How to Wheelie on a Motorcycle

Gabe321 posted this informative 10 minute couch-side discussion about throttle control, balance point, and engine braking.  Closes with a discussion of ‘panic reactions’ and wrecking.  Stresses throttle control and not chopping the throttle.  “Throttle is not a light switch that goes off and on. Its a dimmer switch.”

Speaker 1: Okay, basically here we are in your living room and we’re here to tell you about how we learn about throttle control, the balance point, and most importantly is engine breaking.  The balance point is like some people thinking the world is flat, you know what I mean?  You don’t really know if it’s flat or round until you go to chase it, and it feels like you’re going to find the balance point and they’re going to loose it.

But one thing they’ve got in their corner is engine break.  Tell us about engine break.

Speaker 2: Right, engine breaking, the best way I can explain it – let’s say I have a car, it’s a five-speed manual transmission.  First gear, I put it in first gear and I leave it there and I tack the car out, I’m going as fast as I can.  If I take my foot off the gas it brings me forward, it throws me forward quick, abruptly.  On second gear it’s going to do the same thing.  But the higher I go up in the gears, the faster I’m going and I don’t have as much engine breaking.

Let’s say for example I’m in fifth gear overdrive on the highway, I’m doing 90 miles an hour, even though I’m accelerating I might take my foot off the gas but it’s not going to throw me forward in my seat.  I don’t have a whole lot of engine breaking.  So first and second gear we’re going to experience the most of our engine breaking, and that’s where we’re going to do the most of our tricks.

Speaker 1: I was just trying that while you were saying that.  Bro, you’re right.  You’re right, I almost flew through to my windshield in that one as you would see.

Let’s talk about the balance point, that’s probably the hardest to find. Basically what I would do is I just did wheelie after wheelie after wheelie, and then I learned the higher I would get my wheel up the closer I was at the balance point.  Well, the closer I was at the balance point the longer I would go without acceleration.  Eventually when I found the balance point it was like you can do forever.  I mean it doesn’t matter, you can go 30 miles, say you’re running on gas, whatever, first gear makes the difference.

So the balance point is hard to find.  A lot of people think when you get to the balance point you’re just going to flip, like they think that there’s a light switch at balance point and then [I’m dying] [ph 00:01:45].  But basically it’s like this, you don’t really know what it’s like until you get there.  It’s actually manageable, it’s dealable, it’s nice, it’s a cool feeling because you’re in your wheelie and you feel the free acceleration, and then it’s kind of like it’s neutral.

Speaker 2: Right, once you’re accelerating your wheelie, a lot of the pressure is put in the palms and hands to hold your bike.  Once you get close to the balance point it’s almost like it puts the pressure on your butt, and it takes a lot of pressure off your wrist.  That’s when you know you’re getting close to the balance point is what I tell people.

Speaker 1: Yes.  No, that’s good, that’s definitely true.  The thing is, the closer you are to the balance point the longer I would always drive my wheelies.  Every time I say the higher I get the front wheel, the closer I was on driving my wheelies longer and longer and longer, and the next thing you know I’m at the balance point.  The key is I always try to stay at the balance point and I would try not to move my hand at all because you don’t want to put yourself out.  I’m up there and doing my own thing, riding my own, I can go forever.

Speaker 2: Right.  Check this out, if I was to explain the balance point like leaning back in a chair, I wouldn’t tell you to just go pushing off like you do in the back and then hoping for the best.

Speaker 1: It’s like pulling out your skull over on the concrete.

Speaker 2: Right, it does happen and it happens in wheelies too.  We’ve done it, I’ve done it, I know you’ve done it.  But just like leaning back in a chair, I want to bring myself back, I’m going to use my feet as an example in a throttle, pushing myself back is going to be like rolling on a throttle.  While anytime I bring my weight forward it’s going to be like engine breaking.  If I get myself too much throttle, I won’t be able to pull myself back forward.

