How to Wheelie on a Motorcycle

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 16^th 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)

A roadside video tutorial for the beginner, which teaches how to perform clutch wheelies, by a rider who is learning how to wheelie himself. Split screen shows you different shots, originally posted on youtube by downshift83

“HI ladies in gentlemen, I’m in a halfway discrete location where I pulled off the wheelie video, where I was practicing for myself and practicing with [inaudible 00:00:39].

I’m going to be going on the wheelie tips again, it’s going to be fairly quick because I want the time to be a 10-minute video.  So I’m going to go to beginner to I’d say intermediate and advanced.

So beginner is going to be in first gear, recommended first gear.  What you’re going to want to do is go through your gear and pop the clutch with one finger.  So if it doesn’t come up you’re gong to want to increase the throttle just a little bit more and see how it goes.  You’re going to be able to see it on both cameras, throttle and clutch motions.  So that’s probably what it’s going to look like to begin with, feeling ore throttle, it’s going to be a harder jump.  If it doesn’t work for you give it some more throttle, and it will continue to progress.

As you give it a more throttle you’re going to want to keep the – pretty much your only base on is going to be your clutch hand.  So if you pop the clutch the same way every time, it’s going to be pretty easy to figure out how much throttle you’re going to need depending on what speed you’re going at.  So, let’s try and increase the throttle a little bit more.  You’ll start feeing the front wheel come up just slightly.  A little bit more – now that’s a lot of bit more than what you would normally be used to.

If you don’t get it just go slow and increase your throttle inputs just slightly, you don’t want to increase it a lot.  So a good way to gauge that is also by your gauge cluster.  Let’s say you’ll see that you’re going to pop it at 6,000 RPMs or 8,000 or 9,000, 10,000 or whatever.  You don’t want to go that high, but I’m using that as a “for instance.”  But that’s also going to depend on how hard or how far back you’ve cranked on your throttle.  So that’s going to pretty much depend on everything.

(Demonstration)

Also another thing is you’re going to want to slow down every time when you’re restarting your wheelies.  If you don’t slow down you’re not going to have a good enough baseline, so you’ll be continually trying to get more RPMs, get more RPMs to bring the front end up.  So this is for just popping the clutch.  I don’t do any throttle chopping to get the front end up on power wheelies or whatever.  But that’s just preference, I feel that the clutch standing up is safer.

So let’s give some more throttle, this should be somewhat intermediate in first gear which I only recommend for 600s, thousands you might want to put it in second.

(Demonstration)

Alright, now let’s do a second gear, these are all sit-downs if you’re watching the Go Pro.  These are all sit-down wheelies.  So second gear, now second gear is a little bit different – by the way, first gear I was leading the throttle in one position.  You’re going to have to give it more gas as you go on first gear.  Second gear is a little bit trickier, you’re going to want to hold in the clutch, give it throttle and then release clutch – you’ll see it on the Go Pros – and that will get the front end up.

(Demonstration)

Need I remind you that you should always cover the rear break, I came down fucking hard as shit.  So give it a throttle.  You’re going to want to modulate your throttle hand to be able to keep the front end up or drop it to come back down.  So that’s for second gear.  Now depending on the speed of your second gear, sit down, you’re going to want to give it a little pull back or a yank back.  I can give you a short demonstration on that, but I’m not going to be able to get up to a lot of speed here.  So the body motion is going to look pretty much like this (demonstration), you’re going to snap back to pull it up.  That’s if you want to go a little bit faster, first and second gear.

I am geared right now at a minus one plus two, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t do it in a normal gearing.  I learned how to wheelie on normal gearing.  All the wheelie tips that I did before where all normal gearing, so all the wheelie tips for normal gearing.  Alright, second gear again, cover the rear break.

(Demonstration)

Alright, and let’s go over some stand-ups.  Stand-up is something you’re going to be using on long straightaways.  You’re going to want to drop the peg, cover the rear break, stand up, bring the foot back, and do it just like you would do a second gear clutch up.

(Demonstration)

But that was in second gear, I can do the stand-ups in third.  I don’t think I was able to get in stock gear, I don’t remember if I was able to do it or not.  So, pretty much you just want to learn slow.

(Demonstration)

Now finding your balance point is a nice, tricky subject.  Finding the balance point is all you, I can’t tell you how to do it.  You just have to get out there and practice, but you got to be very careful on how you do it.

