Thought I would relate my first ever wheelie (does it count when its unintentional? :) )
Ever since I first got my KDX I've been really waiting in anticipation for the time when I could wheelie with confidence. It makes crossing small streams/puddles and tacking whoop sections look so much more elegant!
While I was at Carnegie a little while back I was just puttering along on my way back to the staging area and there was a large muddy section in the shade of a tree... First thing I thought of is that I didn't want the front wheel to dig in as the mud looked pretty soft and deep.
I scooted back in the seat, which straightened my arms a bit and at that moment ran over "something" that deflected the front wheel slightly and startled me... I gripped the bars more firmly and this caused me to roll on more throttle in a short burst... that also startled me :) and then suddenly the front end went slowly up... The odd thing is that it felt like slow motion and not a "jerk", but that made me slide a bit back farther in the seat, and roll a little more throttle on until it felt like I was a Koala bear hugging the side of a tree :) I tried to pull myself closer to the bike in an effort to get the front to settle back down, but all I seemed able to do was roll off the throttle a bit but never enough to drop back down...
I was literally frozen in this equilibrium where I travelled all the way across the mud bog in a wheelie (maybe abour 40-50ft) until I hit the opposite side of the mud where the rear wheel hitting this small ledge slowed the rear end slightly and the front end plopped back down... I really think I was catatonic with fear for the first 20 feet and the rest of the time just trying to desperately roll off the throttle since I couldn't release my grip without falling straight off the back of the bike.
After it was over I stopped and marvelled at how easily the front end came up on me... I really thought the process of a wheelie was really popping the clutch in higher revs, or really jerking back hard on the bars under acceleration, but replaying it back in my mind all that happened was that I was tooling along at about 10-15 mph then when jostled by the hit the front wheel took, I rolled on the throttle smoothly from about 1/4 to 3/4 throttle in a smooth motion in about 1 second...
I haven't dared to try it again since then, but I figure I really need to get confident with the skill in order to tackle logs and dropoffs and the such...
I have a lot of admiration to riders that wheelie with confidence and skill :) It scares the CRAP out of me! LoL!
Feanor
Ever since I first got my KDX I've been really waiting in anticipation for the time when I could wheelie with confidence. It makes crossing small streams/puddles and tacking whoop sections look so much more elegant!
While I was at Carnegie a little while back I was just puttering along on my way back to the staging area and there was a large muddy section in the shade of a tree... First thing I thought of is that I didn't want the front wheel to dig in as the mud looked pretty soft and deep.
I scooted back in the seat, which straightened my arms a bit and at that moment ran over "something" that deflected the front wheel slightly and startled me... I gripped the bars more firmly and this caused me to roll on more throttle in a short burst... that also startled me :) and then suddenly the front end went slowly up... The odd thing is that it felt like slow motion and not a "jerk", but that made me slide a bit back farther in the seat, and roll a little more throttle on until it felt like I was a Koala bear hugging the side of a tree :) I tried to pull myself closer to the bike in an effort to get the front to settle back down, but all I seemed able to do was roll off the throttle a bit but never enough to drop back down...
I was literally frozen in this equilibrium where I travelled all the way across the mud bog in a wheelie (maybe abour 40-50ft) until I hit the opposite side of the mud where the rear wheel hitting this small ledge slowed the rear end slightly and the front end plopped back down... I really think I was catatonic with fear for the first 20 feet and the rest of the time just trying to desperately roll off the throttle since I couldn't release my grip without falling straight off the back of the bike.
After it was over I stopped and marvelled at how easily the front end came up on me... I really thought the process of a wheelie was really popping the clutch in higher revs, or really jerking back hard on the bars under acceleration, but replaying it back in my mind all that happened was that I was tooling along at about 10-15 mph then when jostled by the hit the front wheel took, I rolled on the throttle smoothly from about 1/4 to 3/4 throttle in a smooth motion in about 1 second...
I haven't dared to try it again since then, but I figure I really need to get confident with the skill in order to tackle logs and dropoffs and the such...
I have a lot of admiration to riders that wheelie with confidence and skill :) It scares the CRAP out of me! LoL!
Feanor
