Wheelies: Part One with Miles Davis

This entry is part 13 of 17 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #43

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Lifting the front wheel is something many riders dream of doing. Miles covers some of the finer points.

Wheelies can be scary, illusive and frustrating.

But in many forms, controlled front-wheel lifts can be very helpful in navigating certain types of terrain.

Over the next couple of issues I’ll work through the different styles of wheelies and suggest a progression to achieve some confidence at a level that suits your bike and your style of riding.

Where does it begin?

Wheelies can come in many different varieties and apply to lots of different situations. We all know what can go wrong and you definitely want to avoid messing it up, especially on a big and/or expensive bike. If possible, it makes a lot of sense to learn on a smaller, low-horsepower bike in a controlled situation, like a grassy paddock. The benefits are obvious.

It’s safer, easier, and there’s less chance of injury or damage. You can learn on bigger bikes, just take it slow and steady to avoid disappointment.

Some of the different types of wheelies can be described as: sit-down, slow, throttle, clutch, stand-up and balance-point. Some things you need to be able to do and master are: throttle control, balance, find-ing traction, timing, and – for some wheelies – clutch control.

Bike set up

A good off-road tyre will help, but good technique will help more. Tyre pressure shouldn’t need to be dropped, but if you’re having trouble getting traction maybe try reducing it a bit.

Some tyre/surface combinations may be tricky, but try to understand what you need to do to get the best result from your package. Many modern bikes have lots of power and having the necessary throttle control to manage the power delivery can be difficult.

Lots of riders get wheelspin, not front-wheel lift. If your bike has modes, try a mode with a softer or reduced power delivery. If your bike has traction control, maybe try some of the exercises with traction control on to start with. That’ll give a bit of protection/insurance, but some styles of traction control will inhibit the wheel lifting, so you may need to turn off the traction control eventually.

When the stars align you should get a slight lift of the front wheel without any significant acceleration.

One step at a time

Someone with little or no wheelie experience should probably start with a sit-down throttle-wheelie pop.

The practical application for this could be to ride over a small log or ledge. Your aim is to make the front wheel light and only raise it up to 300mm, no more.

Even raising the wheel by a couple of millimetres means the suspension has fully extended and it’s amazing how much this helps with riding over an obstacle. So don’t think the front wheel always needs to be 50mm higher than a log. In fact, the correct trials technique for logs is to kiss the edge of the log with the front tyre as it goes over.

MilesDavis

The ideal location to practice this could be a flat surface, either grass or hard-packed dirt, but nothing too loose or slick.

A slight uphill rise is ideal, so a sloping paddock of dry grass is perfect. You can try this on bitumen, like an empty car-park, but there is a lot of grip and things might get crazy quickly, so I suggest focusing on off-road surfaces. But try out the tar if you’re interested to see what the extra grip feels like. Just be cautious.

For this type of wheelie sit towards the back of the seat. This puts weight over the rear wheel for traction,lightens the front wheel and allows good access to the rear brake. That can be handy if the front wheel goes higher than expected (more on this point to follow).

The more traction you’re looking for, the further back you sit, until your arms are dead straight.

Depending on your bike’s size and power delivery you want to ride along in first gear at a constant low rpm – this may be somewhere around five to 15kph – then snap the throttle back to zero. This should weight the front of the bike and compress the forks. Then, straight after you go off the throttle, with the forks compressed, add a short burst or pulse of throttle, then off again. Depending on your bike the amount of throttle required can vary a lot, maybe somewhere between 30 per cent and 100 per cent.

When the stars align you should get a slight lift of the front wheel without any significant acceleration.

If your engine bogs down you may need a slightly higher roll speed. You want to avoid wheelspin, you want the increase in rpm to unweight the front wheel, but you don’t want to keep the throttle open and create acceleration or a lot of lift.

To improve your timing start using fake obstacles, like tufts of grass and cow pats, and imagine there are three or four 100mm-diameter branches or logs about five metres apart. If you can repli-cate this lift repeatedly and consistently you are ready to start wheelying over small obstacles.

Between the obstacles you need to reset. Find the same rpm and speed approaching the next obstacle and replicate. This may require a slight touch of the front brake between obstacles as you shouldn’t be increasing your approach speed at each obstacle.

If you’re getting the front to lift that’s great! Avoid bending your arms and pulling the bars towards you, straighter arms allow you to pivot and use your upper-body weight to get more height when you are ready to do so.

Many modern bikes have lots of power and having the necessary throttle control to mange the power delivery can be difficult.
Standing allows a rider to use their legs to soak up the impacts of the rear wheel going over the obstacle the front wheel floated over.

Rear-brake insurance

I already mentioned having your right foot in a good position over your rear brake.

The reason for this is, if the front wheel gets higher you may flip the bike, especially the first time you get more height. So before you go looking for higher wheelies you need to program your brain to dab the rear brake while the front wheel is in the air. Obviously reducing the throttle will also help drop the front wheel, but not always, especially if you’ve launched it past the balance point. The rear brake really brings the front end down, so it can be a life saver.

The sooner you practice this skill the less likely you’ll be to flip the bike and the sooner you’ll have the confidence and skills to execute higher wheelies.

Make sure your foot is above the rear brake lever. Have your foot positioned against the engine so you simply slide it down and don’t miss the lever when you really need it. With the front wheel in the air, pull in the clutch and dab the brake.

You don’t need to smash it, just get a feel for the pressure needed to bring the front down.

Standing

Once you have a feel for the seated front-wheel lift you can do the same in the standing position, which has more real-world benefits.

The main concern is you need to be strong in your standing position so you don’t fall backwards when you pulse the throttle and accidentally wind it on. If that happens, you’re likely to wind on more throttle as you flop backwards. This is called ‘whiskey throttle’ and has been well documented on Youtube and Funniest Home Videos.

If you haven’t learnt about correct standing position and you don’t feel strong and agile in this position, maybe you shouldn’t be attempting stand-up wheelie pops.

One of the benefits of standing is the extra body inputs you can put into the bike to squash the suspension. A bounce on the footpegs and handlebars together can increase rear-wheel traction and front-end compression and rebound.

You need to be strong in your standing position so you don’t fall backwards when you pulse the throttle and accidentally wind it on.

This makes wheelies more achievable on less-grippy surfaces. It also allows a rider to use their legs to soak up the impacts of the rear wheel going over the obstacle the front wheel floated over.

So the technique is similar. Use the same approach speed with the engine at a low but responsive rpm, throttle snap to zero at the same time as you bounce into the ’pegs and ’bars, then pulse the throttle to gain some front-wheel lift with the foot covering the rear brake. Then immediately dial the throttle back to zero.

Before you start trying for longer wheelies, try to increase the repetition of smaller ones. Short low wheelie,reset.

Short low wheelie, reset. And so forth.

It’s this repetition that develops skills and instinctive reactions. Going for longer wheelies too soon can end up in you becoming a Youtube sensation.

Another benefit of standing up to wheelie is the approach speed can be a little higher, and depending on your bike and its gearing you may try second gear, or even third gear on some smaller obstacles.

It makes a lot of sense to learn on a smaller, low-horsepower bike in a controlled situation. With a bit more practice this bloke might be ready to try some more advanced techniques.