Originally Posted by Rguy

whats the appeal of popping a wheelie? I dont get it...

Originally Posted by [url

www.kawiforums.com[/url]]Ok, every day there's someone who askes a qestion: How to wheelie? I decided to write a post which will hopefully answer all simple questions about wheelies. I must note that I am not expert in wheelies, and this is only from my experience, so every comment, help or add-on on this post would be welcome. Also here I am talking about wheelies on newer 600 bikes. This was written with best intensions to help people, so if you don't like it don't flame on me and this post. If you think I'm wrong in something it would be nice that you correct me.

First things first

Any bike should wheelie in first gear, and in my opinion everyone should learn first gear first, because this are the basics and when you learn them you can do anything you want later. I heard people saying: I can ride out (redline) first gear wheelie, I should probably go on to 2nd. Sometimes those people ride out that wheelie 1 foot high and redline in 2 seconds. I am not saying that you should chase the BP in first gear because it is very touchy, but you should be confident and apsolutely shure in your skills before you go to second gear. I think my story is pretty same as other peoples on this forum. My first wheelies were 1st gear power ups. I was going up and putting it down instantly and hard. Then I was wondering how to keep it up. For some time I was trying to blip the throttle to keep it up but that was just wrong/dangerous. Then I figured that when I get it up I should find a constant throttle that could keep the bike up there smooth. This was probably the hardest part - being realy smooth on throttle. No one can help you with this, you just have to feel it. Than I was riding 1st gear sitdowns nice and smooth little below the BP but I was not satisfied. My second step was 2nd gear. I was trying to bounce it up and I could. Then I was trying 3rd gear and doing it pretty well. After that I figured out that CLUTCH IS THE WAY TO GO UP FOR EVERY GEAR, including first. Then I started playing with slow stuff and 2nd gear clutching. Ok, enough bullshitting.

Safety Gear / Crashes - I had a lot of crashes during my riding career (I started out as a 4 year old kid and now I'm 19). The two of the most dangerous were the last two (as some of you know) with my curent bike ('03 636). The first was consequence of wheelieing in the city and alot of trafic. That was luckily the 1st gear and somewhat slower speed (around 60 mph maybe). I didn't suffer any harder injuries (but only the luck saved my life from going under a car, and gear saved me from alot of road rash) but crashed the bike realy good, had more than $5k. I fixed it all for alot cheeper and continued to ride. After 3 months worst crash ever. I was riding 2nd gear highchair and looped it at 95 mph. The damage was not so big but this time vital parts were on hit. But injuries were alot more serious. Again gear saved me from alot bigger injuries, helemet saved my life for shure. I was thinking to wear a boots but it was too hot. Guess what - I whish I had. Fucked up my left foot and ankle realy bad and still recovering from the crash overall. Don't be stupid and wear all the gear you can.

Bike setup/protection - When you first start doing wheelies you do not need to have some stunt bike, or any special setup. The basic thing should be suspension. If we are talking about 636 it's way too hard - even if you soften it all the way. Softening front forks suspension could be a smart thing, especialy when learning cuz you will dump the bike down hard alot of times and your fork seals will last longer if you ride on softer setup. It will also put less stress on entire bike when going down hard. The rear suspension setup on the other hand could help if hard, b/c when you try to bring the front up, first the rear suspension will absorb the force and keep the front from going up. If it's hard there is nothing to absorb the force or at least very little. There is something called gearing (changing sprockets), which will affect you bike behaviour alot (depending on how much you gear it). Stunters always shorten the gearing, which means smaller front and bigger rear sprocket. This way the bike is more reactive, more torqy and it is much easier to bring it up. This also gives more engine braking, lower top speed, shorter gears and riding in higher rpm (again depending on how much you gear it). I will not write much on gearing topic, cuz this is enough for starters to know. There is apsolutely no need for gearing until you are ready for slow stuff and all it goes with it. Now bike protection. It is smart to protect your bike at least with frame sliders, but better option would be crash cage. I never had any protection, but from experience the cage will protect you bike from realy alot of **** and save you mucho$ dolar$. It saves bars, engine, fairings and some other stuff depending on what kind of crash is it. One other thing is 12 o'clock bar which is not ment as protection but for bar tricks but it may save your tail section and bike from looping and falling on you.