So I want to be screwed down.  I want to bring myself back, I’m in no hurry.  I’m going to bring myself back to until my body just slight here.  Once it gets to a point where I can pick my feet up, I’m at the balance pint right here.  Notice that I’m not going to make a whole lot of movement with my body, I’m not doing this (rocking movement with his feet).  I mean it doesn’t make sense, you wouldn’t do it in your chair why do it on the bike.

Speaker 1: True.

Speaker 2: Here I am, I’m relaxed, I’m not doing anything.  Majority of my weight is focused a little but forward because if I fall back, I don’t really have a whole lot to bring me back to position.  But I do have throttle to bring me back to the balance point.  So I’m screwing on the throttle until I get back to the balance point, and once I’m here I’m staying pretty consistent on the throttle.  I’m not doing a whole lot of changes staying where I am.

Speaker 1: So talk me through this.  So on my wheelie, I’m in my balance point.  Let me move up, how about this, I’m in my balance point and I’m doing my thing.  Say I get a little bit too much, say I’m going back to far, what do I got to do?  I got to close my throttle, right?

Speaker 2: Close your throttle.

Speaker 1: I got the engine break to bring me back.

Speaker 2: But see how much you brought your back, you brought your back too far.

Speaker 1: So when I’m back, close it, close it and then you got to ease back on.

Speaker 2: You ease it to get yourself into a position.  You’re not throwing your body back and forth here.  What happens when you come forward, you want to give yourself just enough throttle to bring you back into position.

Speaker 1: So, it’s gas off, gas off right there (rocking movement position), it just kind of eases on.  You want nice smooth movements.  I see what you’re saying about being jerky, I wouldn’t be balancing here and just like expect to be jerky like everything.  If I want to balance forward and backward everything has got to be smooth.  It’s the same kind of thing on a bike.  That’s a good theory there.

(Demonstration with a rocking chair) So basically it’s a pretty simple, it’s a cool concept that [Norman] [ph 04:59:00] showed me before.  Basically I’m going up, I’m on my gas, I’m on my throttle and then I do my engine break, it brings me down.  I’m gassing nice and smooth, it brings me to my point, I’m at my balance point, and then finally I get too far – engine break.

Speaker 2: But notice the movement he has there if he’s really abrupt, so he’s going to being himself down forward, he going to actually use a lot more force to bring himself back to the balance point.  If he brings himself back slowly so he can find the balance point, the throttle input is very minimal and it will keep him really smooth.  So let’s show them how smooth you can keep this.

(Demo movements using the rocking chair)

Speaker 1: Survival reactions is something a lot of people don’t really think about, it’s something that people should know about because what we do and what a lot of our racers do we have to defy survival reactions.  Survival reactions – you explain it best – but basically it’s doing exactly the opposite of what you’re supposed to be doing.  Your body goes, “What you’re doing now is no good, stop” and you try to stop.

Speaker 2: Right.  For example, I’ve read racing books and it says when you get into a position where you’re coming on a second gear turn and you’re whacked up and on the throttle, your back end starts to spin, the last thing you want to do is shut the throttle off because that’s just going to upset the bike and put you into a high side.  But that is the first thing that your brain tells you to do when in reality it’s the exact opposite of what you should be doing.

You just close the throttle a little bit and stay smooth, whacking it upsets the bike way too much, and it does the same thing in a wheelie.  When we bring our bike back and we get into a position where we’re panicking, our survival reaction tells us to shut the throttle.  Well, greed wants us to keep the wheelie up. So what’s the first thing that we do after we shut the throttle, we whack the throttle open again.  That’s the last thing we should be doing right here.

One important aspect of this sport to understand is there’s always another wheelie, there’s always another stop.  There’s always another opportunity, there’s absolutely no need to try to squeeze the [inaudible 00:06:43] unless it’s the last one that you’re only able to do.

