I few weeks ago I figured it was about time to start getting my front wheel in the air. I went up three teeth on the rear, read everything I could about wheelies on the net, took some advice from a friend, watched the Jimmy Fireblade video 20 times and set of out on a Sunday run down towards Yeovil full of wide eyed eagerness for that 500 yard wheelie. Surely it couldn’t be that hard? I see in videos all the time!
On the quiet straight bits as I desperately twitched and tugged at the controls I began to realise how special these stunt guys are!!! I would get up to about 40 in second (as I had read this was a good place to start), pull in the clutch, give it some revs and then dump it. Well I couldn’t stop myself leaning forward and only managed to get the front a few inches in the air. Anyway, I still thought I was doing rather well and tootled off home happy enough. Next morning I got up early to go to Lydden race track to shoot RallyCross. I had a bad morning and was late. I had a full top box on the back and a very heavy backpack on containing several thousand pounds worth of camera gear. P*ssed of and stressed I got to the traffic lights at the top of my empty road in Tulse Hill to find a lorry turning round and being a pain, well it was being pain through my red mist!! I angrily swerved around it and without thinking I did what I would do to wheelspin a car (yes I used to be that 205 GTI boy racer!). I slipped the clutch, gave it a fistful and dumped it…… in 1st! HOLY ****!!! The steering went light and I couldn’t see over the windscreen!! I seriously thought I was over. All I remember was the feeling that my top box was about to touch the road and the incredulous look on the faces of the two old people who stood at the quiet bus stop waiting for their early morning ride watching me belt past front wheel telling them it was actually 11 o’clock!! In blind panic I let off the power, came crashing down and rode off as quickly as possible! I guess my dark visor would have hidden my panic stricken balwildered eyes! So THAT’S what it feels like to have your wheel in the air!! After about a mile down the road I got over the shock and couldn’t stop pissing myself for the rest of the day!!
Since then I have spent some time in industrial estates at the weekends learning to clutch it up. Now I can get the wheel up pretty good but as soon as it gets to what I guess is a balance point (or rather the feeling where I think I’m going right over!) I panic and come off the gas!
I have resigned myself to the fact that I should bite the bullet and shell out for a day at wheelie school! Does anybody have any recommendations? I have been looking at these ones but it’s hard to know who good and who’s not. Anybody been to any of these?
I’ve not been to any but I’ve read good reviews of JimmyFireblade before. Haven’t heard of the others, but the wheelie school has a better website! (means absolutely nothing Im sure).
I went for a day at the wheelie school Paul Gowers one. Very useful. However he gets the students to power up wheelies. I went there at about the same level your at. At the end of the day I could wheelie huge distances.
Yeah I saw he did the power up. I see his argument for it. I like the idea of just getting used to having the wheel in the air.
I asked Jimmy Fireblade about technique (for wheelies that is!) and his reply was: “I can do both, however only teach the clutch control technique as it affords you alot more control and minimises the risk of that dreaded flip over!! Plus with practise you can slow your wheelies right down for max “show off” potential!!”
He’s got a point, but lot of my pals clutch it and have gone through countless gearboxes and clutch plates whilst learning. Dont get me wrong, once you know how the damage will be minimal. At least you’ll get to thrash his bike learning!
Like you i just thought right im going to teach my self…
I started by just pulling away as fast as i could and when the bike hit the meat of its power the front would start to lift, needless to say at first i would sh!t my self and drop its strait back down.
I just did this everyday on my way to and from work carrying it a bit higher and longer each time.
After a few weeks of this i started to use the clutch just doing a bit more each day.
Its been a year now and i cant pull some mingers…
What ever you do IT WILL TAKE TIME unless you want to bin it.
Yeah you can go to school, you will have a good day out and come back a lil more confident with the front in the air.
But its still going to take you months to get to a good standard.
Unless you have the same bike as the school is using 600/1200 bandit your still going to have to go threw the steps of takin it bit by bit on your bike.
A few of the guys from here did jimmy fireblade… yes they can get it up a foot or so and 10 or 15 meters but none of them can pull a decent one.
terry is getting there but ask him… hes still doing all the stuff you do when you teach your self.
Basicaly what im saying is theres no short cuts, with wheelies… with riding better in general.
Like the man said there are no shortcuts…same as anything…practise makes perfect. If you wanna learn real quick and don’t mind chewing dirt get an old crosser and play around with that. How i learnt…back when i was a kiddy winkle.
Hi Drei, I’ll put a post up if I do a wheelie school but to be honest I’m loathed to splash £160+ on a day if I’m not really going to get much more out of it than what I read in books and advice from others who can stunt. I’m a pretty impatient person when it comes to learning new stuff so think I need to take the advice and take my time. What I really want to try though is one of their bikes with the ‘anti-flip’ device just so I can lift it high and get used to the feeling of the nose high in the air without the panic! Ah I don’t know!!
Would be up for meeting up for some practice at some point if you fancy? Always more fun to learn with someone else.
Or maybe there is an LB member out there who fancies doing some wheelie tuition?
count me in - I still want to be a wheelie Godess.
I went to Jimmy Fireblade’s school and it was really useful… I think I would have benefited more though if I had more then 4 months of riding experience when I went
I would get up to about 40 in second (as I had read this was a good place to start), pull in the clutch, give it some revs and then dump it. Well I couldn’t stop myself leaning forward and only managed to get the front a few inches in the air. Anyway, I still thought I was doing rather well and tootled off home happy enough. Next morning I got up early to go to Lydden race track to shoot RallyCross. I had a bad morning and was late. I had a full top box on the back and a very heavy backpack on containing several thousand pounds worth of camera gear. P*ssed of and stressed I got to the traffic lights at the top of my empty road in Tulse Hill to find a lorry turning round and being a pain, well it was being pain through my red mist!! I angrily swerved around it and without thinking I did what I would do to wheelspin a car (yes I used to be that 205 GTI boy racer!). I slipped the clutch, gave it a fistful and dumped it…… in 1st! HOLY ****!!! The steering went light and I couldn’t see over the windscreen!! I seriously thought I was over. All I remember was the feeling that my top box was about to touch the road and the incredulous look on the faces of the two old people who stood at the quiet bus stop waiting for their early morning ride watching me belt past front wheel telling them it was actually 11 o’clock!! In blind panic I let off the power, came crashing down and rode off as quickly as possible! I guess my dark visor would have hidden my panic stricken balwildered eyes! So THAT’S what it feels like to have your wheel in the air!! 
After about a mile down the road I got over the shock and couldn’t stop pissing myself for the rest of the day!!
so think I need to take the advice and take my time. What I really want to try though is one of their bikes with the ‘anti-flip’ device just so I can lift it high and get used to the feeling of the nose high in the air without the panic! Ah I don’t know!! 
