Wheelie: Detailed Instructions from Acro

Author: Roman Dyrin (Acro)

The wheelie is the most important trick, one no sport bike rider can imagine life without. For those who don't know: a wheelie is riding on the rear wheel, or, as our fathers used to call it, «goat racing»...

First of all, I need to inform you of the dangers of this trick. First, you can end up without a motorcycle. Second, without your backside. Third, without both a motorcycle and your backside at once. Do you already have a prepared motorcycle and protective riding gear? Then we can move on to the practical part. To start practicing riding on the rear wheel, you need to do two things.

1. Lower the tire pressure to about 0.8–1.5 bar (whatever you prefer). There is no standard here: the lower the pressure, the less the motorcycle will wobble sideways when riding on the rear wheel. Once you've mastered the slow wheelie, I recommend gradually increasing the pressure. This is useful for entering a circle on the rear wheel; again, there is no standard figure, experiments will tell you what is convenient and comfortable. At the moment there are different opinions on this, and riders use different pressures, from 0.8 up to 3.5 bar. The figure can even be affected by small bumps in the lot surface, on which the motorcycle can bounce at high pressure. Obviously, the pressure can then be lowered, and there will be less wobble.

2. Raise the idle to about 3,500–5,000 rpm. Same situation: there is no standard. The higher the revs, the easier it is to ride. This is done so that when we close the throttle while on the rear wheel, we still have a set number of revs, which lets us avoid a sharp nosedive and a hard landing on the front wheel. The second thing a raised idle gives us is a set speed that can be held back using only the rear brake, which lets us balance without blipping the throttle.

When lifting the motorcycle to the angle, immediately try to load the foot that is on the subframe bar, namely straighten it. This will help you catch the balance point faster.

A reminder about changing the gear ratio: for more comfortable learning you need to add about 15 teeth to the stock rear sprocket. The question is: why so many? First, it will be very easy to lift the motorcycle to the balance point. Second, it will get tremendous pull right from the bottom, which will keep us from stalling when using the brake while balancing. And third, we significantly reduce the speed of the trick, which later, once we have mastered balance, will let us move on to turns or circles in a wheelie. There is a misconception that a sprocket of this size is needed so that you can easily lift the motorcycle with the throttle. That's not so. The lift is always done with the clutch! And a sprocket with this many teeth isn't a standard either: it's a recommendation; you can fit fewer or more, it will just be a little harder at first...

So, how do you lift the motorcycle onto the rear wheel? At first, to understand the motor skills of working the clutch, brake and throttle, I would recommend doing it seated, even though it's easier to catch the balance point standing with one foot on the subframe bar or in a hole cut in the passenger seat and the other on the rear brake. Still, start training from a seated position. Then, when you can consistently lift the motorcycle seated, you can move on to trying it standing. You may also wonder about a rear brake lever routed to the handlebar: isn't it easier to learn with it? No, it isn't! At first you will have to work the throttle, and compensating for the engine's power at open throttle with a hand brake is very, very hard. So until you can ride with the throttle closed, it's better to forget about this brake or even, to keep the master cylinder intact, not fit it yet... We are in first gear, with the engine at, say, 4,000 rpm. Next we ride slowly, braking and holding back the speed the motorcycle would reach at those 4,000 rpm without the brake. We move slowly, from 5 to 10 km/h. So the revs are choked down to somewhere around 1,500–2,000. We pull the clutch and add a little throttle so the revs jump to 6,000–7,000. Hold the throttle in this position for a moment and release the clutch quickly enough, while keeping a little pressure on the rear brake pedal. What happens then? The bike will hop its front wheel up to some height, and then it's all about feel:

• If it's too sharp and high, you need less throttle.

• If it didn't hop but just accelerated, you need to release the clutch faster.

• If it hopped, but very low, you need more throttle.

The point of the exercise is not to pull the motorcycle up to the angle on your very first tries. It's enough to learn to lift the front wheel a small height in a controlled way and gradually increase it. You just need to work the throttle smoothly enough. At some point you will realize that, having lifted the motorcycle to a certain height, you can throw it to a higher angle. Don't forget the brake! You have it lightly applied, and if you suddenly realize the lift angle is too great, press it harder immediately. You need to train yourself to use the brake in a critical situation, rather than taking your feet off the pegs and then running after the motorcycle.

Next, as I wrote above, we stand on the seat or the subframe bar and try to bring the motorcycle to the balance point, taking it to the angle and holding a steady throttle rather than jerking it. Don't forget to keep the rear brake applied. At first it will work while gaining speed, but when you finally reach the angle, the speed will become constant. At this point you can try slowing down by taking the motorcycle a little higher and, as needed, easing off the throttle slightly, but not closing it completely. The next step is when you learn to slow down to 2,000–3,000 rpm (idle speed). Only now can you start trying to control balance not with the throttle but with the rear brake. You may ask why you couldn't do this earlier. Answer: you could! But thinking about a steady throttle and the brake while balancing and avoiding sideways wobble all at once is unlikely to work for you at first, so be patient and master the above in order...

The next step is when you easily lift the motorcycle straight to the angle and catch balance with the throttle closed on a raised idle. Here you can try the hand rear brake, but at first back yourself up with the foot brake just in case. Once you've mastered that too, you can move on to lifting the motorcycle standing with both feet on the step of the passenger seat, then sitting on the tank with your legs spread, with your legs over the handlebar and so on and so forth...