How to do Wheelies
The wheelie–the granddaddy of all street freestyle stunts–can be both the simplest and the most complex trick for a biker. While a standard sit-down wheelie is almost elementary in execution, the more incredible variations–skyscraping High Chairs, 12s, creeping No-Handers–leave us mortals tugging our chins and wondering, “How’d they do that?”
I’m no stunt rider, but ive performed quite a lot of wheelies (on my 500cc Royal Enfield Machismo and Bajaj Pulsar 200cc), be it to impress girls or just showing off to friends, ive done it all. Here I share some of the most trickiest wheelies and how to pull them off.
Basic Sit-Down
“Sit-downs are the easiest wheelies to do, but the hardest to explain. There are so many different ways to wheelie a sportbike, and some methods work better than others depending on the rider and machine. I’ll explain what I do–but keep in mind, other riders might be lifting it up differently.
“There are two kinds of wheelies: power wheelies and clutched wheelies. A power wheelie uses the bike’s motor to get the front wheel up. You get the revs up near the bike’s torque peak and goose the throttle to snap the front end up. A smaller bike such as a 500 needs a little help. On these, I’ll roll the rpm up higher, then chop the gas and snap it on again. Chopping the throttle will cause the front end to dive for an instant, and the rebounding of the fork will help the front end come up when you snap the throttle back on. On a 500, you almost have to open the throttle all the way to the stop to get the front end up under power. A very powerful bike needs much less throttle–snap a CBR954RR to the stop and you’ll be on your ass instantly. That’s why I don’t like power wheelies–you’re dealing with a lot of power, and the possibility of looping the bike is greater.
“I prefer clutched wheelies; the front comes up quicker and you’re lower in the rev range when you bring the front end up, so you’re not going as fast and you’ve got more time to find the balance point before you hit the rev limiter. For a clutched wheelie, I’ll pull the clutch in, just enough to cause the rpm to rise up to the torque peak, and then let it out quickly. I’m pulling the clutch in just slightly, just into the friction zone. The revs rise for a split second, and then I drop the clutch–don’t ease it out–and back off the throttle incrementally as the front end comes up. The higher the front wheel goes the less throttle is needed to keep it up. Backing off keeps the bike from going over.
“Either way, on power or with the clutch, I keep my arms stiff, squeeze the tank with my legs and always cover the rear brake. If things get ugly, you just tap the rear brake and both wheels are back on the ground. If you’re looking straight ahead, when you can’t see over the bike you know you’re getting close to the balance point.”
Standup Wheelie
Valentino Rossi Performing Stand Up wheelie
“Same as a sit-down, you can do this one either on power or on the clutch. I’ll also bounce the bike a bit to help it up. Bouncing down on the handlebars preloads the front suspension. The energy of the fork releasing, combined with the throttle input, pops the wheel up. I’ll stand up first, then lean forward and bounce it by pushing down on my arms, causing the fork to compress. When the fork comes back up I’m on the gas (not as much as a sit down–standups take less power to lift up!) and pulling on the handlebars to bring the bike up.
“As the front wheel comes up, I’ll drop my butt back a little bit to help it along. I bend my knees when I’m pulling the bike up, and once it gets up to about 10 o’clock I’ll straighten my legs and lean back. With a standup you can hold the throttle in one spot and use your body language to control the wheelie.
“Because body language makes it so easy to balance a standup, it’s easy to ride one through the gears. To shift during a wheelie, I’ll blip the throttle just a touch right before the shift. When you fan the clutch to shift, it kills power to the wheelie, and if you don’t blip the throttle a touch this can cause you to drop the front wheel. So I’ll blip it, causing the front wheel to float a bit higher for a split second, then shift as quickly as possible. Preloading the shifter and just nudging the clutch lever will help you shift faster. I generally shift as early as possible. If you shift when you’re hard on the gas or your revs are up, you’re more likely to miss the shift. The sooner you shift, the less likely you are to miss the gear. But not too soon, so you don’t bog the revs! Incidentally, these shifting rules are the same for a sit-down wheelie.”
