how to ride a wheelie

[binkerman]

just bought a zx6 want to know how to pop anride a wheelie help

[NovaCoder]

1) Start off small
2) Remember that your back-brake is your friend
3) Blame only yourself when you end up on your ass

[samhasa636]

oh no. this is going to draw a wide and varied response... you are a bold one bikerman... Having said that here are my tips:

1) Find somewhere quiet to practice... away from the plod.
2) Then, I found it best to do a few "power ups". Throttle only, just rip it open in first gear and the front wheel should get light and lift (depends on the vintage of ZX6 I guess)
3) Next you could try the "throttle up" technique, which requires some practice. Basically you roll on the power till you hit the power band (6-8 grand), then blip the throttle off and back on hard. This is tricky to explain, you dont want to close it completely, just off enough for the bike to transfer weight forward. Then get get back on hard and the wheel should come up - this is not my preferred method
4) "clutching it up" - I prefer this method because it is easier to predict the outcome ie the difference between a 1 inch wheelie and looping it.
- Again ride out steadily in first, as if you were leaving the lights behind a car.
- Keep at least two fingers on the clutch and COVER THE REAR BRAKE
- When the revs get to a point where you would normally shift to second (I go to about 6-7rpm), bring the clutch in till it just disengages - so not all the way to the bar
- At the same time you open the throttle, now this is very important - depending on your bike and how high you want to wheelie - will determine how high you rev it
- when you reach your preferred rev you slip the clutch back out and be ready for the wheel to come up
- Bringing the clutch in, reving and slipping out all happens in one smooth action. If you watch someone else cltuch it, you will hear how quickly it happens
- If at first you are not getting the wheel off the ground or very high there are probably two things going wrong 1) not enough revs 2) not releasing the clutch smoothly. So keep an eye/ear on this
- At first I found I was not holding the clutch in long enough. I was in and straight out. Then I started to relax and slow everything down (and I am only tlaking about milliseconds) and now it happens pretty much whenever I want it too.
- Oh, and for gawds sake keep the bars straight. You dont need to pull the bars to get the wheel up. If you do you will pull the bars sideways and when the wheel comes back down it will be ugly.
- And remember you cant steer like you normally do so make sure the road is nice and straight.

But, just use small adjustments to how you use the throttle. You dont want to over correct. And always be ready to bring the bike back down using the brake or easing off the throttle. Shutting the throttle hard will bring the bike back down just as hard... blowing fork seals in the process.

It probably took me about a month of practicing here and there just to get the wheel to come up without me pooing myself.

Any questions?

Disclaimer.
If you do/try a wheelie based on the information provided to you by me or any source then you are a fool. Not only are wheelies illegal, they are dangerous and stupid and practisioners of such acts should be held in disregard. I accept no responsobility for you or your license.

[aardvark]

http://www.ksrc-au.com/html/how_to_chuck_a_wheelie.html

[ttc]

or... for a web site dedicated to stunting

http://www.ozstuntbikes.com

[Yankee]

also, in addition to the great post by samhasa636, remember that it is winter-ish (depending where you live), and the tyres could be nice and cold and therefore "slippery", so warm the farckers up whilest you are getting out to that "place away from the plod".....
if you try to do the "clutch-up" (i agree that this is the "best" all-around method on the 6) and don't warm up the tyres enough or don't sit back a touch in the seat..... (practice, you'll see what i mean) you could be laying some nice darkies instead of getting the front in the air!! which is a nice thing to learn as well!!!
get to know your bike, i say... all these things are teaching you more about how it responds to what you are telling it to do.... might be needed in an emergency one day...... (so learn the endos as well!!)
PRACTICE!!!

[icebreaker]

once you get it up, (the front wheel of your bike that is), it is just a matter of throttle control to keep it up.

Then a matter of getting your gear change into 2nd right to keep the front up.

It does take abit of practice, and before you know it you'll be riding because a CBR250 who's trying to give you abit of a run, and you'll drop back, pop the front up and blast past him... hahha LOVE IT!

[samhasa636]

Or, a clown in a 3 series Beemer who fancies a run. A series of Red lights on the way home the other night on a nice stretch of road, some fool decides he wants to see how he would go against me. Now I dont humour such idiocy usually, so I just ride along beside them, short shifting to keep the revs/noise down and never overtake them... while they are hammering their cars for all they are worth.
So I decide enough is enough and wait for the last red light... he gases off and looks to have me beat until I clutch it up onto the back wheel and rip past him. Ahhh, sweet.

If you are going to beat them make sure you do it on one wheel

[aardvark]

Or, a clown in a 3 series Beemer who fancies a run.

Just watch those high performance Audi's when they are owned by P-platers with parents with too much money. They can give you quite a scare if you're not ready for it.

[gizmo]

A stand up wheelie is another easy way to learn the art of doing a wheelie.
I generally use 3rd gear, minimal fuel in the tank helps abit as well, hold on really well with the legs & clutch it up!
But remember like the others have said, cover the rear brake if it all goes pear shaped!

[Neka79]

umm just rev the farker & hope for the best....??????
i dunno..if u figure out how to do em, let me kno ok...

[aardvark]

But remember like the others have said, cover the rear brake if it all goes pear shaped!

You must have your rear brake on the opposite side hey Giz? Or maybe it's thumb mounted like Mick.

Coz if you've got it covered in that first pic... well, i'm buggered if I know how. Hahaha.