Information about Wheelie

In vehicle acrobatics, a wheelie is a trick where the front wheel or wheels come off the ground and the vehicle is balanced on the rear wheel or wheels.

Bicycle wheelie

To perform a wheelie on a bicycle, put the bike in low gear and pedal forward while pulling hard on the handlebars. This can most easily be done from a starting position. Experts with sufficient experience and strength can, using the proper gearing, execute successful wheelies while moving. While the front wheel is in the air, maintain an upright posture and lean around to control balance - do not hunch over the handlebars. For added control, tap the rear brake (forward balance) or pedal forward (rearward balance).

A wheelie can be maintained indefinitely. To complete the move, lean forward and allow the front wheel to drop back to the ground. Ensure it is straight on contact, or control of the bike may be lost.

Once the wheelie has been conquered the manual wheelie can be attempted. This is the same as a wheelie but without pedaling. The bike is balanced by the rider's weight and sometimes use of the rear brake.

Distance wheelies

To travel farther on the back wheel of a bicycle, the rider must put the bike into a higher gear with the body weight leaned forward (over the handle bars if needed) and the stronger foot highest in the pedalling cycle. The rider kicks hard with the stronger foot, throw all their weight backwards and lands their backside on the seat, then straighten out the arms and put weight and tension on them. The rider keeps pedalling, and when the wheelie feels too high up, feathers the back brake slightly.

To lower the "balance point", put the saddle higher up, which will mean that the "maximum height" of the wheelie is brought down, and it will also be more comfortable to go for long distances on the back wheel. There is a skill to being able to stop on the back wheel, and then keep going more slowly, this can be done by striking a balance between the back brake and the pedalling.

Safety

Leaning back too far (i.e. as a result of pedalling too hard) will cause the bike to fly out from under the rider. Although most riders will instinctively hit the ground running, practice recovering from this event before attempting an actual wheelie. Balancing left to right can easily be controlled in the air by moving the knees and handlebars back and forth.

Injury can be avoided by keeping speeds down and/or learning to use the rear brake. However, higher speeds, unintuitively, are often necessary to master the wheelie as more balancing skills are necessary with decreasing speed, which are usually not present without sufficient practice. For this reason, beginners attempting wheelies on bicycles should tune up their rear brakes and aim for an 12-18 km/h (8-12 mph) wheelie for maximum safety.

Motorcycle wheelie

A wheelie is also a common motorcycle trick. The principle is the same, but the throttle and rear-brakes are used to control the wheelie. On more powerful motorcycles (usually above 500 cc) the front wheel is lifted into the air by accelerating, but on smaller bikes the clutch may be used and/or "bouncing" the forks (using the rider's weight to compress the front supspension, so that the recoil will help lift the front wheel on accelerating).

Since the introduction of the Kawasaki Ninja 250, many motorcycle enthusiasts have learned that a threshold phenomenon exists with high power and low weight sportbikes. Wind resistance becomes quite large at freeway speeds, and any motorcycle able to lift the front tire in the air at 65mph and above can maintain the wheelie for miles without the use of a rear brake or any advanced skills.

The definitive book on the subject is titled "Wheelyin' With the King" from the late Doug Domokos, focusing on motorcycle wheelies.

Unfortunately, for dirtbikes, an inexperienced rider -and some experienced riders- will instinctively open the throttle when the machine "pulls" a wheelie unexpectedly. This serves to only worsen the situation, and almost always results in the rider "bailing", or falling/jumping off.

See also

• Stoppie
• Bicycle and motorcycle dynamics

External links

• Video 'How to Wheelie a Motorcycle' by SuperBike Magazine
• Guide to doing motorcycle wheelies
• Professional Motorcycle Wheelie Stunt Team
• 444 Riders Stunt Team
• Stunt Riding School USA