Wheelie for Beginners!

**Dan** · 04 Dec 05, 05:22 AM

Wheelie for Beginners! - Short Explanation
I just found the following exert from an American website. Makes performing a wheelie sound pretty simple really. However I think I'll still opt for adding a few teeth to the rear sprocket to give me a little help.

Source: ducatimonster.org
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If you want to learn to wheelie, find some place that is slightly uphill where nobody is watching who would disapprove of what you're doing. Accelerate gently to about the middle of your powerband, then crank the throttle full open suddenly. If that doesn't work, close if fully for about half a second, then whack it open as quickly as you can so that you get the additional lift from your fork springs. Try it at slightly lower and higher engine speeds until you find what is optimal. The colder the weather at the time, the better your chances for success.
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**Dan** · 04 Dec 05, 05:45 AM

Wheelie for Beginners! - Long Explanation
This is such an excellent article! Explains all you'll ever need.
However putting theory into practice is still another matter.

Source: By Kane on sportbikes.com (The man must be a motorcycling god I reckon!)
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First off we need to establish what a "wheelie" is. Far too often do I hear people talking about how they can do, or have seen someone wheelie, yet when compared to what I consider a wheelie, they fail to hold a candle. So I'll explain and elaborate on what a wheelie is...

You have your beginner WEE's, your typical WHEELIE, your rarely seen BALANCE POINT WHEELIE, and your unicorn "12 O'CLOCK" wheelie...

A WEE - (pronouced weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee) its your first stage of wheeling, its when the front comes off the ground, and most people panic. On todays sportbikes all it takes is crackin open the throttle wide and next thing you know your WEEEEin. a wee does NOT go beyond the hump of the wheelie (I'll explain later) and definatly comes no where near balance. its simply anytime the front leaves the ground for a few seconds and never gets more then 1-2 feet off the ground..

A WHEELIE - the point where a WEE becomes a WHEELIE is when you pass the hump. its when you must start to modulate/feather the amount of throttle given so as to elongate the time the front wheel is airborn. its your classic 1/2 block racer finish line, throwing of the front airborn. in your typical wheelie the rider can still see over the front of the windscreen while looking strait ahead, and the bike is still in a constant state of acceleration.

A BALANCE POINT WHEELIE - I'll go more in depth on what the balance point is, in a minute, but for now know that a balance point wheelie is one where the bike is no longer accelerating while the front is in the air. simple as that. usualy while in a balance point wheelie, the riders modulation of the throttle is quite minute and very smooth. no jerky on, off, eratic inputs needed here... only smooth, steady rpm sailing here.. more often than not, a balance point wheelie is seen on highways or long stretches of road... once constant balance point status is acheived the length of the wheelie is determined (usually) by arm strength, and how well a rider can deal with arm pump, along with steady throttle application.

A 12 O'CLOCK WHEELIE - The elusive new york style 12... an ovious example of a 12 o'clock wheelie is any time the tailsection of the bike touches/scrapes the ground. but more specifically a true 12 is when the wheelie becomes near, or perfectly vertical, perpendicular to the ground. in fact any time that the bike is beyond the balance point enough to where pulling in the clutch forces the bike backwards (as in looping is) is infringing on a 12 oclock wheelie status in the broader sense of the word. "laymans terms" anywheelie that is high enough to where the rear brake is in constant stimulation as to keep one from looping it... (but we all know taildragging is the epitome of a 12 o clock) ((aside of course from ovious WHEELIE BAR only tricks... aka ape hangers, cliff hangers.. etc))

Before I teach you how to wheelie i need to make sure that you know what to do if and when you begin to bite off more than you can chew. ALWAYS remember to chop throttle. if at anytime you begin to feel as though your going to loop it, or that your just not comfortable.... CHOP THE THROTTLE.. the front end WILL come back down! Some people will tell you "just hit the rear brake" but ill level will ya here... by the time most people go to hit the rear... too late... your on the concrete... its much more natural to simple.. (say it with me now) CHOP THE THROTTLE ... believe me the engine compression on these bikes WILL pull the front end back down. I have scraped tail and simply choped tail and saved the wheelie... no rear brake needed...

There are two main points of the wheelie...the hump, and then the balance point.

