--Previous Message--
: Mother Earth can provide a veritable
: flatlanders' fiesta, as reasonably flat
: areas of roads, fairgrounds and racetracks
: abound, and they provide all the landing
: ramp a flatlander will ever need.
:
: While ramp to ramp practitioners are
: surgically precise with regard to speed or
: they simply die, flatlanders throw caution
: to the wind and typically have no device
: with which to ascertain their velocity. It
: matters not whether they jump a little
: short; they'll never suck ramp. It matters
: not if they jump a little long; they can't
: miss the landing ramp, which is no landing
: ramp at all.
:
: True, ramp to ramp jumpers land softer, but
: at a price in danger. Their launch ramps can
: be significantly steeper than the launch
: ramps used by a flatlander, so they can fly
: four times as high and come down at a steep
: angle, only to be intercepted from their
: trajectory by a steep landing ramp, landing
: softer than the flatlander. If the ramp to
: ramp jumper misses his landing ramp, his
: impact with the planet is horrifyingly
: powerful, and survival then hangs on a thin
: fiber indeed.
:
: Flatlanders, in an attempt to hype up a
: long, flat trajectory ramp to ground, might
: say that what they are doing is more
: dangerous than what a ramp to ramp jumper
: does, but that is simply not accurate.
: Simply landing harder on flat ground does
: not make the jump more dangerous. Sure, a
: flatlander might break spokes, bend rims,
: break hubs, bend footpegs down, break
: footpegs off, break handlebars, stretch
: frames and bend forks, but those
: "collateral damage" items pale in
: comparison with sucking ramp or flatlanding
: from four times as high.
:
: Regardless, in a strange way, we have to
: keep ramp to ground jump listings alive.
: Maybe someday motorcycle suspension will be
: so advanced, with 36" of travel, that a
: rider will be able to hit a 25 degree launch
: ramp at 100 miles per hour and jump 500
: feet, ramp to ground.
:
: Not that long ago, the world records in ramp
: to ground and ramp to ramp weren't that far
: apart. Nowadays, the world record in ramp to
: ramp fully doubles that of the ramp to
: ground category.
:
: It wouldn't be wise to jump ramp to ground
: much farther than 200 feet. Motorcycle
: suspension technology has a long way to go
: before a motorcycle can comfortably flatland
: at 300 or 400 feet.
:
: And sure, a guy can go out there and stay
: ultra-low, going ultra-fast, and do it. Any
: way you look at it, you pay a price in
: either speed or suspension.
:
: Flatlanding is easy, it's low-tech, but it
: hits like a conventional Peterbilt with
: sleeper, right in the shorts, and it's
: bringin' the pain.
:
: JA
:
: --Previous Message--
: Bob Gill comes to mind
:
: --Previous Message--
: Some British dude named Flyin' Ryan (he's
: not
: Hawaiian) is going to try to break Eddie
: Kidd's long-standing record of 195 (194?)
: feet on May 30th.
:
: The idea of flatlandng on purpose is beyond
: my comprehension.
:
:
:
:
:
Message Thread
« Back to index