READ THIS!!!

http://www.stuntlife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72156

 

That is the best information on how to wheelie and anyone that is learning definately needs to read that instead of taking advise from people that don't know what they are doing..

 

someone copy and paste it so that all can read without registering if they prefer.

-Adam

 

yeah, i tried but no dice, said I had to be signed in :S

 

First of all, I learned all of this from my own experience and from the advice of others on this forum. Following this advice won’t keep you from crashing, getting hurt, and breaking stuff; but it will, most likely, help you learn faster while crashing less often than if you figure everything out on your own.

Bike setup for wheelies

Oil: Many bikes will become oil starved when riding long wheelies, and doing 12 o-clock wheelies. Gixxers and cbr 900s ('93-'95 893cc model) are the most notorious for this. To keep the bike from becoming oil starved, either move the oil pickup in the oil pan back, or overfill the oil. Myself and some others on this forum run 1 quart over. Overfilling doesn't seem to cause any problems with hondas, but I have read of problems with gixxers as a result of this. So the best thing for a gixxer would probably be to fix the oil pickup. You can buy modified oil pickups for gixxers from www.stuntex.com .

Gears: For learning, gearing the bike down is unnecessary. Almost every sportbike will wheelie in first gear without any problem (maybe the ex250 is an exception). Also gearing to make second gear come up easier is kind of pointless because it just becomes more like first gear with big sprockets. If it doesn’t wheelie in first gear, it isn’t the bike’s fault. For the most part, gears are unnecessary until you are ready to learn highchairs (on a weak 600), no throttle hand wheelies, and circles.

Tires: When doing high-speed wheelies make sure you have a good rear tire. A tire with a flat spot in the middle can cause wobbles. I learned wheelies on a rear tire that was almost down to the cords in the middle, and it would often wobble like crazy when doing balance point wheelies. A new tire almost completely eliminated that problem. Run the tire pressure lower than stock. For doing wheelies above 20 mph, have the tire pressure between 20 and 30psi. For doing wheelies slower than 20 mph, lower the pressure to between 12 and 20. 18-20 psi makes for a good all around psi. Lower tire pressure makes the wheelie more stable from side to side.

Tip over sensor: Most (or all, I’m not sure) bikes with fuel injection have a tip over sensor. This can cause the bike to shut off when riding wheelies high. This should be disabled. For Hondas this can be done by cutting the wires going into the sensor, connecting the two outer wires, and leaving the middle one hanging. For gixxers, that method doesn’t work. The brass ring in the sensor must be removed, or immobilized with something such as silicone.

Steering Damper: While it isn’t imperative that you have a steering damper for doing wheelies, it might save your ***. If you come down from a wheelie with the front wheel crooked, it could cause a tank slapper. This shouldn’t be a problem, though; if you make sure the front wheel is strait when you put it down.

Exhaust pipe: If learning 12s, the pipe may have to be shortened. The stock pipes on some bikes touch the ground at about the same time as the tail when doing a 12 o-clock wheelie. If the pipe hits the ground, it may cause you to crash. My friend just went down a week ago because of this. The pipe can be shortened by simply cutting a few inches off the end of the pipe, and then re-welding / re-riveting the end of the pipe back on. Short pipes can also be bought from www.starboyz.com.

Cage: In the process of learning to ride wheelies good, you will most likely drop your bike. Crash cages provide the best protection. All of these cages will most likely save you a lot of money if you crash, but none of them will completely protect your bike in every crash. Here is a list of some crash cage websites in no particular order.
MXD cages http://eclipsebusiness.net/mxdcages.com/
Racing 905 Cages http://www.racing905.com
Powers Cages http://www.powersbikeworx.com/
Freestyle Ingenuity Cages http://www.freestyleingenuity.com/
Wicked Crew Extreme Team's Cages http://cant

 

thank you....

 

Whats a balance point? Where your at around 1100 hours and the bike feels like its going to loop out and your going to get some *** burn?

 

why let so much air pressure out?

 

I think the point of lower rear tire pressure it to allow easier left/right balance while riding the wheelie, especially at slow speeds. My tire pressure is normal, and I dont have any trouble, but my wheelie speeds are anywhere from 40mph to 90mph, the faster your going, the easier your left/right balance is, it also helps to have a very flat road that is not convex.

 

lower tire pressure helps stabilize the bike. especially at slow speeds, imo.

balance point is when your bikes engine goes quiet, its that simple. and you will know bp when you hit it, the entire front end becomes almost weightless and instead of hearing the engine working to get the front up it'll just get quiet. you will know it once you get there, i guarantee that.

after 3 weeks of hard practice i'm clutching to bp. hopefully i can scrape in month...