beginner's wheelies

[bluefireboltxb9r]

hey all, i know i may sound sissy however, I've never gotten my buell off the ground more than maybe a couple inches... I don't wanna do anything crazy (like ride a wheelie at 100mph for 20 miles, or even be as high as the balance point) but would anyone have any tips on how to come up in say 1st or 2nd gear, i'm looking for a nice 2-4ft wheelie. Can i do this off power alone? I took my back pegs off, which for smaller wheelies i don't believe they would be needed (correct me if I'm wrong) any suggestion and or criticism is appreciated! Thanks!!

[bobaganoosh]

1st gear around 3500-4000 punch it and give a little tug, no problem. when u get better u can shift into 2nd and keep going

[12R_FIRE]

i suggest spending a couple hours watching youtube videos of guys wrecking their bikes doing wheelies and decide if its worth your bike, just my two cents

[seatonii]

If you bike is running good, i.e. good tune in the ECM then use the following info. In first gear you should be able to do a roll on wheelie at around 3500 RPM. Just bring it up to 3500 RPM and roll the throttle quickly and it should come up at a controllable pace. You will not be able to ride it real far doing a power wheelie because you will run out of gear. Just to clarify a power wheelie is when you must continue to increase the RPMs to keep the front end in the air. A balanced wheelie you need the front end much higher in the air and I would not suggest this until you feel very comfortable with the bike and you know how to hit the rear brake to bring it back down if it goes back to far. Now for the wheelies I prefer because you can do a power wheelie for a fairly long distance, 2nd gear wheelies. Put the bike in 2nd gear at about 3500 RPMs and in a quick manner pull the clutch in and snap the throttle and dump the clutch. Start off at first only letting the RPMs flair about 500 RPMs and see how much it comes up. My bike likes between 500 and 1000 RPMs to bring the front up enough to do a power wheelie for at least the distance between 2 telephone polls or more. One other note if your bike does not have a good map in the ECM it will really effect how well it wheelies. My 09 XB12Ss would not wheelie for sh*t when I first got it. I could dump the clutch at over 5500RPMs in 2nd and it would still not come up enough to ride it out. For example if I did this on my 00 X1 Buell it would flip over backwards. Now after I have played around with the tune in the XB it is similar to my X1. Hope this helps.

Dwight
Nashville IL

[kyle_dewald]

^^ I've done a few, on accident when I first got the bike, but I keep two wheels on the ground. I have too much money invested in the bike to wreck it. I paid 4k for the bike, 1k to fix it after my wreck, and 2k recently in mods so a total of 7k which is more than I paid for my car and I keep all four wheels on the ground with it. haha

[Cronce1125R]

cover the rear brake for the love of god! ^do what bob said and you should be in the air for sure. :p

[migs16]

dude they got it all right!
do it in a empty lot hella! until your good.

its more trick with a 9. i had a m2 first and ppower wheelies super easy! im still learning clutch ups just got get the balls for it you have the bike for it!

[Buell_Cru]

My only advice would be to learn to listen to the motor and not watch the gauges. Once you have enough experience with a bike you will know what 3500 RPMs sounds like and you can keep your focus on the road especially when you're about to dump a clutch. So in short, learn the bike before you learn the wheelie.

[mowgoli84]

I usually try to keep both rubbers on the pave. I've gotten pretty good at riding long low wheelies on the 12 and my K tho. About half a foot or so above the ground..


most of the time the wheelies i ride are accidental tho.. first or second gear hehe

[TooFst]

1at gear is the easiest and In my opinion the best way to learn. My dad fought me to "play with the torque". Go find a vacant parking lot or industrial area and have er around 3-3500, let of fast then roll it back. The front end will come up faster if you "goose" it a little before you hammer it. Sure you can do power wheelies easily but you'll never learn control.... Give your self small goals at first like crack to crack or street light to that rock, ect. Then just try goin a little farther/ longer each time. Just remember BABY STEPS. It's just like anything else the more you practice the better you'll get. I cannot stress enough, crawl before you walk.


