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How to Wheelie, by XDL Champion Nick Apex and Ernie Vigil
Posted on youtube by SportbikeWrench and OntheThrottle, part 1 is all about how to clutch up a basic power wheelie. They cover safety gear, where to find a good place to practice, and setting your bike up with cages. Things you need to know include: RPMs, clutching up the wheelie with one finger vs power wheelies, covering the rear brake, and ‘stagger step wheelies’.
Part 1 – How to Ride a Wheelie
Nick Apex: Alright, so here we are at my secret location here in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s an abandoned warehouse which most common stunts spots are. What we always try and find is basically any area that’s either an industrial or set back from the public where you’re not going to find a lot of spectators, and something that’s safe. In other words, you’re not wanting a whole bunch poles in the way.
As you see here, I got a huge, wide open area where if anything goes wrong my bike’s not going to hit anything, I’m not going to hit anything. Over all, basically we’re just going to hit some principles today that are going to teach you a safe wheelie.
You are going to see that Ernie and I are going to be wearing – of course, what you should be wearing. Motorcycling is not a safe sport, so always have your helmet and appropriate gear. We chose these Rush Deal jackets because they’re super lightweight, and even though they add a lot of protection, and even in the heat like what we find here in Las Vegas we can wear our gear it all day long. I know that a lot of people that start out, they wear t-shirts and they end up with a heck of a lot of rash. I know I did, and you don’t have to live through my pain so just learn from my mistakes.
I’ll let Ernie go over the principles here about wheelie.
Ernie Vigil: Today we’re going to kind of go over the basics of starting to learn how to do your first wheelie. There’s a couple of different things you need to know I guess when you’re first starting to do wheelies. One is how you pick the wheelie up, there’s two different methods. You can either use the clutch or you can do it all throttle.
People I know, people at first when they’re first starting they get kind of confused because they hear a lot of different things when it comes to doing a wheelie. But believe it or not, the safest and easiest way to do it is using the clutch. We’re going to go over some of the basics of that, of learning how to pop it up and whatnot.
The second thing we’re going to show you today is the coverage of the back break. We have hand breaks and we have foot break, and today we’re probably going to go over just the foot break, which is when you’re starting off to do wheelies it’s the most basic way and it’s the best way to learn control. So we’ll be going over how to use the foot break in a wheelie and when to use.
Another thing we’re going to be going over is all the different positions in a wheelie. There’s so many different positions to start off with. The basic though when starting a wheelie, the one that most people are the most comfortable with is the stagger stand wheelie, which is one foot over the foot break and your left foot over the rear passenger peg, it gives you a little stability when it comes to standing up. It takes a little bit of pressure off your arms and keeps you from wanting to gas it and move out.
Of course the bikes, they’re all completely set up. We don’t come out here in the middle of nowhere with a bike that’s not set up. I mean it definitely helps to have the crash cages on and everything on the bike because when you’re learning of course you are going to wreck. There’s riders who have gone down and there’s riders that are going down. It can go either way, it’s better to be prepared. We’ll go over some basics today in the wheelie and hopefully we can get your guys wheeling soon.
Nick Apex: So I’m Nick Apex and this is my partner Ernie Vigil. We’re Team Rush Deal North America, and today we’re going to go over the basics.
So what I’m going to do is introduce you to the idea of how exactly to work the clutch. Now obviously this clutch is a little bit shorter.”
Part 2 – How to Ride a Wheelie
Part 2 is about riding wheelies and finding your ‘balance point’ by using throttle control and covering your brake. Then he demos on a regular street bike instead of his stunt bike.
Nick Apex: Alright, so here we are at my secret location here in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s an abandoned warehouse which most common stunts spots are. What we always try and find is basically any area that’s either an industrial or set back from the public where you’re not going to find a lot of spectators, and something that’s safe. In other words, you’re not wanting a whole bunch poles in the way.
As you see here, I got a huge, wide open area where if anything goes wrong my bike’s not going to hit anything, I’m not going to hit anything. Over all, basically we’re just going to hit some principles today that are going to teach you a safe wheelie.
You are going to see that Ernie and I are going to be wearing – of course, what you should be wearing. Motorcycling is not a safe sport, so always have your helmet and appropriate gear. We chose these Rush Deal jackets because they’re super lightweight, and even though they add a lot of protection, and even in the heat like what we find here in Las Vegas we can wear our gear it all day long. I know that a lot of people that start out, they wear t-shirts and they end up with a heck of a lot of rash. I know I did, and you don’t have to live through my pain so just learn from my mistakes.
I’ll let Ernie go over the principles here about wheelie.
Ernie Vigil: Today we’re going to kind of go over the basics of starting to learn how to do your first wheelie. There’s a couple of different things you need to know I guess when you’re first starting to do wheelies. One is how you pick the wheelie up, there’s two different methods. You can either use the clutch or you can do it all throttle.
People I know, people at first when they’re first starting they get kind of confused because they hear a lot of different things when it comes to doing a wheelie. But believe it or not, the safest and easiest way to do it is using the clutch. We’re going to go over some of the basics of that, of learning how to pop it up and whatnot.
The second thing we’re going to show you today is the coverage of the back break. We have hand breaks and we have foot break, and today we’re probably going to go over just the foot break, which is when you’re starting off to do wheelies it’s the most basic way and it’s the best way to learn control. So we’ll be going over how to use the foot break in a wheelie and when to use.
Another thing we’re going to be going over is all the different positions in a wheelie. There’s so many different positions to start off with. The basic though when starting a wheelie, the one that most people are the most comfortable with is the stagger stand wheelie, which is one foot over the foot break and your left foot over the rear passenger peg, it gives you a little stability when it comes to standing up. It takes a little bit of pressure off your arms and keeps you from wanting to gas it and move out.