The hump of the wheelie is waaayyy to comonly confused with the balance point by a beginner. To keep it simple the hump is the point that as long as your below the hump even if you full throttle the bike the rpms will just soar up and the bike will constantly accelerate and the front will not go any higher...

The balance point of the wheelie is the point at which the bike... BALANCES!!!... yes that right... the BALANCE point is when you BALANCE the bike. its typical felt when once the front end is up, the bike no longer accelerates. the speed is kept constant and the bike just sort of sits at one height. the lower the speed the higher the balance point. the reasoning behind that is based upon the fact that at higher speed the "wind" (the displacement of air in front of the bike) begins to force the front steady, same way that at 100mph if you stick your arm outside of the car itll be pushed backward quickly... the faster the wheelie the lower the front needs to be to atain steady constant speed, and balance...

Contrary to popular belief neither the balance point, nor the hump. can be measured at one exact mesurement in degrees... both are more of a broad, to narrow (depending on bike) spectrum of degrees... hence the reason some bikes are easier to learn on and more forgiving than others..

Okay now that that is a little clearer we need to talk more in depth on HOW TO bring that front end up...

As far as im concerned there is two major catagories on the techniques of wheelies... there is the throttle only, and then there is clutching it... I personaly am a fan of, and advocate use of the clutching technique....

Inside each of the two (THROTTLE, CLUTCH) techniques, lies 2 more subdivisions... two different throttle only techniques, and two different clutching techniques...

I'll explain all four. three briefly, and one in depthly. (The one I prefer, obviously)

THROTTLE ONLY WHEELIES
- Power Wheelie
The easiest form of wheelieing, that is as long as your bike is powerful enough. mostly made capable only by use of geared literbikes (Edit by Admin: In our case the 998/999). The powerwheelie is accomplished by simply twisting the throttle all the way... as the powercomes on, the front comes up, and on many of todays beastly bikes, the front will easily come up and over the hump and strait into wheelie territory. most 600cc bikes, can do quick impressive WEEs but sadly, unless geared, cannot simply twist and wheelie....

- Bounced On/Off/On Throttle Wheelie
What most people mean when they say a "bounced" wheelie is this technique right here. a throttle only technique accomplished by a quick snapping, ON, OFF, ON of the throttle combined usually with a slight to heavy jumping/pushing of the rider forcing the suspension to compress and combined with the power of the engine hopefully rebound and send the front end soaring.. exact timing and technique I will not be elaborating on as this style is not used often by me, and is by no means a favorite. It is useful though, for bringing up "one handed" wheelies.

CLUTCHING TECHNIQUES
- Pull Rev Go
Is technique is what most people think of when they think of clutching a wheelie. To me this specific technique is a sloppy, and quite dangerous to learn (for wheelie beginners) and is definatley not recommended by me at all... the Pull Rev GO... technique is layed out just like that, it is accomplished by a) pulling in the clutch b) reving the **** out of your engine and c) letting go of the the clutch... it can result in a variety of outcomes.. one and most hoped for result is that it is very likely to get the front wheel in the air. another more likely and least opted for result is a mix of either, breaking the tire loose and causing the bike to get all sideways, tire hooking up remarkably and REAAAALLLY sending that front end sideways.... and strait into 12-o'clock zone (IE better be on that back break bubbaa...) most likely outcome of longed term useagle of this style wheelie is severe damage to your clutch discs, pressure plate, and somtimes basket. again this is only my opinion but be quite weary when attempting to learn wheelies by the pull rev go technique... more often than no the result is an erratic scramble to keep control of you vehicle...

- Go, Clutch, Go:
Now here is a technique that works.. is easly to learn with, does minamal damage to engine compenents, looks sounds and performes perfectly, oh did I mention it is the tenchnique I use and perfer? Or did you guess that by now...

