what is the proper way to do a wheelie?

i grew up on 3 wheeled bikes, but iv always been aprehensive about wheelies. the bike was smaller and the engine wasent able to do a wheelie without clutch work and i have fliped the bike before.


4 wheels can be fun too

 

Not to brag but I bet mine is bigger than yours......my wheelies that is.

 

One doesn't need wheelies (on a bicycle or a motorcycle) to have fun. One does need to do wheelies to keep the front end clean when going through a puddle.
(Do I wheelie? Let's just say I need to clean the front end...)

 

Instead of practicing on the street...where you are running risks that won't be worth it, check out the link to Keith Codes wheelie class. You can learn on someone else's machine in a closed course environment. Save yourself and others some headache and pain.

http://www.ononewheel.com/

BZ

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ANYDVx3gFGk

 

I know you're young & eager to prove just how cool you are. Please do me a favor. You don't even have your M endorsment yet & you're worrying about doing wheelies? Get some experience under your belt, take some classes, ride in the rain, ride in the dry, ride over some gravel, hit some freshly painted lane markings, have a few close calls that require you to change your under wear, etc... THEN worry about learning how to wheelie on the street. You've been posting in the chat section about your wife's stay in the hospital. It would suck to end up there yourself just to prove how cool you are.

Bubba hit this one so far out of the park they'll need a search party to find the ball.

Well done Sir.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

I,m with Bubba on his advice, with that being said, please keep your foot on the rear brake. It is the only thing between you on the ground, that is what is fundamentally wrong with the wheelie on the four wheeler. There is no need to get hurt to have fun so ride with in your limits, as your abilities improve so will your fun. Stupid Hurts- Be smart ride another day.

 

The only way I know how to wheelie is front tire in the air and the rear tire on the ground.
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Haha. Joking aside, KC-10's post (and quotes) sum it up. There's plenty of generic info online regarding how to loft the front tire. VFR is probably not the most ideal bike for wheelies, but it definitely can be done.

 

You gotta have faith to wheelie.

 

As I was riding home yesterday, I saw a fellow with no jacket or protective pants leave the adjacent stoplight and do wheelies in the first 3 gears. All of this in the middle of town on a 35mph street. Giving us all a bad name. What a squid!

 

I had been into sportbikes for about four years atthe time and never could figure out how to really wheelie it. Back then (87) there wasn't online forums and people to ask. There were only about four sportbikes in my hometown then. Well one morning bright and early I got to thinking of how I saw the crazy guy with the gay boy on the back do one in the Movie Mad Max. It's a rear shot of him doing it and you really just have the sound of the motor to hear and try to figure out what he did to do that giant wheelstand.

So I got her rolling about 15 or 20 mph and pinnied the throttle.Then rapidly just "blinkened" the clutch, Front end went skyward and I was off and running. It was such a rush I still remember that first one. I spent a Summer doing wheelies on the 87 VFR 700. I even had a friend video my efforts had another friend take a still photo I made into a poster sized print. My best wheelie story of that Summer was in front of a bar and a mess of Harley people in between breaks of the band I launched a giant wheelie and rode it about 100 feet at 50 MPH or so. I turned around and backed the bike in by the curb and asked some old grizzled HD rider what he thought? I'll never forget his answer " You left your blinker on..." Probably the only wheelie this guy had seen on the road in years and all I got for my efforts from him was " you left your blinker on..."

I never did tear up that stock clutch with those antics but did carry a spare Barnett clutch with me when I relocated to New Mexico the following Summer. In general wheelies are for only occasional frolic. Plastic,chains and sprockets are just too expensive to buy. As far as stoppies I have never tried to do one, back in the day a stoppie was what happened if you screwed up,not something you did for fun. Another thing I have never done is the hold the front brake - smoke the rear tire burnout trick. Besides what tires cost, I always thought if that front tire hopped an inch I would be right over the handlebars.... .

Stcik to dirt bikes for wheelies,if you fall the bike is usually fine afterwards and it's the rider that is injured. I'M afraid of injury these days. My shoulder is still a mess from hitting a dog in a low speed corner in October 2000. A few years back I did see a guy on a sportbike wheeliing right down the freeway at 75 MPH. I couldn't figure out and still can't if he was crazy,good or just plain dumb.

My idea of a real sportbike wheelie would be on a 2 stroke race bike,where no clutch would be needed just big balls and hanging onto 1st or second(third?) gear too long. The epitomy of which was the photo of Jimmy Felice winning at Laguna Seca in 1988 on the NSR 250. It looked effortless. I miss the 2 strokes in Moto GP,they were wild crazy machines that could stand on end anytime the throttle was held open too long. I would love someday to get to do a lap on a NSR500,these were the days of Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz and so many other riders I can't recall. Back then Moto GP was mysterious and fascinating like Indy Car Racing or Formula 1. Exotic thoroughbreds made out of unobtanium. Now it's just a sales platform for next years liter bike.