How do I wheelie?

[skahigh]

Steve Bass said:

May I caveat the following with the supplemental information that:

a) I'm as drunk as a skunk after a half hearted night out in Saigon
b) I'm home earlier and drunkerer than expected.
c) The Vietnamese girls aren't as pretty as you'd think
d) the fact I can type thiw is is a fking miracle in itself
e) spelling mistales may or may jot be the responsibility of Mrrs Schmirnoff. I dunno..

To Mrs Modified car enthusiastic fktard.

Seriously, from the bottom of my heart. fk off.
You're a chop.
You have nothing of value to addm no experience and no humour.
So do us all, or ke at least, the decency to take your stupidly elsewhere.
Please, for allmour sakes.
You're making yourself look a . Don't.
I'm drunk, but I look less of a than you.

How's that for a thrwad closer!!!!
C'mon, we're all thinking it...

Booyaka..... Saigon oooooot!

Brilliant.

[FredClogs]

I had a mate who was ace at wheelies and he had a GSxR 750, so your bike will do it, no issues. He could pop it up at 70 and would scream down the M3 on the back wheel for minutes at a time, he was my hero when I was 23... Anyhow... The answer to the question has been given, its about balancing the throttle and clutch, don't try and do it in 1st, use 2nd, get upto about 20mph dip the clutch and blip the throttle, when you start getting the front wheel up then start shifting your weight back... If you can wheelie a mountain bike you can wheelie any motorbike, in fact that might be the place to start.

Its not a skill I ever really wanted to perfect, too mechanically sympathetic and too scaredy cat but the Ducati 748 I had many moons ago would wheelie very very easily, and it does fk up the head bearings, but they're easily changed.

[Biker's Nemesis]

How come my head bearings, wheel bearings and fork seals don't fk up. I am only bringing this up because more than One poster has mentioned it.

I haven't done many wheelies on inferior quality Italian machines only quality Japanese stuff.

[Fleegle]

We give in

[Steve Bass]

You're just that good

[Biker's Nemesis]

Will yous 2 fk off. I'm looking for a bite here!

[Steve Bass]

Biker's Nemesis said:

Will yous 2 fk off. I'm looking for a bite here!

Are we cramping your style

Need to be using stinkier bait than that to get a bite mate

Edited by Steve Bass on Thursday 28th July 22:28

[Biker's Nemesis]

Steve Bass said:

Are we cramping your style

Need to be using stinkier bait than that to get a bite mate

I see lots of people offering their opinion's about doing wheelies and stating that it damages their bikes when in-fact they openly say they can't do wheelies. As usual its all hearsay and waffle.

Only person I can see on this thread who knows what they're talking about (wheelie wise) is 3DP..


(not including you in this Sire Steve Bass)

[Steve Bass]

Biker's Nemesis said:

Steve Bass said:

Are we cramping your style

Need to be using stinkier bait than that to get a bite mate

I see lots of people offering their opinion's about doing wheelies and stating that it damages their bikes when in-fact they openly say they can't do wheelies. As usual its all hearsay and waffle.

Only person I can see on this thread who knows what they're talking about (wheelie wise) is 3DP..


(not including you in this Sire Steve Bass)

Nope, if you and Pete are a (lets say) 8 on the wheelie scale, I'm in at a comfortable 6
I get to the top of 4th and call it quits

[essayer]

When I was a kid I had a C90 that I rode around the fields, top box rattled a bit but it was good fun. Never was able to wheelie it though!

A mate came round one day and wanted a go, so I showed him the basics including the gear shifter (no clutch) - tried to get started, he revved the nuts off it and before I could stop him he kicked it into first, cue a C90 doing a 20 metre wheelie straight into the side of our house.

No damage to either luckily

[clen666]

My first experience riding a bike was a friend's RT100 when I was a young whippersnapper - up a kerb, clutch out and a handful of revs soon had the front up in the air.

My legs were trailing along the ground behind the bike mind, and I was too scared to let go of the handlebars so I couldn't release the throttle, so this continued for quite some time.

