Wheelies

so maybe she'll visit you in hospital when you finally screw up a wheelie ?

 

Nobody has been killed doing a wheelie except at very high speeds. People have died doing stoppies because bikes tend to land on top of you when it goes wrong.

Nobody has died because they took off from a stoplight too fast. But they have been killed by shifting to neutral instead of second gear.

Just because something is flashy doesn't mean it's dangerous. We all take risks and simply riding a motorcycle is a risk. If you want a safe inoffensive hobby then consider buying yourself some knitting needles.

 

You give way too much credit to people in general.. lol

 

Falling from a maximum height of four feet onto your feet or butt does not end up in major trauma.

Landing head first with 200+kg of bike following you has not only involves greater forces but vulnerable body parts like the spine.

Stoppies are less impressive than wheelies but much more dangerous.

 

What he said, lol. I don't know any stats but seeing how many stunters (and especially wanna be stunters) wreck while performing wheelies/stoppies with no protective gear whatsoever, I'd be willing to bet there has been at least one...

 

Unless you crack the back of your unprotected melon on the asphalt (among other possibilities)...

 

The forward motion makes that less likely.

 

Hope for the best, plan for the worst...

 

pogo'ing down shifts? U wot m8?

 

Trying to get a smooth clutchless shift.

I'm not bouncing around on normal shifting

 

How does one pogo a down shift?

 

Crappy throttle control. Bike jumps forward when you blip and compresses the forks after the gear change.

I'm talking about heavy breaking and setting up for a fast turn.

 

When did you start doing wheelies? I think just about every kid i knew started trying to wheelie their bycicle not long after they learned to ride. Girls too. Then came a motor and clutch.........

 

Clutchless upshifts above 2nd gear make perfect sense, clutchless downshifts are just cruel to your gearbox. I would tactfully suggest that you stop that before you break something.

 

Wheelies, always use a 2 Stroke

 

My first wheelie was not far from that and completely unintentional. I didn't go back far enough to wipe out my tail lights but the bike was up at about 80 degrees. I was on my first bike, an old MZ 2 stroke, at a roundabout, saw a smallish gap in the traffic and gave it a fistful with a distinct lack of finesse on the clutch. That little bike was in it's power band and up on the back wheel before I could say mono. I took the second exit on the other side of the roundabout and the bike was still on the back wheel. I did actually make it around the roundabout too. I'm sorry to say I failed to use my indicators on exiting though. Not that it would have made much difference because they were only visible to earth worms. So I learned some important things:

1. even small 2 strokes can have a distinct power band.
2. Clutch control is important.
3. you can still steer by leaning on the back wheel.
4. No matter how tight you clench sometimes a little wee comes out.

 

I'll add they are only worth doing if you are on it - for general riding just clutch it up and down - it's not fitted with an auto blipper and all you are doing is adding wear.

 

Damn right.

It was not a wheelie, but a hard 180* right hander.
I came in way too hot, and was on the last 6" of road and scraping the peg.
My arms were telling me to cut throttle, my brain was saying "hold your line, HOLD YOUR LINE AND DON'T CUT THROTTLE"
Made it through, but I did need a change of undies.

 

WARNING: NEWBIE ALERT!

Well, not new to motorcycles - I've been riding on and off since I was a child in the 80's starting with a Honda Z50R and most recently with a Ninja 250. I started out looking for a 500-650cc sport or sporty standard in the $5,000 price range last week, but ended up with a new-in-crate 2014 VFR800F. It was more motorcycle than I wanted or needed, but I couldn't see spending the same amount of money for something less. When I was a kid, I regularly rode to the limit and occasionally beyond. Now that I'm in my fourth decade of life, I have no such interest.

MY QUESTION IS: Will the VFR800 perform an "unintentional wheelie" with too much throttle? That was never a concern with the little Ninja 250 - the engine simply didn't develop enough power to raise the front end off the ground. On the VFR800, however, I felt the front end getting light in lower gears.