Riding Tips

Basics

The only controls you have available are the up and 
down shift (right and left arrow keys respectivly) and 
the throttle.  Suprisingly, these controls are all you 
need to master your riding technique.  Dirt Bike 
defaults to Automatic Transmission, which means that 
you only need to control the throttle.  When using 
manual transmission the first press of the right 
arrowstarts the engine, but the bike is in neutral.  
You can then move the mouse up and down to feel how 
the throttle works.  Since you are in neutral, the 
bike won't move.  If you press the right arrow again, 
you will be in first gear.

Starting Off

When first learning to ride a dirt bike, you are 
likely to do the same thing most people do when they 
start riding a real dirt bike.  They rev the engine, 
pop the clutch, and flip over backwards.  To start 
properly, it is best to lower the throttle, then raise 
the throttle slowly.  Lower the throttle slightly 
before shifting into the next gear.   Once you get to 
be a good rider, you will likely move quickly through 
the gears and keep the throttle just as high as you can 
without lifting the front wheel too far off the ground.

Jumping (and gyration)

Once you master the throttle and gears, you will want 
to get on to the exciting stuff.  All you need to do to 
jump is to hit a hill at a high enough speed.  To be 
able to land properly is another story.  This requires 
an understanding of what motocross riders call 
"gyration".  Gyration is the ability to control the 
rotation of the bike while it is in the air by using 
the throttle.  Gyration works because of "conservation 
of angular momentum".  In simpler terms, if the rear 
wheel is turning and you stop it quickly, the whole 
bike turns instead.  Conversly, if you speed up the 
rear wheel by hitting the throttle, the bike rotates 
the other way.  The way it works for real motocross 
riders is this:  if they feel like they are going to 
flip over backwards while they are in the air, they 
step on the rear brake and stop the rear wheel from 
spinning.  This bring the front of the bike down.  If 
they feel as if they are going to flip over frontwards 
while they are in the air, they goose the throttle and 
this brings the front of the bike up.  In Dirt Bike, 
you do the same.  To bring the front end up, you 
increase the throttle.  To bring the front end down, 
you lower the throttle.  Since the amount of gyration 
depends on the speed of the wheel, the maximum gyration 
effect will occur in the highest gear.

Expert Riding

Once you have learned to start and jump, you will no 
doubt want to get some high scores.  The first step is 
a good start.  This just takes a lot of practice to get 
the  maximum acceleration without flipping over 
backwards.  Also see "Designing the Ultimate Bike" to 
see how to design a bike for good starts.

When jumping, you don't always want to jump as far as 
possible.  First of all, you can only accelerate when 
your back wheel is touching the ground, which can't be 
done if you are in the air.  Second, if you can land 
your bike on the downhill side of a hill, you save some 
of the momentum that you had built up.  You can help 
the situation by hitting the jump at the proper speed 
and then using gyration to line the bike up in 
preparation for the landing.  Again, it is always 
important to adjust your bike's geometry and suspension 
to match the track you are racing.