I need some tips...

I realize this is a Yamaha Forum, but by definition. Yamaha owners always were better at doing wheelies. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

My buddy just bought an 03 KX125. Its an awesome bike. I really respect all you guys that ride 250's. I can't Imangine all the power!

Anyways, he said he has a problem doing wheelies. Well, I hopped on, and being the stupid guy I am, decided to try some wheelies. I haven't rode a bike in 5+ years, and when I did. I wasn't very good. BTW, this is all taking place on the ICE. He's got the tires all studded up, and she really hooks up. Its ALOT of fun.

So, I hop on, and ride around for a bit to get the feel for it. Its pretty wierd, I never rode a bike on the ice before, so I was a bit leary of turning. Well, I decided it was time to try a wheelie, So put her into second gear, get into the powerband and give her and extra bit of gas. Front wheel pops right up. He that was pretty easy, and it was fun too. I kept doing it, getting the hang of it. Just finding my balance points and all.. Being as inexpierence as I am, I can't yet master the art of shifting in the air, so my wheelies were pretty short, still a lot of fun! Well, I got a little to brave, and tried riding one out. Gave it a fuzz to much gas, yep, flipped her right over, and almost got chewed up from the studs. Needless to say I need some tips on how to ride these babies out, so I can really show my buddy up. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

I assume no clutch when I am shifting in the air? I guess I am afraid to shift into 3rd and have it flip again. When I shift, do I need to give it more gas? Or can I just hold it steady? Seems like I'd fall out of the powerband if I kept it steady. Should I be doing anything with the back brake? Ridind it slightly, or no? I could use all the tips I can get. It sure is fun! Thanks!

-Jared

 

The 125 bikes can be a little tricky cause the powerband is fairly peaky, but practice makes perfect.

Anyway, if you can bring it up to the balance point quickly you can let off of the gas quite a bit. Once you let off you really have to feel what the bike is doing and react almost instantly to it. If the front is dropping you roll on the gas a little to bring it up, if you are going backwards you let off slightly (or brake hard depending on how bad it is). I know what I just said is really obvious, but it is exactly that....you just have to practice to get the feel for what the bike is doing.

So as for tips...here is what I do. Like I said, bring it up to the balance point quickly and you can then let off of the gas a little and give it a steady 1/2 throttle or so (compensating smoothly for the front end dropping or raising). If you hit the balance point correctly and keep it there you shouln't ever have to shift. I find doing the wheelies in the highest possible gear is the easiest because it's easier to be smooth, and also it seems that the balance point gets lower the faster you go. Always make sure to cover the back brake too. It's easy in theory to know that you have to hit the brake to stop yourself from going over, but (for me at least) it was hard to get used to. I even practiced doing that...I would bring it up into a wheelie and purposely make it start to go over, and then force myself to use the brake. I did this probably 10-15 times one day on purpose, and now I can instinctively hit the brake if I go too high.

As for shifting....like I said, if you practice you can avoid shifting, however there comes times when you do want to shift....Like when you are starting a 1st gear wheelie and want to go faster. What I do is bring it up to the balance point, and give the throttle a little blip to bring it slightly higher (feels like your gonna to over). I then pull in the clutch and shift as quickly as possible, when releasing the clutch you have to do it fast, but stay smooth. Most of the time you will have to slip it a little bit to keep it in the balance point.

Anyway, practice is the most important part, and once you get the technique down you'll be set.

Good luck.

-Josh

 

On my Gixxer I put it into where the power starts turning on ('bout 5 grand) in first gear, sit back just a bit, tag it to maybe a bit above half throttle, then I back off the throttle just a bit and try to balance it by weight, but if its accelerating and I'm gonna do another gear I'll wait till about 8grand(almost 55mph), tap the throttle, shift with no clutch, then quickly-smoothly roll the throttle back on. I tried letting it go to the 14500grand redline once and shifted, but there is quite another oomph in power above 9000rpm, and I almost lost it-not good. Oh, if you wanna go real far try to go real fast first because the gyroscopic effect of the front wheel spinning in the air will help you balance a LOT better.

I tried a friend's RM 250 with studded tires out on the lake last winter, but when I would try to wheelie the power would come on in a snowy/slushy spot and the rear would spin, or I would have good traction on ice and not be in the power band. When I got them both right at the same time I had to buy my friend a new rear fender.....Oops[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]