Can Can
Can Can Wheelie - Very Tricky
“To do a Can Can, I start just like I would [with] a regular standup wheelie, and as soon as I get the wheelie to where I’m comfortable, I take my right leg off and stick it between the tank and my left leg. You have to be careful getting your foot through there. There’s not much room between your leg and the tank, so you have to know where you’re going without looking and get it through there quickly.
“During a Can Can most of your body weight is to the left side of the bike, so you need to counterweight yourself by rocking your shoulders over to the right side of the bike. It’s all about keeping your balance centered. Whenever I’m moving around, I make sure to do it slowly, so I can feel which way it’s going to go. Moving around really fast will cause the bike to get out of control.
“If I ever do get out of control, or to where I feel like I’m making a mistake, I just let off the gas or tap the rear brake and put the front down–it doesn’t really matter where I’m standing on the bike, once both wheels are on the ground I’m safe.”
High Chair
High-Chair Wheelie
“For this one I start by sitting on the gas tank with both legs out to the side. The easiest and safest way is to kick out one leg at a time; that way you still have at least one hand on the bars.
“Starting out with High Chairs, it’s a good thing to dig your ankles to grip onto the headlight so you don’t go flying off the back. Denting in the tank here really helps too because it gives you a flat surface to sit on. High Chairs (or anything where you are sitting on the tank) take more throttle because you have more weight over the front of the bike. But because your weight is so far forward, and because you’re using more throttle, you have to watch and be smooth on the clutch so you don’t get wheelspin. Leaning back helps, too, and so does blipping the gas to bounce the bike a little bit.
Frog
Frog Wheelies - Most difficult
“Frog wheelies are a lot like High Chairs–I get up on the tank first, then clutch it up. Just like the High Chair, you have to be smooth pulling it up because you’ve still got all your weight over the front. Plus, you don’t really have anything to hold onto, so when you drop the clutch your body weight wants to go backward. That’s going to make you wanna hold onto the bars even more tightly, which can cause you to twist the throttle more than you should. So to avoid unwanted throttle inputs, you have to grip tighter with your left arm than your right.
“The hardest part with a Frog wheelie is putting it down. When you set the wheel down it throws all your weight forward, and when you’re standing up on the tank and just holding on to the handlebars, there’s not much to keep you from just flipping over the front. Not for amateurs, this trick.”
No-Hander
No Hander Wheelies are fun to do
“For a Standup No-Hander, you’re standing with your foot on the 12 bar and you’ve got your idle turned up, so you’re basically using your foot to balance the bike and riding the wheelie with no hands, controlling the height of the front tire with your body and also with the rear brake.
“Sit-down No-Handers are a bit harder because you don’t have the leverage of your foot out on the bar to balance the bike. Again, I’m doing this with the idle turned up. I get the bike up to about 11 o’clock, then let go of the bars and just lean back and control the front tire height with a combination of body lean and rear brake. To keep myself on the bike, I’ll squeeze the tank with my knees and sit back against the passenger seat. If I work my body position just right, I don’t even have to use the rear brake.”
12 O’Clock
Vertical or 12'o'clock Wheelies - SUPER DANGEROUS
“A 12 O’clock is all about brake control. You bring it up in first gear, and you have to get on the gas really hard to get the wheel up as high as you can, and then use your rear brake to stop the bike at 12 o’clock. Once you get it up, instead of using the throttle to control the height of [the] front wheel, you’re actually using the rear brake. You’re on the gas more than normal, and using the brake to keep from going over.
“Twelves require a lot of body language, using your shoulders to rock the bike from side to side to keep it from tipping over sideways. I use my knees and legs like outriggers to balance the bike, and mostly hold myself on with my arms.
“On the scrape, a lot of people think you just fall back and ride the bar, but the bike still wants to sway from side to side. If you want to ‘park’ a 12 O’clock, you use the rear brake to slow down–but not too much. If you use too much, it’s just going to cause the bike to fall down.”
BIKE STUNTS ARE DANGEROUS, KIDS DO NOT IMITATE, THESE IMAGES ARE OF PROFESSIONAL BIKERS/STUNT BIKERS. PEOPLE WILLING TAKE RISK SHOULD DO SO WITH PROPER SAFETY GEAR. BE SAFE !!