Speaker 1: One thing you got to remember, and Matt always reminds me of this – Matt has a wakeboarding background, and basically he tells me if motorcycles and stunt riding was like wakeboarding the tricks we’d be doing right now would be insane.  The thing is, you can always go a hundred percent in wakeboarding.  You know what I mean?  You just go forward and fall, and fall in the water.  It hurts – I mean don’t get me wrong, it hurts, but you fall in the water.

Like you say, you don’t want to fall in concrete, you got to learn slowly and slowly, step by step.

Speaker 2: Our sport right now is pretty much the only sport where failure is not an option.  Failure can sometimes result in death or hospitalization.  I don’t want that, I know you don’t like that.  I’ve crashed my bike several times, I don’t like to see people crash their bikes.  It’s the worst thing to overcome, collecting your bike and coming back, it’s very hard to do.

So to eliminate that, if I was to start all over again, I would tell myself that throttle control is the most important thing that I need to understand.  I don’t need to be overzealous with the throttle here.  I’m not looking to get arm pumped when I ride my bike, I’m staying consistently smooth on the throttle.  That’s what’s going to keep me in track and straight.

If I bring my bike back I notice that it’s always smooth when I’m binging it back.  When I chop the throttle and come off, when I get into a situation where a survival reaction kicks in, I chop the throttle and then I’m like, “Okay, I’m fine” and then whack the throttle open again.  Then I get back to that point because I used the throttle, I’m not being smooth, and that just translates to the bike to being really all over the place.  So that’s the main objective of throttle control is just to be able to maintain a smooth wheelie.

Speaker 1: My biggest problem growing up with throttle control always, I mean…

Speaker 2: Like when you were a kid?

Speaker 1: (laughs) Some people wet their pants, other people are sleep walking, me it’s with throttle control.  I had the biggest problem.

We all know, I know there’s some of these people out there – in your family; may it be your dad, your mom, friends of yours.  Did you ever drove a car with somebody and you’re chilling and you’re back in your seat, and the dude speeds up and slows down for no apparent reason?

Speaker 2: You think he’s messing with you but he’s looking out the window like it’s no big deal.

Speaker 1: It’s just like that’s the way it is.  That is the classic throttle chopper syndrome.  Now pay attention, that’s the worst kind of syndrome to have.  It’s right up there with a lot of other main diseases, it’s called Throttle Choppers.

Speaker 2: TC’s.

Speaker 1: There’s one way to correct that.

Speaker 2: TC’s disease.

Speaker 1: You have to teach the people that the throttle is not a light switch.  It’s not on and off, on and off, it’s more of a dimmer switch.  You can give it a little more light, a little less light.  Whatever you feel your movement is, it’s a dimmer switch, just relax.

It’s like the dude, he’s got this problem (acting with his hand and feet), you shake his hand and he’s like this all the time (shaking hand rocking movement).  What’s the problem? (laughs)  It doesn’t have to be on and off, relax.

Speaker 2: Throttle control is something that’s consistent throughout your whole life, it either exists or doesn’t exist.  Driving, are you going to be that guy who hits the throttle, get off the throttle, on the throttle and off the throttle?  We’ve all ridden with that guy.  I sure… (demonstrating an abrupt drinking motion with a glass) … wouldn’t drink like that.  Why would I ride my motorcycle like that? (laughs)

Speaker 1: A serious issue that a lot of people are embarrassed about is the throttle control issue.  It comes out in a lot of people and a lot of things.  See, the main ways you see it is in the highway with the people in the car and the foot (revving motion with the foot), that kind of thing or doing a wheelie and they’re throttle chopping it the whole time.

Well, obviously in Matt’s case you see it kind of extend a little bit further than the highway or the drag strip.  I mean it’s actually involved with drinking and things like this (abrupt movements) or other people where the strobe light was invented because someone had a throttle chopping problem with a light switch.

So once you work these problems in, you figure out things and how they go – I mean just smooth things out, ease them out.  Once you learn to be smooth and easy I think you can kind of work that with the rest of your life all in general.  So let’s see what happens.  Just work on that a little bit and I think you’ll pull through.”

