I am a new member,45 years old from southeast Wisconsin and love riding wheelies. I roadraced for 15 years and did supermoto for 4 years I have never been without a sportbike since I was 16 years old and have been doing wheelies forthe last 30 years. Sorry for rambling but I wanted to give some credibility to my story. I had an 04 1000rr for the past 4 years and that bike was balanced greatI could ridewheelies forever standing up or sitting down.I just bought a new 08 1000rr 4 weeks ago and started working on wheelies the past 2 days(too windy lately)and the bike is HORRIBLE. As soon as I get the front end up the bike wants to fall off to the RIGHT. I moved rear tire pressure every from 40 to 15psi but it did not help. I thought it might be the Bridgestones so I tried my friends 07 rr with the same tires and his bike road great wheelies. Maybe the weight of thenew exhaust system is part of the problem, but what ever it is this bike is not balanced for wheelies. I have been in contact with Taylormade exhaust and I plan onbuying one if and when they are happy with the prototype. Other than my wheelie troubles I love this bike, it feels like a 600 on steroids.It'svery fast and the slipper clutch is awesome. I have a quick shifter and powercommander on order from an ex racer friend of mine(Jamie Long owner of Fuel Moto in Oshgosh Wi.) We are going to dyno it stock first, nextwith the powercommander,and again with the new exhaust. I will post result when we are done.Jamie stocks over 300 powercommanders at his shop and is a genius on tuning any type of cycle. www.fuelmoto.com

 

Keep us posted!!

 

Does this just seem to happen on "low" speed wheelies or does it behave the same way regardless of the speed of the wheelie.

 

yeah im gonna also put a power commander and dyno her too..in a couple of weeks.. i already mod. the exhaust..but losing back pressure therefore the additional changes..

sounds like ur on target regarding the weight of the stock exhaust...

think with the mods ur'll be able to pick her up easier ,..

 

its your tires or its u!!! one of those two....what u doing stnad up or sit downs? how fast? and its possibility that the wind is knowcking u around!

 

Allthe wheelies I do are more high speed ones whether sitting or standing. I start in 2nd gear using the clutch. I begin at about 65 mph and generally shiftthrough to5th and sometimes 6thon sit downwheelies or stayin 3rd if I am standing up. When I am standing up I can keep the bike atthe samespeed and do not need to keep shifting to maintain a wheelie. On smooth roads I could exceed 140mph in 5th gear.I rode my buddies 07 rr and had no problems.The wind was very low on Sunday so That was not A factor.I will be trying some 180 rear race take offs next week to see if it helps.

 

When you do sit downs is shifting the only way you can keep it up? Thats weird how you can hit BP standing and not sitting.

 

I would check your rear wheel alignment.

 

if i was u i will learn how to control a wheelie and stay in one gear first! and the problem is two much prussure in ur tires or its not balanced right. what is ur tire pressure in the back tire 46psi ?!

 

140 MPH Wheelies *shivers* sounds like a death wish. :/