Wheelie 101

I got this off another site. I am posting it so look before you ask. It is in two parts. Two points to keep in mind when learning to Wheelie: 1. Keep things simple. You only have so much attention, and it's best to keep it divided by as few things as possible. Usually, when a beginning student is overwhelmed with trying to perform too many unfamiliar actions all at the same time, he or she tends not to perform any of them properly. The following approach to learning will stress using the fewest number of control inputs necessary to accomplish our goal' putting the front tire in the air. There are, essentially, three basic factors you need to control when performing a basic wheelie: 1. Acceleration (throttle control) 2. Fore/Aft weight distribution (body control) 3. Side/Side weight distribution (balance / body control) Any late model 600+ cc sportbike that I can think of, in stock form, will easily pull the front wheel up to 12-o-clock & beyond in 1st gear if you do nothing else than keep your body motionless and slam the throttle open once in the powerband. No shit. You may think this not to be the case, but trust me, unless your bike is malfunctioning, it's just that easy. The reason most people fail is due to the fact that they unwittingly shift their weight forward. We'll get to that later. The point being, there's no need to bounce it up, there's no need to clutch it up, and there's no need to roll off & on the throttle in 1st. Most of these techniques essentially fool the rider into committing him or herself to leaning their weight back - the rebound from the fork springs is, in my opinion, negligible. And the control that some people tout the clutch as offering you can easily be had with a well-practiced throttle hand. That means there's a lot less to do and think about when you're starting out, and that means you'll be a lot more likely to succeed, and a lot less likely to get hurt. Even using these 'other' techniques, you'll still need to control your throttle, your weight distribution, & your balance. There's just no sense in adding in more complication. 2. Keep things safe. That means finding a desolate stretch of straight road with good pavement(an old airstrip or race track would be best), wearing ALL your gear (gloves, leathers, boots, HELMET, HELMET, HELMET), having friends with cages present, and pre-ride checking your bike (tire condition & pressure, chain condition & slack, brakes, shift lever & position, etc.). It also includes using your head, thinking things through, and above all, not trying to rush your progress. There's no reason why you can't learn to roll nice wheelies without looping it. Remember, just because you know of or have watched people walk away from similar wrecks doesn't mean everyone does. The consequences of looping a hi-power sportbike are a serious matter. Now, since I'm going to recommend starting out rolling first gear wheelies, let's address a few concerns. Gearing and Gear Selection: To begin with, you won't need to gear your bike down. Like mentioned above, in stock form, most any modern 600+ sportbike needs nothing more, in first gear, than for you to not use your body-weight to screw things up. So do not throw a bigger sprocket in the back or a smaller one up front if you can't get it up in first. It's your fault, not the bike. You're only making things more dangerous for yourself once you finally do stifle your survival instincts long enough to let the wheel come up. Next, there's the issue of 1st gear being too twitchy. Well, for the experienced wheelie expert, 1st gear can be rather dangerous, since the balance point (the vertical point where you have to hang the front wheel to keep the bike from accelerating), is so high, and 1st gear does offer up alot of torque. But for the beginner, who will inevitably slam the throttle shut the minute the front tire comes off the tarmac, it's not really an issue. And trust me, even as quickly as the front wheel can come off the ground in 1st, it's no match for your reflexes, unless you've just chased a few percosets down with a pint of Jack Daniels. The fact is, once you get 2nd gear & higher wheelies up past midway point (and past the point where you need a lot of torque), they want to come up and over a lot faster than 1st gear wheelies do, since the gearing is higher. Also, 1st gear offers up tons of immediate engine braking. That means that as soon as you let off of the throttle, the engine braking effect literally sucks the front wheel back down to earth. This will work for you even if you are unfortunate enough to end up going past 12-o-clock. While this effect is apparent in all gears, it is much more so in 1st, and seems to take effect 'right away' in 2nd, particularly, there seems to be a sort of 'time lag' before it kicks in. The main reason I like first gear is that it offers the power necessary to bring the bike up while doing nothing more than maintaining a static body positioning and controlling the throttle. It allows you to free your mind and allow you to concentrate on throttle control, height control, and balance. It doesn't force you to make extreme body motions (throwing your weight back) which, when coupled with everything else, could definitely loop you quickly. In other words, I feel 1st gear to absolutely be the safest gear to learn in. Use of the rear brake: This is a controversial issue. Many advocate it's use as another tool that one can use to avoid a loop (which, if used properly, it is); others doubt it's ever going to get used by beginners until it's too late. My feelings on the subject are mixed. Personally, I don't use my rear brake very much at all during normal, everyday riding. Because of this, the use of the rear brake would, for me, definitely not be instinctive when trying to save a wheelie gone bad. I have, unfortunately, learned this fact the hard way when trying to save a 12-o-clock. I believe I thought of hitting the rear brake as my ass hit the pavement. On the flip side, if you do regularly use both the front & rear brakes, you might want to keep that thought in the back of your mind as a last-ditch save attempt. The thing that worries me most about the rear brake, however, is that even if it is used in time, it is very likely going to be used in panic, which could easily lead to a wreck just as bad as if the bike had simply looped over backwards. Personally, I feel that the use of engine braking (a passive safety feature) to pull down 1st gear wheelies is safer, and of course, much easier, since all you have to do is let off on the throttle. Finally, especially if you don't use the rear brake consistently, but even if you do, keeping it 'in mind' does use up some concentration that could be spent elsewhere. So, think about the issue, and make your own decisions on this one. Use of the Clutch This has already been covered, but I want to say it again. For first gear wheelies, do not use the clutch, you don't have to. Sure, you can use the clutch to feather the power in and control your height, but this is also something you can do equally as well with the throttle, with less wear & tear on your bike, and most importantly, while spending A LOT less concentration. The only reason I would change my opinion on this point is if you're coming from a dirtbiking background where you're already WAY familiar with the use of the clutch, where it's become instinctive. Otherwise, I say don,t use it. OK, Time to Pull Your First Wheelies! So, with all these points in mind, you're ready to start. You have all your gear on, you're on a safe, modern sportbike (it could be any bike, but this tutorial only applies to modern sportbikes), you're on a safe road, and you have buddies standing by to help you if things to awry. Start out on your bike looking down a long stretch of open highway. Sit as you normally would on it' you might want to sit a little further back on the seat if you sit WAY forward during normal riding (like I do), but you don't have to go to any extremes. What you do want to do is to make sure to support your body with your stomach & back, rather than with your hands resting heavy on the bars. This is the way you should ride anyway, but is especially important for wheelying. You want to lock your legs down on the bike so that, as she starts to come up, you don't pull back on the bars to 'hold on', which could possibly cause you to open up the gas more than you want to. Also, you need to be loose on the bars to be able to modulate the throttle (though this will come later). Essentially, you want your hands, your throttle hand especially, free to move without supporting your body weight, and this can only be accomplished, at least starting out, if you're anchored down on your bike using your legs & torso. As you progress and gain more experience, you can always loosen up a bit on the bike later. But for starting out, stay locked down & keep your arms loose.

Now, start tooling down the road, in 1st gear, up until you reach the powerband, which will be anywhere from 4-8K, depending on your bike. I don't look at the tach when pulling up, and you shouldn't either. It's just one more thing to detract your attention that could better be spent elsewhere. You'll be able to feel the power coming in. Anyway, once you do feel yourself getting into the powerband, do only one thing, and this is important, ONLY ONE THING. Open up the throttle quickly to full blast. Do not move your upper body forward, do not move it back. Do not shift your hips. Be a robot ? just move your wrist! If you?re in the meat of the powerband, and you didn't subconciously shift your weight forward, the front wheel just came up! I guarantee it! And if it didn't, read back through this paragraph, think about not moving your body, and try again, possibly at a slightly higher RPM. Rinse & repeat. OK, Time to evaluate your first wheelie: If you got the wheel up, contratulations!!!! But - you probably set it right back down. Don't worry about it - this is natural. You probably either cut the throttle, shifted your weight forward as you felt the front end come up, or, most likely, a combination of both. But, you learned something for yourself. You learned that the bike WILL come up on it's own. You learned that, at this point, you don't have to do anything other than open the throttle at the right time to make it happen. Now it?s time to start thinking about how to keep the wheel up a little longer, and get it a little higher. Let's first think about what would happen if you just kept things the way they were, you didn't move your body, and you kept the throttle pinned. What do you think would happen? That's right, you'd loop it! But what would it feel like? Well, It would 'feel' like an exponential curve. The first 3rd or so of wheel lift would proceed relatively slowly (though it won?t feel that way to you!) The second third would go quite a bit faster, and the top third will be, well, you wouldn't know what hit you! Now, what if you kept everything else the same? kept your body stationary, but just started to roll the throttle off a bit once you got past the 1st third of travel? One of three things would happen here, you'd either roll off too much & drop back down, roll on not enough and keep ascending, or roll off just the right amount and, for a very brief time, stay put at that height. Because the bike is still accelerating (& therefore making more power), you can't just hit this magic point at this relatively low height & hold it. But you can stay there momentarily. And you can learn, through practice and experience, to roll on/off the throttle to maintain, increase, and decrease your height. And that's exactly what you need to go out and do now, practice holding your wheelies up a bit. Practice adding distance OK, You're back out on your safe road, with your safe bike, your safe gear, & your safety net of friends. Start out first as before, just pulling up little 'popcorn' wheelies to get the feel of things. Once your comfy, it's time to try to add some distance & height. There really isn't very much to explain here, it's mostly a matter of practice and experience. But basically, you want to try to start letting off the gas slowly, rather than slamming it shut, as the wheel comes up. Be prepared to spend a lot of time perfecting things. This is really all a matter of feel. Trust me, if you put some real time into this, you'll learn to roll on and off the throttle in order to keep the front wheel somewhere in the air until your bike runs up against the rev limiter. Of course, how quickly your bike revs out is determined by the height of your front wheel, as you approach the balance point (described above), the engine will accelerate less quickly. If you reach the balance point, it will stop accelerating entirely. Let me state, for the record, that I DO NOT recommend trying to ride 1st gear balance point wheelies, especially just starting out. But, as your height increases, you'll be able to ride out longer & longer wheelies. It's just that simple. And, as you practice, you'll find yourself getting higher and higher. It's just a matter of gaining comfort, which will come in time. Take things very slowly, adding in, through multiple practice sessions, a little more height and a little more distance, but no more than you're comfortable with, each time. If you're interested in how high you're going, it oftentimes helps to have yourself video-taped. It also helps, once you're comfortable managing your height and have some free attention to spare, to glance down at the tach and see how fast you?re still accelerating. Remember, as your height increases, your acceleration will decrease. I mention running up against the rev limiter a lot, only because, if you do nothing other than maintain a non-balance-point height, and you keep the wheel in the air, you will inevitably run up against it, causing you and your bike to come crashing down to earth in a bone-jarring (& sometimes bike damaging) manner. And, starting out, you're almost guaranteed to hit it at least a few times. But, this is definitely something that you want to avoid. So, at the same time that you're trying to modulate the throttle to bring her up controllably, you want to practice monitoring your speed (via engine noise and/or watching the tach), and attempt to start rolling off the throttle before you hit the rev limiter. You also want to start practicing rolling back into the throttle as the descent occurs in order to soften your landings. All of these things, as mentioned above, will come with time and practice. There's no other substitute. Advanced (for a beginner) Techniques So, after a lot of practice and hard work, you're now consistently pulling up first gear wheelies, to a descent height, under power alone, and holding them until just before the bike peaks out. Now where can you go from here? There are a number of things you may want to work on. You may want to work on leaning your body back now, which can help bring up your wheel quicker, at lower RPM, and therefore allow you to ride out your wheelies for longer time & distance. This is good practice for 2nd gear power wheelies, where you'll have to use some body english to pull them up. You can practice using the clutch to pull them up, once again for the same reasons, getting them up quicker, at lower speed, and rolling them longer. Once again, this is also a good intro into 2nd gear clutch wheelies. You can continue to seek higher heights, and reach the illustrious balance point, but once again be warned, the 1st gear balance point wheelie will bite you quickly if you're not careful. You can start trying to pull 2nd gear power and/or clutch wheelies, or try shifting up into 2nd gear from 1st. It's all up to you. But, above all, make sure you lay down a firm, solid foundation of the basics before trying to attempt the more advanced manuevers. Good Luck!!!!!!!

