Wheelie poll: Who has brought the front end up?

[gamorg02]

yea my rear never lets go (intentionally)!

 

[naughtyG]

unless it's wet of course... slippery when wet!! spin spin spin...

 

[naughtyG]

Unless it's been raining... Slippery when wet!! Spin spin spin

 

[Shuriken]

I went out today and tried to do a cruiser wheelie, hoping to not kill myself or worse, damage my Max LOL.

Anyway, I tried rolling in first to about 6k, then hammered it. Instant burnout. Tried again, seems like the front got a little lighter but nothing. Once again got the same effect.

Then I tried the "shift into second", both power shifting, and then using the clutch. Depending on how hard I hit it in first, it would either continue the burnout into second, or if I rolled on a little slower it would hook up.

No matter what I tried, I just ended up with a burnout.

The closest I think I got was starting at 50mph in 5th gear, I dropped it to 3rd and pinned it. Another instant burnout but it quickly got very light in the front, maybe came up a tiny bit. But WOW did it boogie-woogie forward.

I'm not willing to try standing on the passenger pegs- to me that's just asking for problems if you can't cover the rear brake.

One of my riding friends who has motoGP racing experience says that baisically Avon tires are crap for performance bikes....too hard of a compound. He said to "poke" his Metzeler tires and then my Avon, and he's right, the Avon has a lot less "give" to my fingernail. The bike came with a new VenomX on the back, and a half worn Bridgestone Spitfire on the front.

What are all you running for tires?

At 5700ft elevation, this is how I do it on Metzeler ME880 tires:
- make sure the engine is warmed up well
- find a good, non-dirty, non-pebbly stretch of road (concrete is too slick and chip gravel is too loose)
- in 1st gear, roll the bike forward to about 10-15 mph
- clutch in and rev the engine to about 4-6k
- make sure the bike is pointed straight and your balance is in check!
- paying attention to clutch control, briskly let out the clutch (not dumping it) while increasing throttle

Sometimes the front comes up so quick, I have to shift my weight forward a bit on the faux tank. Other times the tire burns or the wheel comes up just a little until I shift into 2nd.

I'm used to riding wheelies on my dirt bike. The Max is a beast and feels way too heavy to dial up wheelies on. I'm too chicken to loft it more than probably 24".

I can get the front to come up a little on launches from a stop, but a lot of times, the tire just burns. That's why small roll-on wheelies are easier for me. Plus, the ME880s I'm sure are not as sticky as the Shinkos.

 

[RaWarrior]

The way I'm riding it, I doubt that hard-as-rock Avon will last too long. While some of you do "accidental" wheelies, I have to actively try to not peel out.

Seems the Metzeler 880's are a favorite...mentioned in a lot of threads here. Seem to be a good balance of stickiness and mileage, and has very favorable reviews pretty much everywhere.

 

[GPrider]

The way I'm riding it, I doubt that hard-as-rock Avon will last too long. While some of you do "accidental" wheelies, I have to actively try to not peel out.

Seems the Metzeler 880's are a favorite...mentioned in a lot of threads here. Seem to be a good balance of stickiness and mileage, and has very favorable reviews pretty much everywhere.

My 89 Vmax would wheelie easily in 1st, 2nd, and sometimes third a just a little bit. When I bought my 95 a couple of months ago, the PO said that Vmaxes won't wheelie. I just laughed a little under my breath. Sure enough it won't wheelie. Just burns the rear tire. It has the 880s on it. I'd always heard that they were hard compound, long milage tires. Now I'm reading some of the members here saying they are soft and sticky. Hmm... I dug a fingernail into it and then did the same to my FJR that has Michelen Pilot Road 2 touring tires on it. The PR2's were a lot softer than the 880's. I think I was running Dunlops or Bridgestones on my old 89. I kinda miss not being able to pick up the front end, but it probably is better for the steering head bearings. I just checked the Metzler website and they described the 880 as a soft compound, high milage tire. Somehow those two descriptive phrases just don't seem to go together. I've always got less milage out of softer compound tires. I'm confused. :hmmm:

GP

 

[maleko89]

The 880 is a hard tire. Even with the old stock dunlops I could get the wheel up pretty easily. Now, I just throw white smoke out the back for a 1/2 block or so. The locals hate me.