- END -

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)

Tips on how to wheelie your sportbike. Explains power wheelies, rolling on the throttle, slipping the clutch, and throttle control. Originally posted on youtube by Crociffixio

“Hey people how’s it going?  We’re at Super Bike.  We’ve seen a lot of people struggling on track base out on the roads – the closed, private roads mind you – trying to pull wheelies.  It’s kind of a basic stunt really, it has been year.  But it’s amazing people still hurt themselves learning how they try to do to much too soon.  It’s never going to work that way.

I’m going to try and start here from ground level here, the most basic kind of fundamentals.  Getting comfortable, fun and just feeling light on your hands.  It’s going to be similar to going over a rollercoaster, dropping over the top of your stomach drops.  You feel panicked.  You need to go over that, relax, deep breaths, talk yourself through a little checklist here.  Let’s start with your basic roll on simple power wheelie.

This is going to be the most basic type of wheelie; it’s just a roll on power wheelie.  This is just an introduction so you’re not even going to try and sustain it.  This is the beginning, get used to the front going light as they say.  So let’s give it a shot here, we’re going to take off in first gear, accelerate hard and you’re going to see the front end is just going to gently come up, gently roll the throttle off just to set it back down.  First gear, take off, open the throttle up.

(Demonstration)

It’s as simple as that.  I’m not crocking the throttle open, there’s no clutch involved.  But if I don’t roll of throttle, it will flip right over.

The next step is to just simply hold the throttle in kind of a neutral position.  Once the front starts to get light and comes up, you just back off by a fraction.  Here we go, same thing, take off first gear, front comes up.  You’re just carrying it a few feet further.  On each time a few feet further, a few feet further.  Take off first gear, open the throttle, front comes up, take it a little bit further, there’s nothing to it.

I hyped that one for you.  There’s not a lot involved there like I told you, it’s basically letting the bike do the work.  Sit back, relax, roll on the power, the front is going to come up no matter what you do.  I mean if you’re on it, it’s up.  So keep that in mind.  Now go practice that.  Shut this video off and don’t go bother watching the rest because until you have that down, until you have your throttle control down and until you can create a front wheelie consistently without any of these any lunging back and forth and jerkiness the rest of this tape is meaningless.  Roll on the power is all you need to know.

But, if you’re comfortable with that, the next thing is here slipping the clutch.  Slipping the clutch, a lot of people don’t even know what it means really slip the clutch.  I’ll show you what it means, I’ll show you how to do it, it’s your next step.  But remember, don’t move on until you master the first step.  Having said that, step two, slipping the clutch.

To bring the front wheel up, it’s going to involve a slip of the clutch and a slight acceleration at the same time.  Instead of holding a steady, neutral throttle position, you just want you to accelerate like that as you slip the clutch.  On the first few times the front wheel is just going to crust, it’s going to come up three or four inches.

(Demonstration)

Just like that, the front wheel came up six inches off the floor.  You’re just getting used to the sensation, it’s the same thing.  You just want to understand that it’s going to lunge.  Now you can see the front comes up a lot more violent than just by rolling on the throttle.  Rolling on the throttle is a smooth way to bring the front wheel up.  But it’s not really efficient because you need a long stretch of road and you need to really kind of wind out the gear.  It’s just the slip of the clutch.  You can see the higher you go the slower your acceleration actually is, and that’s all slipping the clutch involves.

(Demonstration)

Alright, so now you know how to slip the clutch.  Hopefully you’re still in one piece after that.  If you’re doing what I told you and taking it slow, not trying to move on too fast, not trying to impress your friends or yourself, you’d be alright.  Slipping the clutch, that’s the way to bring it up.  There’s a bit more involved there, but once you can piece it altogether there’s nothing else you need to know.  People talk about going into these top gear wheelies at 150 miles an hour, there’s not really any reason to do that.  Bikes are happy to stay in second or third gear for as long as you’re happy to sit and the road is straight.