:clap: :thumbup:

Up here above 7,000 feet that shit doesn't work. You have to give 'er hell and pop the clutch.

:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

"the rebound from the fork springs is, in my opinion, negligible. And the control that some people tout the clutch as offering you can easily be had with a well-practiced throttle hand" All right, so what you're saying is that you have more control by using the clutch, but you can also have that control if you've practiced wheelies a lot and know what you're doing. That makes absolutely no sense to be telling a begginer who DOESN'T have throttle control yet. The thing with power wheelies is that first of all, you have to slam the throttle open, and when you do that you're accelerating really hard, and you have to accelerate for quite a while before you hit balance point, meaning that if you start out at 20, you can easily be going 50-60+ before you hit BP, and for a begginer that's really not good. Another thing is that when you power it up, the wheel slowly rises, slowly rises, and then all of the sudden will shoot up when it's getting close to bp, which for someone not expecting it is wicked scary and often resulsts in looping. Power wheelies are really unpredictable because of this, it's hard to know exactly how high it's going to come up, and how fast it's going to come up, and if you crash during a power wheelie it's going to cause a lot more damage to the bike because you're going fast. Where if you CLUTCH it up, you can bring it up at almost any speed with much more consistent results.

This is how people should learn to wheelie, the clutch, it's smoother, it's very consistent, you can learn at your own pace and you know exactly what the bike is going to do. You find an empty parking lot or somewhere that's nice and empty and to get a feel for clutching it, start out by riding around and just popping the clutch. Especially in first, you don't "pop" the clutch so much as "slip" it. You don't need to pull it all the way in and drop it, more like half the way in and bring the revs up and quickly release it, kinda like rock paper scissors and do scissors. Anyways, you want to get a feel for the bike lunging forward before you try to wheelie it, so slip it like 1,000 rpms at first and as you get more comfortable with it start dropping the clutch 1500 higher, and then 2k, and as you get higher the wheel might start to lift a little and just go with it. It's all about taking it slow and not rushing into it, once you get comfy start staying on the gas to keep it in the air.

wow.. i new to this and i think i'm gonna go josh's route.. it seems easier than the first posting up here and it seems a lil more complicated and unpredictable

actually its not that bad on power wheeelies (especially on a 600)....i've been practicing these for the past 2 weeks and been getting better n better as time goes on. i take the bike ('04 600) to about 6500-7K..close the throttle and then crack it open...it goes NOWHERE near looping and comes up nice and smooth..havent quite got it up to BP yet but i have been pulling nice, long, smooth wheelies that dont require any MORE throttle than what was necessary to get it up in the 1st place. once i crack the throttle open and it comes up i just hold the throttle where its at and the front end stays lifted till i let off...BUT i would like to start practicing clutching'em up just because i want to be able to pull it up earlier than 7k so i'll let you guys know how that goes (might go try some this weekend)

Now, start tooling down the road, in 1st gear, up until you reach the powerband, which will be anywhere from 4-8K, depending on your bike. I don't look at the tach when pulling up, and you shouldn't either. It's just one more thing to detract your attention that could better be spent elsewhere. You'll be able to feel the power coming in. Anyway, once you do feel yourself getting into the powerband, do only one thing, and this is important, ONLY ONE THING. Open up the throttle quickly to full blast. Do not move your upper body forward, do not move it back. Do not shift your hips. Be a robot ? just move your wrist! If you?re in the meat of the powerband, and you didn't subconciously shift your weight forward, the front wheel just came up! I guarantee it! And if it didn't, read back through this paragraph, think about not moving your body, and try again, possibly at a slightly higher RPM. Rinse & repeat. OK, Time to evaluate your first wheelie: If you got the wheel up, contratulations!!!! But - you probably set it right back down. Don't worry about it - this is natural. You probably either cut the throttle, shifted your weight forward as you felt the front end come up, or, most likely, a combination of both. But, you learned something for yourself. You learned that the bike WILL come up on it's own. You learned that, at this point, you don't have to do anything other than open the throttle at the right time to make it happen. Now it?s time to start thinking about how to keep the wheel up a little longer, and get it a little higher. Let's first think about what would happen if you just kept things the way they were, you didn't move your body, and you kept the throttle pinned. What do you think would happen? That's right, you'd loop it! But what would it feel like? Well, It would 'feel' like an exponential curve. The first 3rd or so of wheel lift would proceed relatively slowly (though it won?t feel that way to you!) The second third would go quite a bit faster, and the top third will be, well, you wouldn't know what hit you! Now, what if you kept everything else the same? kept your body stationary, but just started to roll the throttle off a bit once you got past the 1st third of travel? One of three things would happen here, you'd either roll off too much & drop back down, roll on not enough and keep ascending, or roll off just the right amount and, for a very brief time, stay put at that height. Because the bike is still accelerating (& therefore making more power), you can't just hit this magic point at this relatively low height & hold it. But you can stay there momentarily. And you can learn, through practice and experience, to roll on/off the throttle to maintain, increase, and decrease your height. And that's exactly what you need to go out and do now, practice holding your wheelies up a bit. Practice adding distance OK, You're back out on your safe road, with your safe bike, your safe gear, & your safety net of friends. Start out first as before, just pulling up little 'popcorn' wheelies to get the feel of things. Once your comfy, it's time to try to add some distance & height. There really isn't very much to explain here, it's mostly a matter of practice and experience. But basically, you want to try to start letting off the gas slowly, rather than slamming it shut, as the wheel comes up. Be prepared to spend a lot of time perfecting things. This is really all a matter of feel. Trust me, if you put some real time into this, you'll learn to roll on and off the throttle in order to keep the front wheel somewhere in the air until your bike runs up against the rev limiter. Of course, how quickly your bike revs out is determined by the height of your front wheel, as you approach the balance point (described above), the engine will accelerate less quickly. If you reach the balance point, it will stop accelerating entirely. Let me state, for the record, that I DO NOT recommend trying to ride 1st gear balance point wheelies, especially just starting out. But, as your height increases, you'll be able to ride out longer & longer wheelies. It's just that simple. And, as you practice, you'll find yourself getting higher and higher. It's just a matter of gaining comfort, which will come in time. Take things very slowly, adding in, through multiple practice sessions, a little more height and a little more distance, but no more than you're comfortable with, each time. If you're interested in how high you're going, it oftentimes helps to have yourself video-taped. It also helps, once you're comfortable managing your height and have some free attention to spare, to glance down at the tach and see how fast you?re still accelerating. Remember, as your height increases, your acceleration will decrease. I mention running up against the rev limiter a lot, only because, if you do nothing other than maintain a non-balance-point height, and you keep the wheel in the air, you will inevitably run up against it, causing you and your bike to come crashing down to earth in a bone-jarring (& sometimes bike damaging) manner. And, starting out, you're almost guaranteed to hit it at least a few times. But, this is definitely something that you want to avoid. So, at the same time that you're trying to modulate the throttle to bring her up controllably, you want to practice monitoring your speed (via engine noise and/or watching the tach), and attempt to start rolling off the throttle before you hit the rev limiter. You also want to start practicing rolling back into the throttle as the descent occurs in order to soften your landings. All of these things, as mentioned above, will come with time and practice. There's no other substitute. Advanced (for a beginner) Techniques So, after a lot of practice and hard work, you're now consistently pulling up first gear wheelies, to a descent height, under power alone, and holding them until just before the bike peaks out. Now where can you go from here? There are a number of things you may want to work on. You may want to work on leaning your body back now, which can help bring up your wheel quicker, at lower RPM, and therefore allow you to ride out your wheelies for longer time & distance. This is good practice for 2nd gear power wheelies, where you'll have to use some body english to pull them up. You can practice using the clutch to pull them up, once again for the same reasons, getting them up quicker, at lower speed, and rolling them longer. Once again, this is also a good intro into 2nd gear clutch wheelies. You can continue to seek higher heights, and reach the illustrious balance point, but once again be warned, the 1st gear balance point wheelie will bite you quickly if you're not careful. You can start trying to pull 2nd gear power and/or clutch wheelies, or try shifting up into 2nd gear from 1st. It's all up to you. But, above all, make sure you lay down a firm, solid foundation of the basics before trying to attempt the more advanced manuevers. Good Luck!!!!!!! Great info, for the everyone to know... :clap: :clap: :clap:

can someone post some pointers on "clutching up" wheelies?

check out what I posted earlier, that pretty much covers it. Take it easy, don't start redlining it and dropping the clutch. Start out dropping it at like 1,000 rpm's over road speed and work up from there. Other than that, umm, take it slow, and ALWAYS wear your gear, it's just not worth it

damn near shat my pants today...got'er to what felt like almot 12 :lol: oh well...no harm, no foul

I've been riding for 3 years and have never attempt to pop a wheelie... I want to learn how to do it... can anyone explain what clutching up mean?... do you down shift from second gear to first gear?... I know it sound stupid but I just wanted to clearify this :headscrat

I've been riding for 3 years and have never attempt to pop a wheelie... I want to learn how to do it... can anyone explain what clutching up mean?... do you down shift from second gear to first gear?... I know it sound stupid but I just wanted to clearify this :headscrat clutching it up means that as your going in whatever gear 1 or 2 ususally for wheelies you just rap the engine up to a 3-6 grand then you pull in the clutch, give it more gas and release it kinda fast but just dont drop it. that will pop up the front end. But in my opinion that way is unpredictable especially for newer riders doing wheelies cause you wont know what to expect, your front end could just shoot up alot faster thn what your ready for and you loop it. IMHO power wheelies are alot easier and more predictable, you just have to have smooth throttle control.

^^^^word, from a beginner himself (me)....i totally agree after a few weeks of practicing i now got to the point where it feels almost natural and i'm getting more and more consistant with the height thanks to throttle control you'll get to the point where your hand knows exactly how much gas to give when you bring her up

Thanks guys!...

both posts(gixxer @ josh) are correct and accurate. im no wheelie guru by any means but enjoy it as much as the other. popping or slipping the clutch *especially* on any cc lower than 750 would be the easier way to bring it up while sacrficing the higher speeds required of a roll on. i use both accordingly although the pop isnt needed on the 750 but does allow me to bring it up quickly at much lower speeds. great posts! wear ur brain bucket!!!!

i do em both ways and they are both eqauly effective but i feel that rollons are real good for the begginers just cause it gives them a feel for what it feels like to have the wheel off the ground "for those of you that dont remember the first time you did a wheelie" it is a odd feeling but clutchin it up is very predictable and you can do the same thing everytime.thats all have to say and im stickin to it!!!

well, lil' update here. I've been on the 750 for a few weeks now and pretty much have 1st and 2nd gear whoolies down. The bike is so much twitchier than I thought it would be, it was nuts the first couple times clutching up 1st, came up wicked fast. I would say that if if it's your first time and you have no idea what it's going to feel like, at least on the 750, start out in 2nd. Sitting down, get to like 4-5k and pop the clutch at like 2k above road speed, it'll come up a little bit but not much, really controllable. but doing little sit-downs like this gives you a little feel for the bike coming up. Now first gear, once you get comfy (somewhat) with the feeling of clutchin 2nd a little, get it high once in a while, I'd move down to first gear. It's all a feel thing with the clutch, you have to just find it by trial and error, but I've found that the easiest way is to be going at around 25-30 or so, standing staggered, and slowly start accelerating, then, keeping the throttle steady, pull the clutch in just a little bit so that the revs climb a little let the clutch out quickly. You only pull it in just enough so it slips a little, no need to disengage it all the way. Now as you let go of the clutch the bike is going to jump up hella quick, the first time scared the crap out of me. So it popped up but instict makes you just chop the throttle and down you go. So basically once you start doing that in first, try to get familiar with what the bike is going to do when you drop the clutch, and then start working on holding the throttle steady and feeling the bike rise up under you. Eventually you'll learn where to drop the clutch so it comes right up to balance point, but until then clutch it just a foot or so and work the throttle to bring it higher. First gear has a ton of engine braking, so if things get hairy at all you can chop the throttle it's gonna come right down.

well, lil' update here. I've been on the 750 for a few weeks now and pretty much have 1st and 2nd gear whoolies down. The bike is so much twitchier than I thought it would be, it was nuts the first couple times clutching up 1st, came up wicked fast. I would say that if if it's your first time and you have no idea what it's going to feel like, at least on the 750, start out in 2nd. Sitting down, get to like 4-5k and pop the clutch at like 2k above road speed, it'll come up a little bit but not much, really controllable. but doing little sit-downs like this gives you a little feel for the bike coming up. Now first gear, once you get comfy (somewhat) with the feeling of clutchin 2nd a little, get it high once in a while, I'd move down to first gear. It's all a feel thing with the clutch, you have to just find it by trial and error, but I've found that the easiest way is to be going at around 25-30 or so, standing staggered, and slowly start accelerating, then, keeping the throttle steady, pull the clutch in just a little bit so that the revs climb a little let the clutch out quickly. You only pull it in just enough so it slips a little, no need to disengage it all the way. Now as you let go of the clutch the bike is going to jump up hella quick, the first time scared the crap out of me. So it popped up but instict makes you just chop the throttle and down you go. So basically once you start doing that in first, try to get familiar with what the bike is going to do when you drop the clutch, and then start working on holding the throttle steady and feeling the bike rise up under you. Eventually you'll learn where to drop the clutch so it comes right up to balance point, but until then clutch it just a foot or so and work the throttle to bring it higher. First gear has a ton of engine braking, so if things get hairy at all you can chop the throttle it's gonna come right down. good info.

