’ trials lines. but along with these advancements my right shoulder and elbow is soar and so is my upper stomach, is this from just using different muscles in SIF? or is SIF more work than SI (In terms of keeping ballance and what not) or the the last (and probaly most plausible) I think Im a little ‘out of tune’ from my long break. So please, give your 2 cents (3 if you feel like it) on the subject
you use different motions for SIF and SI. I find for SI i bend my back to help with hight and drops. for SIF it is more about the tucking of your legs.
I ride with a high seat though, so I really can’t tuck that much seat under
I would guess it uses different muscles but if you haven’t been riding recently it is possible that you are sore just becasue you haven’t been using your muscles as much or as hard while not riding
I have started going for sif and I’m really surprised in how much easier it is to hop high and how satisfying it is. I used to be completely si, but I couldn’t get much more than 21 or 22 inches at best. I started working on high sif and in a couple minutes I got something almost 20 inches! I’m really happy with it and looking forward to getting my jumping and tucking technique better. But I definitely prefer sif now. Good job on switching to sif.
man, My top height of my hops with SI is about 11-13 inches. !!! And im just getting into SIF, I can, (with just today) jump about… 5 inches, I feel retarded, Its like im learning to jump all over again, i raised my seat and my hops are jump, my saddle slams into my legs when i jump and it smashes my hand because im not freshened up on my side to side leaning… yeah… thats crazy, just ive never actually heard a quote of that. It is more satisfying though, you were right, i love the bounce when i jump.
I have seemingly unsolvable problems with my leaning on SIF, if anyone could send me an guide for SIF, that would be nice. Also one of my problems might be my extremely bent crank arms (see my avatar), so if anyone could help me if would be cool! :o
For solutions to riding problems, please describe the problems. Trouble with SIF? Riding or just hopping? What’s the trouble? I’m sure it will be easier for you than reading an entire tutorial on SIF…
SIF isn’t much worse than SI once you get used to it. Granted I wouldn’t want to ride 12 miles SIF, but it’s not much worse than seat in for short trails. SIF is less tiring for trials, i find.
You will be a much poorer rider SIF than SI for the first month or so. Then your SIF hops will get dramatically better than your SI hops, and you will never go back. Stick with it, it will pay off.
There are very few sections of trail that I can ride seat in but not seat out (they’re mostly uphill). In trials, the only things I can do better seat in are skinnies and rolling hop about 3" higher. But SIF rolling hops look better and are more fun.
Im an only SI rider. Im trying to mix it with SIF but I find it really weird.
Though everybody goes higher riding SIF I`m pretty satisfied with my SI hops. I can hop like 75, 80 cm…
I dont doubt that if I really train SIF it may get higher, but on gapping and dropping I wouldnt change for SIF. my gaps are pretty big. like 2 to 2,20m. and I drop like 2m so…
but I know I have to train SIF, it just seems so weird…
my SIF isnt good. Ive raised my seat to the point if i raise it more i wont be able to reach the pedals. I dont know anymore. When i SIF i can jump onto a single pallet and not hurt myself, but when I attempt like 7 inches, I land and the seat jams into my thygh… I have some bruises. It may also be the fact that my hub/cranks are extremly bent. Also when i SIF, since my pedals are bent down, my feet slip off the pedals I tend to hurt myself when i do that, but im getting better. I made some thygh gaurds that are impact foam pretty much. they help alot!
I tend to hurt myself when i do that, but im getting better.