Wheelies?

A

Alex2

Member
Jul 20, 2009
35
0
Not sure if this is the right place to ask but how do you keep the front tire up without flipping over and how do you shift during a wheelie?
 
M

mathd

Member
Oct 11, 2008
208
0
Keep a foot on the rear break and practice to find the balance point.
 

IndyMX

Crash Test Dummy
~SPONSOR~
Jul 18, 2006
5,548
2
Amo, IN
What's this "throttle control" non-sense you speak of.. I thought you were just supposed to twist it till it hurts and hold on!
 
I

IamRyan

Member
Aug 23, 2006
77
0
Well, I guess I will jump on the band wagon and ask a question myself about wheelies. I had an XR 200 4-stroke as my first bike and I could ride wheelies into 3rd gear( when I ran out of yard) I think I could have gone as far as a flat surface would have taken me. That bike had such a nice balance point. On that bike I had to compress the front forks and pull back as I gased it to get the wheel up.
Now I have a CR 125 and obviously I can get the front wheel up at will, but I cant ride wheelies to save my life. It seems like if I try to do it in a low gear it seems like it gets on the pipe and wants to come over backwards and I have to get on the back break. If I try to do them in a higher gear it seems like I run out of power and it falls on its own. Any constructive tips would be appreciated, pin it and hold on is funny but not constructive.
 

Patman

Pantless Wonder
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Dec 26, 1999
19,765
1
This sounds like a question for Truespode!
 
F

FruDaddy

Member
Aug 21, 2005
2,854
0
IndyMX said:
What's this "throttle control" non-sense you speak of.. I thought you were just supposed to twist it till it hurts and hold on!
Click to expand...
No Indy, you twist it and lean forward until you bleed, and then you whine because there is something wrong with your motorcycle.
 

IndyMX

Crash Test Dummy
~SPONSOR~
Jul 18, 2006
5,548
2
Amo, IN
FruDaddy said:
No Indy, you twist it and lean forward until you bleed, and then you whine because there is something wrong with your motorcycle.
Click to expand...


Huh.. I've been doing it wrong..


Yes it is Pat, Since he is the in-house expert on looking out.
 

whenfoxforks-ruled

Old MX Racer
~SPONSOR~
Oct 19, 2006
8,129
2
Merrillville,Indiana
Balance issues, get a wheelie bar? Once you know where the sweet spot is, shift without the clutch, till you are doing about 90mph. Anyone catch the mountain bike expert commercial, he is going down mountain, the front wheel comes off, and he uni cycles down to catch up with his front wheel, thats how you do it. EASY! Look up Doug Domokos, I think its spelled correctly? He wheeled around the Redbud pro track on 1 wheel, a few times. A peaky 125 is harder, but not impossible. I do not have excess material that needs removed from my backside. And as for as I know, there are no trophies or plagues awarded for such stunts, anymore. Vintage Bob
 

Patman

Pantless Wonder
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Dec 26, 1999
19,765
1
Stoppies are cooler.
 

ellandoh

dismount art student
~SPONSOR~
Mi. Trail Riders
Aug 29, 2004
2,958
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chicks dig scars.......pain is temporary but glory is forever :boss:

if pain is weakness leaving the body, i should be Lou Ferrigno by now :think:
 
H

helio lucas

~SPONSOR~
Jun 20, 2007
1,020
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i´ve met some pretty impressive guys on wheelies:
i´ve seen a guy riding one wheel some 5 km on vilages roads with lots of turns and crossings, dark night, pretty drunk, no lights, no oil on front suspension and litteraly a steel tube instead the shock. and some other stupid things that i do preffer not to mention. ;)

despite the no brain actions it was a very impressive show of skill and technique. specially with the quantity of alcohol ingested before.

the bike was a very, very peaky dt50 yamaha mod to 100cc and needless to say, on motocross he is slow. :nod:

portugal is one great source of stunt riders. here is the former world champion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MocSPLIWiDY
enjoy...
 
I

IamRyan

Member
Aug 23, 2006
77
0
whenfoxforks-ruled said:
I do not have excess material that needs removed from my backside. And as for as I know, there are no trophies or plagues awarded for such stunts, anymore. Vintage Bob
Click to expand...

I agree there are no trophies but it is a good skill to have and a fun way to practice if you don't have access to trails or track. I'm glad I learned how to ride a wheelie because there are times when you need to pop a wheelie over something. Then there are those times that the front wheel just comes up on you and you need to know how to react and slamming the back break may not be the best solution.

Patman said:
Stoppies are cooler.
Click to expand...

I agree and for me its is the same as wheelies If I know how to control a stoppie I can probably react with some confidence if I grab the front break to hard or somehow end up on the front wheel :yikes:
 
P

plynn41

Member
Jun 8, 2009
107
1
I had a Honda TL125 (trials bike) in 1978 that I could ride a 2nd gear wheelie for about forever. The bike didn't have enough power to ride a 3rd gear wheelie--at least with my skills. But now, on my CR250R, I have yet to put it in the balance point and ride a slow wheelie. Can't do it, scared to death of looping out. I do power wheelies all the time, but just don't have the codgers to put the nose up high and balance. Maybe some day...
 
2

2strokerfun

Member
May 19, 2006
1,500
1
truespode said:
Hmm... just don't do this...
Click to expand...

Notice his throttle control using nothing but the power of the mind. Obi Wan would truly be proud !!

And in my experience, riding wheelies still never got me the chicks.................sigh................. But I did get some new rear fenders and Neosporin out of it !!
 

whenfoxforks-ruled

Old MX Racer
~SPONSOR~
Oct 19, 2006
8,129
2
Merrillville,Indiana
Alex there are all kinds of places its better to wheelie over than soak it up with the front end. Perfect world, the front tire hovers slightly above ground. Stoppies are cooler, but, being practical, it does only show you are past the limit of too much front brake for off road. You do need to be able to stop on a dime, from top gear consistently, safely, the back does help some on the ground. And the front tire on the ground does help to corner quicker.Vintage Bob
 

High Lord Gomer

Poked with Sticks
Sep 26, 1999
11,788
35
Ryan, the four stroke was much easier to wheelie because merely letting off the gas was like applying the rear brake. On the 125 2 stroke there is almost no compression braking so you have to use the rear brake to control it if you get it up too far.

It is counter intuitive, but a friend who was much better at them than me told me to bring the front wheel up while already "on the pipe" with a 2 stroke. That way, you wouldn't loop out when all of the power came on when you did get it on the pipe.

Another friend, who was also much better than me (notice a pattern, here?), told me to starting feeding the rear brake in as soon as the front wheel left the ground. While practicing with a street bike errors are more costly and I learned to start small, always start applying the rear brake slightly as soon as the front came up, and it is better to set it down than to try to extend a wheelie that was in less than perfect control (kind of what happened to Ivan above).
 
J

_JOE_

~SPONSOR~
May 10, 2007
4,697
3
I could ride wheelies in high school. I think these newer bikes are more top heavy causing the balance point to be narrower. It couldn't be that I'm now heavier or much more concerned with self preservation, right?
 
P

plynn41

Member
Jun 8, 2009
107
1
_JOE_ said:
It couldn't be that I'm now heavier or much more concerned with self preservation, right?
Click to expand...

Uh, yeah, that might be it with me. I don't have a Dad who's gonna pay the emergency room bill this time.
 
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