Rookie Question (wheelies of course)
#1
Rookie Question (wheelies of course)
Boy am I gonna get some **** for this question....here goes:
Alright, I've had my '02 54 for a year and ridden it 3500 miles or so, no problems great bike. Here's the deal. I haven't ridden a wheelie yet. If I take it up to 20 miles an hour in first gear and whack it open will...
1) the wheel come right up, and
2) if so, how fast, canI back off the throttle quick enough to not loop it (I know, cover the brake)?
3) how much throttle are you giving it to make it come up?
4) do you just crack it open or is a "fast roll on"?
Thanks and lookin forward to the noob comments...
Alright, I've had my '02 54 for a year and ridden it 3500 miles or so, no problems great bike. Here's the deal. I haven't ridden a wheelie yet. If I take it up to 20 miles an hour in first gear and whack it open will...
1) the wheel come right up, and
2) if so, how fast, canI back off the throttle quick enough to not loop it (I know, cover the brake)?
3) how much throttle are you giving it to make it come up?
4) do you just crack it open or is a "fast roll on"?
Thanks and lookin forward to the noob comments...
#2
RE: Rookie Question (wheelies of course)
You can just power it up, but you have less control over it. If I were you, I would learn how to clutch it up. Its easier, plus you have a lot more control over how fast/far you come up. I started out doing power wheelies, but once I learned how to clutch it up, I never powered up again.
#3
RE: Rookie Question (wheelies of course)
ohhh i will sound like a ******* i dont want to but yea just trying to help youout (and your bike he he he)... since u have no clue how to wheelie or how to control it,DONT WHEELIE ON A 954!! get like a 50 and learn the feel behind the wheelie, bc it is not going to work outthat well for your954...or do it on a bicycle...
#4
RE: Rookie Question (wheelies of course)
^ agree completely. Do not just whack it at 20mph, bad things can happen quickly. Have you ever just opened up 1st gear and felt the tire lift a little, or ever just given a small whack of the gas to see what would happen? I know when i first tried goofing off a bit i would just give it little burps of gas, just slowly bigger and bigger till the wheel just popped off the ground. But my initial reaction is your not ready yet, play with it some more, get used to the bike more.
#5
RE: Rookie Question (wheelies of course)
I would have to say that I agree with everyody so far. If you can, find something smaller to practice on, it'll definitely help!!! I've been riding dirtbikes for years and I think that helped greatly. But if you can't or just don't choose to, be extremly careful. And secondly, using the clutch to get it up will be easier but it will also take more work in the long-run. Cause you have to think and use both hands where u could just use one and let the bike pick itself up. Myself, I do both at times, just b.s.ing from a stop light I will power it up and on the highway its all clutch even though I could power it up. Just be safe!!!
#6
I hate to see anyone get hurt, but the advice is sound, learn to wheelie slowly, gradually learning techniques and quirks of the vehilcle you are on (ideally dirtbike) it all carries over. Once you can pickup a bike a ways, you can find out how to do it on anybike. I hopped on a friends 954 and hung it up for a block right away because, a)I had years of learning this trick on my various bikes and b) these things are sick!! tons of power from mid-topend you just have to know as much about what will happen as possibe, so start small!
#7
im going to be the only one to disagree with everyone i guess! my first bike i bought for $1000 an old 900rr with lots of miles and i learned to do crappy short wheelies by clutching it. got tired of it had some money saved, sold if for like 2700 haha and took my saved money bought a 954. im also a noob so its cool but im sure the guy did something to the sprockets to make the front come up easy but i learned on a long empty road at about a 20mph roll i got on it a little felt tire people dropped it turned around did it again and in nooo time at all i was doing awesome wheelies. so i learned on my 954 easy no problom.. with very little prior riding exp. i was doing wheelies first week i had the bike. my bro rid for 2 years without ever trying one till he saw me doing them my first week so he started to. but you do see people on youtube losing their bikes out from underneath them so i guess now that i think of it prob take other peoples advice and dont wreck you 954. i recently wrecked mine (not from wheelies)and have been rebuilding it since. good luck!
#8
ohhh i will sound like a ******* i dont want to but yea just trying to help youout (and your bike he he he)... since u have no clue how to wheelie or how to control it,DONT WHEELIE ON A 954!! get like a 50 and learn the feel behind the wheelie, bc it is not going to work outthat well for your954...or do it on a bicycle...
