Roll on wheelie on my VFR

zed_driver

zed_driver

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Possibly my last ride of the season last Saturday. I took the bike out to put some fresh gas in it and pump more air into the tires for winter storage.
Had some fun blasting around and waving to all the other riders with the same " holy crap I' m still riding in November" look on thier faces. Coming back late, it was 4 degress C on my bike's gauge i was being careful not to lean much and powering slowly out of corners knowing the tires have lost some bite in the cold. Down the home stretch to my house I figured one last burst of speed would be fun. I was in 2nd gear around 5k-6k rpm when i decided to snap the throttle open. Instantly the motor goes into Vtec range and much to my surprise my front tire lifts off the ground. I don't know if my tire was 6" , 12" or more off the ground but it was up and the pressure pushing back on my wrists tempoarily lock my throttle open. It lasted about 100ft before my brain to me to roll off and my hand complied. The bike set down gently, no drama. Pulling into my driveway i couldn't stop grinning. I really didn't think my VFR800 could do a roll on wheelie ( I'm 6ft 230lbs, not a flyweight). It might of been the crisp cool air, the bike felt very responsive that day but now I want to do it agian, lol. i think there might one more ride for my this weekend.

This is not an endoresment of wheelies, ride safe and be aware that cold roads and cold tires are a bad mix.
 
gotta love the vfr man!!!!!!
zed_driver said:
Possibly my last ride of the season last Saturday. I took the bike out to put some fresh gas in it and pump more air into the tires for winter storage.
Had some fun blasting around and waving to all the other riders with the same " holy crap I' m still riding in November" look on thier faces. Coming back late, it was 4 degress C on my bike's gauge i was being careful not to lean much and powering slowly out of corners knowing the tires have lost some bite in the cold. Down the home stretch to my house I figured one last burst of speed would be fun. I was in 2nd gear around 5k-6k rpm when i decided to snap the throttle open. Instantly the motor goes into Vtec range and much to my surprise my front tire lifts off the ground. I don't know if my tire was 6" , 12" or more off the ground but it was up and the pressure pushing back on my wrists tempoarily lock my throttle open. It lasted about 100ft before my brain to me to roll off and my hand complied. The bike set down gently, no drama. Pulling into my driveway i couldn't stop grinning. I really didn't think my VFR800 could do a roll on wheelie ( I'm 6ft 230lbs, not a flyweight). It might of been the crisp cool air, the bike felt very responsive that day but now I want to do it agian, lol. i think there might one more ride for my this weekend.

This is not an endoresment of wheelies, ride safe and be aware that cold roads and cold tires are a bad mix.
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curious, how can a rider know how far the front tire came up with such accuracy? 6 inches, 12 inches. does the vfr have a wheelie "height" sensor? lol
 
SkyRider said:
curious, how can a rider know how far the front tire came up with such accuracy? 6 inches, 12 inches. does the vfr have a wheelie "height" sensor? lol
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Curious, how can a poster, not be able to understand the OP when he clearly stated he "did NOT know" if the front came up 6", 12" or whatever?
 
Another advantage of cool weather rides. My old 450 nighthawk would do roll on wheelies when it was just below zero. In the summer, not a chance in hell.
 
oh forgot to add check your steering head bearings lol
zed_driver said:
Possibly my last ride of the season last Saturday. I took the bike out to put some fresh gas in it and pump more air into the tires for winter storage.
Had some fun blasting around and waving to all the other riders with the same " holy crap I' m still riding in November" look on thier faces. Coming back late, it was 4 degress C on my bike's gauge i was being careful not to lean much and powering slowly out of corners knowing the tires have lost some bite in the cold. Down the home stretch to my house I figured one last burst of speed would be fun. I was in 2nd gear around 5k-6k rpm when i decided to snap the throttle open. Instantly the motor goes into Vtec range and much to my surprise my front tire lifts off the ground. I don't know if my tire was 6" , 12" or more off the ground but it was up and the pressure pushing back on my wrists tempoarily lock my throttle open. It lasted about 100ft before my brain to me to roll off and my hand complied. The bike set down gently, no drama. Pulling into my driveway i couldn't stop grinning. I really didn't think my VFR800 could do a roll on wheelie ( I'm 6ft 230lbs, not a flyweight). It might of been the crisp cool air, the bike felt very responsive that day but now I want to do it agian, lol. i think there might one more ride for my this weekend.

This is not an endoresment of wheelies, ride safe and be aware that cold roads and cold tires are a bad mix.
Click to expand...
 
bboySushi said:
Sorry, I'm not getting something. Why is that?
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Colder air is denser, think of cold air as a ghetto turbo (I would guess maybe a 10% boost in power from my butt dyno on the Honda). More air and fuel can be used by the engine, therefore more power (assuming you tune the carbs to compensate for air temp).

Fuel injection takes care of this automatically which is why most bikes have outdoor temp displays now. They need the sensor anyway, so they might as well show you what it sees.
 
Same principles apply in aircraft when considering available bhp (at least with piston engines, that's all I flew). In the winter, those Cessna 172's where like jets compared to the same a/c in the summer!
 
Conversely, my carbed bikes run like crap in hot, humid weather.
 
GreyGhost said:
Another advantage of cool weather rides. My old 450 nighthawk would do roll on wheelies when it was just below zero. In the summer, not a chance in hell.
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If you aren't confusing front end extension with a wheelie I believe you had the most powerful 450 Nighthawk in history.
 
LOL. I remember the first time I did a roll on wheelie. Scared the crap outta me when it happened. I did it on my gixxer 6.
 
RedDogDarren said:
If you aren't confusing front end extension with a wheelie I believe you had the most powerful 450 Nighthawk in history.
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Haha, the headlight was lighting up the trees above the road, not front end extension. I am not talking about 4th gear here, I think it was probably in first and it was below zero.

When I got it, it was a dog, it would barely go 120 (indicated), when I sold it it was up to ~180 indicated. If you set the valves right (can't remember how anymore, I would just pull the cover off adjust all the intake valves, button it up see how it ran, adjust the exhaust valves and try again until it behaved as I wanted), it would make a lot more up top (at the expense of the middle). When you got them right, it sounded meaner and was a lot more fun.
 
The bike did feel more responsive and lively all day. I'm sure I cranked it that hard in the summer but without the same results. I wonder if the slightly over inflated tires gave the bike more leverage ( about 5 psi over norm ) helping to get the wheel up.
It's a fun memory that will get me though the winter months.
 
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