Mods, please feel free to move this to an appropriate bike section if we can agree on one
I’m looking for advice on a cheap-ish bike to learn to wheelie and get my knee down on. Ideally, it would be a bike where the skills would transfer to my normal bike when I get them down.
I can’t bear the thought of binning my CBR600F while learning, or blowing the gearbox or anything similar. Since I don’t have a garage to put it back together either, something that I’m not attached to seems like a better idea
surely it would be better to learn on a bike you’re comfortable on. just use the CBR600f, i got my knee down on my one fine without binning it after about 8-10 months of riding
For what you’re asking the best bike would probably be an old bandit 600.
You could pick one up fairly cheap and cosmetics wouldn’t be an issue for your intended use as long as its mechanically sound.
They are easy to wheelie and getting your knee down is more about learning to hang off the bike rather than leaning too much.
Best bike to learn kneedown (unless you’re over six foot) is a CBR4 or VFR4.
Best for wheelies is a single or twin with tons of torque and not much weight.
Compromise? Maybe something like an MT-03, or a Monster 600, or something along those lines.
I dunno - I get comfortable on bikes relatively quickly, so that’s less of an issue for me. Also, the CBR has a lot of plastic if you drop it
I like Davey’s suggestion of a bandit so far - seems like a good idea - no plastics, they still make them, and if I blow a gearbox, I can get a whole replacement bike for less than it costs to repair a CBR600F gearbox
SV’s are ok, seat hieght is bit tall…sportsbikes are very very easy to kd
btw french your a funny C@NT aint ya? oh hold on…your laughing on your own fella… from what i recall you aint exactly rossi yourself…bolt upright kd-thats you!..makes you look like you sh*t ya leathers:D
back on topic…
can KD on anybike, its all in body postion and bit of balance and control, to be honest its not rocket science, once you get your first slider down you will see what i mean!
I’ve been to a couple of trackdays - 2 CSS days and one regular day at Rockingham - I don’t really find these to be good learning environments because I am focussed on not holding other people up.
As for the wheeling, I know a couple of people who’ve been to various wheelie schools and come away still not even close - those that have got it have still needed a load of practice and that’s what I’m trying to protect my gearbox from 1.5k for a new gearbox is a lot, as compared to a new scratch bike or just breaking one for parts
fair enough. not sure one normal trackday is enough by myself. it took me a few trackdays before i got my body position sorted. never tried the going dizzy round a roundabout version. know people who have been successful with it, and others that have been more enthusiastic than talented shall we say bear in mind there is a difference between simply hanging off to scrape a knee, and being properly knee down where the bike is fully stabilised.
as for the wheelies i learnt on the same day as curtis. way less scary way to learn, irrespective of whether you then do it on your own bike or a hack. if you’re looking to get into stunting properly then sure, a spare bike will be the way to go. doing the odd wheelie as you drive around on ‘closed roads’ (ahem) wont be a big deal with your current bike. the initial period of learning i’d say is the more brutal on the bike, best to do it on the bandits at the school
Learn on the CBR, more than capable of KD on that. If need be get someone to follow/show and even ride yours to see how its done. Sometimes to see it being done on your own bike shows you that it is possible and just down to practice practice practice.
Wheelies are also about practice. On a 600 i would suggest 1st gear and try to roll on, roll off and then back on the power to just get the front off the ground. It may rise an inch but you will think its a lot higher. Once you get used to the front leaving the floor then learn to apply more throttle a little at a time.
That’s the way I started to learn back when I had a '99 R6…The next level after that is clutching them up…And then changing gear to ride a big one out.