Of course the bikes, they’re all completely set up. We don’t come out here in the middle of nowhere with a bike that’s not set up. I mean it definitely helps to have the crash cages on and everything on the bike because when you’re learning of course you are going to wreck. There’s riders who have gone down and there’s riders that are going down. It can go either way, it’s better to be prepared. We’ll go over some basics today in the wheelie and hopefully we can get your guys wheeling soon.
Nick Apex: So I’m Nick Apex and this is my partner Ernie Vigil. We’re Team Rush Deal North America, and today we’re going to go over the basics.
So what I’m going to do is introduce you to the idea of how exactly to work the clutch. Now obviously this clutch is a little bit shorter, but your stock clutch is still disengaged with one finger. It’s safest to pop the clutch with one finger simple because you have the rest of the hand gripping the bar and you’re not compromising anything.
So what Ernie’s going to do is he’s going to pull the clutch in with one finger and he’s going to have the [inaudible 00:03:46]. All he’s going to do essentially is probably give it about a quarter turn of gas as he pops the clutch in just one movement. It’s all one and the same. As you whip the gas, you’re popping the clutch. It is fairly violent, you’re not slipping the clutch, you are popping it.
(Demonstration)
A nice thing to do is in a wheelie – see exactly how he initiated the clutch? You’re going to be able to hear the RPMs raise up as he does.
(Demonstration)
That’s just standard clutch wheelie, you hear the RPMs jump up. He’s literally giving it gas and popping the clutch out all in one. You don’t bring your revs up, you’re not going to sit there and put the revs at 4,000 RPMs and then drop the clutch down and expect it to happen.
(Demonstration)
What happens is without a lot of throttle movement, you can get the thing to damn your balance off red line. We all know that you can just give it a little bit of gas without any load on it and the RPMs are going to raise, and that’s the reason why you’re popping it and giving it gas at the same time.
Now realistically on a stock bike, I’m assuming it’s going to be right around 8,000-9,000 RPMs of your bike, and that is almost every modern 600 or a thousand CC class bike is going to be able to pop up. Now again like I said, it’s not 8,000 and dropping the clutch, that’s blibbing the gas up to about 8,000 RPM. So you’re probably going to want to blip up to 4,000 and then yack as it goes. It’s kind of hard to explain, it is something that you need to feel out. Every bike is different, every rider’s weight is different.
What Ernie’s going to do is he’s going to pull the clutch in and he’s going to be rolling about two or three miles an hour. He’s going to pop the clutch with a squirt of gas, which is going to pop the front wheel of about a foot. What he’s going to do there is chase that balance, about only a foot off the ground. He’s not going to shoot for balance point, he’s just going to power wheelie. As the clutch got him up to a specific height he’s going to try and catch that height and run with it. So go ahead Ernie, clutch up a power wheelie.
(Demonstration)
So as you can see he just basically popped it out and chased it out. What that gives you is that gives you the principle, how to get the front tire off the ground safely because you don’t want to try and clutch it up really high at first. Here it comes again, he’s going to go ahead and do another one. He’s going to pop the clutch up which is going to jump the front tire off the ground and then he’s going to chase it with the gas.
(Demonstration)
A wheelie like that is perfectly safe. That’s one of the ones where if he popped that up and he shut up the gas, at no point would that wheelie ever consider flipping over. You want to be again in a safe environment of course when you’re learning this, a long, wide open area just like this. So go ahead Ernie, pop it up and bring it a little bit higher. But not balance, just under it.
(Demonstration)
As you can see there, he’s carrying the wheelie longer but the RPMs are still growing. The reason why the RPMs kept raising upwards of course is because he’s still under the balance point. Again, as you saw, he just clutched it up. So he brought it up with the first two or three feet. The reason why he did that is because if you try and power wheelie up, to that sage first two or three feet, you’re in the gas and you’re getting massive RPMs and mass of speed as your bike slowly gets up to that speed.
So all you’re doing by clutching it is jumping the bike up to a specific height, and then from that height you can easily manipulate the gas by simple throttle and push. It’s all throttle control, and we’re talking minute 16th of a turn in the throttle is what’s going to bring it up to that specific height. I’m going to have him go ahead and do it one more time. And that’s just chasing it out as he goes.
(Demonstration)
Now Ernie was doing all those wheelies sit down. The reason that we’re going to teach you this next step, standing up off the bike gives you a lot more control of the motorcycle. It’s also very easy for you to gauge how high the bike is and if everything goes wrong get away from the bike easier. So we’re going to do now the staggered wheelie. Ernie again is going to pop the clutch and chase out a power wheelie just as I want you to do in your first attempt, but he’s going to do a staggered now with his left foot placed on the passenger peg.
(Demonstration)
Really easy set up, crouch, and chase it out. Now as you can see he didn’t just go and pop the clutch and stand straight up. He wasn’t standing straight at first, he was crouching and making body loose. He’s going to do it again.
(Demonstration)
With your body nice and loose, and his knees were slightly bent. The reason why you want to have your knees slightly bent is it gives you that cushion of being able to come back into the bike. So as soon as you feel uncomfortable you can always bring the bike down with your body still.
So this time, clutch it up just underneath balance point, but go ahead and chase it out, let the RPMs go.
(Demonstration)
That’s just underneath the balance point. Again, that’s a nice, safe wheelie, chase it out all the way the red line, he had a lot of distance with that for our small area that we have here. If that was a stock rear bike you would probably have gone four times the distance. Again, we’re running [inaudible 00:09:13] on our stunt bike. Later I’ll bring out the full turning bike that we have and show you exactly the way it sounds, the way it looks on a stock full turning bike. Go ahead Ernie, do it one more time for us.”
(Demonstration)
