Any advice for a noob wanting to wheelie?

[frosty3777]

I've read the posts and the sticky thread on wheelies, as well as watched youtube videos (not sure how much that helped). I've been going to remote parking lots and trying to do clutch-in wheelies. I've attempted this over and over again, but I just don't have the balls to do this at a fast accelerating speed. I do not however have any problem whipping throttle back to max rpm, however the wheel only barely leaves the ground (an inch at the most). It's the sudden jolt of the clutch-in that scares the shit out of me. any advice? Bike is an 02 r6.

[acupholdr68]

yea i'm scared shitless of powering it up so fast. i keep thinking itll be too much.

[ROSS]

Wear your gear - prepare to fix it when you crash it...because it WILL happen.

Have fun

[shift]

AFLAC

[jdoggg1]

Slow and steady man. Start with an inch... then a couple inches... then a few inches... its not a race. If it takes you 500 tries to do it comfortably then do it 500 times, its better than rushing and binning it b/c you wanted to catch up to the guys who might've learned faster than you

[Billy21bob]

Originally Posted by shift

AFLAC

Ask about it at work!

[r sizzle]

learn to use the clutch, and remember baby steps. also, always keep the rear brake covered.

don't start from a dead stop, go about 20-25 and start there.

the secret to learning wheelies is practice. swear...

[zdowell]

Taking it very slow is key. Its funny about 2 years ago I was posting this same question "how do you Wheelie using the clutch?" and people use to say that you will crash out and I was like what ever wont happen to me. Well it didn't happen to me(i sold mine to soon) but I could run down a list of friends that have crashed out there bikes doing smaller stuff. One friend was trying high chair wheelies. Well long story short he couldn't get his legs back over the wind screen and he crashed. Wheelies are fun but becareful they take some time to control. Make sure you learn to use your rear brake while doing a wheelie.

[frosty3777]

Well, I just got back from a semi exciting ride. During the past week, any time i would leave the house, I would take my bike. rather than taking main streets, i would cut through the "less traffic" streets and pop the clutch. at roughly 15 mph at about 6500rpm, I would pop the clutch but continue to increase the throttle. Long story short, today I went for a ride and was determined I was going to do this. I had full gear, and my Bullet proof vest just for my piece of mind. LOL> Anyways, this time I pulled the clutch at 7500 and blipped the throttle; my front wheel was about at a 9 o clock angle. The best part of it all was that I wasn't shaky afterwards. Now for the bad part. I wouldn't necessarily call this a wheelie, rather bringing my front wheel damn high and then landing incredibly hard. My fork seal went out: most likely some internals are bashed up a bit.
Just wanted to share the excitement.
thanks for the advice. Next step is to learn to repair my own mistakes and try not to ride it out next time

[dragonfire6]

sounds like ur off to a pretty good start

ur bike will wheelie without the clutch and it may be a little less intimidating if u try it that way... my guess is that in the past when u just went full throttle and the wheel only came up a inch, u were leaning forward...

try this *at ur own risk* next time ur out practicing, with the bike in first gear, get going about 30-40mph... come off the throttle to compress ur forks, then crack the throttle back open... unless u over leaning to far over the front of the bike, the front wheel will come up MUCH MORE SMOOTHLY then a unexperienced guy tryin to clutch it up

do that a million times until u feel comfortable with bringin it up higher... also, if u have a video camera and a tripod or someone who can film u practicing, it makes a world of a difference seeing that when YOU thought u were going to flip, u were only about a inch and a half off the ground... i kno from experience...

also, probably the best learn to wheelie vid on youtube...

good luck