Video: Coming Up A Little Short

The physics behind going big.

Time for everybody’s favorite – a little physics lesson. Do you ever wonder how we’re able to air out or ATVs into low Earth orbit and touch back down safely as if they were meant to fly? If you answered suspension, you’re partially right. Shocks do absorb landing impact but the real unsung hero in big jumps is the Earth itself.

We aim to land our quads on a down slope so that the circular nature of our wheels can be allowed to turn downward momentum into forward momentum by simply spinning faster.

If you happen to over-jump the landing (a process we call landing to flat), now all you’d have to reply upon for impact absorption is your suspension. This week’s clip looks at the opposite situation – when you under-jump that landing. As you can see, even a matter of coming up a few inches short of that down slope can be devastating.