So second gear, I’m going to shoot for a balance point, but I can’t promise anything.  You’ll be able to hold the RPMs in pretty much the same position once you find balance point.  Make sure that when you wham that your bars are straight.

(Demonstration)

I’ll show the other video when I was doing the wheelie practices on this road with Nick to show the little bounce effect that you’re going to want to do for the wheelies.  I’ll do I guess a slow motion clip of it or something.  But you’re going to want to thrust your weight down on your rear feet right as you’re popping the clutch.  Let’s try it again.

(Demonstration)

As you get more advanced and stuff like that and you learn your bike, you can do it right off the stoplights in first gear.  It’s kind of fun, you just see people like, “Holly crap.”

(Demonstration)

Now you see the bike swaying back and forth, that’s going to happen with normal tire pressure which is what I’m at now.  If you got a normal tire pressure it gets your balance a little bit easier, and better balance is also good with acceleration.  If you’re accelerating and you continue to accelerate, your bike is more likely to stand a straight line.”

Wheelie Tips (Part 1)

“I’m downshift 83 here.  Today, I looked at the videos that I have up on YouTube and I noticed something.  The people that watch my videos seem to be looking towards like pointers and tips.  I’ve got more views for my counterbalancing than downshifting than I do almost anything else.

So today, I’m going to talk about wheelie tips.  Now I’m learning wheelies myself, so I thought it might be helpful to share some pointers that I might have for you.  Before you do anything, you want to be sure that you’ve got a clear, open road or a parking lot or something that you’re able to do these wheelies in without hurting anybody or causing any damage to anything.  I’ve chosen this road which I use to do a high speed run in a couple other videos ago.

Basically I started trying to do wheelies about a month ago, and just recently I’ve been getting better at them.  I’m going to add a video in the link description over there that helped me out to start wheelies up.  It basically it was an instructional by – I think it was MCN, Motorcycle something or another.  It’s like a British or European kind of channel on YouTube.  But I’ll have that on this description over there on the right.

But what you want to do is you want to always start off slow.  I was starting off with letting it hit about 9,000 RPMs and then I pop the clutch.  Now for this bike, I’m on a 2008 VX6R.  It’s been discussed on the forums that you cannot do power wheelies depending on, I don’t know, weight, size, height.  Stuff like that.  But most people cannot do power wheelies, like just wide open throttle.  It’s almost impossible for most of the people on this bike.  I’ve tried it myself and I can’t do it just on power alone.  So I’ve had to learn to clutch it up, which honestly is less scary than wide open throttle because it’s more controllable, you can just let go of the throttle when you come back down.  While on the other one you’re already doing 85 miles an hour at the top of your first gear.  So for this one it’s a little bit easier.

I’ve learned recently that I can pop it at about 5,000 or 6,000 RPMs, and that’s with almost wide open throttle.  You have to kind of balance your throttle and your clutch to be able to pull wheelies off.  You want to make sure that your tires are warm so they grip, just little stuff like that.  But in this case, let’s see if I can do it.  I haven’t practiced at all for awhile.

Warm up the tires a little bit.  But I’m in first gear, it’s quite simple.  I’m going to start off slow.  I’m going to have my break covered by my foot just in case I go too high or I go 12 o’clock then I’m going to want to set it back down.  Let’s give it a shot.

(Demonstration)

Just something simple to start, you don’t want to go too high or too fast, too far.  I don’t think I broke 30 miles an hour on that.  But what you’re going to do is once you get to your power band range, you’re going to kind of blip the clutch.  It looks kind of like this.

(Demonstration)

Kind of like that.  Now it’s going to feel weird at first and you’re going to get the ‘balls in your stomach” feeling the first time you do it, high enough at least to get a good feeling for it.  It’s a lot of play with the throttle hand and your clutch hand.  It’s a lot of play.  So, let’s try it again.

(Demonstration)

That didn’t look good.  That was a little better.  I popped that at 5,000 RPMs.  Now I found that you need to hit your balance point pretty quick for you to be able to hold a good wheelie.  I found that my balance point on this bike is 6,000 RPMs at a pop, at almost wide open throttle.  Now when I first learned it, I was doing two-thirds throttle up to 9,000 RPMs and then popping the clutch.  I didn’t like that because I was going too fast.  I want to be able to do it fairly quickly from like a dead stop.  So what you want to do is be able to learn your bike, learn your RPMs.  You want to be extremely comfortable with your bike before you attempt to do anything like this.

