How to Do a Seated Wheelie

The seated wheelie is a basic stunt riding exercise. Riding straight on the rear wheel in balance isn't a full trick, but you need to do this exercise confidently to progress further. FSB team pro rider Vitaly Pasevich shared his knowledge on how to learn the seated wheelie as quickly as possible. It is recommended to learn the seated wheelie first, even though the standup wheelie is safer. This is because side-to-side balance is much harder to master seated, as it requires finer correction. So once you have mastered the seated wheelie, it is easier to move to the standup position than the other way round. Always wear riding gear, because crashes are hard to avoid!

Motorcycle

The motorcycle must have protection: a cage, subcage, roundbar or 12 o'clock bar, and pegs on the wheel axles. It is advisable to fit an easy-pull clutch master cylinder. Rear tire pressure 0.7–1 atm. Maximum preload and compression on the rear shock. Idle around 4000 ± 500 rpm depending on the motorcycle model.

Training

• Training starts with lifting the front wheel. You need to learn to lift the motorcycle consistently and evenly (without leaning sideways) to the angle where the fork is almost parallel to the ground.
• At this stage it is important to bring the motorcycle down with the brake on every attempt to build muscle memory.
• Try not to close the throttle after dumping the clutch: many street riders have a reflex to blip the throttle.
• After the lift-off, pull up with the throttle to the balance point or past it. A deep pull stabilizes straight-line riding, which is very important because side-to-side wobble is hard to correct.
• The goal is to ride the wheelie with deep pulls, bringing the motorcycle back with the brake. This is better and more promising than trying to catch the balance point and hold it.
• Don't make sharp, short throttle blips to ride as far as possible: that is a pointless waste of training time. Concentrate on the depth of the pulls, not the length of the ride.
• On deep pulls, many people press the brake hard out of fear and slam the front wheel down. Such landings can throw you over the handlebar, and on some motorcycles the frame can be damaged at the steering head.
• If you give too much throttle, the motorcycle will hit the asphalt with its roundbar. In that case it is better to jump off the motorcycle onto your feet and pull the clutch. If you stay on the motorcycle, you can fall onto your side and trap your leg. While learning, the tail length should not allow the motorcycle to flip far past the balance point.
• Try to open the throttle when landing to soften the impact on the fork. Hard front wheel landings quickly wear out the fork seals and can loosen the steering head.
• Always wear riding gear, because the risk of falling at first is very high.

In the video we tried to clearly show the key points and explain the training process!