Remember, rolling in 1st. Rev up let off, roll on hard.


PS. Wear a helmet

[Loki]

Just realize if youre going to stunt it, dont complain when you have to repair it. I would just make sure you have enough to cover damages.

[squidbuellie]

you should have no problem doing 1st gear power wheelies but keep it at a 2 foot minimum and keep these four things in mind 1) keep your foot on top and at the ready to hit the rear brake 2) do a reverse bench press pull the bike to you don't lean back 3)let some air out of your rear tire run about 25psi 4)don't be to attached to your bike because at any time it can be shooting sparks without you down the road.
here is two videos for you. one is craig jones the other is when **** goes wrong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPjMeDpIud0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qc5HHDpF9s

[Jobe Zeebuh]

How easy is it to flip backwards doing a wheelie? Has anybody ever did this? I am new to. I have done small wheelies but would like to do a monster one here or there. I just don't want to fly backwards. I have the side to side balance down.

[upthemaiden]

I have done small wheelies but would like to do a monster one here or there. I just don't want to fly backwards.

You have to get a bike up really high to flip backwards. If you're just trying to do a short wheelie the chances are pretty slim you'll flip. If you're trying to get it up to balance point within a week you'll most likely flip. I remember when I started learning, and as soon as you get the front wheel 2 inches off the ground you feel like you're going to flip over backwards, then when you get it 5 inches you feel like you're going to flip over backwards again. Your survival instincts should do a good job of helping you take it slow and knowing what's too much. Again, if you plan to force your way through the survival instincts you're making chances a lot better you'll land on your head.

There's nothing else to do but start small and do them whenever you get a chance. They'll naturally get higher and higher as you get comfortable with it and eventually you'll notice the rpms rising slower and slower. Seatoniis advice is good but don't forget he has an xb12. I have a 9 like yours and it's not quite the same story unfortunately(my old 600 wheelied way easier than my xb9 does). I can get my bike up to about 4k rpm, yank the throttle open and tug on the bars and have the front come up, but with the amount of power available I prefer to get it around 3500, give it a little gas, let off the gas to let the forks compress then give it a handful of gas again. The forks will help pop the front end up and it's much smoother.

I had hoped loading the race map with my hawk exhaust and K&N filter would make things easier, but my bike pretty much feels exactly the same. I'm about ready to buy an xb12 just for the wheelies! [mad]

Clutch is always an option, but the bike comes up super fast and it's not really that great for your clutch, so I try to avoid those.

[rrh481]

Just stand up in second gear at about 3500-4000 push down and pull up while cracking the throttle if you wanna do some standups

[RT Performance]

I like sit down power wheelies .
Depanding on rear tire let some air out of it.
Never realized how much difference it made till I had one I was milking life out of.
Right around 4k quick of and on throttle and a 9 will pop right up I'm first.
If theres a hump or small hill makes it easier yet.
If u scare the best thing is to pull in the clutch.
Dumping off the throttle or rear brake make u slam down.
Many of those and you will need new fork seals.
My 1125r complete differnt story I struggle to keep the front wheel down since I put pure powers on it.even lofts on the track.
Be sure your geared up boots glove helmet jacket and good boots.
Bike can be fixed . Bones have to heel.

[captain chaos]

Just remember power going up and power coming back down too. The higher you loft that front wheel the more important it is to bring it back down in a controled maner. Roll off the throttle and bring it down easy as opposed to chopping the throttle closed and slamming the front end down. Chopping it closed is a good way to ruin fork seals and is really rough on the front motor mount.
Just be careful, wheelies can get pretty wild pretty fast if you don't know what you're doing. "baby steps", as suggested earlier, is the way to go.

