WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING WRONG?!?! I can get it up and ride for it for a couple seconds but then it comes down. I've been riding decent wheelies for about a month now but I'm still not able to ride them for a long time like I want to. It really pisses me off because I'm not progressing at all. Any tips? Maybe I'm just an unbalanced person.

 

What really helped me is dragging my toes behind the bike to help ballance front to back and side to side. Once to do it for an hour or so, you get the "feel" for the BP. After that it is just a lot of practice and playing with the rear brake.

 

I don't know if this is any help but it worked for me....I can ride second gear wheelies for almost ever.....practice in first gear with your feet out so you can get the feel for the "balance point". start out from a total stop and roll the bike backwards hit the gas and get it to come up to the Balance point. Practice that until you can ride eveywhere with your feet out and the wheel up...that will give you a good idea of how "light" the bike gets at the balance point ..But remember there is a lot more engine braking in first gear so when you let go of the throttle the bike will want to drop quicker..so when you try it in second use the rear brake to keep you at the balance point...The higher the bike gets the less power it needs to stay up there so get it up there!!!also smooth throttle control really helps alot....try it and let me know how it works out...good luck..just don't get mad though it makes it worse...relax and think about mile long wheelies.... you can do it

 

1st gear is good to learn on... I don't recommend not covering your break though... that just getting into a bad habbit. The problem in 1st gears in counter balancing... not enough speed to keep you from going left or right. But is perfect for learning break control. Just keep at it bro... you'll get there.

 

I feel your pain, bro. I got to where I could ride feet-downs pretty much indefinitely fairly quickly, but struggled with feet-ups for quite awhile. My problem was side to side balance. (first gear) My wheelies would veer to one side or the other long before I'd run out of gear or even get to play with the BP much. 2nd gear makes that part easier, but also much easier to loop if you don't have that rear brake on lock. (I almost do, but not quite...)

I practiced and practiced, and felt frustrated that I wasn't progressing like I felt I should. Then a few days ago something just "clicked" and I was able to ride em out MUCH further, getting em balanced some of the time.

Two things I figured out I was doing wrong: First I was jerking on the bars too much to hoist it. It gets it up allright, but often skews the wheelie right from the get go. (usually to the left as I tend to yank harder with my non-throttle hand) So I ended up trying to correct to the right, instead of concentrating on finding/riding the BP. Now I'm training myself to use a little more body english and throttle, and less arms. Bringing it smoothly to the balance point is more important than bringing it there quickly, at least until you get really good at it.

The second thing was keeping my legs in tighter to the bike starting out. Sure you have to stick a knee out to correct, but if I started with knees hangin loose to the sides somewhat, I'd end up stickin em way to correct, and would unintentionally shift my weight the other way somehow, making it skew even further. With my legs in close to begin with, I just have to stick my knee out a little bit and it corrects, and doesn't throw my whole weight off wrong.

Oh yeah... relax... you need to be like a sack of potatoes. If I feel myself getting frustrated or tense, I take 5 or whatever and mellow out. You really need to be relaxed and feel what the bike is doing. If you've got a deathgrip on it, you'll just end up fighting it and getting more frustrated in the process.

Hope this helps!

 

The thing that helped me was getting put on my *** a few times. I bet you are not as high as you might think. So just lean back more and get ready to hit that rear brake and if you loop then that means you got to tap the brake a little sooner . Have fun with it

 

Thanks everyone, especially gixxerpete. I read your post and I noticed I was doing damn near everything you mentioned. Thanks alot and hopefully after work tommorow I can work some of that stuff out. I'll let ya guys know and hopefully I'll be riding miles soon. Oh yea and I know I'm going high enough w/ the front wheel because I've looped it plenty of times. I'm still not to good w/ that rear brake.

 

Swifty .

I was lookin' forward to hooking up this weekend but I think I am sidelined . I just got back from GRANT. Got 4 stitches in my index finger . I don't think Ill be able to ride till next weekend .

later , mike

 

Damn that sucks. What happend? And I'm leavin the 20th for college so hopefully I can ride w/ ya guys before then.