How to Wheelie on a Motorcycle

How to do a stand up wheelie, using a Wheelie Teach.

As seen in allaboutbikes, 2wheeltuner, superbike and super streetbike magazines, this tutorial is about how to choose the right version of the Wheelie Teach for your bike, and how to safely install it.

“Now that you have your Wheelie Teach, we’re going to show you how to install it on your own sport bike.

The first thing you want to do is you want to take the two adjustment sleeves and place them in your rear wheel axle hubs.  The slide in easily as you could see – the right and left slide right in.

The next thing you want to do is take the Wheelie Teach.  You line it up.  You bring your Wheelie Teach rod.  You slide it through.  You slide it through the hub.  It slides through very easily.  You come to the other side.  It goes right on through.

Okay, now, if your bike model requires a spacer, you bring the spacer.  You come to the right-hand side.  You slide the spacer in between the device and your rear wheel.  It fits just in a tight snug fit just like that.  You line it up.  You push the rod.  You line the device up again just like this.  It slides right through.  You put a washer on.  You put the clip on and here you go.

The Wheelie Teach is now installed and you’re ready to ride.”

Mike Nicely, professional stunter, talks to AllAboutBikes about the Wheelie Teach.

“How are you doing?  My name is Mike Nicely.  I’m a professional stuntman.  I do Hollywood stunts for actors in movies.  I’m considered a specialty stuntman which is I ride motorcycles for most of the stunts that I do.  I ride motorcycles for about 10 years now, professionally about six years.  I want to take this time to let the audience know what I thought of the Wheelie Teach and its capability of teaching someone how to do a wheelie.

First of all, I performed wheelies on a lot of motorcycles.  It has taken an awful lot for me to get to the level that I am at as a motorcycle rider.  You are not going to be able to take this machine and become a professional stunt rider or a professional stuntman riding off on this machine.  So, remember, that what this machine is going to do is allow you to take your own time, your own motorcycle, and the ability to learn how to use throttle control, balance, and the feel of what a wheelie really is.

This machine has three levels to it.  It has level one, Amateur, which takes you about maybe two feet off the ground just to give you the feel of bike popping up – just brrp, brrp – and coming off the ground.  Level two is a little bit deeper, probably about four or five feet off the ground which is still pretty deep but, again, not giving you the full feel of what balance is on a motorcycle.    Once you get to level three, that’s really going to push the envelope and allow yourself to hold the throttle long enough to be up in a wheelie and to be able to feel, see, and adapt to what it’s like to do a wheelie.

I pushed this machine pretty far.  I took it to the furthest level which was Level 3 and I want to say that it needs still just a little bit more movement at the back to bring it up.  It’s going to bring it at a comfortable state that you’re not going to be able to loop the motorcycle.  I tried swerving left and right.  It wouldn’t move.  It kept me on a straight line.  I tried pushing it really hard on the bar to try to bend it and break it.  It did not bend nor did it break.  I just want to let you know that this machine works.  If I had it a few years back, I probably learned a lot faster.

But knowing that I had a Wheelie Teach at the back of my bike, knowing that the confidence I know how to do a wheelie, I just hopped on and did what I’ve done a thousand times before and just pulled it straight up. The minute the wheelie had gotten to a certain balance point and rested itself on the Wheelie Teach, my confidence boosted straight up and all I had wanted to do was continue to wheelie, continue to wheelie.  So I tested the envelope of the Wheelie Teach.  I pushed it as far.  I tried to bend it.  I tried to break it to see if it would pop off, take me side to side.

I’m not paid to say this.  I was not paid to ride this bike.  I did this voluntarily.   I shot the commercial and I want to say that, all BS aside, this machine works.   I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn how to get throttle control, balance point, and confidence on how to do a wheelie.  This will teach you by the end of the day all three of those things and then it’s up to you to go out there and then take the Wheelie Teach off of your motorcycle and continue the routine that you did with the Wheelie Teach on your bike.