Some people are just born to do this.

[bennyboysvuk]

I feel that we've done the 'how to do a wheelie' ad infinitum. Can we move onto more advanced stuff like stand-up wheelies and how to steer a decent wheelie?

[The Beaver King]

Biker's Nemesis said:

Steve Bass said:

Are we cramping your style

Need to be using stinkier bait than that to get a bite mate

I see lots of people offering their opinion's about doing wheelies and stating that it damages their bikes when in-fact they openly say they can't do wheelies. As usual its all hearsay and waffle.

Only person I can see on this thread who knows what they're talking about (wheelie wise) is 3DP..


(not including you in this Sire Steve Bass)

I'll bite

The point I was making about it damaging the bike was in response to our unusual friend, who claimed it had absolutely no detrimental effect on the bike at all. Which is quite a bold statement to make, given all bikes have different suspension components. Not to mention other variables such as weight and actual wheelie ability.

So when you wheelie your bike, you are causing increase wear and tear on the components. It might not be a huge amount; in fact, somebody who is pretty damn good at them could do 1,000 wheelies and not experience any issues, but there will still be increased wear.

Somebody who is crap at wheelies, will probably knacker their suspension pretty quickly. Repeated hard landings from closing the the throttle hard or too much pressure on the rear brake, will put the front suspension under a lot of pressure.

There is a reason those guys that have stunt bikes tend to have uprated suspension or fork and shock rebuilds every year or two. It is just pure mechanical fact.


That isn't why I don't wheelie though; I don't wheelie because I'm still st at riding and I'm scared stless at dropping my bike. Maybe in a few years

[Dakkon]

I have never done a wheelie on a motorbike therefore I am 0 on the scale

[bogie]

bennyboysvuk said:

I feel that we've done the 'how to do a wheelie' ad infinitum. Can we move onto more advanced stuff like stand-up wheelies and how to steer a decent wheelie?

what about braking ? everyone knows the rear brake does not do anything and is not worth using on any bike in any conditions. Should you use the front brake to slow down when performing a wheelie?

[Prof Prolapse]

Steve Bass said:

May I caveat the following with the supplemental information that:

a) I'm as drunk as a skunk after a half hearted night out in Saigon
b) I'm home earlier and drunkerer than expected.
c) The Vietnamese girls aren't as pretty as you'd think
d) the fact I can type thiw is is a fking miracle in itself
e) spelling mistales may or may jot be the responsibility of Mrrs Schmirnoff. I dunno..

To Mrs Modified car enthusiastic fktard.

Seriously, from the bottom of my heart. fk off.
You're a chop.
You have nothing of value to addm no experience and no humour.
So do us all, or ke at least, the decency to take your stupidly elsewhere.
Please, for allmour sakes.
You're making yourself look a . Don't.
I'm drunk, but I look less of a than you.

How's that for a thrwad closer!!!!
C'mon, we're all thinking it...

Booyaka..... Saigon oooooot!

fking hell, and he's the smart one around here.

[Fleegle]

Prof Prolapse said:

Steve Bass said:

May I caveat the following with the supplemental information that:

a) I'm as drunk as a skunk after a half hearted night out in Saigon
b) I'm home earlier and drunkerer than expected.
c) The Vietnamese girls aren't as pretty as you'd think
d) the fact I can type thiw is is a fking miracle in itself
e) spelling mistales may or may jot be the responsibility of Mrrs Schmirnoff. I dunno..

To Mrs Modified car enthusiastic fktard.

Seriously, from the bottom of my heart. fk off.
You're a chop.
You have nothing of value to addm no experience and no humour.
So do us all, or ke at least, the decency to take your stupidly elsewhere.
Please, for allmour sakes.
You're making yourself look a . Don't.
I'm drunk, but I look less of a than you.

How's that for a thrwad closer!!!!
C'mon, we're all thinking it...

Booyaka..... Saigon oooooot!

fking hell, and he's the smart one around here.