Okay, let’s try it again.  I’m going about 18 miles an hour at 3,500 and then I’m going to bring it 6,000 and pop the clutch.

(Demonstration)

That’s why you got to have warmed up tires, my tire just spun on it.  You got to have warm tires.  Alright, let’s try it again.  Just continually practice, just slow down and do it all over again.

(Demonstration)

Now some people think that you need to be an experienced rider to do this kind of stuff.  I’ve been riding since April, and it’s August something?  That’s four months that I’ve only been riding, ever.  I’m already doing wheelies and those dragging knee – well, almost.  It’s coming close.  You just want to be able to know your bike, you have to know your limits and basically just be safe when you’re doing it; like I’m not doing this out of town, that’d be suicide here in Italy.

(Demonstration)

Let’s try another one.  But it’s all about practice, it’s about finding that balancing point.  Like I said earlier, your balance point when you’re standing up it’s going to be something like this.  But when you’re going, it depends on where you’re at and how fast you’re going.  But you’ll be able to feel the balance point.  Your pure balance point is when you’re able to let go of the throttle completely and you’ll just stay there.  It’s a lot of feeling for that kind of situation.

People are also worried about the clutch and stuff like that when you’re doing these wheelies.  I’m telling you, stunters use the stock clutch and they can still get 12,000 miles out of their bike, and they do hundreds of wheelies a day.  So you don’t really need to worry too much about your clutch, especially on the VX6R where we had the slipper clutch stock.  It’s a great clutch to use.  Another worry is forks; as long as you don’t come down seriously hard you shouldn’t worry about your fork too much because you’ll be pulling away so you’re still accelerating through your wheelie to where you can just land fairly soft.  But you always want to cover the break, make sure that you pump it and it’s working.  Alright, here we go.

(Demonstration)

See what I did there?  I came up a little bit too quick for my comfort, so I just shut off the throttle and I came down.  That hurts.”

Wheelie Tips (Part 2): 2nd Gear Clutch up

“What’s going on everybody downshift 83?  Back again, I’ve gotten a lot of view for the motorcycle wheelie tips and the motorcycle wheelie progress.  Now where I’m at now in my motorcycling wheeling is better than of course the motorcycle wheelie tips and the wheelie progress videos that I’ve done.

Just yesterday I learned how to pop up in second gear.  Let me tell you what, that’s a completely different ballgame, at least with this bike it is.  I had to do something completely different with the throttle and clutch situation.  What I was doing before was I was rolling on a throttle, leaving it in a certain position and then popping the clutch.  That was in first gear.  That was my tip.  Now I wasn’t getting like that great of wheelies, but you got to learn your balance point once you get there, and your balance point is pretty high.

But for second gear wheelies you got to do something completely different, and I better go I got a tractor coming up.  But for second gears wheelies, it changes the whole subject.  You got to clutch, roll on the throttle and then release clutch all in one quick motion.  If you do that on first gear you’re going to loop your bike, so I don’t recommend doing that.  So I guess I’m going to do another tips video I guess?  I guess that’s what you could call it, is another tips video.

It’s odd seeing cars on this street though, it’s really odd actually.  I don’t see them too often.  But as you can see I’m back on my infamous straightaway.  I love this place, it’s absolutely great.  It gives me just about enough space to do what I got to do and have some fun.  I’ll wait for everybody just so I don’t have them call the cops on me.  All these are farmers, so I don’t want to disrupt their good nature and fund and whatever they’re doing, growing these oranges.  Most of them seem to just actually stand out here and watch me do some of these, probably hoping that I crash. (laughs)

Let’s see if I can get a good wheelie in first gear, show you maybe the progress that I’ve made a little bit.  I don’t know if I can get a good one on two, but we’ll see.  I’ve actually been popping a lot lower in speed.  The last time I was popping at about 4,000 RPMs, I can pop it at like 3,000 or start rolling on in 3,000 and then just popping it so I’ll be like going this fast.  Let’s try it out.

(Demonstration)

So that’s getting close to your balance point, you get a lot higher.  I think when started doing it, it was like – let’s see if I can do how shitty I was doing when I first started.