BP (Balance Point) - Balance point is the point (certain height) at which you do not need nor throttle to keep it up nor brake to get it back, you can ride the whole day. The BP depends mostly on wheelie speed, the faster you go the lower BP is. It also depends on body position (standing up, sitting down, leaned back, leaned forward). If the bike is below BP the rear wheel is constantly chasing the front wheel, and the only thing that is keeping the front up is the engine power pushing forward. That is why your rpm are increasing until they come to redline. The lower you are from BP the faster you loose your rpm, and vice versa. On the other hand if you are over BP bike will loop backwards if you don't bring it back applying rear brake. Many riders say that they can feel the balance better when they are in stand up position. You can feel balance even better putting your left foot on rear peg and keeping right on front (covering the brake). Standup wheelies also have higher BP b/c of the weight distribution. With left foot on rear peg BP is more higher. That should be basics of understanding BP.

The clutch - as I mentioned, every decent stunter uses clutch for every wheelie. Many of you will be conserned of you clutch wearing of fast, but it wont happen so easy. Alot of stunters who use the clutch all day long for hundreds of wheelies a day that they ride 12-20k miles with one clutch. Clutching it up gives you more predictable and more controlable coming up. Clutch also helps you bringing it up easy in higher gears without bouncing or any other physical effort.

The rear brake - the most apriciated "control" in world of stunting is the REAR BRAKE. This is the thing you should definetly learn when doing wheelies. I suggest that you learn it good before you start riding high and fast wheelies. In the beginning lot of people learn to ride wheelies realy good but don't learn the rear brake control. I suggest that you learn to control it smooth, and not just learn to hit it. But it is better to learn it just enough to save your *** than not to learn it at all. The most common problem with rear brake is that people don't have reaction to use it in emergency situation, IT just slips of your mind when wheelieing and all you think about is throttle control and bike height. The best way to learn it is to try to put wheelies down with rear brake so you get the hang of it and learn to apply the proper amount of pressure, gently and smooth. Another good thing is to constantly repeat "REAR BRAKE" in your head while wheelieing. Do not forget the brake will save you alot of dollar$ and injuries, and even your life. So I would consider brake as the most important element in the game.


1st - If you wanna ride good you will have to use the clutch. It can be scary at first but when you get used to it it's all toying with the bike. In first gear you have wide rmp range at which you can get the front wheel up so you should find what suits you the best. I always ride by feeling but my method is somewhat like this: Cover the rear brake. Ride slow around 10 mph at 4-5k I guess (not looking at the tach much) pull in the clutch (always with one finger and the rest of the hand firmly on the bar) just some 1/2 inch, rev up to 10k and dump the clutch. You have to realize that this will bring the front up to BP (depends on how you let out the clutch). You can also putt a little bit of preassure on you rear brake to slow jump of front wheel a bit, but I tap and hold the brake as it comes near the BP.
The method described below should be modified a bit for beginners. You should try get it up with somewhat lower rpm. The best thing is to try and go step by step increasing your "before clutch dump" rpm by 1k and go higher and higher. If you are not comfortable with height or fast coming up stay on safe height and rpm until you get used to it and then go on little bit more. There are certain things you should know about wheelies: The faster you bring it up and the lower rpm, the more rpm you have left to play with when you do get it up, which means longer wheelies. The higher your rpm are before clutch dump the faster it will come up. So basicaly the lower your riding rpm (speed) are and the higher you rev it before you dump the clutch the faster it'll come up.

2nd - If you learned first gear good, then you can move on to second, but if you are not shure in your 1st gear wheelies, DO NOT try second. Why? - some will say 2nd is smoother on throttle and easier to control, but speeds are much higher and injuries from 2nd gear crashes can be fatal. As I mentioned above I had a crash in 2nd gear at approx. 95 mph and consequences are serious, so don't joke with high speeds. Second gear can be bounced up, but the clutching is much easier to learn. You will learn to clutch it up 3 times faster than bouncing it up. And another problem with bouncing is that you have to stand up (stand up wheelies may be frightening for beginners) and bouncing 2nd is way too much unpredictable and even if you bring it up it's hard to keep it up. So here's what should you do: Ride around 35-40 mph in 2nd of course (thats some 6-7k), pull in the clutch, rev alot (10-11k I guess, but it's best to use your feeling) and dump the clutch (start from a little lower and increase rpm the same as in first gear description). The bike won't come up so fast and high at once and you can play with throttle up to BP. When you get used to it you can rev it more and hit the BP straight away. Every beginner is affraid and leans forward, but thats wrong. If you lean back and stretch your arms you will ride comfortable and feel the balance much better than when you lean forward. After you get sitdowns go on standups, cuz then you will discover the beauty of riding on rear wheel. There's nothing better than a high speed standup feeling.

Take it easy, it all takes time and practice. Cover the rear brake and wear your gear, especially helmet - it will save your life one day. Good luck.