**** Basically whatcha wanna do is this! ****
Regardless of what bike your on, you want to pick a gear (1st or 2nd, I'd advise 2nd) get into a low constant RPM (around 4-5k) sit steadily at that rpm for a moment to collect yourself and ready yourself. next your going to want to twit the throttle fully.. 100%, WOT, pin the bitch, ALL THE WAY... the bike will jump... and often times as the rpms settle the bike may jerk and suddenly smooth out. it is at that point (the smoothing point) that youll want to enact the next step. More specificly on the smoothing point, it can be seen cleary while reading the tachometer.. with the initial snapping open of the throttle the needle will dance and as the needle begins to skyrocket into the rpms the smoothing point will relate fully with the powerband, on most bikes its when the tach sweeps 6-7k....at this time you'll want to do two simultanious things...
1) PUSH... heave your weight forward and down onto the tripple tree... do your best to compress the suspension while riding. As your pushing you'll want to...
2) PULL in the clutch. Or to be more acurate you'll want to "bump" the clutch. Bump the clutch by pulling it in enough to allow the engine to slip and soar higher into the rpms range. The amount the engine surgess will be determined by the intensity and length of time given to the bumping of the clutch. Here, at this time is what will seperate this technique from different model, type bikes. Your timming of bumping will be different on a gsxr 1000 as it would an F4I. Here is where practice will come into play. you then want to release the clutch, and pull forcingly back on the bars and give that little extra tug into helping the bikes front end come up, the surge of new power combined with the compressing/releasing of the suspension should easily send the front up on ANY bike. As I said before it is all in the timing. You must remember to keep hard on the throttle throughought the process ("specially" for beginers, once your more easily learn the technique you'll learn the amount of throttle truly nessecary to launch your bike specificly.. but for now, treat all bikes the same and keep on the gas 100%!!!)

In any event once the correct rpm, and timing are mended poping the front end up should become childsplay for any rider. It is then that one must begin to enatct some skill in feathering/modulating the throttle so as to control the speed, height, and even direction of the wheelie... but for just keep practicing on how to pop the front up. Nikki Hayden did not drag elbow the first day, he started with footpegs, went to knee... and down the road it turned into elbows.. the same goes for wheelies... before you do the 10 mile standups you must adequatly learn how to ride out the 1/8th block sitdowns...

Good luck and remember if at any point you get scared... chop the throttle!!
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**Steve** · 04 Dec 05, 08:46 AM

On the last sentence, I would add, "chop the throttle, but gently". It's very easy at that point that the front wheel will hit the ground very hard and the result will be the same as getting a tank slapper

, believe, I've been there (and I'm still **** at wheelies

). If you value your bike and your health, best not try it. But you can go to some very good wheelie schools 8) .
Great article Dan

**Tony** · 05 Dec 05, 08:52 AM

Ive been practising this a little during the summer, and if your not used to pulling wheelies or wee's as he calls them when that front wheel leaves the ground be ready to clench your butt

, it can be scary stuff, its one of the most unatural positions for a bike, even scarier when youve got over the bumping the front wheel up and down a bit then you think I know, what happens if while im up I squirt in a bit more power, if your not ready a new height of fear.

GREAT artical, if you can do this guys good luck to you, but steves right not good for the bike, so best practiced on someone elses

**johnnybravo** · 05 Dec 05, 11:24 AM

good work dan

this may sound like a really stupid idea but would be worth heading back to the ol' push bike for a bit of practice popping and balancing?

obviously you're playing with far more weight, speed etc on the duc but would rather not see another one of my bikes skidding down the road on its side

(ducks and waits for abuse.....)

**BaggaZee** · 05 Dec 05, 11:31 AM

Not big and not clever?!

I'd love to be able to do this! Wish I had an old ****ter I could practice on! :wink:

**Brian** · 05 Dec 05, 03:21 PM

If i wait untill the girlfiend gets her bike i will use her's to practise on

**BaggaZee** · 05 Dec 05, 03:58 PM

Now there's a cunning plan!

**Dan** · 05 Dec 05, 07:02 PM

I'm gonna get a part-time job at Domino's Pizza and practice at work!

**jools** · 05 Dec 05, 07:23 PM

I'll remember not to order pizza next time i'm in your part of the world. Not too keen on calzone!!!!

**BaggaZee** · 05 Dec 05, 07:25 PM

**Neil B** · 06 Dec 05, 12:35 PM

I grew up riding dirt bikes and still think that this is the best way to learn any mad tricks.
Get it wrong and it and doesnt cost a fortune to put wright.