So here’s a little example of putting steps one and two together because obviously you can’t do step two until your step one is finished and mastered.  Just let it burn about two miles straight stretch, [inaudible 00:06:03] and pull up in second gear and sit in third gear basically.  It’s just minor throttle adjustments, slipping the clutch to bring it up and just holding on, and being happy and relaxed really is about the best friend that you’re going to have.

You have a look out here, you got a nice, straight piece of road.  Take off on first gear, click up to second and now you’re going about 4,000 revs.  That’s normal on this kind of big, strong bike like this.  It’s going to slip the clutch and come right up.  Here we go, slip the clutch, throw it up, and now in second gear.  It’s really windy though so we’re kind of all over the place.  [unintelligible due to background noise].  No clutch though, just slipping it in.  So you’re about 7,000 revs now and you can pretty much just kind of hang around there all day.  Really windy out here though.

[unintelligible due to background noise].  It’s not too bad actually.  Bring my front wheel up and my wheel will drop down.  See, there you go.  Pretty much, you go right into third gear, the [inaudible 00:07:32] as long as you want to hold it there.  Now I’m going to front kick the front wheel going here which is accelerated a little bit.

So that’s roughly two miles in the back wheel.  It sounds like a lot but it’s really nothing once you get comfortable slipping the clutch, pulling it up.  Go on through your checklist, be sure to breathe, you can’t hold your breath for two miles.  But just relax up there and bike will cooperate all day.  As long as you want to stay up on a back road you’re fine.  Having said that, you got to slow the wheelie down now, that’s using the rear break.

A sad fact that I’ve noticed is that a lot of people don’t know where the rear breaks even is on their bike.  That’s their fault and that’s something you need to learn.  You need to learn how to incorporate the rear break into your everyday riding.  Riding through heavy traffic is the most important time to use it, some people unfortunately don’t even know how.  Ask any professional racer on a racetrack how they use the rear break when they’re riding, they’ll use it to keep the front wheel on the floor.  That way it gets powered down to the rear, we’re going to use the rear break to keep the wheel up.  But it doesn’t involve anything more than dragging the rear break for the entire wheelie, applying more or less pressure to raise or lower the front wheel.

Having said that, take a look and see how it goes, start small.  Just remember, start small.  Too much too soon means you get hurt.”

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A very nice (first person) guide to how to wheelie a supermoto, performed on DRZ400 by ktmforum, on a ‘closed course’. Stresses using only one finger on the clutch and brake. However, he doesnt use the clutch while shifting gears while the bike is up. He shows both popping the clutch and powering the bike up… through traffic.

“This is going to be my pathetic attempt at a little documentary.  I’d like to call it a tutorial but I’m not really teaching anybody.  I don’t claim to be the best that’s for sure, but I do alright sometimes.

So I’m just going to show everybody what I do.  This is the bike, it’s a ’05 Suzuki DRZ 400 SM.  It’s in great shape, hardly ever ride it actually.  Hopefully by the time this thing is done it would still be in great shape.  Let’s see if I can explain a little bit about the technique I use before we actually get moving here.

One finger, the one finger on the clutch, one finger on the break, it’s just how I ride all the time.  I’ve changed the clutch lever, you can see it’s an ASV clutch lever.  The reason I like this lever, for one it folds away.  For two, it’s adjustable.  The stock lever, you can see my gloves, I had to cut down the plastic.  I usually use the finger, pull the clutch, release the clutch.  When the plastic was on there, and the stock lever it used to hit on that and I never got enough release.  Now I get enough, and you may have the same problem.

Anyway, always remember, cover the rear break.  Give this a couple of shots, do what I do.

(Demonstration)

Like I say, with one finger, cover the rear break.  That’s a [inaudible 00:02:43], so I’ll take it easy for a little bit there.  Like I said, that was sucked into fourth gear, I clutched it to second, shift through third, shift through fourth.  Don’t use any clutch on shifts while the wheel is up.  There’s a little bit too much traffic in here, I don’t know what I’m going to do about this.  Let’s see what happens when I get down to the [inaudible 00:03:15].