Anyone ever done wheelies on old heavy bikes? Sorta like my 92 750...which is almost 500lbs dry!!! The front end has come up on me a few times when I'm hard on the throttle coming out of corners...so it will def. do power wheelies (usually 2nd gear). Any times for the old heavy?

best description ive ever heard!!!! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :clap: :clap:

i have been searching and searching for this info all friggen day! i tried a clutch dropper from dead stop in first, popped up the wheel about 6 inches and let go of the throttle to bring it back down only to smack my nuts on the tank =) this was before i read your posts here. now i think i gots the understanding of the wheelie alot better! gonna try some without popping tomorrow and see if i can bring it up a bit higher without the nut smash this time. you guys rock, I'm linking this post to another forum i was asking how to do wheelies. thanks! keep up the good work!!!

i have been searching and searching for this info all friggen day! i tried a clutch dropper from dead stop in first, popped up the wheel about 6 inches and let go of the throttle to bring it back down only to smack my nuts on the tank =) this was before i red your posts here. now i think i gots the understanding of the wheelie alot better! gonna try some without popping tomorrow and see if i can bring it up a bit higher without the nut smash this time. you guys rock, I'm linking this post to another forum i was asking how to do wheelies. thanks! keep up the good work!!! no problem man, if you have any other questions. dont be afraid to ask.

haha, the old "tank slapper," lol, j/k. Anyways, keep going with the clutch, that stuff happens with or without the clutch when you chop the throttle. Just remember to keep your arms stiff and that won't really happen. also standing helps a lot to, but get comfortable with the feel of popping the clutch first, it's kinda awkward until you get used to it

i know this is a bit off topic, but what boots are you guys usin? i want to protect my hooves in case i loop it. i can probably afford top of the line, so don't hold back on me =) got my matching lather jacket a few days ago, helps with peace of mind

Hey guys i can get the power wheelies up all day now after several weeks of practice...but now i need to get the clutching thing done. I know you've explained this a thousand time but i dont' exactly know how to get it done....say im in 1st or 2nd gear going about 4k so i just bring the clutch in a bit and then let it quickly while i give it more throttle? or should i keep the throttle the same? I've tried to pull it in a bit and of course the rpms go up, and when i let it out nothign really happens other than a quick jerk, am i not going fast enough, or not letting out quick enough... Let me know how dumb im being here.

my clutch droppers are kindof doing the same thing ceeken is talking about. must take some balls to rev it up higher or something. I'm gona try and get a good accel going to about 4k, hold the accel and slip the clutch to about 7k and let the clutch fly... to be continued seems like i may have to add a bit of throttle ofter the clutch drop initially to pull it up a bit. i can pop the wheel an inch no problem lol hella weak. my guess is i'm needin some more rev and a quicker drop with no lean forward EDIT just got back from a quick trip to the straight street down near the industrials i need a wheelie spotter! (yes my friend knows i'm out riiding and where and to call an ambulence if i'm not back by 9 just in case) when i do the "just gun it" in first gear wheelie, i can't tell how far up the wheel pops. i don't know if i'm even getting the sucker off the ground! on the other hand, i clutched up once... (unaware of rpm) and popped whaaaaaay up and scared the shit out of me, then let of an landed front tire hard and got a bit wobbly. that is so crazy! thanks for the tips! gotta get it down to a science so i can predict what will happen before it does. just gotta remember to look what rpm i'm at when the clutch pops, unless i can dial in the feeling

man, is there something worng with my bike? power wheelies aren't working for me at all. i started trying them at about 6 r's .. and now I'm waiting untill 8-9 k before i smack the juice open. it's definatley powerband. I stay in one spot, don't try to lean forward (unless i don't realize it) and sit my ass back on the seat... i can't even tell if the wheel is poping up! if it is popping up, it's only raising like 1-2" and then sets back down like it's on a cloud of pillows and i can't feel shit. USDM420, i hope were riding this thrusday cause i need somone to tell me if my wheel is getting of the ground. I'm freaked out the clutch dropping wheelies after that first one. lmao... i can't seem to get the hang of this, but i'm also trying to keep myself from going to nutty, i havn't ha this sucker for too long. maybe one of the homies could give it a try on my bike an see if it's me or the bike. man, i gun that shit in first gear and i practically try to loop it, but i can't even tell if the wheel is coming up

damn man hahaha i can give it a shot thursday or at least show you how i do it on my bike....i bet you're not positioniong your body right...you're probably too tense, and you'll think you aren't!!! BUT, wait until you really get comfortable doing them right, and you'll realise what i'm talking about...just the slightest relaxation and lean can make a world of difference...ANY added weight to the front end will bring it down

man, is there something worng with my bike? power wheelies aren't working for me at all. i started trying them at about 6 r's .. and now I'm waiting untill 8-9 k before i smack the juice open. it's definatley powerband. I stay in one spot, don't try to lean forward (unless i don't realize it) and sit my ass back on the seat... i can't even tell if the wheel is poping up! if it is popping up, it's only raising like 1-2" and then sets back down like it's on a cloud of pillows and i can't feel shit. USDM420, i hope were riding this thrusday cause i need somone to tell me if my wheel is getting of the ground. I'm freaked out the clutch dropping wheelies after that first one. lmao... i can't seem to get the hang of this, but i'm also trying to keep myself from going to nutty, i havn't ha this sucker for too long. maybe one of the homies could give it a try on my bike an see if it's me or the bike. man, i gun that shit in first gear and i practically try to loop it, but i can't even tell if the wheel is coming up yea like your buddy said make sure you aren't riding the tank..that was my problem at first. try to sit back as far as you can on your seat. And it doesn't sound like you are getting up at all...you'll know as soon as you get it up. Also when you are taking it to 8-9K are you letting off the throttle before you gun it? you need to do that and feel the front end of the bike drop down right before you open it up. You will know exactly what im talking about when it happens. Im not sure how big your bike is and year...but mine is 01 600 and i take it up to 9-10K let off the throttle till the front drops (takes only a half a sec.) then open. and it'll pop up like nothing. good luck. also have someone video tape you doing it. that is the best way to get a feel for how high you are.

Hey guys i can get the power wheelies up all day now after several weeks of practice...but now i need to get the clutching thing done. I know you've explained this a thousand time but i dont' exactly know how to get it done....say im in 1st or 2nd gear going about 4k so i just bring the clutch in a bit and then let it quickly while i give it more throttle? or should i keep the throttle the same? I've tried to pull it in a bit and of course the rpms go up, and when i let it out nothign really happens other than a quick jerk, am i not going fast enough, or not letting out quick enough... Let me know how dumb im being here. i dont think theres any certian rpm to be in what i do is pull the clutch in jus a lil so its disingauged and trottle closed then in one motion i open the throttle and let the clutch out.....im still opening my throttle as im letting out the clutch, its a feel thing kinda like when your in your stick shift car going up a lil hill from a dead stop...also i always give it a lil bounce no matter what speed im at even if its from a dead stop it jus makes it smoother

hmmmm. i tried the clutch several times and its too jerky for me right now...for beginners i totally suggest powering it up to get a feel for the wheel coming up..

My feeling is that some of you guys are over thinking this wheelie thing. To say that I mean you should be concentrating more on feel and the sound of your engine, more than looking at the tach for RPM's. Do you look at the tach before every shift or do you go by feel or sound? Loosen up a bit, I don't agree with the above posters "Like A Robot ". One other thing to remember is as wheelie beginers you are never as close to 12o'clock as you think you are. Have a buddy spot for you and perhaps videotape your session. I use both clutch and throttle for wheelies, I find that both are equally useful. Be safe not stupid. Lastly Practice,Practice,Practice.

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet, i'm getting the front wheel up a bit now.. and i can feel it! i hit 7k, let off, and then juice the mother and up she goes! thanks for the tips! it's workin :thumbup: i can do it without lookin at the rpms now that i have the "let off the gas then punch it" idea

yeah i used to look at the rpms when i first started too...now i can just roll her up, let off, and WHAK! up she comes....the engine lets me know when she's ready to go hahaha

did my first wheelie today, it was totally awesome. didnt get her too high, dont know if it is cause its lowered or cause i sit so far up on the tank. but thanks for the good info.

ok well i was practicing some more wheelies and when i came back down the front end got a little wobbly, i had control and didnt freak out, but i noticed i was in neutral and figured i hit it out of first going up or coming down. well anyways i tried to put it in second, all i heard was like a grinding noise like when you miss a gear in a car, did the same when i tried to put it into first, finally it went into gear. is this a known occurance, or what please ease my mind. its still a brand new bike.

I dont know what that noise is but I damn sure like the color of your bike man. Nice. And let me ask again, does anyone have any advice for the heavy old gixxer ?

thanks man sorry no advice, try and clutch it up i guess. im too afraid to do that.

I ALLways clutch up i fell more comfortable doin it that way....well in 2nd anyways first i dont clutch up....

i been practicing my power wheelies.. i can get em up pretty high sometimes, but not every time it seems. last night on an empty tank i had that sucker way up there. when i hit it at just the right time it goes waaay up i'm still freaked out to try clutching too, but i'vebeen getting used to mixing clutch and throttle aggressivley. I'd assume that will lead to a wheelie one day

I'm not crazy about trying to clutch it up. I would rather save my clutch/final drive/engine.

ok well i was practicing some more wheelies and when i came back down the front end got a little wobbly, i had control and didnt freak out, but i noticed i was in neutral and figured i hit it out of first going up or coming down. well anyways i tried to put it in second, all i heard was like a grinding noise like when you miss a gear in a car, did the same when i tried to put it into first, finally it went into gear. is this a known occurance, or what please ease my mind. its still a brand new bike. If you are going fast...and im sure if you were powerwheeling it, you were over 30-40 mph and you put it into neutral you need to slow down before putting it into gear. I don't know why that is, i'd imagine you're just going too fast for the gears to slide in easy. This has happened to my bike. just simply slow down and then put it into second. If you force it you will hear a loud "clunk".

