Learning to wheelie... | GTAMotorcycle.com

Learning to wheelie...

Husqy

Well-known member
Hey guys. I've been watching lots of youtube videos and reading articles about wheeling and how to get started with it. I'm not looking to do mile long wheelies, just get the wheel up a couple feet and drop it back down.

I guess i have step 1 down, I am comfortable doing wheelies on bicycles :D but other than that, not much experience.

I have a sv650 (naked model) and i've been able to get up the front wheel about a foot doing 1st gear power wheelies. Everyone I talk to says you should be starting with clutch ups (probably in 2nd) but i find them very sketchy.

Any recommendations?
 
Keep practicing. Seriously, it's the only way to learn.

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Keep practicing. Seriously, it's the only way to learn.

Sent from my SM-A500W using Tapatalk

Think the power wheelies are safe to continue trying or should i switch to getting familiar with clutch-ups??
 
Get comfortable with clutch-ups. Done properly, I think it's easier on the drive train. However, I learned to wheelie on dirt bikes, I've never ridden a street based stuntbike and I don't relish the thought of looping out my daily rider.
Practice lots and get used to the clutch, always cover the rear brake in case you need it. It's easy once you get it.
JohnnyP actually had some pretty good advice on wheelies in another stunting thread recently and he actually has extensive stunting experience.

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can you do 2nd gear clutch ups on a 600cc with stock sprockets
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I used to have a 2nd gen SV and could get the front wheel off the ground about a foot and a half before I pansied out and chopped the throttle and let it drop again.... I am too much of a puss to try on my R6... Good luck man.
 
Oh, and I can't wheelie a bicycle... been trying but I always loop it as soon as I'm close to the balance point
 
Id personally try to master 1st more before moving onto 2nd, if you can pop up 1st right to balance point or close to it and carry all of 1st pretty smoothly, then Id say its time for 2nd..

2nd is going to let you go a lot faster! good and bad, longer wheelies usually and smoother throttle, but a lot more speed when you make a mistake

Clutching up is the way you want to do it, a clutch up once you get the technique down properly will allow you to pop it up into balance point instantly with lower RPM's. And that is key, getting to balance point or as close to it as soon as possible with as least amount of RPM possible..

Its simple if I throttle up 1st at 10,000rpm I only have 10,000-14,000 ish rpm to play with to keep the bike in the wheelie. And the higher the RPM gets the more uncontrollable the wheelies get....If I can clutch up at 8000rpm, then I have an extra 2000rpm to use....And the bike will be smoother to control at lower RPM. Im sure you have noticed that the more throttle you give, the higher the RPM, the faster the bike goes, and the more sketchy it gets...

The key to going far in a wheelie

1 get up into balance as fast as possible with as least about of throttle (clutching up will be important)
2 keep it at balance, with as least amount of throttle input (body position and weight distribution is key,as well as eventually rear brake control)

Before I got into stunting I had an R6 street bike, I started wheeling that in 1st gear powering it up. I got it to the point where I could pop it up from a stop, and carry out 1st. Then I started 2nd, and I started to use the clutch to clutch it up. In the beginning it was more of a half power wheelie, half clutch up, standing usually with a little bounce....But eventually I got the clutching technique down to where I was doing proper clutch ups, sitting down or standing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ....

After that I bought a CRF50, I rode that indoors over the winter to really learn rear brake control. Come spring time I had back brake on lock, and it was pretty easy to transfer the skills I learned on the Crf50 to the big bikes and I was really slowing down wheelie and scraping the tail on my sport bikes

The good thing about the little or less powerful bikes like the 50 or even your 650, is that they force you to really focus on and use your body position for balance and to manipulate the bike in a wheelie, and really fine throttle control. With a 1000cc its easy to just crack the throttle and let 180hp take you for a wheelie. With less power you will need to use more skills, and then if you move up to a bigger bike you have more skills to use with that power for even more fun/speed...

That and its a lot cheaper to toss your $1500 CRF50 down the road learing rear brake, compared to a $8000+ sport bike....They tend to take wheelie crashes better also
 
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Man, this is such a good post... Johnny, what is your opinion on trying to learn on my bike, an 08+ R6 that has the god damn 10,000RPM Throttle opening... for me it is scary as hell, because I feel like I don't know what results I am going to get crossing that threshold, and I am too gutless to try and wheelie it over 10K.... Is this thing a total pain to learn on?? My buddy got it up in 2nd gear but it was short and weak looking, and he tried a couple times...

Id personally try to master 1st more before moving onto 2nd, if you can pop up 1st right to balance point or close to it and carry all of 1st pretty smoothly, then Id say its time for 2nd..

2nd is going to let you go a lot faster! good and bad, longer wheelies usually and smoother throttle, but a lot more speed when you make a mistake

Clutching up is the way you want to do it, a clutch up once you get the technique down properly will allow you to pop it up into balance point instantly with lower RPM's. And that is key, getting to balance point or as close to it as soon as possible with as least amount of RPM possible..

Its simple if I throttle up 1st at 10,000rpm I only have 10,000-14,000 ish rpm to play with to keep the bike in the wheelie. And the higher the RPM gets the more uncontrollable the wheelies get....If I can clutch up at 8000rpm, then I have an extra 2000rpm to use....And the bike will be smoother to control at lower RPM. Im sure you have noticed that the more throttle you give, the higher the RPM, the faster the bike goes, and the more sketchy it gets...

