I just watch a clip of a rider who jumped a relativly large jump but came up short and bailed, he broke everythink from his legs down, even his toes, had to learn to walk again. Now i haven't ever jumped something that big, but would it have saved some bones if he would have pulled the front end up a bit and rode it out, take advandage of the sus. He landed legs first and bike landed wheel first, why i said pull up the wheel. what do you experts think?
Why worry about it right now, you'll have plenty of time to worry as you hang precariously over your soon to be crash site, then you'll be able to decide whether to bail or not, along with who your going to vote for in the next election, what is the sqare root of 78956, and man, did I remember to wear clean underwear. The bad thing is you'll probably forget all of the conclusions that you came to once you come to a full and complete stop.
Seriously; one of the best things you can do to prepare for incidents like that is to go over them in your mind beforehand. I recall that Freddie Spencer once had his engine seize on the banks at Daytona. Just about one on the most dangerous situations that could happen. Instead of high-siding into the wall at 200+ mph, Freddie had the presence of mind to crank the bars over and keep it on the low-side. In about .01 milliseconds. How? He had rehearsed that very situation in his mind over and over again. It wasn't instinct; it was hard work and preparation on Freedie's part.
It all depends. There is no right answer. I've bailed when I shouldn't have and hung on only to get hurt even worse. Like was said about the voice, you need to listen to it. Plus experience helps, though the learning curve is steep and painful. Over time you will "know" when you can probably save it and recogonize when there is no hope and to jump ship.
I know this is not like jumping but while rideing my GSX-R I entered a turn way too fast. I was getting way too close to the white line and just knew I was going into the grass. Instead of standing the bike up and going into the grass or chopping the throtle shut and high siding I just eased back on the throtle a little and pushed my shoulder toward the inside of the turn. I made it with no problem riding the white line all the way through. It's funny how many things can go through your mind in a spit second. This time I got lucky by staying with it and not trying to find a way to bail. But every situation is different. You won't know which choise is the best one until it's done and over with.