(Demonstration)

That was probably what I was doing when I did the first video tips.  Now after progressing it’s more like…

(Demonstration)

I know I got better wheelies in the progressing videos than that too.  But the reason why I wanted to do second gear wheelies was I was running out of RPMs in first gear.  I was ripping through them, I wasn’t actually finding the balance point, I had to actually rip all the way through the RPM range.  I did the video tips and then I did the progressing, and I still wasn’t hitting my balance point.  I still don’t like to, it feels weird.  But like I said first gear I ring it all the way out.  So that’s why I wanted to try second gear.  It’s a lot easier and I can go a little bit longer because I still haven’t gotten comfortable with getting my true balance point.

That’s the difference between the first gear wheelie and the second.  I can go longer without running out the RPMs and ringing them all high and stuff.  So that’s kind of the difference between the first gear wheelie and a second gear wheelie.

So for a first gear wheelie, I don’t know, it’s different for everybody.  But for me, I roll on the throttle and then I pop the clutch, mostly leave it in that throttle position.  Then when I want to come down I shut it off or if I go too high or too fast I just shut it off.

Second gear wheelie, I’m going at 30, I hold the clutch, bring down the throttle, pop the clutch.  That’s really, really hard on the throttle.  I’m like I think I’m at full throttle for that.  When I’m doing the first gear wheelie I’m not doing really full throttle.  I don’t know, it’s all about feel, you got to feel it.  I don’t know what exactly area I’m at on throttle position.  But for a second gear wheelie I’m almost at full throttle, at least that’s what it feels like.  So first gear wheelie, rolling on it, and then pop.

(Demonstration)

Wind man, I got head wind so it’s kind of like shifting me back and forth.  Alright, first gear wheelie is what that was.  Second gear wheelie I’m going to be in the mid-30’s, pull the clutch in, yank on the throttle, release the clutch all in one quick motion.

(Demonstration)

If you’re practicing always bring your RPM range back down, always bring your RPM range back down to – watch this.

(Demonstration)

I used to be that kid in that window (laughs).  I always wanted to see a motorcycle do something.  I’ll give him something else (laughs).  I love that.  Thank you all for watching my videos, please rate and comment.  Of course I always do video requests.  Thanks guys, take it easy.”

Wheelie Tips (Part 3)

“What’s going on everybody?  Downshift to 83 back again.  I think today I’m going to do a part three for my motorcycle wheelie tips.  I had a lot of people ask me for more videos on this subject, so I’m going to see what I can do.

So where I left off, I was doing second gear clutch-ups, talking about that I’m popping at 30 miles an hour or so.  I found that a little it difficult.  I can now do clutch-ups that are lower RPM in second gear, and I found that the power band will carry it a lot better if I start at a lower speed.  However, I used another YouTube video to be able to help me do a second gear clutch-up at a higher speed.  What I do is I’m riding, I’m going to get low and then I’m going to pop all the way back.  I think it was – I don’t know, I’ll send the link in the video after I write of where I was.

I think anything over 35 I have to do that, otherwise I can just use clutch alone.  I had another person request what it looks like on the controls when I’m actually riding.  I don’t know if I can actually do that but I’m going to try and use my peripherals to look forward while I’m looking at the hand when I pop a wheelie.  I can’t guarantee it will come out good, but at least you’ll be able to see what I’m talking about.  So I’m going to look at my hand, I’m going to do it in first gear, I’m going to roll on the throttle a little bit and then I’m going to pop the clutch.

(Demonstration)

I hope that came out okay.  I’ll see it when I start editing the film.  Now for the clutch hand…

(Demonstration)

I hope that shows you good enough what you’re actually going to be doing with your hands.  I got to look forward so I can’t really stay focused on my hands, sorry.  Now what I’ve come across is now that I’m doing wheelies longer, I start drifting off to either the left or the right.  It’s more depending on body position and wind.  But what I’ve learned to do is I’ve learned to steer it, sort of.  I’m not doing any stand up wheelies right now, I’m too much of a bitch to do it.  Eventually I’ll get there but not yet.  But what I do is basically when you’re in the wheelie you’re going to tuck down and you’re going to look through your fangs.  So either way, whichever way, you need to turn or whichever way you’re drifting towards, you need to get into that side of the bike to kind of counter that motion.  So, I’m going to do one over 35 miles an hour and see how that goes, second gear pop with a backward thrust.