He'd had a tough day at the office. Today will be even tougher I guess with a stinking hangover and no sleep

[Prof Prolapse]

His punctuation is still better than mine when he's trashed.

[Steve Bass]

Broken.
I'm not sure any other words come close....

[3DP]

The Beaver King said:

Biker's Nemesis said:

Steve Bass said:

Are we cramping your style

Need to be using stinkier bait than that to get a bite mate

I see lots of people offering their opinion's about doing wheelies and stating that it damages their bikes when in-fact they openly say they can't do wheelies. As usual its all hearsay and waffle.

Only person I can see on this thread who knows what they're talking about (wheelie wise) is 3DP..


(not including you in this Sire Steve Bass)

I'll bite

The point I was making about it damaging the bike was in response to our unusual friend, who claimed it had absolutely no detrimental effect on the bike at all. Which is quite a bold statement to make, given all bikes have different suspension components. Not to mention other variables such as weight and actual wheelie ability.

So when you wheelie your bike, you are causing increase wear and tear on the components. It might not be a huge amount; in fact, somebody who is pretty damn good at them could do 1,000 wheelies and not experience any issues, but there will still be increased wear.

Somebody who is crap at wheelies, will probably knacker their suspension pretty quickly. Repeated hard landings from closing the the throttle hard or too much pressure on the rear brake, will put the front suspension under a lot of pressure.

There is a reason those guys that have stunt bikes tend to have uprated suspension or fork and shock rebuilds every year or two. It is just pure mechanical fact.


That isn't why I don't wheelie though; I don't wheelie because I'm still st at riding and I'm scared stless at dropping my bike. Maybe in a few years

A well executed wheelie, especially a non clutched one. ie. powered/tugged combo'ed up and landed under throttle does zero damage and causes no more wear and tear than normal 'fast' riding.

The issues that cause damage are the following.

1. Learning to wheelie, you do not perform well executed ones, so in the interests of mechanical sympathy I always recommend people start with crests and just keep the power on, or buy a bike designed to take that abuse - namely an enduro bike.

2. Although I will occasionally clutch them up, when I have done lots of clutched up ones in the past, I've tended to stretch the chain a bit. I've also burned out a clutch on a 250 doing this. Obviously the more powerful/torquey/short geared the bike, the less clutch abuse is needed to pop it up, but on lower powered bikes and heavy bikes, it's your only option and I agree it causes extra wear.

3. Missed gears - my own personal issue, is once you can go through the box on the rear wheel, the nature of what you are doing means that false neutrals are more likely. When you pop it a bit higher to change from 2nd to 3rd or 3rd to 4th, then get a false neutral, it drops like a stone. Bikes will take it, but I'm always angry with myself when I grab a false neutral and have a hard landing. Having a well tensioned chain helps avoid this.


There's no real right or wrong way, just what works for you. I will only say that the key is to relax. If you stiffen up, anticipate the wheelie, or fight it, you won't be smooth and it'll be a crap wheelie.

Another tip, is learn in 2nd gear, not first. 1st gear has too much torque effect when touching the throttle whilst up, so when learning, the wheelie is jerky and hard to hold. The longer the gear, the more 'smooth' the wheelie as the effect of your throttle movements is less severe giving finer control. You'll see experienced guys try to get into 3rd or 4th relatively early on the rear wheel, but the bike has to be high to sustain the wheelie in higher gears.

Regarding road vs wheelie school - I'd say if you are a DAS rider, or just passed your test and bought a shiny expensive bike, you don't necessarily want to go through what people learning on £500 bikes did when they were spotty 17yos. Wheelie school is a good option to abuse someone elses bike with your fists of ham, in a legal and safe environment. I've seen how they teach and although not a massive fan of their technique I understand why they teach in this way (mechanical sympathy, keeping speeds down etc). The main thing is that it will get you comfortable with the bike being 'up'. Once that confidence is there, it's like refining any other aspect of riding, just a slightly more tricky area.