If you are going fast...and im sure if you were powerwheeling it, you were over 30-40 mph and you put it into neutral you need to slow down before putting it into gear. I don't know why that is, i'd imagine you're just going too fast for the gears to slide in easy. This has happened to my bike. just simply slow down and then put it into second. If you force it you will hear a loud "clunk". Wouldn't blipping the throttle work too?

ok well i was practicing some more wheelies and when i came back down the front end got a little wobbly, i had control and didnt freak out, but i noticed i was in neutral and figured i hit it out of first going up or coming down. well anyways i tried to put it in second, all i heard was like a grinding noise like when you miss a gear in a car, did the same when i tried to put it into first, finally it went into gear. is this a known occurance, or what please ease my mind. its still a brand new bike. You have to match engine speed to road speed, you have to rev the motor to get it to slide into gear easier.

I been trying every other weekend to do a wheelie. I do about a couple per session, out of say 20 tries. All this time what I've been doing is clutching it up in first from a rolling start. However this last time out, I actually got it up sorta doing the power thing. I get my bike up to about 7k, then leggo of the throttle, and then punch it, time it just right and pull up on the bars.

sweet! i can get that sucker to power wheelie all day, every try. I just have a problem getting all the way up to BP now.. if i did get it up there i'd be at some serious rpm and would probably set it back down anyways. sure looks cool to pop a phat wheelie coming off the light when there is a bunch of traffic on the other side of the road =) now i gotta learn clutching up reliably... yikes!

well guys, i read all the pages and i tihnk im ready to go out in the country and try to do some power wheelies! wish me luck! i will be back on later tonight ( if im still alive lol) to tell my experiences!

I have a stock 93 600 and pull wheelies all the time. I learned on dirtbikes and than i practiced on my bike, only took about 2 trys. Now I want to learn to keep up the wheel and shift into 2nd.

well guys i went out and when it actually came time to try to do some wheelies, i was too afraid :infrandom im not afraid of gettting the wheel up, im just afraid of ruining the bike if i have to lay it down!

wow, i must really suck at doing wheelies... I cant power them up in first nor can i clutch it in second and im pretty sure im doin what all the posts said... The highest ive gotten it up was pry around 4-5 inches.... Can some one PM me some better suggestions. or email me at shuttjason@yahoo.com

well guys i went out and when it actually came time to try to do some wheelies, i was too afraid :infrandom im not afraid of gettting the wheel up, im just afraid of ruining the bike if i have to lay it down! fear is what makes you try harder and keeps you somewhat sane...also it keeps you in your limits....if there was no fear i wouldnt be on a bike...just remember to stay in your limits and take baby steps

fear is what makes you try harder and keeps you somewhat sane...also it keeps you in your limits....if there was no fear i wouldnt be on a bike...just remember to stay in your limits and take baby steps well i dont think it will be much longer, because about 1 week ago, i never revved it past 7K rpms and now when im on the back roads i go right to 12K. so i think its just that right now i dont feel confident enough to try but its only a matter of time in my mind!

is it also possible to do a power wheelie in second? or is it only with the clutch that you can bring it up in second?

I have a stock 93 600 and pull wheelies all the time. I learned on dirtbikes and than i practiced on my bike, only took about 2 trys. Now I want to learn to keep up the wheel and shift into 2nd. Bro...I have a 92 750 (see my avatar). Your bike has got to be about as heavy as mine right? Those old bastards are rocks man! Post some pics of that baby.

is it also possible to do a power wheelie in second? or is it only with the clutch that you can bring it up in second? since i started doing wheelies from the info here.. i havn't been able to get it up in second. i figured out i can do the "let off" at about 5k rpm (alot less than i thought before)and then smack it open. the bike will lift up quite a bit higher than 4-5 inches... especially if you keep your body loose and ready to come back a bit without moving around. seems like after you get the point of where to start the power wheelie... its only a matter of learning to let it come up by adjusting your body to get used to the experience. i find myself pushing down on the bike now to put it down. sit your ass way back on the seat and losen up on the arms.. juke the throttle and dont move your body accept for leaning back when the bike comes up in 1st gear. you wont flip it.. you'll only be doin 50 when the wheel comes back down and the engine breaking will save you from anything but a short run way or a car crossing your path. an easy power wheelie isn't really scary, it just sounds like the bike is going to come up way easy and flip over. if you are somewhat reserved you aren't flipping anything and a desert road with lots of stop signs is your new best friend :lol: and remember, the second you push the front end down, it comes down, and everything is OK again.

since i started doing wheelies from the info here.. i havn't been able to get it up in second. i figured out i can do the "let off" at about 5k rpm (alot less than i thought before)and then smack it open. the bike will lift up quite a bit higher than 4-5 inches... especially if you keep your body loose and ready to come back a bit without moving around. seems like after you get the point of where to start the power wheelie... its only a matter of learning to let it come up by adjusting your body to get used to the experience. i find myself pushing down on the bike now to put it down. sit your ass way back on the seat and losen up on the arms.. juke the throttle and dont move your body accept for leaning back when the bike comes up in 1st gear. you wont flip it.. you'll only be doin 50 when the wheel comes back down and the engine breaking will save you from anything but a short run way or a car crossing your path. an easy power wheelie isn't really scary, it just sounds like the bike is going to come up way easy and flip over. if you are somewhat reserved you aren't flipping anything and a desert road with lots of stop signs is your new best friend :lol: and remember, the second you push the front end down, it comes down, and everything is OK again. Thats on a 99 600. Dont get any ideas of trying that on a '01 1K. That sum bitch will flip right over before you can even think about letting off the gas and grabbin the rear brake.

guess i should have added in there somewhere... "on a 99 600..." =P

guess i should have added in there somewhere... "on a 99 600..." =P HAHA

wow, i must really suck at doing wheelies... I cant power them up in first nor can i clutch it in second and im pretty sure im doin what all the posts said... The highest ive gotten it up was pry around 4-5 inches.... Can some one PM me some better suggestions. or email me at shuttjason@yahoo.com

Thats on a 99 600. Dont get any ideas of trying that on a '01 1K. That sum bitch will flip right over before you can even think about letting off the gas and grabbin the rear brake. when you wheelie first on your 1k do you power it up or clutch it?second?

i've been going lower n lower with the rpms on the power wheelies now too..as soon as she lifts off the ground i can dig into the throttle and get a nice smooth lift to where i want..now if i could just keep it up (the bike assholes!!! hahaha) and get into 2nd, but i haven't tried shifting yet..

ey USDM,,, i was out busting wheelies all over where that bar and grill was! i saw a gsxr yellow..was that you or what man? i know the guy on the yellow gsxr saw me and kept going, so i figured that wasn't you?! we must have missed echother by a few minutes or some shit

yeah we barely missed each other..that other yellow gixxer wasn't me..i took off all of the factory black stickers down the sides.....the sides are ALL yellow

got up to bp from a power wheelie last night... would held ita bit longer accept for it scared the shit out of me =D will try again today

saweeeeet! I'm getting em there alot! this morning i put a few more up to balance point... i even rode one at balance point for a few seconds this time untill i ran out of rev. theres some good info on here! 2-3 weeks later i'm riding them for a bit longer than just popping it up! good deal. some other board was trying to send me to a wheelie school on a triumph :lol: :laughingr it's kindof odd how it will lift up at such a lower RPM.. i havn't been looking lately (which is good) but my guess is i start the wheelie at about 4-5k now.. not even in the power band yet... so when i do get to the power band i have juice to bring it to bp

yuuuup, i told you...the more relaxed you get, the lower you can drop the rpm's and still get it up..

when you wheelie first on your 1k do you power it up or clutch it?second? Power it up. Both gears.

shit, i almost fell of the back today! how do i keep it at BP?! i either go too much or too little. i think my bounce is inconsistent or somethin. this is tricky! on that note i figured out i can power up a wheelie in third standing up =D I keep trying to remember to cover that ol rear break too

i tried clutching it up today and i almost lost my grip on the handle bars! i find that when i try to clutch it up, that its very jerky! its weird cause when i watch my buddies clutch it up, they seem to do it very smotthly!

shit, i almost fell of the back today! how do i keep it at BP?! i either go too much or too little. i think my bounce is inconsistent or somethin. this is tricky! on that note i figured out i can power up a wheelie in third standing up =D I keep trying to remember to cover that ol rear break too power it up in 3rd?? damn y0, thats hauling ass

i got an 05 750 and i am having trouble in 2nd gear to get that front tire up...i tried from like 7,000 to slam the throttle but it doesnt come up i tried clutchin the bitch and it dont come up either....any tips?

i had no idea when i was starting out doin wheelies. i just started clutchin it up in 1st gear well my bike went over backwards. that was only the second week after i had the bike. being my first bike i expected it to happen. either way i now can clutch wheelies up in first gear with no problem what so ever and i can basically do it at any rpm. my problem now is trying to transition from either first gear to second DURING A WHEELIE or clutching it in second gear. i know my bike (2k5 600) has the power to pull it up in second gear without dropping my sprocket down a tooth BUT its becoming a pain in my ass. i see people on older bikes and bikes with not nearly the power of mine pulling wheelies up in 2nd and riding them for days. i try it and i come about 6 inches off the ground. i usually take the rpm to about 6k which is like 52mph thats where my friend said it was easiest when he tried on my bike. also my clutch is adjusted way out so i only need to use one finger to pop it. all of these things done i still have a hell of a time doing it. maybe because i have short arms and have to sit closer to the tank? cant slide back far enough? do i need to "bounce" the front of the bike? please help im stumped

[QUOTE=cakemonster] only to smack my nuts on the tank =) QUOTE] I feel ya, just did my first power wheelie on my lunch break, I dont think Ill be able to have kids!!!! :eek: need to make sure Im farther away from the tank next time!!!

:funny: :thumbup: killer man, your on the right track

:funny: :thumbup: killer man, your on the right track 2 hrs later and still killin me, this SUCKS!!!

i had no idea when i was starting out doin wheelies. i just started clutchin it up in 1st gear well my bike went over backwards. that was only the second week after i had the bike. being my first bike i expected it to happen. either way i now can clutch wheelies up in first gear with no problem what so ever and i can basically do it at any rpm. my problem now is trying to transition from either first gear to second DURING A WHEELIE or clutching it in second gear. i know my bike (2k5 600) has the power to pull it up in second gear without dropping my sprocket down a tooth BUT its becoming a pain in my ass. i see people on older bikes and bikes with not nearly the power of mine pulling wheelies up in 2nd and riding them for days. i try it and i come about 6 inches off the ground. i usually take the rpm to about 6k which is like 52mph thats where my friend said it was easiest when he tried on my bike. also my clutch is adjusted way out so i only need to use one finger to pop it. all of these things done i still have a hell of a time doing it. maybe because i have short arms and have to sit closer to the tank? cant slide back far enough? do i need to "bounce" the front of the bike? please help im stumped First off, stand up, it moves your weight back and makes it a lot eisier to bring up, and makes bp lower. And clutch that thing HARD. 2nd takes a lot more revs than 1st, keep your arms straight and don't hump the tank when it comes up high.

ive got a feeling that all these guys who cant wheelie there bikes, are new riders period. you guys must have never had dirt bikes or anything. for me going from my xr 400 to the gsxr 1000 no differnce in my approach to wheelies other than the xr is actually easier. but i havent tried stand ups on the 1000 yet i can do em on the dirt bike just havent tried on the 1000 yet. but i think a lot can be learned on a dirt bike. especially the essentials like throttle control, and manipulation of the bike using your body, i'm 64 310 and can do sit downs forever but when i stand up on the gixxer its way uncomfortable, as of now, another few weeks and i'll be good to go

yes this is my first bike. never ridden anything other than a mongoose ;) i could ride wheelies on that all day long though? :thumbup: but seriously ive only had my bike for a little over a month and i have 3200 miles on it already. id say my progress is really good for never being on a motorcycle before! :fu: haha

i wasnt dissin on anyone man, just my assumption, it all comes with time. 3200 miles is awesome in a month, the bike i bought is a year old and only has 2000 on it, bought it from a friend, who barely rode it, just keep on tryin and remeber that the BP is alot higher than most people are comfotable with when learning,

so any tips on switching to 2nd gear while already at BP in 1st? this is a sitdown wheelie......i get it up and can ride it till redline or damn near close, i just let off cuz its my natural reaction, BUT i wanna start trying to shift to 2nd gear while up on 1.....will a semi-jerky shift cause any uneasiness? if the tire spins at all, what kind of reaction from the bike should i expect? etc. etc.....anything will help.