(Demonstration)

Somebody asked me about third gear clutch-ups.  No, I’ve tried that, even with the rocking motion I don’t perceive me being able to do a third gear clutch-up.  Maybe a third gear roll on with a bounce, but I’m not doing any bouncing; 1) it looks ugly and 2) I’m not standing up yet.

(Demonstration)

Alright, let’s try one a little bit slower so I can show you what I’m talking about making it easier to pop it.  I’m going to do it at 20.  How’s that?  Twenty, give or take.

(Demonstration)

A lot easier to pop it.  Slow down a little bit.  Let’s try 17, I know I’ve done it at 17.  This is a really low RPM in second gear.

(Demonstration)

A little bit more throttle for that.  It will come up a lot quicker.  If you’re doing stand-ups, you’ll be able to get your balance point a lot quicker when you’re going slower.

(Demonstration)

I don’t know what the hell that was, I can’t read the time.  Just long as it doesn’t say “policia” I’m okay.

(Demonstration)

If you keep seeing me looking towards the trees, my backpack’s there and I have a funny story about that.  I was practicing wheelies earlier on, maybe about a month or so ago, and I was up at the top of that hill and I saw a car down here.  I was like, “That’s weird” because it was just parked, it wasn’t going anywhere.  So I’m on my way back and I see this car take off and I’m like, “What the fuck?”  I’m like I know that dude didn’t just take my backpack.  So what I did, I mean I was practicing wheelies but I know how to launch my bike and go.  I took off after him.  It took me like about a minute to catch up.  He was in an M5 and he was bolting.  I still caught him.  But I mean usually somebody with a motorcycle comes up next to you, looks straight at you and just start pointing at you, he’ll scare the crap out of you no matter who you are.  I was wearing my icon helmet.  So I had my face shield down and I have the Mohawk thing going on, the dude is like looking at me like he’s just seen a ghost.

(Demonstration)

I’m not an expert, I can’t get a wheelie every time.  Give me a break.  Expert Village, that’s what it was, I remembered.  (laughs)  That’s where I got the leaning from or the body shifting, it was Expert Village.  I don’t like their videos because they’re not that in detail, but it does give you some help.  Neutral.  It’s nice up here.

(Demonstration)

I think I’m starting to learn how to shift through those things.  A red line, second gear on that. (laughs)  I was like, I don’t know, 103?  Kind of freaky especially when a bug hits you right in the face.  That’s the only way I can get a good sound quality is if I leave the visor open.  So I’m wearing sunglasses and I still caught one right in the nose.

Alright guys, it’s been a great video.  Please keep sending video requests and keep watching my videos, I do this stuff for you guys.  Alright, you all take it easy.”

Wheelie Tips (Part 4) Stand-ups

“What’s going on friends and subscribers? Downshift83 is here.  If you’re not a subscriber, go ahead and click Subscribe over there.  This is going to be more wheelies video – another one.  I had a couple of requests now to do stand-up wheelies.  I finally just got the last thing that I needed to be able to perform this.

There are three things that you need to perform stand-up wheelies -one, a bike; two, real passion for pegs; and three, you need some balls.  So I finally got the balls to do this [expletive].  Let’s do a practice run before I start teaching this [expletive].  Yup, good practice run.

All right, the steps for being able to do these wheelies.  When you stand up, you’re going to stand up on both pegs that you use.  Then, you’re going to shift your left leg back to the rear passenger peg.  Gripping your tank with your knees and then perform just like you do in the second-gear clutch up described in my second-gear clutch up video.  It’s the exact same way.  You’re just using a lot less throttle and more thrust backwards.

Let’s try it again.  Always cover your rear brake on this because you’ll get a lot higher to the balancing point than you are on your seat down, at least I am.  [inaudible 00:02:30] because I’m standing up.  I don’t know.  But I am performing this in second gear.

The second gear is the most controllable, I guess you could say.  So, yes, it’s more controllable.  I’m getting close in third gear because I know somebody asked me that.  But, yes, you can perform stand-up wheelies in third gear because you got a lot more weight to thrust backwards.  That’s just going to bring your bike up and you’re going to be able to use a lot less throttle when you’re standing up because most of your weight is going to be on your pegs and then the rear pegs are here.  Make sure that it is always down Otherwise, it’s not going to be there for you to step down when you [stand in] [ph 00:03:17].

