dirt jump with trail bike

Dirt jumpers are so much fun, buy one. There's a $220 Eastern on Craigslist https://vancouver.craigslist.ca/rds/bik/d/2009-eastern-night-train/6501270556.html

Problem I find with the big bike is it's made to plow big shit, and little jibby stuff just doesn't even register as fun. A DJ is fun everywhere. Manually stuff alone will keep you giggling for years. Buy steel if you can, aluminum is for young spines.

Actually, if it's mainly pump track you want it for a cruiser BMX is a much faster weapon. 26" DJ's are more like a grown up, overly stable, beginners BMX.

I bought a used Norco 125 couple years bak, and have ridden 5 times more often than the trail bike. Small bike, doesn't take up much storage space hanging in the corner.

At your height the Smuggler should be fun on the mellower jumps. Only on really steep dirt jump faces with takeoffs that are basically vertical it could be sketchy.

But for "beginner" or intermediate lines - just go for it. It´s got lots of pop (compared to an enduro bike) and feels great in the air, as long as there is some kind of decent transition/landing slope.

I´ve practised my jumping skills a lot on a nice jump line a couple of buddies and me built last year.

You could even dig a nice line yourself. If you spent a couple of hours digging, you´ll try and ride the jump at some point, because you just spent lots of work on it =)

I brought myself to try some (for me) very scary doubles and became really comfortable jumping them - because it was so much work building them. Incremental progression is key for me with jumping.

It took me a couple of days of hesitation and NOT jumping them. Jumping small stuff a hundred times and then working my courage up. Once you relax in the air, things get very pleasant and very easy.

Jumping is actually a lot easier than expected, compared to other riding skills. But if you´re not in the right mind state, it´s not only hard, but un-doable.

Sometimes I am comfortable and into the zone and sometimes not. I keep trying to increase my "in the zone rate" though ;-)

Have you seen Ryan-Leechs lessons on jumping? I found the cornering continuum pretty good! And the manual continuum absolutely fantastic!

"Jump with confidence" is the name, I believe.

Pump up your tires and suspension (and compression) and give it a shot

Seconded on the cruiser BMX. No suspension, no gears, nothing to worry about except air pressure in the tires.

I'm not much of a dirt jumper myself, but I ride pump tracks a lot. If you plan on riding a lot of PT, I'd advise you consider a race-oriented or Trail BMX. They have longer chainstays than freestyle/street/Jump BMX are are much more stable at higher speed. I personally can barely ride a freestyle BMX on a PT. The chainstays are so short, they have a very twitchy handling and I tend to loop over all the time.

Another thing to consider if you have $$$: For pump track riding, it is highly desirable to have a light bike and good hubs. Entry-level and even second tier bikes often come with heavy components and shit hubs. It can be OK just to have fun from time to time, but they are sluggish and it can rapidly get frustrating if you ride a lot. My 1st race BMX was an OK bike weighting 22.5lbs (second tier ~700$ a few years ago). I gradually upgraded it with lighter/better components...