I recently started practicing sit-downs on my 2005 Suzuki-1000, I can get them up most of the time specially when I am relaxed. Yesterday i pop-ed a nice one on 1st gear at about 45mph and it felt very smooth. My question is will it be better to learn sit-downs on first or is it easier to do stand-ups? Thanks guys.

Man, Stand-ups on first for beginners? I don’t advise that, you’ve 1000 2005, that’s 2 dam powerful bike, and using the 1st on wheelies needs experience on tat bike, I suggest you do set-downs, because stand ups in the 1st is mainly for maintaining constant speed at BP, which needs to push the breaks. I just crushed my 1000 2004 because I missed the 12 o’clock without break. usdm420, if you want to shift from 1st to 2nd, this mean you are still far from BP, shifting mean your bike is still accelerating, anyhow, what I simply do on my 1000 is keep your foot under the gear lever, applying minimal force on the lever, that is pushing it from down without causing the lever to actual shift the gear, just keep your leg sticked to it from down, in this point where you reach 90% of rpm in the normal range ( 90% of the white rpm zone), just release the throttle slightly ( that is extremely slight) and apply little more force on the gear lever just enough to shift the gear. Most important to assure that the gear is shifted without damage, make sure that you don’t release the throttle more that enough. 1 or 2 mm. and in the same time you shift the gear, and actually if you apply the correct amount of force on the lever before you release the throttle, the slight decrees in throttle will make a gap between gears that the lever will be shifted without you do anything, just with the small force you maintain. And make sure to push the throttle again after the gear shifted to the same position or slightly above. Take your time and practice to be familiar with the amount of force you need to release and apply while shifting. Other people will probably use a slight force on the clutch instead of releasing the throttle, but if you control your throttle perfect, the gear will be shifted more smoothly than with the clutch, and you will even not here a single voice from the gear, while using clutch will generate a more violent response in the bike when the gear is changed. Good luck and this is my way, others may have other methods

just came home from hanging out a few mins ago and i decided to do a wheelie from what i've been reading on the thread before i get to my house. i decided to do a wheelie on 1st gear and power it up. well i got it up to 7 rpm and just snapped it to full throttle. At first the shit didnt got up. i let off the throttle and i guess the suspension on the front compressed and i snapped it to full throttle again it got up probably 4 inches off the ground and went down. I let off on the throttle and decided to snap it to full throttle again after the front was compressed at around 9 rpm that baby just got up quick. at first i didnt know it was going up that quick until started see the night lights on the street and rolled off the throttle only a little and it was still going up hard. i then shut it off fearing that i was going to loop it and the front tire just smack the pavement hard. I must have gotten it u for about 3 sec to 4 sec. that shit was crazy. Bad thing was i forgot to cover the rear break incase i do a 12 o'clock. Powering it up on first gear is definitely a little scary. I'll have to practice on my throttle control alot more and making sure i cover the rear brake. Any suggestions with clutching it up on 1st or 2nd gear? What rpm do i have to be on when i clutch it upon both gears. Do i grab on the clutch and let it go quickly? I have an 03 600 btw.

[QUOTE=saudibiker]Man, Stand-ups on first for beginners? I don’t advise that, you’ve 1000 2005, that’s 2 dam powerful bike, and using the 1st on wheelies needs experience on tat bike, I suggest you do set-downs, because stand ups in the 1st is mainly for maintaining constant speed at BP, which needs to push the breaks. I just crushed my 1000 2004 because I missed the 12 o’clock without break. usdm420, if you want to shift from 1st to 2nd, this mean you are still far from BP, shifting mean your bike is still accelerating, anyhow, what I simply do on my 1000 is keep your foot under the gear lever, applying minimal force on the lever, that is pushing it from down without causing the lever to actual shift the gear, just keep your leg sticked to it from down, in this point where you reach 90% of rpm in the normal range ( 90% of the white rpm zone), just release the throttle slightly ( that is extremely slight) and apply little more force on the gear lever just enough to shift the gear. Most important to assure that the gear is shifted without damage, make sure that you don’t release the throttle more that enough. 1 or 2 mm. and in the same time you shift the gear, and actually if you apply the correct amount of force on the lever before you release the throttle, the slight decrees in throttle will make a gap between gears that the lever will be shifted without you do anything, just with the small force you maintain. And make sure to push the throttle again after the gear shifted to the same position or slightly above. Take your time and practice to be familiar with the amount of force you need to release and apply while shifting. Other people will probably use a slight force on the clutch instead of releasing the throttle, but if you control your throttle perfect, the gear will be shifted more smoothly than with the clutch, and you will even not here a single voice from the gear, while using clutch will generate a more violent response in the bike when the gear is changed. Good luck and this is my way, others may have other methods[/QUOTE Awesome explanation.. how do you do your 2nd gear wheelies? clutch?

Thanks Fuzion, Regarding how I left it in 2nd, I have a point here, I faced a crepy situation cuple of times, that is pumping up the throuttle sudenly with my bike( also 1000 cc because I had 1000's from begining) can make you loss your body balance on the bike, resulting in an very strong accelaration while you are trying to keep your self on the bike, so the only thing that grips you to the bike is your hands on the steering, and if you let them you will defenitly fall of the back of the bike, and in that situation you will not be able to let go the throuttle or even move it slitly backword to slow the bike, if you face this in low RPM ( 4-8 K ) your bike will loop while you are waiting for it not capable of doing nothing, you will freez and probably will not even think to push the rear break. Realy a scary shit, and because of that I never depend on throuttle, but with smaller engines( 400-750) I guess you wo'nt face this problem. Any how, I pull the clutch fully and than let it go while 4.5-6.6 K RPM, many argue that this will consume the clutch faster, and that it should be a slight tuch to the clutch, but all my friends who do that replaced their clutch sevral times while my bike is 20,000 KM ( 12,000 M) and just now it needed to replace the clutch, logiclly, the slight tuch of the clutch should longer yur clutch life, but on reality, my observation is that the oppiset is correct. If you have a 1000 cc, on 2nd, hit the clutch fully at 5-6 K RPM ( 30-40 MPH) with slight throuttle increase, or slight clutch tuch with relativly more throutel ( 1-2 K more than riding RPM at maximum, more RPM will sureprize U or even loop your bike). If you do sit-downs, or you stand up when the bike is up, this will be fine, if you stand up befor lefting the bike, less RPM than I suggested up will be enogh. Good Luck and wear your full safety gear and helmet, hugging the street is not worthy, trust me. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

:bowdown: :headscrat :clap: :rofl: :laughingr

You will never learn how to do a wheelie without first standing up on your pegs. Dont think about how much throttle to give it. just go by feel. And the most inportant thing of all is grow some balls (or ovarys if you are female) and pull the mother fing wheel up atleast 4 1/2 feet off the ground . You should see your headlight and your front tire spinning when you are finally high enough. it doesnt take a 60 tooth sprocket or a lot of performance parts to make your bike wheelie better it is all rider skill! you can read all of the freaking information in the world about wheelieing and still not be able to do one. it takes practice and balls (or ovarys) . so get off of your ass (literally) and quit being a puss and go ride some wheelies. I learned how to ride wheelies on my 93 ex 500 ninja and in that year they had 42hp and weighed about 450lbs. stop thinking so much and feel and listen to your bike . Anybody with and common sense and a little bit of balance will know when you have pushed it too hard. You dont need videos or tutorals to do wheelies it just takes an aggressive attitude and some courage! So go do the best wheelie of your life right now! I am serious get up and go do a wheelie ! NOW! GO! trust me go !!! :thumbup:

the trick to switching from first to second gear in a wheelie without hitting neutral is pull the wheel up fast and at as low of rpms as possible and as soon as your wheel is about 3 feet off the ground switch right then, because the higher your rpms get the more chance you will have of hitting neutral. I dont use my cluch to shift in a wheelie i just blip the throttle and click up on the shifter.

the trick to switching from first to second gear in a wheelie without hitting neutral is pull the wheel up fast and at as low of rpms as possible and as soon as your wheel is about 3 feet off the ground switch right then, because the higher your rpms get the more chance you will have of hitting neutral. I dont use my cluch to shift in a wheelie i just blip the throttle and click up on the shifter. why dont you use your clutch to shift in a wheelie?

ok I am ready for wheelies... the only thing is should I try them sitting down first, or standing up. I am going to attempt the clutch wheelies in 2nd gear, I dont care to do wheelies in first unless its a power wheelie. I can get first gear up to 4-5 inches. I am also wondering since I am a bigger guy waying over 300 will my pegs support my weight standing on them? I dont want to stand up in a wheeile and eat shit cuz my peg snapped cuz of my weight. how much weight can the rearset hold?

Man, I had your fear erlier when I did my standups wheelies, I am 113KGk I guess this is around 250 puonds, still I blindly trusted the manufacturer (it was a lie to my self to keep my balls) and since then, nothing in the bike broke from my wieght ,yet, go ahead wieght-mate, just becarfull from slipping your huge shose from that tinny so called pegs, try a high grip material shoes. Good Luck :rofl:

Hey man i live in Colorado Springs as well. I am to no avail trying to do wheelies. I have a 96 GSXR 750, I have tried it all. I have tried to clutch it. I go 15mph, pull the clutch, rev er up to like 5 or 6k and drop the clutch and roll the throttle as well. I get the tire like a foot off the ground but only for like one second. Can you help me out. Maybe we could meet somewhere and you could give me some pointers. Thanks man

I don't know if you saw my post or not, but i live in Colorado Springs as well and having a hell of a time getting my 96GSX-R750 up. I have tried the throttle tech (sped up untill my rpm was 6k cut the throttle off completly, let if drop to 4k then slammed the throttle full, the tire never even left the ground) I have also tried the Clutch tech with a little more success (I get up to 15mph pull the clutch in with one finger, rev it up to 6k let the clutch out) I get it up like one foot but only for like one second. Please Help. Maybe we can meet up somewhere and you could give me some pointers. Thanks man :hmmm: Up here above 7,000 feet that shit doesn't work. You have to give 'er hell and pop the clutch.

I'm still trying to get wheelies down, but this method seems pretty good to me so far. I used to clutch the way you described: dip clutch, rev up, release clutch. I found that it usually takes a bunch of RPM's, I'm not accelerating after the front end hops, and it makes the cluch smell (LOL). But heres a method I like that I got from Kaneone at http://www.sportbikes.com/wwwthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/316120/an/0/page/0 Get going in 2nd gear at about 5k RPM's, WOT it (when he says punch it he means it), then dip the clutch ... boom its in the air, back off the throttle to ride it out. It really does look and sound good. My biggest prob when practicing this method is giving it throttle. Ya really do need to punch it. Thats actually been my biggest stumbling block when I practice any of the wheelie methods I read about. "Give it more throttle", she said ...

