mountain bike wheelies...

[Kris]

Any tips for a budding wheelier?

I can get it to the balance point and keep it there for a second or so but how the hell do you keep it there? After I start to pedal but it either goes past the balance point or the front goes down

Is it just practice?
____________________
NSR125RR - ZXR750H1 - ZX9R E1 - GSF600S - GSF600SK3 - VFR400-NC30 - SV1000N - ST1100-R - CBR900RR-R - GSF1200SK5 - GSF600SK1 - VFR1200FA - GSXR1000K2 - ZZR1400 D8F
www.prisonplanet.com

[dainesefreak]

Take the stabilizers off mate, you'll find that they add too much extra weight!

[cagiva gezzer]

Get a mate to help you find the balance point. Sit on your bike with your feet on the pedals and get them to lift the front of the bike up to the balance point. Once it is there get used to how it feels and try shifting your weight around.

Saddle - High makes the balance point lower, low makes it higher. Try different heights to see what suits you.

Gears - Find a compromise between getting it up and going to fast.

Brake - Use the rear brake to bring it down and always cover it.

Practice makes perfect and unlike a motorbike it doesn't hurt too much when you cock it up.

Long live the RTS!

Stuart
____________________
"because one stroke isnt enough and four strokes waste two"

[Milo]

balance point?
I just use to use power to maintain it - much easier that way.
I've got huge legs from all my years of cycling and sit wheelie's are piss easy
As for standing up on the pedals to go faster - I never do this as I find it makes no difference.

Rolling stoppie's on my bike are easy - i've got hydraulic brakes which are much better than the cable disk brakes you see these days!

Adam
____________________
Shaft drives rule.

[cagiva gezzer]

Balance point for coasting.

I live in the dark ages, still got my XTR v's on little cross county mavics.
____________________
"because one stroke isnt enough and four strokes waste two"

[Ste]

The easiest way I find of doing wheelies, is up a slight hill. To get it up, Be in a slightly harder gear than you think it needs, be standing up, push down hard on one crank whilst leaning back and sitting down. This should bring the bike up to the balance point. It is just a case then of keeping it there. With the slight hill, you can keep it slightly below the balance point to get used to it and using the back brake. Change through the gears as you find you're going faster, but it hurts lots more if you fall off a wheelie going as fast as you can.

A very small dab of the back brake will bring the front down again, so don't give it too much back brake .

hmm, it'd probably be worth wearing at least a pair of gloves, and a helmet as well really. I've managed to fuck my head/eye up after crashing (not doing wheelies) on Monday coming home from work .

Good luck.

[Kris]

Cheers for the replies.

I'm trying to maintain a balance point wheelie because just pedalling to keep it up makes the wheelie slightly less controllable if you get me. I have tried that method and it just turns into a mad mental bastard wheelie that is too fast to control and hard to keep going.

I usually start off by aproaching a gentle incline, bouncing the front off the suspension whilst giving a short hard pedal which pops the front up nice and quick. The bike then sits at this point and I try to keep pedalling but it starts to drop immediately Some times I've pedalled a bit and kept it up but I can't seem to get it consistant. Also I find covering the rear brake bloody fiddly

I used to go to college with a kid who raced MX. He'd ride his mountain bike to college and on the way home we'd ride together for about a mile. This guy could do the slowest, controlled balance point wheelies you've ever seen I was just about to ask him how it's done when he smashed his legs up in a MX accident He never came back to college after. He had his saddle set as far down as it would go Not sure if that was part of it.
____________________
NSR125RR - ZXR750H1 - ZX9R E1 - GSF600S - GSF600SK3 - VFR400-NC30 - SV1000N - ST1100-R - CBR900RR-R - GSF1200SK5 - GSF600SK1 - VFR1200FA - GSXR1000K2 - ZZR1400 D8F
www.prisonplanet.com

[Ste]

If you're needing to keep increasing the speed to keep it there, then it's not at the balance point. Lean back a bit more. You'll find it quite easily; it's just before you fall off the back .

Best thing, is really just to go and practise lots and lots and not worry about falling off at all.

[Kris]

No, I know it's the balance point because it's the point it all goes light etc plus if I go any further I fall off (well not fall of but the bike shoots out from under me and I have to quickly get off) Maybe that's my problem - pedalling too hard once at the balance point. Wrong gear maybe? Hmm more practice methinks
____________________
NSR125RR - ZXR750H1 - ZX9R E1 - GSF600S - GSF600SK3 - VFR400-NC30 - SV1000N - ST1100-R - CBR900RR-R - GSF1200SK5 - GSF600SK1 - VFR1200FA - GSXR1000K2 - ZZR1400 D8F
www.prisonplanet.com

[Ste]

I normally have it on the middle sprocket on the front (although I've removed the others), and the 4th one down from highest at the back to start wheelies.

Once the bike is actually up and vertical you don't need to do much pedalling at all.

[Kris]

How do you sit once the bike is upat the balance point? I find myself instinctively leaning forward
____________________
NSR125RR - ZXR750H1 - ZX9R E1 - GSF600S - GSF600SK3 - VFR400-NC30 - SV1000N - ST1100-R - CBR900RR-R - GSF1200SK5 - GSF600SK1 - VFR1200FA - GSXR1000K2 - ZZR1400 D8F
www.prisonplanet.com

[cagiva gezzer]

Hunch forward and the balance point becomes higher, lean back and it becomes lower.
____________________
"because one stroke isnt enough and four strokes waste two"

[Ant]

i find middle ring at the front and third at the rear gear wise, then use the rear brake to stop you flying off the back or knocking the front down
I'm ace at wheelies on my hardtail mountain bike but since buying a downhill bike with hydralic disks, its a tad more difficult
____________________
04 ZX10R ~