Any wheelie kings out there?

[GDubb]

Ive heard that wheelies are difficult on the 500 and I'm trying to get over the fear of looping the beast out and learn to find the "balance point". Anybody have any tips or tricks regarding this? I can ride wheelies pretty decent on my mtn bike and on my 24" cruiser, but this things power turns me to a wuss as soon as the front wheel leaves the ground.

[Danger4u2]

Tune the bike. You want it run the best it can. When you roll on the gas you've got to know it will have a steady rpm increase. Make sure you have at least a half tank of gas. Make sure you turn the gas on! Go to In General, scroll down to Stupid and look at my wheelie story and pictures.
Danger4u2

[KXcam22]

The 500 is a wheelie machine. It has a broad even spread of power that lets you easily dail in long controlled wheelies.  The trick is to practise keeping your foot on the brake.   A good drill is to practise bringing it up with the throttle and then down using the rear brake until you are comfortable. You want to get used to being past the balance point and then recovering with the rear brake. So many riders get past the balance point and sucumb to the natural urge to bail off, when it reality it is easy to save. Hope this helps. Cam.

[Ramski]

How about the slow wheelies?  Those impress me more than the fast ones! 

[KXcam22]

Ramski,
  For slow, it's all in how you drag the back brake.  Lots of practise wheeling past the balance point then recovering with the back brake.  Took me quite while to get past the initial impulse to bail off instead of correct with the back brake. Now if I could only do a decent stoppie! Cam.

[gowen]

I've learned to wheelie when I was a kid riding a Honda TLR200 Reflex. Anybody remember those?  Slow wheelies are more fun than fast wheelies because of the initial hesitation to bail like Cam said. I can do slow wheelies on my 250 better than my 500.

I've been learning to wheelie my KX with the extended swingarm. It looks pretty cool, my 15 year old cousin is showing me up on that.

Cam, the stoppies are pretty easy. To learn rolling stoppies, I'd get on a slight downhill and grab a handful of break to get the back up, then slowly let off to let the bike roll, then grab it again. I can get a downhill pretty good and with alot of speed on a streight. But, you can be sure, I've flipped alot. I'd rather wreak a wheelie than a stoppie.

Once you get it down it is not any problem. Again though, my KX500 sucks at wheelies and stoppies compared to my YZ250 or the KX250. Both stomp it pretty good. Except for those 90mph+ wheelies. Then the 500 rules.

[kiwikx500]

Im no exspert on wheelies but use togo to a site called uponeonewheel.com that showed lots of good wheel stands and what happens when it all goes wrong, dirt and roadbikes.Went to check it out yesterday and it looks to have changed its format use to be a green colour now blue and not quite as good,maybe someone else can ellaborate more on it,the old version may have shifted www.

[Danger4u2]

Here's a good site.

http://www.bikepics.com/bikemovies/wheelies/

Danger

[John]

This one is on me.

Since I am in a good mood I would like to share a late evening in the Swedish high summer of 1999-ish.

I and my bike were getting ready for an evening out. My wife and kids were watching a replay of some old cr*p on the telly. I had shared a bottle of red with my wife...

I stared of riding through the known lanes deeper into the forest. Since the sun sets around 11 PM there was no real rush to get anywhere. I eventually ended up on a very straight gravel road inside a military field close to where I used to live.

I suck at wheelies so I figured I'll do some practice:

Rear brake preparation, second gear, taking it slow, getting some long wheelies and brake them down with the rear brake. So far so good.

I ended up shifting gears on one wheel - just like I've heard the professionals do!! Yes, you've guessed it; I am getting a bit too comfortable. Suddenly everything is starting to go over steer and I can see the gravel behind me in clear sight without craning my neck. I let go of the bike and it bounces back on track leaving me on the road making somersaults. The bike goes another 20 meters or so before the engine dies.

No real problem right? An MX bike is made for this? I figured I just need to raise the bike before all the petrol leaves the fuel tank. When I get to the place where the bike is, I found out that there is a small river right next to the road and my bike is in the river. The only thing above the surface is the clutch lever. The water is clear so I can see the Kawasaki logo on the fuel tank through the water.

I had to strip naked and climb down the river and drag / lift the bike up the river bank to the road again.

This might not seem like a big ordeal to a non-Swedish person? the amount of mosquitoes in this part of Sweden is a problem that also concerns the government. My wife was impressed with the increased ?muscle mass? I had achieved during this one ride.

Since this was before the mandatory bum bag full of tools I am wearing (actually the last ride without it). I had to get dressed again and drag the bike for 45 minutes before my mobile phone had any signal. I tried to start it but it only sputtered 2 gallons of water and not much else.

I eventually got hold of my wife and she was kind enough to get the car and ride out into the military field honking the horn and following my instructions; left , right (I think) etc. She had some tools and a new spark plug with her. The whole exhaust system was filled with water etc. It took me 10 minutes (the wife in the car ? mosquitoes) and the bike was running again.

The consensus is that I am not a wheelie king?

//John

[FuriouSly]

   Hey John,  that is a great story....   I can picture the whole thing.  lolol.  Thanks for sharing that one, very cool.   

FuriouSly

[KXcam22]

John,
  That is really funny!!  I've been stuck like that in huge mousqito country. Brings back memories. Thanks for the laugh. Cam.

[kiwikx500]

Way to go John, great english too - where would we be without the miss ? 

[Timbowe]

Richer....?

[apple]

Anyone remember Doug Domokos? He was The Wheelie King. I saw the guy perform some really wild stuff on the back wheel like spinning the bike around in circles with the bike half sideways, then bringing it back up while slowing the spin down then riding on around columns and doing figure 8`s. The man was crazy. He got killed in an ultra light crash, but his web sit is still up. He used to sell a book called Wheelying with the King, tells you bunches about wheelies. I think you can still get it.

Jack

[GDubb]

Hey kiwi... I think you may be refering to  www.uponone.com   I hadnt been there in forever until I reread through this post today so I went and checked it out and its still got the green format.

-G