The key to going far in a wheelie

1 get up into balance as fast as possible with as least about of throttle (clutching up will be important)
2 keep it at balance, with as least amount of throttle input (body position and weight distribution is key,as well as eventually rear brake control)

Before I got into stunting I had an R6 street bike, I started wheeling that in 1st gear powering it up. I got it to the point where I could pop it up from a stop, and carry out 1st. Then I started 2nd, and I started to use the clutch to clutch it up. In the beginning it was more of a half power wheelie, half clutch up, standing usually with a little bounce....But eventually I got the clutching technique down to where I was doing proper clutch ups, sitting down or standing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ....

After that I bought a CRF50, I rode that indoors over the winter to really learn rear brake control. Come spring time I had back brake on lock, and it was pretty easy to transfer the skills I learned on the Crf50 to the big bikes and I was really slowing down wheelie and scraping the tail on my sport bikes

The good thing about the little or less powerful bikes like the 50 or even your 650, is that they force you to really focus on and use your body position for balance and to manipulate the bike in a wheelie, and really fine throttle control. With a 1000cc its easy to just crack the throttle and let 180hp take you for a wheelie. With less power you will need to use more skills, and then if you move up to a bigger bike you have more skills to use with that power for even more fun/speed...

That and its a lot cheaper to toss your $1500 CRF50 down the road learing rear brake, compared to a $8000+ sport bike....They tend to take wheelie crashes better also
 
Man, this is such a good post... Johnny, what is your opinion on trying to learn on my bike, an 08+ R6 that has the god damn 10,000RPM Throttle opening... for me it is scary as hell, because I feel like I don't know what results I am going to get crossing that threshold, and I am too gutless to try and wheelie it over 10K.... Is this thing a total pain to learn on?? My buddy got it up in 2nd gear but it was short and weak looking, and he tried a couple times...

I should probably start off by telling you the first bike I owned was an 01 R6, and it was also the bike I learned wheelies on, and it was also the wheelies that caused me to write that bike off completely....LOL Probably one of the biggest mistakes in my motorcycling career, was making a single vechicle at fault claim on that bike after looping a wheelie on it...The rate increase from that doubled my insurance for the bike instantly, and stuck like that for a long time....Probably not the story you wanted to hear lol but its a good what if to think about

R6's have a very light front end, its one of the easier 600's to lift the front wheel on IMO...I never had an 08, but Ive ridden the 06+ also, and I never had any problems lifting the font wheels on them or my 01 R6 or my 03 R6 that I owned years ago....The low end on them sucks and it doesn't really start to make good power till around 8000rpm+, but the geometry made the front so light on those bikes its not hard at all to get them up...with clutching up once you get the technique down its a very easy bike to wheelie. I would clutch it up around 6000-8000 and your goal it to get it up and to balance fast to you stay around 8000-10,000rpm. When you get it up and the RPM climbs really fast its because you are not in the balance point or used too much RPM getting it up. A bike at balance point requires very little throttle to keep in a wheelie, an that is how you go far. Balance point = less throttle = less RPM climb = longer more controlled wheelies. The next stage after that technique is adding rear brake control, with that then you can not only balance point a wheelie for longer and smoother, but you will have the added ability to actually slow a wheelie down. Both speed and rpm, you will be able to wheelie into 10,000RPM/100Km/h+ and then using balance and rear brake able to drop both speed and RPM, and really control/play with the bike in wheelies

Run what ya brung unless you are willing to spend money on a specific bike to do wheelies or stunts. Just be aware that there is a very high likelihood of you tossing it down the road turning it into a pile of scrap metal and plastic. Its just like track riding people ask should I take my street bike? Would I? No not anymore, I have a bike set up for track that I only use for track, I have a street bike for street riding, and another bike setup for stunting. All the same brand/model, but all very different from each other ..My first time on track I took my street bike, put track fairings and some other track parts on it. However 4-5 tracks days and a race later and I crashed it. 2-3 times actually, had I kept the street bodywork and headlight on it I would have destroyed them. Basically I tried it and I liked it, so for me the right thing to do was get a dedicated bike. Same with stunting, I tied it, I liked it, so I built a dedicated bike for it...It works better when you have bike setup and purpose built for the task, with less worry of what can happen to it when something goes wrong....

You know I cant speak for everyone, I can only say what I think is best or what has worked for me, but I dont know what everyones riding budget is like. Some people just ride a bike and take transit in winter, so in that case Id suggest that person not practice wheelies on their only mode of transportation. Putting that at risk, as I always like to tell people "be ready for the crash" .....both mentally, psychically, and financially. because the chances are if you start doing wheelies, you will continue to do them, and sooner or later mistakes happen and bikes get damaged...So just be ready for what can and likely will happen if you stick with the wheelies

For more serious stunting the guys that spend the time and money to build and setup dedicated stunt bikes always go farther in terms of skills learned IMO. You know you always get these new guys that come out and say "Im gonna do that but with my street bike" "No cage, no big sprockets, etc etc"....Its a nice dream, but it usually doesnt work out that way. Its one thing to learn on a stuntbike and then do the same on a street bike, but rarely does it happen the other way around. A lot of times its just the mental block of "this is my only bike if I crash this I got nothing" holding them back.
 
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Off topic. JohnnyP do you have any of your stays for sale still for '03 Kawi zx6r?Tried messaging you on fb and insta. No replies.Thanks.
 
[video=youtube;9kDCavo1NmM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kDCavo1NmM[/video]
 
[video=youtube;9kDCavo1NmM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kDCavo1NmM[/video]
When does the actual wheelie happen?

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[video=youtube;3Qx5wgmO7rI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qx5wgmO7rI[/video]
 
[video=youtube;meiaEMh9k9g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meiaEMh9k9g[/video]
 
[video=youtube;1oA5ctjM3PI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oA5ctjM3PI[/video]
 

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