How long does it take to learn how to wheelie?

sandlot333 · 08-19-2006, 11:12 PM

I just tryed to do a wheelie couple weeks ago on a 100 dirtbike and got it up fast, to or even behind the balanceing point by popping the clutch. It felt like I was going to flip over but I didn't. Thats my fear, I'm afraid i'll flip the bike over. Should I learn how to wheelie fast or slow, like I mean slow. I saw videos of guys pop the wheelie going like 4 MPH and kept it there. When I do, I mean try to wheelie I just keep going faster faster the more I hold the bike up.

How long does it take people to learn how to wheelie, because everyone makes it look so easy.

snigg · 08-20-2006, 06:45 PM

it takes balls

sandlot333 · 08-20-2006, 10:10 PM

I got big balls, big hairy juicy ones!

inolen · 08-21-2006, 12:58 PM

Learn to use your rear brake.. then you don't have to rely on engine breaking to bring you down.

051000RR · 08-21-2006, 02:23 PM

First off it does take balls. Second dont mess with the mod of a forum when you are trying to learn something. With that said, now to the topic. Those 4 mile an hour wheelies you are seeing are done with larger gearing in the rear of the bike and shorter in the front. If your gearing is stock IMO you dont want to start there. The reason that you have to carry so much speed is because you do not have the bike at the balance point. Try bringing the front wheel up a little higher and you will notice that it will require less power to maintain the wheelie. The fear of falling backwards will go away the more you practice. To answer your question, the amount of time it takes to learn this is based on the individual rider. Some people take to it very quickly, others do not. As with any stunt I would not rush myself, slow progression is key to safely learning anything. Hope I have helped you with this. God knows I wish someone would have told me some of this when I first started stunting a sportbike. It would have saved some roadrash, a few bikes, and alot of frustration!!!!

sandlot333 · 08-21-2006, 02:54 PM

Thanx for the help and advance, I'll keep practicing. O ya are you really a Supersport Racer? Like Moto GP? I just joined this website like 3 days ago, and I noticed this is a very helpful website for new riders like me to learn useful infomation about bikes so we don't kill ourselves.

inolen · 08-21-2006, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 051000RR

Those 4 mile an hour wheelies you are seeing are done with larger gearing in the rear of the bike and shorter in the front. If your gearing is stock IMO you dont want to start there.

Stunters were more so slapping on big gearing for off the peg wheelies in the pre-handbrake era, not to do slow staggered or sitdown wheelies. You don't need any gearing if that's all you are going to do. When you get into doing things like idle speed seat standers, spreaders, or highchairs, then you are gonna need gearing as those will stall with stock gearing incredibly easy. With that said, if you are just learning, use stock gearing.

051000RR · 08-21-2006, 03:23 PM

Inolen, my bad dawg, I should have clarified my statemnt. I was just trying to say that slow rolling or idle wheelies are not where I would start because balance hasnt been learned yet. And you would have to agree that with larger gearing it is easier to pull the bike up at a slower speed right? Anyway thanks for clarifying what I was trying to say! Oh, and Sandlot those things you see under everyones name is a ranking based on number of posts to the forum. I race, but not at that level. Welcome to SBN!

inolen · 08-21-2006, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 051000RR

Inolen, my bad dawg, I should have clarified my statemnt. I was just trying to say that slow rolling or idle wheelies are not where I would start because balance hasnt been learned yet. And you would have to agree that with larger gearing it is easier to pull the bike up at a slower speed right? Anyway thanks for clarifying what I was trying to say! Oh, and Sandlot those things you see under everyones name is a ranking based on number of posts to the forum. I race, but not at that level. Welcome to SBN!

It makes it easier to come up.. and it makes it harder to control the throttle. And fast and slow wheelies are a completely different ball game. It's easy to go from slow -> fast, but fast wheelies don't really help you learn slow wheelies at all, especially if you aren't even clutching them..

051000RR · 08-21-2006, 03:36 PM

Definitely correct, I find that slow wheelies are much harder and require much more throttle control, and balance to pull off. Slow rolling a wheelie at balnce point is not for a novice at all! You can bounce a fast wheelie but you have to clutch a slow one. Much more difficult indeed!

sandlot333 · 08-21-2006, 03:56 PM

Stoppies or indos arn't hard right i've never tryed them on my dirtbike before, all you gota do is pull the brake right and then ease out if ur gonna go over board.

051000RR · 08-21-2006, 04:21 PM

Again that would be a personal thing. Stoppies IMO are much harder because as Inolen stated earlier, covering the rear brake or getting out of the throttle will normally keep you from a catastrophic event in a wheelie. Where a stoppie can go bad and there is not alot of ways to recover from that.

halliwood · 08-21-2006, 08:19 PM

yea, stoppies are much harder, and its endo, not flaming but letting you know so someone else want flame you, its for end-over, but yea I think inolen is trying to say if you dont know how to wheelie yet, you might as well learn a slow wheelie first, if you do wreck not to much damage and if you ever want to learn a fast wheelie it'll be cake after getting slow wheelies down, but make sure you have a cage or sliders on your bike, and that your able to either fix it back up or willing to ride a wrecked bike, cause it'll happen some time or another if you keep learning more and more.

inolen · 08-21-2006, 09:07 PM

I was just saying to learn on stock gearing, and that if you learn slow wheelies, fast wheelies are cake. It's all dependent on what you want of out of stunting..

sandlot333 · 08-21-2006, 09:39 PM

K then i'm not gonna try any wheelies on my first bike until i master them on a dirtbike!