Now, again, I do know that taking the Wheelie Teach off your motorcycle, you still have a very high risk chance of looping your bike.  So, remember, the Wheelie Teach is not responsible for any injuries, loss, or damage.  You put this on your bike.   You’re doing it on your own consent.  But I will say that by the end of the day, you’ll be pretty confident on how to wheelie.  From there, it’s up to you to push the envelope.  Again, this is Mike Nicely filling you in on the Wheelie Teach.  Check it out at allaboutbikes.com.    Thank you, Julian Taylor.  Thank you, Jeff Duzzny from wheelieteach.com.  Check it out.”

[Level 3 – Professional demonstration with music background]

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Originally posted on youtube by AllAboutBikes, pro stunter Julian Taylor tries the Wheelie Teach product. (Part 2)

[Level 2 Amateur 1^st Attempt]

Julian: Yay.  I can feel the difference, truly.  Wow, [inaudible 00:00:36] it is.  What a difference.  I can feel it [bite] [ph 00:01:06].  Keep that control on the clutch.  Now, the clutch is now the accelerator as you come up that high.  It’s where the perfect point is.   That’s why I get more feelings to the minute.  This machine just lets me do that.

I could just feel it.  It comes up and it stays there.  You hold the accelerator a little bit more it comes and it stays there.  It doesn’t come down.

[Level 2 Amateur 2^nd Attempt]

[Julian makes several attempts in performing wheelies at level 2 of Wheelie Teach]

[Level 2 Amateur 3^rd Attempt]

I actually got it a couple of times.  Beforehand, it came up and then it went straight down again.  Whereas at least now, you can click the clutch, then it comes up.  You can feel it coming up.  Practice – that’s the thing.  The benefit – at the end of the day, it’s on your bike.  So you can do 10 hours a day, two hours [depending] [ph 00:05:29] on what your preference is.  I have to admit.  I haven’t done so many wheelies in one day.  You feel it in your arms.  It keeps you fit.

Jeff: Yes, most definitely.  The thing you’re talking about with the clutch, you’re going to find out which leads down the line is that the clutch is going to allow you to go slower.  You’re going to be able to go 10 to 15 miles an hour and then clutch that thing in and it’s going to lift right up.  You’re going to be able to control it better.  That’s going to help you to bring it right into that balance point and that’s where the throttle control is.  It all goes around that throttle control.   Just moving that hand just a little bit equals so much and that’s going to help you feather that and carry that wheelie so far.  But it’s all building up to that and these are steps and you’re on the right track.

Julian: Absolutely.

Jeff: With Wheelie Teach on the back, it keeps you from that failure rate of flipping your bike.

Julian: You honestly feel every time you push it a little bit further, you know that Wheelie Teach is there.  So, you’re not going to fail, if you like.

Jeff: Yup.

Julian: It’s not going to push you too far.  I have never been today at all to be able to get that high and this machine gave me the confidence to do it.  It’s very good, indeed.  That’s what practice is.  Absolutely, practice makes perfect.  What the best thing with this?  It’s on your bike.  You can do it whenever you want.  It’s not like having a day at school where you’re stuck at school.  You leave.  If you can’t do it, you can’t do it.  Here, you got it on your machine.  You can do it as much as you want.  Excellent.

Jeff: Most certainly.  I mean you’re going to have the time, any time you want to put it on and do it.  I mean that’s what makes it so great.  It’s that it’s on your bike.  It’s a piece of machinery that fits on your own motorcycle.  So you have it.  It’s yours.  It gives you the chance.  If it’s going to take you a week, two weeks, 10 weeks, a lifetime to get the technique down, you have it at your disposal.

Julian: That’s one of the biggest things.  I have to agree. It’s good.

Originally posted on youtube by AllAboutBikes, pro stunter Julian Taylor tries the Wheelie Teach product.

[Introduction with Music Background]

Julian: Hi, I’m Julian Taylor from All About Bikes and I’m here with Jeff Duzzny of Wheelie Teach.  So, tell me.  You created the product that goes on your own bike and enables us to wheelie.  Is that correct?

Jeff: That is correct.

Julian: How does it work?

