I have never riden a dirt bike and I just got my F4i last summer. I know stunting might be a little early but I have always had a act for extreme sports and technical balance. I have watched so many stunt videos on youtube that i swear I have adapted those riding styles just from watching haha. anyway I been practicing wheelies more often recently. I always used to pop the clutch a little and ride a little half wheelie through the first gear but I read the whole article about one foot on the back peg and all the advice. I went to a parking lot and spent about an hour just taking the advice real slow and I got it down at the end where I was comfortable at about 10mph clutching it up to the balance point and bumping the throttle a few times to keep it there and letting it down soft. The next day it just seemed like It devolped in my sleep or something because i went to another dead parking lot later and just about every other wheelie in first gear standing one on the back peg i could ride out the whole gear. a few times i bounced it up in 2nd and held it long enough to be surprised how much easier control it was once you get the balance point at that speed. the only thing Im having a problem with is trusting the rear brake. i keep my foot over it for emergency but I mostly rely on making sure I jump it close enough to the balance point where i can slightly play with the throttle and not have to use the back brake. this is stopping me from being able to actually ride a wheelie tho becuase as im holding the throttle im going faster to the point where i have to put it back down at the end of the gear. I crashed my bike last year and took a while to build it back up so im kinda nervous to loop it for that reason. is there any advice how to make learning the back brake easier? I'm really comfortable with getting it up in the air at various speeds but i really want to learn how to hold it up more with the brake rather then the throttle so i can actually ride it until i want down. I know doing wheelies you"re looking to crash either way but is learning the back brake as big of a deal as im making it? it just scares me to have it back far enough to use the back brake to bring it forward again.

I need to get a cage so I wont mind if i drop it in a parking lot as much.. anyone have demensions for an F4i if i had the metal and equiptment to weld one my self?

 

Im in the process of building my own cage right now on my F4. Ive learned that there is really no set dimensions to build it(every style will have differences). And nobody that could know would tell ya. Just gotta piece it together one step at a time. Just use strong materials and good tools cuz the stronger you make it the more you will thank yourself later. Look at pictures of other companies cages(the more the better). Study the mounting points and where the bars that connect them route.

Once I get mine done im gonna take it to a lot and probably lay it down a couple times(as softly as possible to begin with) to test for any weak points. I dont know about your "fear" as compared to mine but ive fallen off a bike plenty of times at slow speed and before i even think about pain im lookin back at the bike to see how f*cked up it is... Most of the time I heal for free... My wallet hurts me much more.

 

Start practicing using your rear brake when riding normally. Get into the mind set of using the rear brake instead of chopping the throttle. It's all mind over matter. Once you are comfortable riding the brake while on the gas, you can start to work on applying the brake while in a near balance point wheelie, using the brake to bring you down. From there its a matter of getting up past balance while fighting the gas and rear brake to keep you @ or past balance point. Then you'll be slowing your wheelies down.

 

That sounds like really good advice. I will definitely work on this method and I believe I will catch on fast by doing this. thanks a lot!

Quick question tho, when I clutch it up in 2nd gear (which I have been getting good at) it jumps right to the balance point without a problem and as you said I have to chop the throttle to let it back down a little and then back and fourth and as you can imagine it looks like you're riding a wild horse going up and down. the question tho is when I do get this brake method down and go to try it in a higher gear at faster speeds such as 2nd would I be able to clutch it up and let the motor stay at the same revs as I ride the brake or would the revs right after clutching up be too high and over power the brake? Sine I'm new I feel like I have a hard time easing off the gas when it comes up. I have a tendency to try to let off a little to hold it but most the time I end up completely letting off the throttle which sets me up for the bucking action while trying to keep it up.

I just changed the fluid in my rear brake and it is not gripping like it used to. It used to lock the tire up if I were to put about half pressure on it which I thought was on the sensitive side. But now I need to really put some pressure on it to lock the tire. Some people I have heard say they do this on purpose so the brake isnt so jerky when they are riding slow wheelies but it has me nervous a little that it wont bring the bike back down if it gets past the balance point.

 

Yeah man, you definitely have to get throttle control down. Get your clutch-up to the point where you are rolled off the throttle to less than 1/4 by the time you are at BP. Staying at and holding BP is all about getting your brake and throttle to effectively cancel each other out. Go too far past balance and you gotta decrease gas/increase brake...too far forward and you have to decrease brake/increase gas. You should learn to control the wheelie using both gas and brake as it is important to have both brake and throttle control.

 

Dont look like this and youll be good.