Also, your body position will affect things as well. If you're doing a sit-down wheelie scoot back in the seat. This will make the front come up easier. A couple of inches can make a huge difference. As you get more comfortable you can try keeping your torso more upright (don't lay on the airbox) and it'll come up very easy. I can get my 12 up at pretty much any rpm above idle with nothing more than a roll of the throttle or I can change my body position and keep it planted firmly on the ground.

[squidbuellie]

sorry guess the video's didn't load here is craig jones school of stunts on a buell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0UUnNjPzX0&feature=relmfu

[upthemaiden]

One other part of your survival instincts I forgot to mention... the first while that you're trying, without even thinking about it you're going to throw your weight forward as soon as you give it gas. To do a wheelie you want to toss your weight back, but even if you're trying to lean back, your brain is going to over ride your desires and you're gonna grab the gas as hard as you can and wonder why the front wheel won't come up. Once you get comfortable enough with it you'll stop doing that. Basically you want to act like your arms are made of rope, and toss your torso backwards until your arms pretty much snap and all your momentum is transferred to the handlebars. Otherwise you'll think you're pulling your arms back, when really all you're doing is pulling your torso forward

[nativeXb12Rbuell]

i suggest spending a couple hours watching youtube videos of guys wrecking their bikes doing wheelies and decide if its worth your bike, just my two cents plus 1 on that plu think if it is worth the trip to the hostipal and the hostipal bill and being out of comission for weeks or months at a time from the wrecks!!!!!!!!

[batman6669]

I found this on ebay and I thought it was kind of funny but it might help you. You could make one and save yourself some cash. Anyway here it is item #
260720095758

[bluefireboltxb9r]

Thanks guys... I know how some of you feel, I've managed to accidentally come up in 1st and 2nd... I don't think i have a problem with that... 1) guess i need to grow some balls. 2) More practice can't hurt anything... Thanks for the advice though, I will def. check out some of the vids on youtube...
A friend of mine that rides Buells all the time rode it last night and said he managed to get it up in 3rd... how he did this I'm not sure, I'm guessing clutch but correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks again for the suggestions, and vid links!

[jimijeans]

Back when I was younger Most the bikes I had were CBRs/ & YZF model bikes I actually took a stunt bike school lessions at the Willow/Calif. track using their bikes. They have wheelie bars on them so it was really safe . Learned extra whole lot more than I figured ON.I can ride the Hell out of my dirt bike and wheelie all I want. But My Buell XB12R Small short easy as possible only in a certain area & proper GEAR. That was many weekends of great fun on the Track. That is why to this day I try to save it for the track. NO cars/trucks POLICE etc.. Ride Safe.

[GW 04 XB12R]

The only time I've gotten a wheelie out of 2nd gear was under hard acceleration, with a shift from 1st at the redline, hard into second. Lifted the wheel in 1st from power, when I shifted to 2nd, it lifted again slowly then went down slowly right around redline. Pretty cool and fun, also a little scary for me doing a wheelie through all of 2nd gear.

Just be careful.

[JDT1127]

How easy is it to flip backwards doing a wheelie? Has anybody ever did this
Did it in the 1st year I had my bike and $3500 later (same price I paid for my bike) it was fixed. Cracked the head on the front cylinder. I don't regret it anymore (about 3 years ago) and I still pop a few from time to time, but like so many have said make sure you have the $ to cover it. One guy said it only cost him $1000 to fix, just thought I'd let you know it can cost a whole lot more

[zilchsniper]

I have managed to bring my xb12r up in all gears getting onto the freeway. pretty sweet. but also keep it in low rpms when you pull the clutch in. and rip on the throttle. make sure to take it easy as you will get to know your bike better.but make sure to think before you try it. it is fun but there are consequences if you fall. good luck.[up]

[beefy99]

Drop down to second while doing 30 trying to roll through a changing red light, when it turns green punch it just before dumping the clutch and hang on. Thought I was going to dump it, boy that would have been embarrassing. Looked like I meant to do it though.

[1972c10]

buy or borrow a dirtbike first, theyre made to hit the ground, street bikes arent