Is it better to jump off the dirt bike or fall with the bike?

Question

My brother and I were debating what to do if you jumped way too high on a ramp with a dirt bike. It was on an episode of Scarred and the kid took a ramp too fast and went really high in the air. He had to make the decision to stay with the bike and try to make a perfect landing, (which is impossible for someone who is not a professional) or let go and fall. He let go and fell, and he ended up in a body cast. Did he make the wrong choice? Is the risk of falling wrong with the bike worse than jumping off of it? My brother and I aren't dirt bike racers or anything, so we really don't know. But which is the best thing to do if your in that situation?

Answer 1

I've fallen off speeding bikes several times with varying degrees of injury, so I feel qualified to answer this!  

In general, I would ALWAYS let go of the bike.

1) the kid wouldn't make a perfect landing - he would most likely land on the bike in a crumpled heap of metal.  Spiky bits of the bike would embed themselves in him and he could end up with a broken neck if the bike hit his head and slid forwards or sideways.  

2) falling from the height he was probably at is always going to hurt, but there are ways to minimise the damage.  Landing on your feet, then crumpling and rolling could result in nothing worse than bruises, although he'd almost certainly break legs, feet and/or ankles.  As long as he wasn't landing on top of the bike, he'd be better off I think.

3) the smartest thing is to do would probably be to stay with the bike until it first hit the ground, then immediately roll free.  Very tricky to do, but it means you fall from a smaller height and the impact of the bike absorbs some of the energy of your fall.

4) bear in mind that the people who wrote "Scarred" almost certainly didn't try to make a true recording of what would happen in real life.  They probably made their best guess at which would be the better option and then exaggerated the damage done to the kid by letting go, so that it made better TV.

Having said that, Evel Kineval always stayed with the bike until it landed, and he fell off much more than most people!

Answer 2

jump off my friends a pro.