For small drops like curbs, riding off is no problem, but at greater heights one wants to land with the cranks horizontal. At what height do you jump off rather than ride off?
jeremy
I think for your equipment riding off is better in almost all situations. The problem being that it is harder to land drops rolling off to the flat than it is to jump off and roll out.
For stuff under 2 feet I try to allways roll off the edge if I can. This doesnt mean I do in all situations. Stuff that is between 2-4 Its a it depends on the landing for me somtimes its easier than others to roll out. For anything over 4 feet I jump off.
Chex
PS I landed my 1st 5 foot drop today, Thank you Profile.
I wont touch a drop over about 2 feet jumping off. that’s how I break cranks even faster than normal. I (can) ride off drops up to about 5 feet to flat concrete no problem.
Does riding off mean a rolling hop or just riding of the edge sitting down?
Unless there’s a need to get extra distance out of the drop, I think it’s easier to just ride off sitting down. I assume this is what most people do.
Later,
Eli.
Riding off is for chumps. If you aint jumping, your tires not thumpin’.
Not for me, I find it hurts the sack area (gooch) too much.
Well, if you want to land sitting down on the seat with your full weight, that’s your prerogative. I choose to take 99% of the landing with my legs (sort of a stand up in mid air bit, if you will).
Later,
Eli.
Any tips i’m a first timer?
Hi i’ve nver gone off a drop beofe how do u do it any tips+stuff any1 could give me? 
Ahh, I see. Yes that is true too. I dont mind just riding off.
I usually jump off anything higher than a curb.
i think the difference between jumping and riding is just the height. in my opinion i ride off anything i don’t get a hangtime in. if i am noticably in the air for a while ex. three foot plus, i consider it a jump or a drop.
I think a lot of you guys are missing the point here, or forgive me if I’m the one doing the missing 
…I think the original post was referring to a distinction in technique. The difference between rolling right off the edge with no break [whether there’s a hop there or not, you don’t stop rolling], and stopping to “collect yourself” and just leaping off from a standstill of some sort.
correct me though if I’m wrong…
oftenam,
John M
Re: riding off vs. jumping off
height dosent matter you just pedal around till your pedals are horizontal in
the air. You can ride off drops in any pedal position
mike
Re: Re: riding off vs. jumping off
That’s right! All this talk about how you start your freefall isn’t really important. How you land is what determines whether your break your cranks, your nuts, or just look bad.
You definitely want to come down with your cranks level, or nearly so, though the experts seem to agree that rolling out of a landing reduces the impact, when possible.
Certainly rolling off the edge of things looks better, though I guess that depends on what you’re doing. If you have an audience, and you want to build up tension (especially among non-riders), you can hop around up there first. But if your audience is experienced riders, they might just think you’re chicken. Been there!
I like to roll off things, then just keep rotating the wheel until it’s where I want it to land. I tend to favor my right foot back, and have to get more equalized, letting myself land the other way as well.
But how you jump off the Empire State Building isn’t that important. In the end, it’s all in how you land. 
that’s all good advice, that is really nice to know. i’ve tried to do the jump off/roll off thing, but i can’t do it. i can’t jump when my cranks are in the “dead” position. (i have heard that when the cranks are vertical it’s “dead”, and horizontal “power”) are there any things that you could do to make jumping when the cranks are not level easier? i can jump while riding forward, but it’s the crank timing that throws me off. while coming to a curb, if i miss when the cranks are in the power position, i always screw it up and end up hurting myself. just looking for pointers for the jumping bit… thank you kindly
matt
When I do drops I definately like doing them rolling rather than stopping and side hopping off. I do usually hop off them but I do it rolling. To spokelerlarue, once you get used to doing rolling hops you can tell if your cranks are going to be in the right place before you get there. You can turn so they’ll be in the right position. Also instead of riding straight toward the edge you can come at it at an angle which makes it alot easier.
thank you for that, i’m going to do those once i get out of school. one of the largest problems i have is the stuff i jump off of isn’t large enough to manuver so my cranks WILL be in the right spot. can you become skilled at jumping high/accurately while the cranks are dead? i know that once in the air the cranks can be righted, but it is so very helpful to have them horizontal when you jump.
matt
spokelerlarue:
Don’t take my word as Holy Writ, since rolling hops are something that I’m still working on myself, but something that helped when i was first starting out [and I have sadly managed to unlearn since 
] is to hop at whatever “power” position is closest to the object. If that means you jump an inch or two early, then so be it, just jump hard every time
When I was managing to do this almost every time, it had the double benefit of pushing my jump distance, since I was always properly set up and sometimes having to stretch the jump a little; and making me more conscious of my approach, and an increased awareness of what position my cranks .were. going to be in, at some point ahead.
An amusing “game” that you can play with this [essentially just a pedal positioning exercise] is to find a sidewalk with large-ish spans between the cracks of each section, and then do your darndest to hop over every single one. No prehops, no standstills, just ride the sidewalk and hop the cracks.
pedestrians think I’m insane,
John M
I’m I the only one that finds stoping and then hopping off easier. Theres lotts of talk about rolling off the edge but I find this adds another element to take into account when your doing bigger drops (3 feet ish)
My problem in rolling off bigger jumps is that my feet get ahead of the rest of my body and I land to far back. Not only does this hurt your ankels and other body parts making for a hard landing, but it also makes you fall on your ass. Yes you can fix this with pratice but a rolling drop from 4 feet to the flat is deffenatlly an advanced move in shifting your weight for landing properlly.
Chex