[Motorcyclist performs the stand-up wheelie approaching the camera]

Now, when you’re doing stand-ups, you’ve got a seven degree leeway from hitting your axle balance point to like seven degrees each way.  I don’t recommend going seven degrees backwards but you have a seven degree leeway to be able to cruise at the same speed.   So you don’t actually have to be actually on your perfect balance point.  You have about seven degrees to play with.

[Motorcyclist performs the stand-up wheelie going away from the camera]

[inaudible 00:04:13] went over.  You’re going to stand up on both of your pegs.  Then you’re going to shift your left leg back to your rear peg.  When you’re standing, you’re going to grip your tank with your knees.  You’ll be standing here over your bike.  You’re going to clutch it up in second gear.  Then, cover your rear brake.  After that, it’s all about having fun.

Like I said, it took me one day.  You saw how it was for my second-gear clutch ups.  You need to be proficient at those before you attempt this because you’re using a lot of the same skills in doing this as it was for the secondary clutch ups.  The only difference is you’re not sitting down.  And your balance point is a lot easier to get to.”

[Motorcyclist performs the stand-up wheelie approaching the camera]

- END -

Chris Kelley has been riding and racing motorcycles his whole life. Currently, he works as a film and television actor/stuntman, and as a stuntman for Universal Studios and Six Flags theme parks. He gives a fairly detailed explanation of how to pop the clutch, then getting your center of gravity correct by using rear brake and throttle control. Originally posted on youtube by expertvillage.

“I am Chris Kelley and we are here with Expert Village.  Wheelies are an important aspect in these races where you can bring your front wheel up and also if you are going to get into stunt riding.  It’s an aspect that you need much clutch and throttle control.

With your feet out, a wheelie position you are going to want to stay in your attach neutral position.  But are you are going to want a little bit of weight back.  You are going to want to get back on the seat a little bit and what they say, “Pop the clutch.”

But you just don’t let it out.  You are going to let it out until it starts to grab.  Then, you’re going to get ready to apply the throttle.  As you let that clutch out, you are going to get on the throttle with a good amount of speed to pick the front wheel up.  This is where your balance comes into play.

Once you get that bike up, it’s a matter of your throttle and your rear brake.  If the bike starts tipping a little too far to the back, you are going to want to tap the rear brake, put a little foot on that, and that will bring your bike right down.

A good rider with a wheelie can ride a long distance because they can bring their front wheel up.  They will get it to the balancing point, and they’ll use the throttle to either bring the bike back or the rear brake to bring the bike forward if they feel like they’re starting to tip over a little bit too far to the back.

So that’s the main key on wheelies – it is just to be able to lift that front wheel up.  When you get it up, be in a position where you can send it over the bike.   Also, if you start feeling it go a little too far back, that rear brake will bring you forward.  When you start dropping the front wheel down, the throttle and clutch will be able to bring you back up.”

- END -

Clutch wheelies are better than power/bounce wheelies because you can do them without accelerating (much); in tight areas, at very low speed, and they are much smoother than power wheelies both on the way up and down. You can also ride them out much longer and shift into higher gears.

Steps

1. You don’t need a very powerful bike. You can definitely clutch wheelie a 500 cc sport bike, it just takes higher revs.
   • Stock gearing is fine, however, with this setup it can’t clutch up in 2nd. You’ll need a 520 kit for that. (To clutch up in second with less bouncing, try going -1 on the front sprocket, and +2 on the rear.
   • If you buy these sprockets in 525 pitch, you will be able to change them and use the stock chain).
     • (Edit:The chain length will be correct, but you cannot use a 520 chain on 525 sprockets, or vice versa.)
2. Sit comfortably, upright on the bike. You don’t have to slide back for this trick. “It is possible to pull a wheelie at 70 mph in 3rd gear on a gsxr-600.” This will take more practice, but it is very possible.
3. Drive at a steady pace around 1500-2000rpm. (Should be about 10-20mph).
4. When you are ready for liftoff, quickly open up the throttle and Continue reading “How to Perform Clutch Wheelies, by wikihow.com” »