Damn right... I learned it on a CBR 600 F2... and fell off 2 times because i couldnt respond fast enough on balance point. I wudda wrecked my 54 for sure...
#9
im going to be the only one to disagree with everyone i guess! my first bike i bought for $1000 an old 900rr with lots of miles and i learned to do crappy short wheelies by clutching it. got tired of it had some money saved, sold if for like 2700 haha and took my saved money bought a 954. im also a noob so its cool but im sure the guy did something to the sprockets to make the front come up easy but i learned on a long empty road at about a 20mph roll i got on it a little felt tire people dropped it turned around did it again and in nooo time at all i was doing awesome wheelies. so i learned on my 954 easy no problom.. with very little prior riding exp. i was doing wheelies first week i had the bike. my bro rid for 2 years without ever trying one till he saw me doing them my first week so he started to. but you do see people on youtube losing their bikes out from underneath them so i guess now that i think of it prob take other peoples advice and dont wreck you 954. i recently wrecked mine (not from wheelies)and have been rebuilding it since. good luck!
To be fair, a friend of mine did the same exact thing, 900rr to a 954, he still can't really wheelie much, that is all in the head...And crashed his 954 doin something silly.(Reseting a trip meter is the story I was given) The point I wanted to make was this: Insane Power, though easy to pick up, is hard to hold onto, so eliminating risk is sometimes the way to go... I learned wheelies on a gixxer, then my 02 Aprilia, now it is like the first thing I do on a bike is find the sweet spot and try to pick it up...My Fiancees 1994 air cooled Seca II can even get up, but I can't hold it the idea is accross the board, so if you want to risk sacrificing your sweet bike to the wheelie gods that really is your own business, just leather up man.
#10
Guest
Posts: n/a
Geeze ... don't yu just hate answering these questions ..
By the sounds of it ? you have had very little experience with wheelies?
The 954 will wheelie alright !!!! , no doubt about that mate ..
I like allot of guys have been perfecting the art of balance wheelies since a young kid..
Me...I have wheelied since the age of 12 and have practiced on very small mini bikes for years before getting to the stage where I felt ok on a big bike doing them..
BTW- I have never thrown a wheelie over and away
MY Turbo Kwaka allowed me to power roll on wheelie from 80-90MPH and put it back down at around 125MPH.... so mate I understand wheelie well..
Riders with allot of trial and error experience can throw one of them over and wreck with just a minor error..
If I were you I would take the advice of RPM_RIPPA and get some practice in on something that can teach you a little about the balance point..
If you just want to do little pissy roll on small lift wheelies that's one thing , but a full balance point wheelie ? on a very powerful bike? when you dont even know how ? can and quite often winds up tragic for the bike and rider..
Its one thing to know how to do a wheelie .. and by your questions , you dont even know that yet?
Even if you did know how? ...it is quite another thing to be able to successfully pull one off...(without going on your head)
Question to think about?
Is it really that important to you to be able to wheelie your 954 ?
By the sounds of it ? you have had very little experience with wheelies?
The 954 will wheelie alright !!!! , no doubt about that mate ..
I like allot of guys have been perfecting the art of balance wheelies since a young kid..
Me...I have wheelied since the age of 12 and have practiced on very small mini bikes for years before getting to the stage where I felt ok on a big bike doing them..
BTW- I have never thrown a wheelie over and away
MY Turbo Kwaka allowed me to power roll on wheelie from 80-90MPH and put it back down at around 125MPH.... so mate I understand wheelie well..
Riders with allot of trial and error experience can throw one of them over and wreck with just a minor error..
If I were you I would take the advice of RPM_RIPPA and get some practice in on something that can teach you a little about the balance point..
If you just want to do little pissy roll on small lift wheelies that's one thing , but a full balance point wheelie ? on a very powerful bike? when you dont even know how ? can and quite often winds up tragic for the bike and rider..
Its one thing to know how to do a wheelie .. and by your questions , you dont even know that yet?
Even if you did know how? ...it is quite another thing to be able to successfully pull one off...(without going on your head)
Question to think about?
Is it really that important to you to be able to wheelie your 954 ?
Last edited by CBRclassic; 01-29-2009 at 07:52 PM.