I like everybodys input on this important subject cause everybodys bringin some thing 2 th table (i.e. experience,skillz,readin a book,watchin ur buddy bust his/her ass)least u know what NOT 2 do.but thers a lot of varibles here a 600 is not going 2 act the same w/ a 170lbs on it as it would w/ say 240 on it.And ive also come 2 learn that u can have 2 bikes exactly the same. one will generally out power the other.So as we all know, everything in moderation is less painfull my advice is 2 ease into both ways & pic the style ur most comfortable with for startin out.Because after all who knows ur machines limits better than u.But these guyz (gixxer&josh)both know there shit!!!!! :thumbup: :clap: :cheers:

I don't know if you saw my post or not, but i live in Colorado Springs as well and having a hell of a time getting my 96GSX-R750 up. I have tried the throttle tech (sped up untill my rpm was 6k cut the throttle off completly, let if drop to 4k then slammed the throttle full, the tire never even left the ground) I have also tried the Clutch tech with a little more success (I get up to 15mph pull the clutch in with one finger, rev it up to 6k let the clutch out) I get it up like one foot but only for like one second. Please Help. Maybe we can meet up somewhere and you could give me some pointers. Thanks man :hmmm: Hey man I got a 97 GSXR750 (only mods are bolt on exhaust and jet kit) and I can get it up to bp (rarely) or at least close to it and ride it out. Your throttle tech that your using is wrong O_o When you do the off/on tech you let off the throttle and almost immediately hit the throttle again. YOu want to hit the throttle when the suspension compresses which doesn't take very long. What your doing when you let it drop to 4k is like just riding normal at 4k and then hitting the gas. (is that 1st gear or 2nd?) It should lift up in 1st even if you do it wrong just because of sheer power of 1st gear. You also don't even need to rev it up to 6k on our bikes. I usually pop up my 1st gear wheelies at only 3k O_o Also your body english is gonna decide how high and how fast your bike comes up. If your leaning forward like crazy it's not gonna come up good. I'm not good at wheelies in anyway but just figured I'd give some advice since we got pretty much the same bike (though you got fuel injection you lucky bastard haha)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6656191590638402466&q=motorcycle good video teaching you the basics, hopw it helps

Sweet vid!!

been practicing 1st gear power wheelies on my gixer6k4 for a while now,they always seem inconsistant, one came up so fast and high i thought i was gone,its not easy shuttig that throttle when your hanging off the back at 12 oclock any tips guys? cant crash or give up!!! :thumbup:

i just learned to pop a wheelie last season and only done it a couple of times ... i do a throttle wheelie which i find easier ... however my problem is staying up i throttle it up for like 1 sec and i'm back down again because i'm scared i guess ... not rillly scared of getting hurt but more scared of damaging the bike ... my other problem is when i come down i come down hard .... any advice would be greatly appreciated thanx

I would say that once you loose the "crest", then you should lay on the throttle to land smooth. Once you pop the clutch or give it enough gas to bring the front up, if the front end starts coming down, it will take a bunch more throttle to bring it back up so its safe to keep a solid hand on the throttle as the front lands. Where I see most people messing up is they bring the front end up hard, get scared and then they feel like they shouldn't try again later (that would make too much sense), so they lay on a bunch more throttle and flip it. Pop the front up with the clutch or the throttle, keep a steady hand on the throttle, and then when that feels good, throttle some more to bring the front up higher. Land while on the throttle to keep it smooth. I'm no expert and thats just my opinion.

Oh, I after I practice a bit, I dont use that Kane method in my previous post. The method in that google vid is spot on. The only thing I can add is that I used to slip the clutch and then back off the throttle cuz of the noise. Didn't even know I was doing it. Keep the throttle hand on at the same spot of the slip, and if you don't give it more it will just fall back to the ground fairly nicely. Just a bit more gas and ya got a really smooth landing.

Hey got your memo pretty cool I just havent downloaded any pics of me

Alright, I know this is a worn out subject, but can you guys help out another newbie? This was a long thread so I only read until my eyes were exhausted, but I didn't ever notice if anyone raised the question of the difference between say a 600 and a liter bike when trying to wheelie (If somewhere in the thread this was discussed, sorry) Anyway, I am fairly new to sportbikes. I just bought an 06 1000 and I am having a blast. I just wonder, is there a massive difference in trying wheelies on a liter bike as opposed to a 600? At the same time I bought my bike, I bought an 06' 600 for my wife. I haven't really played around with it, but I can't imagine getting the wheel up compared to my 1000. It is too easy with the 1000. I am constantly finding myself getting to that "oh shit" height and slamming the throttle shut. I am really gonna use what I read an concentrate more on what I am doing. I think I will be fine if I just slightly close the throttle as opposed to getting paranoid and slamming it shut.

Well for one thing a 1K will whip your ass much quicker than a 600. The principle stays the same but the rmp will most probably be different. I learned doing power wheelies on my ZX12. In theory the bigger cc bike should be easier because of more hp and bottom end grunt.

Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking. It's almost like it would be a little easier if the bike would just barley wheelie as opposed to the powerhouse I'm riding now. In my experience which has just been about a month, it seems to me like trying to wheelie is like hitting a golf ball. You swing and swing and swing and then all of the sudden, the ball is hit totally perfect and it was effortless. I find myself doing this with wheelies.. It's like I try and try and then all the sudden, it just comes up so smooth and I carry it farther than I ever have without getting scared and it just lands like a jetliner.....That makes me just want to keep trying....

I ride a K6 600, and sometimes it comes up on a power wheelie. the rpm's are the same. I think it's how i'm setting on the bike. But I'm new to wheelie on street bike. I know on a dirt bike the powerband has alot more punch. But anyways I think if you ride a 600 power wheelies arre lot easyer to learn than using the cluch. There's just so much less that can go wrong with a power wheelie. that's just my 2 cents. :thumbup:

thanks for the tips guys i appreciate them

I dont understand, I dropped a tooth on the front sprocket and i thought it would be no problem. but i followed the directions in this post to the t and nothing. maybe my front will come up like an ich or two but nothing more. this is really frustrating cuz my friend on a 600RR can do it like its nothing. any help would be appreciated. thanks. 2001 GSXR 600

I dont understand, I dropped a tooth on the front sprocket and i thought it would be no problem. but i followed the directions in this post to the t and nothing. maybe my front will come up like an ich or two but nothing more. this is really frustrating cuz my friend on a 600RR can do it like its nothing. any help would be appreciated. thanks. 2001 GSXR 600 then you are obviously not doing something right. its more skill than balls or power. especially on a 600. I could pull it up in 2nd with no problems. I want you to pay attention to your rpms I bet you are listening to the engine and shifting way too early. just open the throttle wide open at about 9000 in first gear and tell me if it doesnt walk right up. If you need a qicker answer you can email me and I will answer it immediatley ,I check my emails about 50 times per day

i have a k6 1000 and i weigh about 260lbs at 6'2 . today i had my wife video tape me. I wanted to just do a fast pass and when i put the bike in 3rd i was doin round 100-110 and all of a sudden the front end came up. REALLLLLy fast!! i got spooked and let off... the sad part is... the camera was messin up and didn't get that shot!@@$%#$%@^@%^#@. i really wanted to see how high i was and all that. i have also been working on my 1st gear wheelies and i can bring her up about 1-2 feet then it feels wrong so i let her down. sometimes the bike will all of a sudden veer off to the left or right and i have to bring it back down... not sure why??

i have a k6 1000 and i weigh about 260lbs at 6'2 . today i had my wife video tape me. I wanted to just do a fast pass and when i put the bike in 3rd i was doin round 100-110 and all of a sudden the front end came up. REALLLLLy fast!! i got spooked and let off... the sad part is... the camera was messin up and didn't get that shot!@@$%#$%@^@%^#@. i really wanted to see how high i was and all that. i have also been working on my 1st gear wheelies and i can bring her up about 1-2 feet then it feels wrong so i let her down. sometimes the bike will all of a sudden veer off to the left or right and i have to bring it back down... not sure why?? man u better take babe steps before walking if u can't ride 1st or 2nd gear wheelies why even try 3rd at those speeds sounds like to me your going to get hurt learn the bike first that bike has to much power to not respect

I'd also suggest you slow yourself down...that speed is not a safe speed to be practicing wheelies if you can't even do 1st and 2nd gears. My friend witnessed someone doing it how you were practicing. Couldn't get 1st and 2nd gear down good so he decided to try 3rd gear...he should be thankful that he's still alive. Just practice more with your 1st and 2nd gear wheelies. Once you get those down then go ahead and try 3rd gear.

yeah, i've been doin 1st gear only wheelies sometimes 2nd but thats at about 40mph a little too fast for me by the time the front end comes down i'm around 70. went out today tryed it a few times and again only 1-2 feet up. i duuno.. kinda pisses me off. oh well only had the 3 weeks so far. i've got all summer, i can say i'm cornering pretty good i have a 1 inch chix strip so far :thumbup:

:arsenal Sh*t gr8 tips on this forum. I had a 929RR b4 I just recently sold it and moved up to the brand new 06 1000RR. I used to power wheelie my 929 all the way through 1st until i ran out of my rpms (hehehe) never even tried to clutch it up in 2nd or shift from 1st into 2nd. Now that I got the 1000RR I cant wait to break that bitch in so i can get back into my wheelies. Neways just stopping by to say you guys are doing awesome work on this forum and thank you to anyone that added their technique and opinion on how to wheelie I`m sure it helped alot of ryders out there. Neways thx and keep up the good work. 140 miles to go and the bitch is completly broken in its the countdown stunters hehehehe. Sh*t wish me luck and dont anybody dare to say break a leg hehehehe.

:clap: :bowdown: :clap: :bowdown: Today on father's day I popped my first wheelie via your info above. Kudos to you, I'm one happy camper. I never thought it could be so easy. I've been out all day bringing it up on every block in town. I'm like an old man on Viagra :banana: :banana: :hello: Thanks a million :bowdown: :bowdown:

I know it's a repost but ...don't forgetabout the video :bounce http://www.kikman.de/Logos-Signs/SI-Kent.gif This Just In... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6656191590638402466&pl=true

I lost a friend early this Spring from a wreck as a result of a wheelie gone bad. Quickly, back country road. 4th gear stand up 12 o'clock at around 100 + Mph. No cars, trucks kids or cattle around. Road takes a very slight left curve. Brings her down. Tire blows. Bike hits the end of a driveway. Rider ejected into the end of the next drive way 90 ft. away. Killed Instantly. Now he'd performed this dozens of times and was a highly experienced rider. He wore full gear everytime he rode. Bottom line. I think you know. :headshake

sorry to hear about that man, that really sucks

I Really Think That The Only Way Your Going To Be Able To Get That Bike Up Is To Become Good Friends With The Clutch. Speaking From Experience, I Had An Older Zx7r And It Was Soooo Heavy. The Only Way I Was Able To Get That Bike Up Was Flickin The Clutch At The Right Rpms. Not As Hard On The Bike As You Might Think.

I was able to carry the front wheel on my '02 Kat 750 right through til the limiter kicks in. No big job really. Just bounce the front wheel at around 5500 rpm and hit the throttle and up she came. NO CLUTCH!. Just about vertical. As I would get into the revs. Clicinto second and just keep playing with the throttle. It also helps to keep the tire pressure down a bit. But really it's all about that initial bounce. On the Kat that is. The first few times having a 500lb bike up that high (4-4 1/2 ft.) is scary though.

I lost a friend early this Spring from a wreck as a result of a wheelie gone bad. Quickly, back country road. 4th gear stand up 12 o'clock at around 100 + Mph. No cars, trucks kids or cattle around. Road takes a very slight left curve. Brings her down. Tire blows. Bike hits the end of a driveway. Rider ejected into the end of the next drive way 90 ft. away. Killed Instantly. Now he'd performed this dozens of times and was a highly experienced rider. He wore full gear everytime he rode. Bottom line. I think you know. :headshake Well As a stunner i would say its not real wise to scrape sub while doing 100mph. Infact its not reccomended even at 30 mph. 12in is only for slow stuff. i hope he accidentally did this.

tonight was the first night i tried wheelies and i found that doing power wheelies seem to be smoother and more predictable if i stand my size makes it hard to get weight on the rear (5'4" 145lbs), plus the bike is set to full soft for now.. i am stunting sunday and i will change it to full hard and try again thanks for the info on how to do it... great post

Your body weight plays a big part i got a gixxa600 2000modeli weigh 91kg and cant get it up (the bike) without clutch.

guys check this out.....i know that u guys may not like this guy...but he knows wat he is saying....and babies the hell out of it....but listen wat he has to say....and do as he says....and u will be one wheeling........use this link to the vid...... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6656191590638402466&hl=en :thumbup:

guys check this out.....i know that u guys may not like this guy...but he knows wat he is saying....and babies the hell out of it....but listen wat he has to say....and do as he says....and u will be one wheeling........use this link to the vid...... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6656191590638402466&hl=en :thumbup: +1:thumbup:

guys check this out.....i know that u guys may not like this guy...but he knows wat he is saying....and babies the hell out of it....but listen wat he has to say....and do as he says....and u will be one wheeling........use this link to the vid...... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6656191590638402466&hl=en :thumbup: +1 i just need to grow some balls... kinda hard to do it in december though!