Jeff: Well, basically what it does is it goes on your own bike.  Unlike any other product, and there is basically no other product that’s out there, this actually fits on your own motorcycle.  So when you buy this product, you get to learn how to wheelie safely by attaching our device at the back of your own motorcycle.  What better way, Julian, to learn how to wheelie than on your own motorcycle.  You learn your own throttle, your own clutch, and your own torque on your own motorcycle.

Julian: So, I’ll be honest with you.  I did track days.  I’ve ridden for years upon years but the perfect wheelie has always eluded me.  I get to the top of the level.  I tried to get enough acceleration to bring the front wheel up and you get scared after a while you’re going to flip your beautiful machine (Is it going to go all way the over?).  How does this stop me from doing that?

Jeff: Well, what we designed here with Wheelie Teach, in this device, is basically levels, okay?  We took into account that most people, if you talk to them, “Have you ever tried a wheelie?” they swear on the first attempt that they’ve gotten 6 feet off the ground and they’ll talk to their buddies and their buddies will be like, “No, seriously, you only got like an inch off the ground,” and they’re like, “No, I got this far off.”  So we took that into account and what we do is we start off at a small level which only allows your bike to come basically a foot or so off the ground.

Julian: Why don’t we try this out and see what happens?  Like I say, I’m no wheelie expert.  This is not something that I do on a regular basis.  But let’s have a go and see how this thing works.

Jeff: That sounds great to me.

Julian: Excellent.

Jeff: Take your shot.

Julian: Thanks.  Okay.  So, basically we’re going to take this machine out now with the Wheelie Teach on the back and we’re going to try and see how it works.  Like I say, I’m absolutely no expert in wheelies whatsoever.  I ride these things for fun but I’ve always wanted to.  So, let’s really see how this thing will get this bike in the air.

[Level 1- Beginner 1^st Attempt]

Julian: [I’m sitting] [ph 00:02:45] on a drag strip with the thing on the back of my bike with [inaudible 00:02:47] front wheel [inaudible 00:02:49].  This is cool.  I am going to run.  You get as much acceleration as you want.

My bike has the [block] [ph 00:03:12].  It comes up every time.  It’s marvelous.   I’m going to wheelie at 6,000 rounds.  I can’t go too high.  I feel the Wheelie Teach every single time, every time.  Every single time, you feel it comes up.  You feel it catches you.  It gives you absolute confidence without a shadow of a doubt that it’s not going to go over.

You’re going to have to try and play with the accelerator just to keep it open and keep it going through in a certain amount of time.  But it’s a really an impressive piece of [kit] [ph 00:03:58], I have to say.

[Level 1 –Beginner 2^nd Attempt]

Julian: So, I go to 6,000 rounds.  I’m going to accelerate up.  I’m going to give it some wheelie.  This is all power.  I’m not doing it at all.  With the clutch, I’m trying to reduce the power in this last six.  It’s all coming up every time.

Holding it up is the hardest thing.  It is all coming up every time.  [I’m riding at 6,000 rounds] [ph 00:04:40]. Woohoo!  It truly is really fun.  Like I say, I’ve never done this before.  Let’s try to get it a bit higher.  With the brake employed at the back, it is five seconds – [a piecemeal] [ph 00:05:02].  The Wheelie Teach works.  It pushes me down every single time I get to the top.

Well, that was great.  I had loads of it.  This could keep up and down, up and down, up and down.  The good thing with it is I could see it when it was [biting] [ph 00:05:19].  Once it came up and it caught on Level 1 which I’m on at the moment, they brought me straight back down.

What I felt at that time and time and time again, the confidence was there.  I just kept going.  Bear in mind, I didn’t use the clutch at all.  That was all just power on the R6.  It’s the stock bike getting to 6000 rounds, dropping the accelerator off a bit, and playing it.  Bang! Off she came every single time.  It’s safe as houses.  I loved every minute of it.  Let’s keep playing.

[Level 1- Beginner 3^rd and final attempt]

Yaay.  I can’t hold it any longer.  [inaudible 00:07:10]  the brakes should down.  There is no better way for it.  Can you feel that? [inaudible   00:07:15].

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