Guide to pulling wheelies

[Zimma]

1. The “Art” of the Wheelie
2. Wheelie-ing an NSR
3. “Keeping it up”
4. Throttle Control
5. Alternatives…
6. Pocket Rockets
7. Putting it down
8. Moving up in the world
9. Second Gear Wheelies
10. That's it

So, you want to learn how to pull a wheelie huh? Well it looks like you have come to the right thread! You’ll probably want to sit back, put your feet up, pop your spectacles on and get reading then.

The “Art” of the Wheelie
The first thing you need to be aware of is how powerful your bike is, for instance, smaller capacity bikes wheelie in a totally different way to more powerful machines. This makes the art of a low cc wheelie a much harder skill to master!

So if you are riding a 2 stroke 125 you will find the art of 'wheelie' a lot harder to learn. Although once you have mastered this, it will help you move up to bigger bike wheelies a hell of a lot easier.
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Wheelie-ing an NSR
On an NSR, to do a clutch wheelie you need to pull off from a standstill by slipping the clutch at around 8-9k, as you start to pick up a little speed - while still slipping the clutch - dip[1] the lever for a very short time so the revs rise to around 10k, then dump it sharply. This should cause the front to leave the ground, and (if you’re lucky) return to it without spitting you off the back.

[1] - Dipping the clutch involves pulling the lever in slightly so that the power from the engine is not transferring to the wheel. It does not however mean pulling the clutch lever all the way in, as it is not needed. Just before the clutches biting point be enough.

If this works, then well done! This is your first wheelie

If not try it again, practice makes perfect. Try slipping the clutch at a lower rpm when pulling off, or dipping the clutch for slightly longer if you are having a lot of trouble 'getting it up'.
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“Keeping it up”
Once you have mastered getting it in the air you need to practice keeping it there. I wouldn't recommend trying anything fancy, like changing gear, until you have managed to get the bike to stay at the balance point.
TIP! I would also advise you keep a foot over the rear brake lever, that way, if you feel the bike tipping too far over you can give it a quick tap and bring the front in an earthbound direction.
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Throttle Control
Holding the bike up at the balance point involves a lot of throttle control, as this removes the need to be on the rear brake all the time. It’s always best to keep the throttle nice and steady and held at around ¾ opening. That way if the front wheel does start to drift towards earth you have an extra ¼ throttle left to lift the bike back up slightly. But you must always keep in mind how much power your bike has, if it is a sub-600cc bike it will probably not have enough power to lift back up when it starts to fall.
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Alternatives…
Another way of lifting a small cc bike is to chuck it into second gear at low rpm, stand on the pillion pegs, open up the throttle and as the tacho passes 7-8k and the bike enters into the powerband give the bars a nice tug.

This will lift you up to the balance point, and unless you have good throttle control straight past it and off the back of the bike!
The method to avoid this is to have your left foot on the pillion peg and again, the right foot covering the rear brake pedal. This way you can give it a quick tap and return both wheels to the ground safely.
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Pocket Rockets
So you've mastered the art of the balanced wheelie and you can keep a minger hoisted for a fair old time. You've finally decided to get your ass in gear and sort out your full licence. You've taken it upon yourself to head over to Bat Motorcycles and look at all the lovely grey imports….
Suddenly, out of the corner of your eye you spot the beast of your dreams! As you go over and sit on the gorgeous Nastro Azzuro painted 400cc pocket rocket you start to wonder to yourself how easy it would be to wheelie compared to your old two-stroke NSR.

Well let me ease your poor aching brain!

Now that you've got your lovely little RVF home, you'll probably want to take it out and practice some wheelies right? Good, that's what I thought (Ed - Bloody Zim wanting us all to trash our bikes so his don’t look quite so bad).

On the little pocket rockets the art of the balanced wheelie remains, as you still don't have enough power on the throttle to re-lift the bike if it falls too far from the balance point. However, what you do have now is the ability to lift the bike to that sacred point a lot easier!

So what will you have to do to get it there? Let me explain.

Just as before, we’re going to concentrate on the clutch wheelies first - You can still use the ‘pulling on the bars in second gear’ wheelies, as explained in the previous section, but they aren’t really needed as the bike has a lot more power now – but this time around a different clutching method is used to hoist the bike.

Pull off in first gear as normal and get moving with the throttle held at around ¾ opening, as the tacho passes around 6000rpm dip the clutch so the revs rise to around 12,500rpm (less if you don’t have much confidence) then let go. The bike should lift up fairly easily this way, but if not try dropping the clutch slightly higher at almost 13,500rpm – just before it hits the redline. If everything is going correctly you should find yourself struggling to peek over the nice shiny double bubble screen you had fitted that morning, but what do you do now?
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Putting it down
Oh dear, it seems you are running out of road. Maybe you should consider putting the front wheel back on the ground? “But how do I do that,” I hear you ask.
The best way for the bike to go down is under power as this means the suspension and steering/wheel bearings won’t take as much of a beating, the easiest way to do that is to let off the throttle slightly while at the balance point to make the bike fall towards earth. If you then put the throttle back to ¾ opening again the power will cause it to come down much slower and without so much of a crashing sound.

Remember: Always keep the steering dead center when ending a wheelie, if you don’t you will more than likely head straight into a tank slapper – which isn’t fun without a steering damper, I can tell you – and cause lots of damage you your shiny new RVF.
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Moving up in the world
So, you’ve sold your 400cc pocket rocket and gone out and bought yourself a nice gleaming ZX6R. Guess what? I’m gonna tell you how to wheelie it - no surprise there then.

There are two ways to wheelie a 100hp bike, I’ll go through them both, but to start with we will try some power wheelies in first. That’s right you heard me, power wheelies, which means you can lift your bike off the throttle with no use of the clutch. Aren’t you proud of her already?

Right, what I want you to do is pull of in first and get your bike to sit at around 8,000rpm, once you are comfortable holding it there open up the throttle smoothly – that means matching the revs to the throttle opening – and as the tacho passes 10,000rpm crack the throttle all the way open sharply and put it back to ¾ opening. This should make the front lift nicely and you should be able to hold it at the balance point with throttle control alone – you are used to this by now, aren’t you? The only problem with first gear is that the revs will seem to run out fairly quickly and holding the bike at the balance point needs a very steady hand.

The solution to this is to use second gear - I’m not going to go through changing gear just yet, so keep reading – as it eliminates the twitchiness of the throttle a little and going faster means the wheelie is more stable at the balance point.

Second Gear Wheelies
This works a lot like the clutch wheelies in first gear on a 400cc bike, except you are going a lot quicker. All you need to do to get this right is pull off in first, change straight into second and hold the throttle at ¾ opening, as the tacho passes 8k or so pull the clutch and dump it just before the redline. This should bring the front up nice and smoothly and you should be able to hold it at the balance point using only the throttle, but don’t forget, always keep the rear brake covered just in case you feel the bike going past the balance point.
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I’ve had enough
I will be adding more to this FAQ at some point, but what I have already written should be enough to cover most of the bikes on the forum. So there you have it - get on your bikes and get the art of wheelie-ing sorted. When I come to add more I will write a bit about doing stand-up wheelies and various other types of tricks while having the front up. But for now, just get used to pulling mingers with your bum firmly on the seat and not on the tarmac.

Zimma.

(I take no responsibility if you stack it while trying to do something I have explained in this FAQ as it should only be done by trained professionals, I also don't condone trying it on a main road - or minor road - with traffic around, or police for that matter... Save it for the drag strip ; - ) )
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-Zimma