I like josh's way too. I have tried both and clutchin it up is so so easy compared to powering it up... When you slip the clutch a little it just comes up and if ever it comes up to fast just pull the clutch back in or tap the rear brake.

I like josh's way too. I have tried both and clutchin it up is so so easy compared to powering it up... When you slip the clutch a little it just comes up and if ever it comes up to fast just pull the clutch back in or tap the rear brake. Dont pull the clutch back in....just let the engine braking take over.

i also have an 03 600..... and just pullin back on the throttle wont do it.... ive had the best luck with what we call choping the throttle..... rev'n to about 6.5k-7k roll off for a sec.... then slamming it back all the way..... this works great on my bike, and on my buddy 07 R6..... i can imagine this prob isnt the best thing for the bike.... but hey- it works

DONT DO WHEELIES!! THEY ARE BAD TO YOUR HEALTH AND TO YOUR POCKETBOOK!!!! Before anyone says, I could rock stand-ups for miles, yeah so could I, but everyone goes down sooner or later...EVERYONE....yes even you!!...LOL....but for real, just be safe, wear your gear (if u want), and ride your ride....:thumbup:

good write up

Good advice on here, going out tonite to try a few power ups on my 07 600. Hope all goes well :)

Got rained out last night, hopefully can give the power up wheelies a shot tonight after work.

:clap: :thumbup: Thanks

yea like your buddy said make sure you aren't riding the tank..that was my problem at first. try to sit back as far as you can on your seat. And it doesn't sound like you are getting up at all...you'll know as soon as you get it up. Also when you are taking it to 8-9K are you letting off the throttle before you gun it? you need to do that and feel the front end of the bike drop down right before you open it up. You will know exactly what im talking about when it happens. Im not sure how big your bike is and year...but mine is 01 600 and i take it up to 9-10K let off the throttle till the front drops (takes only a half a sec.) then open. and it'll pop up like nothing. good luck. also have someone video tape you doing it. that is the best way to get a feel for how high you are. I had a lot of trouble with preloading so when I want to just mess around, I drop the setting on my forks so it is a lot softer. I wack the throttle once, let it preload, and then wack it again. Come's right up........to bad I'm a big poonanee and can't get to BP.:lol:

anyone got any tips on stand-up wheelies? I'm able to ride sit downs pritty easy, but I just can't work out how to do a stand-up wheelie :hmmm: would be much appreciated

Here's how i do my wheelies on my 04 750.....my first bike was my brother's 02 R6.....Yamahas are frickin AWESOMELY balanced.....that thing comes up so smooth......Our gsxr's are nose heavy and hence needs a lot of twirkin to get her up....Granted she has a lot of torque, but still.....I learned Four ways to do it...... General Rule of thumb: WEAR YOUR GEAR~!!!! Can not stress enough. SHOULD BE DONE ON EMPTY ROADS~!!!! Another one I can't stress enough. Most of these methods are rolling wheelies, ALL done in Second gear. Few bikes can bring it up in 3rd. Number 1: Grow some cahones....^_^. Number 2: Double throttle. You grab the clutch and you give the throttle a quick twist and bring it up to about 7-8k. This will give you a feeling for how much you need to twist ur wrist, then shut it real fast then do it again real fast and right around the middle you quickly, NOT DUMP, release your clutch. It's a bit unorthodox, but I know a few guys who do this and it works fine for them. You can do this on any bike. My friends who do this have a R6's, R1's, Gsxr 600's. This is all done in SECOND GEAR at a ROLLING SPEED between 35mph-45mph. The double roll should take up a full second. WHAP-WHAP!! Eventually, you won't need a double throttle and a single will do and you have just perfected the clutch wheelie. All slow wheelies are done with a clutch wheelie. Number 3: Power Wheelie. Simple. Relax, grow some balls, but beware of it's dangers. These are generally done in First. Beginners should do these in only short little blips of the throttle. Meaning they don't try to prolong a long wheelie. Stay up for about 3-4 seconds max. Power wheelies can be done in second at higher MPH's. 40-50mph, but the lower mph's should be done in First. Just shut the throttle and pop it open quickly about 1/2 throttle and hold there until it comes up a bit, then shut it. Number 4: Bounce wheelie. A little more complex, some debate it's not necessary, some say it is. It is not much different from a power wheelie in Second. This is strictly for rolling wheelies and stand ups for those who want to see over the nose^_^. When you are at the desired speed. You put the bike into second, if you're not already there, then you stand. Now I bounce once to get a rhythym. My buddy on his R1 bounces once ::shrug::, to each their own. The whole point of a bounce is to preload the shocks. Try to imagine the shocks in your head. When pushed down, what happens? They pop back up. You use this to help you lighten the load on the front of the bike. So you bounce and right when it's popping back up, you open up the throttle. Now the nuances of stand-up wheelies as this is the most desirable of all wheelies. If you can get the power wheelie, GREAT! Work on rear brake control. You will go through back brakes like nothing, but it is essential. Hence they have hand brakes for the rear brake. Learn the back brake! Try to start learning the back brake ASAP. When learning the power wheelie, AS SOON AS that nose starts to lift, get on that back brake. Apply pressure and keep on the throttle and you will soon be able to hold it indefinitely whether it is a sit down or a stand up. These are what I learned with. I hope it helps^_^. Everyone please be safe!

great write-up :thumbsup

I have a K6 600. I just started doing wheelies about 2 days ago, been putting in a good 2 hours a day of straight practice time. I tried doing the power up method, brining it up to about 6-8k RPM quickly closing the throttle then smacking it wide open almost as soon as i closed it. I got the front to come up a little but it was very jerky. The sudden lean foward then a hard slam backwords when i opened it up again wasnt very nice. That and having to go almost 40mph before i could even attmept them was a little nerve racking. After a few achieved power ups and not really liking the feel of them i decided to try some clutch ups. I started out going about 20 mph so around 4k rpm, pulled the clutch in to where i though was the engage point and gave it a little rev. It jurked foward a bit and thats about it. That happened the first 5 or 6 times. Then i pulled the clutch in a little farther and really opened up the throttle, not sure to what RPM but it sounded pretty high, slipped the clutch out and that front wheel popped right on up. My buddy spotting said probally about a foot and a half, It felt great. That was the highest ive had so far, but i can pretty consistenty get the front off the ground, even though its only a couple inches. My biggest problem that ive been having is that as soon as the front comes up i alow the bike to come up to my chest putting alot more of my wieght over the front and pushing it right back down. Any good tricks for just keeping your body wieght leaned back (arms tight to the bars...) or is it just something ill just have to really try to think about doing as i go up?

is it safe dropping the clutch in first??? ive been told to clutch it in 2nd gear...so when you say to slip it at 1500 rpms and so on, is that all in first gear?

My biggest problem that ive been having is that as soon as the front comes up i alow the bike to come up to my chest putting alot more of my wieght over the front and pushing it right back down. Any good tricks for just keeping your body wieght leaned back (arms tight to the bars...) or is it just something ill just have to really try to think about doing as i go up? repitition...you will get it

is it safe dropping the clutch in first??? ive been told to clutch it in 2nd gear...so when you say to slip it at 1500 rpms and so on, is that all in first gear? your not dropping the clutch but yet, slipping the clutch out while applying the throttle.

anyone got any tips on stand-up wheelies? I'm able to ride sit downs pritty easy, but I just can't work out how to do a stand-up wheelie :hmmm: would be much appreciated Ya good thread here...ya i have a problem doing stand up wheelies as well, i just starting wheelieing last week and i attemped to do a standup and stood right back down lol, im gonna go try one today also going to try to pop the clutch as well, ive been power wheelieing in first and i can hold it for a while now...its fun guys but be safe.

ALL STANDS UPS ARE IS GETTING USED TO THE FEELING OF STANDING UP AND RIDING A WHEELIE WHEN I FIRST DID THEM MY BODY WAS ALL OVER THE PLACE WILL THE BIKE WAS ON ONE WHEEL...........IT JUST TAKES MUSCLE MEMORY DO IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN IT WILL BE COME SECOND NATURE , BEFORE I COULD ONLY RIDE SITDOWNS AND COULD TRY A STANDUP BUT GO RIGHT DOWN NOW I DONT EVEN KNOW THE LAST TIME I RODE A SIT DOWN NOW ALL I RIDE IS STANDUPS I CAN RIDE THEM FOR A LITTLE OVER A MILE IN 3RD GEAR ON MY 636 THATS THE STUNT BIKE NOT READY TO STUNT THE K6 ITS NOT EVEN BROKEN IN YET LOL SO ENOUGH PLUS STAND UPS LOOK TEN TIMES SICKER SITDOWNS ARE WEEEEEEEK SAUCE:arsenal :arsenal :arsenal :arsenal

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6656191590638402466&q=motorcycle i've watched that a hundred times..it doesn't show his hands very well...to time the clutch/throttle and slipping it.. also when you guys do power wheelies and you come down..have you ever accidently came down a bit hard and it causes your to give it throttle and lunge forward as you come down? that's happend to me a few times...scary shit!

Good 101.

i've watched that a hundred times..it doesn't show his hands very well...to time the clutch/throttle and slipping it.. also when you guys do power wheelies and you come down..have you ever accidently came down a bit hard and it causes your to give it throttle and lunge forward as you come down? that's happend to me a few times...scary shit! that happened to me last night...i hate that crap

ok so your riding the wheelie and either your coming down or running out of RPMS. mainly what you wana do is roll back on the throttle when the front tire is about to come down. This will make the landing softer and less likely to cause a tank slapper.

be careful of clutching up as with a very responsive superbike throttle it's very easy to "po up" loop your bike by letting go of the clutch at a much higher revolution than anticipated. Start off with smoother power wheelies. trust me 20 plus loops behind my back and I live for wheelies

i also have an 03 600..... and just pullin back on the throttle wont do it.... ive had the best luck with what we call choping the throttle..... rev'n to about 6.5k-7k roll off for a sec.... then slamming it back all the way..... this works great on my bike, and on my buddy 07 R6..... i can imagine this prob isnt the best thing for the bike.... but hey- it works So you slam on the throttle ALL the way? I can get the front wheel up a little but havent given it full throttle. I just havent grown the nuts yet. I just want to make sure I am not going to loop it by giving it full throttle. I also have a 03 600.

So you slam on the throttle ALL the way? I can get the front wheel up a little but havent given it full throttle. I just havent grown the nuts yet. I just want to make sure I am not going to loop it by giving it full throttle. I also have a 03 600. you won't. It'll scare you so much that you'll immediately shut the throttle.

but do you need to fully open the throttle to get the front wheel up to a descent height?

but do you need to fully open the throttle to get the front wheel up to a descent height? It takes a lot of pratice soon enough you will know how much gas to give it just keep giving a little more and more till it comes up the height you want it really does just take pratice and more pratice. The first time I started to do wheelies there was no way to power up my bike in 2nd but now it powers up in 2nd no prob

Question? When im clutching it in 2nd sometimes I feel a second jerk prior to the front wheel getting higher? When I clutch it in 2nd the wheel comes off the ground but when it is about 6 inches or so off the ground the bike jerks a split second before getting any higher. Is this what it should feel like? What do you think?

just registured to this site so im just figurin all this forum shit out

Nice Stunt! Just a Forewarning S.O.S., you are about to get flamed by the gear nazis. :wasntme:

Nice Stunt! Just a Forewarning S.O.S., you are about to get flamed by the gear nazis. :wasntme: :laughingr :laughingr :popcorn: :drunk: right

just registured to this site so im just figurin all this forum shit out GET SOME GEAR!!!! @ least a helmet bro. u won't look so cool in a hospital bed. welcome to da site though.:headshake

Was out last night and I really think I have 2nd gear clutch ups can almost hit them everytime waaahhoooooooo :thumbup:

GET SOME GEAR!!!! @ least a helmet bro. u won't look so cool in a hospital bed. welcome to da site though.:headshake Word. Check out my MySpace, maybe then you'll wear your gear. www.myspace.com/andrewasaurus

[QUOTE=afi1;529028]Word. Check out my MySpace, maybe then you'll wear your gear. www.myspace.com/andrewasaurus[/QUOTE case and point!!! DAMN dawg you get up and walk away from dat?? i high sided but had all my gear on still broke my shoulder. most people gotta learn da hard way.