Now as I said earlier I don’t really ride this bike that much.  It actually has 1,860 miles on it.  [inaudible 00:03:28].  This seems to be the one that everybody has the most questions with about on how to wheelie so that’s why I’m using this one.

(Demonstration)

I’m going on the third gear here.  Obviously you can just hammer it while I’m taking a stand up.

(Demonstration)

That was first to fifth gear.  This is the throttle, bring on to fourth, down to third.  I was pulling it up to third going to fifth.  I actually have to break there for a second.  I’m down to second just so you could see how my fingers work there.  You could see how I shift fifth and fourth and release, it’s all timing.  [inaudible 00:05:42] is they don’t understand that all you’re doing is releasing the clutch – or maybe I should say pulling the clutch in or whatever.  Let’s the RPMs go so the motor gets into its power range and pump the clutch.  What you’re not doing is pulling the clutch and then releasing.

Alright, we’re coming up to a nice section of road here, it’s up road, it’s pretty sweet, up roads are easy.

(Demonstration)

As I was saying, I’m pulling the clutch, throttle, let the clutch out, it’s all in one motion – if you understanding what I’m saying.  This is my favorite section of the road.  I’m giving traffic a little time to clear out here.  It’s nice and straight with really nothing on the sides of it.  I’ve always said cover your rear break.  Once you bring down the clutch, first gear, second gear, kind of like [inaudible 00:07:46].

(Demonstration)

Third gear, and fourth gear, fifth gear.  Just by listening to how the motion is, how the engine sounds, you’ll be able to realize how the timing goes.

(Demonstration)

What you’ll notice once you become more comfortable around the bike.  A lot of times when I’m doing this and I’m on my street bikes, I notice what the odometer says, sometimes I’ll see the speedometer.  It’s easy to look at it on the video, but when you’re doing it on real time it’s really different.

The truth is there’s a hundred things I’ve missed.  But if you pay attention to the sounds, the speed, of the gears as I was trying to pull them out, just being observant you’ll get some ideas.  It’s always easier to pull out when you’re standing too.  I don’t really like to stand because I change shifts when I’m standing, a lot of times I always carry the gear out.”

- 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 -

MCN shows you the basics of ‘popping a wheelie’ in this video. Throttle and clutch control are the two most important things they stress. Lots of wheelie video but not much unique information; their goal for the day was simply to get the front wheel off the ground.

MCN: Welcome to MCN.  Today, we’re going to learn how to wheelie.  Now you might be wondering why I’m doing the push-bike but this really is the best way to learn how to wheelie.  Your pedal is your throttle.  You back away if you suddenly have gone over the edge and the balance point feels exactly the same.

Right, we’re done with this now.  Good morning, chaps.

Participants: Good morning.

MCN: So we’re here with our three MCN leaders and we’re going to find out why they want to learn to wheelie.  Let’s start with Simon.

Simon: Yes, I’ve done various track days but I never really had the courage to wheelie.  So I’d like to build the courage and have a bit of experience performing wheelies and perhaps we can do that today.

MCN: Fingers crossed.  [Kano] [ph 00:00:56]?

Kano: I think I’m going to speed-triple my next bike and that is having a reputation as a hooligan bike.  I’m figuring out also how to learn to do wheelie on it and be able to be a bit more of a hooligan.

MCN: Good call.  [Victor] [ph 00:01:06]?

Victor: Tried as hard as I might, I haven’t been able to pull a wheelie.  I’d like to do it today.

MCN: Perfect.  Let’s go for it.

Well, the aim of today is to get you started to wheelie.  We’re not going to win that [inaudible 00:01:16].  But we’re going to get you going on the two most important areas of a wheelie.  That’s throttle control which is paramount to stop you flipping the bike and clutch control which you need really to better perform control wheelies.

So we can wheelie off on power but by the time the front wheel comes up, then you’ve gotten far too fast.  The clutch is like a little wheelie button.  You can flick the clutch and apply the power at the same time in the right place you can wheelie a lot slower which is a lot safer.