Took this picture at the AMA races on Sat. This guys balance was unbelievable. http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z41/stevemcqueen007/057.jpg

now as a beginner wheelier, what way is best to practice, sit down wheelies or stand up idk, it just feels little more comfortable standing up then sitting down

^ Sit downs first, and take it real slow, it's too easy to try and rush it. Practice alot.

i did my first wheelie this weekend. I am so pumped. I have been riding since June and this is my first bike. I did a first gear power up like the first post suggested.It was great, I got it up on my second try, and before the day was over I had done 5 more wheeleis!!!:bounce

ah shit i'm having trouble.... First gear power ups will come up no problem, but i have to let off and gun it just to get it to lift.. I believe my body position is as FAR back as i can get it.... anyways i'm more interested in clutch ups, and i can get the wheel up but only about 2 feet. can't seem to ride em' out. it sucks! i give it gas and it still comes down way fast, i can only seem to hold them for about 2 seconds. i'm in 1st, and have the same problem in second.

what bike do you have?If you can get the tire of the ground 2ft on a clutch up than you should be able to keep lifting.you are probably just letting off the throttle.I only use the clutch to bump the tire off the ground about a foot and than power it up.Much easier on the bike than popping/slipping the clutch at 12000 rpm.If your bike will power up, it can clutch up no prob unless you have a clutch issue in which case you would notice on regular riding.It just takes time to get used to the bike going higher and the natural reaction is to cut the throttle.Practice and it just gets easier until you are at the point where you cant believe it that easy:thumbup:

what bike do you have?If you can get the tire of the ground 2ft on a clutch up than you should be able to keep lifting.you are probably just letting off the throttle.I only use the clutch to bump the tire off the ground about a foot and than power it up.Much easier on the bike than popping/slipping the clutch at 12000 rpm.If your bike will power up, it can clutch up no prob unless you have a clutch issue in which case you would notice on regular riding.It just takes time to get used to the bike going higher and the natural reaction is to cut the throttle.Practice and it just gets easier until you are at the point where you cant believe it that easy:thumbup: It says in his sig.k7 600

I spent some time riding with a friend tonight. We were both practicing our wheelies. I'm still VERY new to them so I'm trying to be as careful as possible. Anyway, on the long straight near my house on the way back home, i powered it up in first. I almost shit my pants on how high I got. My friend told me that my headlight was shooting almost straight up in the air. If I hadn't let off the throttle when I did, I would of looped it for sure! My problem is since I'm still real new to bringing the front up, I'm focusing on the lift and not what I'm doing once I get it up. I realize I'm not covering the rear break and I'm not thinking about my handlebar position when I land. I know these are the things I have to work on but I think I'm gonna give it a rest on my K6 600. We're gonna pool some money after the new year and buy a beater bike to rip the fairings off of and put in a cage. We want to practice on a POS instead of wrecking our nice bikes...

oh yeah.guess i missed that.

what bike do you have?If you can get the tire of the ground 2ft on a clutch up than you should be able to keep lifting.you are probably just letting off the throttle.I only use the clutch to bump the tire off the ground about a foot and than power it up.Much easier on the bike than popping/slipping the clutch at 12000 rpm.If your bike will power up, it can clutch up no prob unless you have a clutch issue in which case you would notice on regular riding.It just takes time to get used to the bike going higher and the natural reaction is to cut the throttle.Practice and it just gets easier until you are at the point where you cant believe it that easy:thumbup: i have a brand new k7 600 so i know it's not the bike. it's me. but i may be letting off for a breif second but in my mind all i remember is PINNING the throttle right after the clutch up. I tried different revs ( i don't clutch to 12 K just more or so 8-9) and what i've heard is 4k seems to be money, well that doesn't seem to go so good, compared to 7ish (clutching up) is this normal? I don't like powering it up, but it seems after the initial bump that the front comes down no matter how much juice..... i think its' because i'm not in the powerband when i get up so the bike has no power??? i tried it tonight with a little better success... tried to clutch up at around 4k 20mph ish... no go... then immediatly after around 6-7k i did it again and it lifted and stayed. rode it out for about 100 feet then let it drop before i hit the rev limiter... felt like i was getting CLOSER (not close) to the BP cause it slowed accel greatly as i rode it out. edit: i think it's my body, i caught myself leaning into the wheelie a few times... now i'm sitting FAR away from the tank though just to get it up... is this normal? (ass is pretty much tuching the passanger seat)

the further back the better as long as you feel comfortable.When you get your body pos down you will find it easier to pull up at 4k.bouncing and pulling come into play at lower revs.With a 600 a slight release or cut off of the throttle will start the front dropping and then is impossible to pull back up even at full throttle.when you have the bike to the height you want it remember to ever so slightly cut back on the throttle.A little goes a long way if you know what i mean.Sounds like you are getting it though and now comes the hard work and scaring the shit out of yourself trying to find bp.I would recamend not getting to bp until you can ride a mile long one.Good luck.Oh yeah buy a stuntbike and save yourself some money and pain.I have the same bike as you and one scary endo made me realize that if i'm gonna keep trying this stuff i better get a bike that if(or when) i crash I dont cry myself to sleep at night.

the further back the better as long as you feel comfortable.When you get your body pos down you will find it easier to pull up at 4k.bouncing and pulling come into play at lower revs.With a 600 a slight release or cut off of the throttle will start the front dropping and then is impossible to pull back up even at full throttle.when you have the bike to the height you want it remember to ever so slightly cut back on the throttle.A little goes a long way if you know what i mean.Sounds like you are getting it though and now comes the hard work and scaring the shit out of yourself trying to find bp.I would recamend not getting to bp until you can ride a mile long one.Good luck.Oh yeah buy a stuntbike and save yourself some money and pain.I have the same bike as you and one scary endo made me realize that if i'm gonna keep trying this stuff i better get a bike that if(or when) i crash I dont cry myself to sleep at night. Just a ? how are you riding a wheelie a mile long not at b/p :headscrat

using the beautiful art of gear changing.1st to 3rd.i found getting good at that was safer than going to bp after learning how to ride 1st to the limiter.You can chase a wheelie further than that if you have a 1000.But to each his own.Some guys go straight to BP and some guys go straight to ER.i found keeping the wheelie up longer not a bp helped me work on balance and brake before going further back.

Any one have a problem with the bike going one way or the other it seems that a lot of my wheelies are going to the right all the time and I've tried to sit on one side and the other even while I'm riding the wheelie, I'm sometimes hanging off the bike on the side to keep it from going right. I'm sure it's something I'm doing just wondering if anyone else has ran into this problem and what they did to corect it ? I'm almost at b/p right now I'm working on leaning back away from the bike to try and find it, just taking my time baby steps so far so good getting really comfortable with the bike that high, going to try and video myself today :thumbup:

I had that prob when i started doing staggered stand ups.Its alot to do with the lift up more than when you are up.You sound like you are doing sitdowns so maybe because you are looking around the bike to see(if you are near bp) might prob have something to do with it.Try looking through the fairing to see if that helps.Its just a balance issue and you will figure it out through trial and process.Put your vid on and it will be alot easier to tell what your doing wrong.Wish i could still ride!Stupid winter!I look at my bike twice a day.

well that was pretty detailed but untill you get used to doing it it is just a reaction to move your body foward when something you are on is going backwards.

i am currently playin around w/ both power and clutchin wheelies. i think you just have to be aware of the tricky spots in both situations. if you actually could get your gsxr to bp in a power wheelie, first of all you have to be stupid to get it there once you feel the power of first gear, you have to know that youll loop it beeing inexperienced. and w/ clutching it beeing a newbie you do have to start off very slow , low rpm to higher as u get more comfotable. i dont even know how to do a damn wheelie. but this is just what i gather from tring wheelies whathcing others wreck on utube and reading a shit load of forums. i have yet to lay mine down from trieng, and hopefully will not , as i am working at it slowly.

in my opinion 1st gear wheelies are nothing but trouble, i used to pop it up in first with a power wheelie all the time just when i thought it was the way to go I pulled a little hard on the throttle and landed on my ass.... Using the clutch in 2nd is far easier and you can keep it up, alot of bikes are harder to shift from 1st to 2nd when the front wheel is in the air instead it goes into nuetral where as 2nd gear just give the shifter a pull w/ no clutch and it will stay up there

its all a matter of what feels good for you. I have my bike geared down(even more twitchy) and i still ride 1st gear wheelies all the time.2nd is easier to find bp, but hurts alot more when you loop and yes people loop in 2nd all the time.According to some people on here (i have never took a course) all the wheelie schools start in first gear.So its probably the way to go.I have spent alot of time on this subject and always find no matter what gear or what bike or what method it all comes down to throttle control,so work on that and it will all fall into place!!:thumbup:

stage one: COMPLETE. :thumbup: did my first wheelie, 1st gear power wheelie as the majority suggested. got about 6 inches or more. then set er' back down. it was smooth...to smooth, because my left foot accidently shifted to N when i was bringin her down.... the next 50 feet were me tryin to get her back into 2nd or 1st. with a not so good SHCHHCH sound. slowed her back down to 15 or so and she got in gear fine. thats only happend to me once before when i first got my bike. stage 2: in progress... once i feel more comfortable with the power wheelies, and where i can do it without any hassle. i'll start tryin the slip method. starting slow of course why be in a rush to die....or spend a lot of money on repairs.

thanks for the insight, it really helps out. :clap::clap::clap:

ive rode dbikes all my life i can ride a wheelie on it np but ive had my bike little longer than 2 weeks and i havnt really tried to get it up i did a power wheelie the other day it shot up fast and came down and kinda hurt my wrists i wished i woulda read this b4 i tried now im gonna try clutchin! posts are great need to make one on standing up vs. sitting down, i havnt tried standing cuz im used to my yz125 is standing easyier to control???

I already have that thread on here.Standups are easier to ride bp but take a little bit to get used to

Have you guys seen the Wheelie Machine vids on youtube? That looks like a lot of fun, not sure if or how it would help in real life but still looks like fun. Plus he uses a red and white F4i, just like I used to have. Hope they have one somewhere over here in Germany!

Unfortunately I learned how to do wheelies the old fashioned way. young kid on a fast bike. :]

Well done, and i would say 4K-8K is perfect depending on your bike. +1

all i know is for the gsxr 600s you cant be in the power band, and just to wot and get the front end up. you need to get up to 7-9 rpms let of and get back on it to bring it up.

Was out last night and I really think I have 2nd gear clutch ups can almost hit them everytime waaahhoooooooo :thumbup: what's up homey! i have the same bike. you mentioned 2nd gear wheely. if you have a 750, how are you getting that smooth wheely up. i am first all day long but because of the power and how quickly it goes up, scares the crap out of me.

I have a lot of practice on getting the wheel up everytime on power or clutch wheelies. Being that I have looped before, I am asking if it is possible to continue to roll on the throttle after only getting the wheel up only about 2' high. If I don't hit anywhere near BP, I don't know if it's ok to roll more on the throttle to bring the wheel up because that's when I don't know if it's safe to roll more on the throttle or to just roll completely off and try again. My fear is I don't know if it's ok to roll more on the throttle to bring the bike higher when you don't get the wheel high enough at the start. Anyone can explain to me if that's possible. once I get the confirmation, I think I'll be totally confident.

all i know is for the gsxr 600s you cant be in the power band, and just to wot and get the front end up. you need to get up to 7-9 rpms let of and get back on it to bring it up. im going to say i was wrong, because now with my pipe and pc and a +2 rear sprocket and with running 87 octane gas, i can be at wot in first gear and once the bike hits high in the power band it brings the frontend up on its own. it would never do that before when i was running 91 octane all the time.