So the first thing we’re going to do today is to just get you used to accelerating hard in first gear up and down the runway just to get you used to the speed and the balance and the acceleration.  Then once we’ve done that, we come to the[boredom] [ph 01:56].  We can start to work on the clutch control.  So let’s go and do it.

[Simon, Kano, and Victor are accelerating hard on first gear with their bikes to get used to the speed, balance, and acceleration]

MCN: Well, that’s great.  Hopefully now, we got used to the acceleration of bike in first, the sound of the engine, the feel of what’s happening.  So when you actually come to wheelie now, that’s the worst case scenario.

The bike is not going to be accelerating that hard.  The engine is not going to be screaming that much.  So you actually are going to have an easier time a bit when you actually start to wheelie.

So the next stage now is to start clutch control.  What we need to do if you do the same thing is to go down this runway first gear, accelerate hard through first, but when you’re midway through the revs, I just want you to flick the clutch very lightly and just have it in your head that you’re going to get the front wheel just an inch off the floor.  You don’t want to be pulling the wheelie.  You just want to get that front wheel a little bit off the floor.  So, let’s give that a go.

So, I’m just going to give you a quick demo of what I mean.

[MCN gives a demo on clutch control with the front wheel just popping off a few inches off the ground]

[Simon, Kano, and Victor are trying clutch control and lifting their front wheels a few inches off the ground]

MCN: It went okay.

Victor: Yes, I couldn’t believe I could pull a wheelie off today but I pulled it off.  I’m very pleased with myself.

MCN: You said to me in your e-mail that the most exciting thing you’ve ever done is driving a little bit faster than you do in your car.

Victor: Absolutely.  It’s a shameful thing to admit.  But there you go.  But, yes, i feel excited.  I can put a few things to my biking CV.

MCN: Kano?

Kano: Not really.  I’ve been riding for about three-and-a-half years and I only managed to get the front wheel off half an inch in my life.  So I’m more than happy.

MCN: Well, the idea today on this video that we’re doing is to get you started on the road to being able to pull a wheelie.  This clutch control and throttle control is a good start.

Now, you’re ready to go away and keep on practicing, not on Queen’s highway but stay on a nice [inaudible 00:05:03].  You’ve done really well.  Have a good fun.

Another video tutorial by MCN
Explains how to power up and clutch up a wheelie. Explains that there are 3 stages to a wheelie and reminds you not slam on the brakes if you get scared.

“To pull a simple wheelie, select first gear and travelling around five to 10 miles an hour.  You then close the throttle and then very swiftly bring it back on.  [inaudible 00:00:12]

If you have a smaller capacity machine than this one, you may need to use a clutch.  To use the clutch, you dip the clutch.  This means bringing the clutch in, say, halfway and then letting it go again.  But to do this, you also have to juggle with the throttle.  You back the throttle off.  Pull the clutch halfway in and then you throttle back on and a smooth [inaudible 00:00:36].

There are three stages to a wheelie.  First of all, when you accelerate and the front wheel gets lifted from the ground.  The bike finds it difficult to lift.  It’s quite heavy.  As the wheelie gets higher, it gets lighter.  It’s a bit like lifting a [inaudible 00:00:50] in the wrong end.  As you lift it from the ground, it is fairly heavy.  As you get higher, it’s gets lighter and lighter.

Controlling the wheelie once it’s up is all about balance and throttle control.  Once the bike starts to get a bit light, you just need to back off a bit.  If it’s going to go a bit higher, you’re going to give it more throttle.  If you’ve gone a bit far, then you need to bring the front end down.  [Shutting the throttle shaft] [ph 00:01:16] is obviously the first reaction.  But once it’s coming down, you could bring the throttle back on again or else [you find yourself] [ph 00:01:23] slamming to the ground.   You could bring [inaudible 00:01:25] much more gentle landing.”

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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” »