 

[naughtyG]

Well today I had a quick go. I'm back to the Vmax pumpkin (my spare is not a Venture boohoo) and with the well worn Shinko 170.

Flat out from a standstill in first gear, bike shot forward like a missile to nearly 10k rpm, but the wheel did not come up, no wheel spin that I could detect either..

I really need to put this thing on a dyno sometime..

 

[Rusty McNeil]

Never had a problem pulling a wheelie with any tire, especially the ME880.

In my opinion many people run these tires too hard/high psi trying to cure handling woes.

Run that sucker down to about 33-34 psi and unless it's a dusty or dirty surface or slick ass oily blacktop it'll bite just fine.

1st gear
5000-6000rpm, for me closer to 6000
Quickly chop the throttle closed and whack it right back open
This settles the front end and compresses the front springs and lets them push up at the same time your whacking it back open.
Guaranteed to stand right up for you, even on a stock Max whith a fat guy like me on it.

Remember folks.
3 keys to riding wheelies.

1. ALWAYS COVER THE REAR BRAKE WITH YOUR FOOT
2. Practice some throttle control.
3. When you think your gonna loop it or you just start getting scared?
GRAB 2ND GEAR WITHOUT USING THE CLUTCH, THROTTLE BLIP ONLY, WHEN YOU GET SECOND JUST BACK OUT OF IT ENOUGH TO GET IT STARTED DOWN AND THEN RIGHT BACK INTO IT AND YOU'LL GET AN EASY LANDING.

The stupid hard landings you see in the videos are invariably due to pulling a hweelie and not shifting, running out of rpm's and whacking it shut out of panic or due to loss of power hitting the rpm limit of the engine

The point of being in the upper RPM's at this stage is that the engine is going to be running out of torque and you couldn't loop the bike if you wanted to unless you early shift and stayed in it hard.....

If you start this process at a lower rpm like 4k or 5k rpm and manage to get it up all bets are off on going for 2nd gear for an easy landing because if you start to loop it that earlly avoiding looping it is going to be all about throttle control and early shifting to second could possible bring it higher, which is is exactly how people pull it up, keep it up and shift throught the gears..



Your instinct is going to be to chop the throttle closed. If you do this you're going to slam the front end down, possibly shimmying out of control into a front end wobble and eat the pavement (we've all seen the videos, right?)
If you don't lose it on a slam down at best it's gonna scarfe the piss out of you and make you never wanna do it again.


I've only dumped one wheelie, it was on a V65 Magna due to chopping the throttle instead of shifting and having the bike end up crushing my left foot and putting me out of work for 2 months.

Encouraging words huh?

 

[RaWarrior]

The ME880 is definetly softer than my Avon Venom....the fingernail test proved that. Now if the ME880 is still considered to be a "touring" tire, I must have the hardest tire on the road.

On my Magna I had Kenda Cruiser tires. It's a Chinese tire, but I never had any issues at all with them. Great grip, no vibration, and the back tire lasted about 9k miles with spirited riding. That was pretty soft, as least from feel.


The "chop shut then WOT" just did another burnout...I weight about 180, maybe 190 in gear. Didn't even begin to lift the front.

I'm declaring my Max(at least with these tires) un-wheelie-able. Any sudden crack in first or second breaks the back tire loose, even no where near WOT.

 

[gamorg02]

lean back rawarrior

 

[Rusty McNeil]

The ME880 is definetly softer than my Avon Venom....the fingernail test proved that. Now if the ME880 is still considered to be a "touring" tire, I must have the hardest tire on the road.

On my Magna I had Kenda Cruiser tires. It's a Chinese tire, but I never had any issues at all with them. Great grip, no vibration, and the back tire lasted about 9k miles with spirited riding. That was pretty soft, as least from feel.


The "chop shut then WOT" just did another burnout...I weight about 180, maybe 190 in gear. Didn't even begin to lift the front.

I'm declaring my Max(at least with these tires) un-wheelie-able. Any sudden crack in first or second breaks the back tire loose, even no where near WOT.

Are you on asphalt or concrete? Concretes better, asphalt with aggregate mixed in is ok too, straight up asphalt/blacktop with tiny or no aggregate is the worst.

What's you tire pressure?

Like someone else said tho' lean back.

 

[naughtyG]

Well after all this, last night I'm coming off the traffic lights, twist the throttle a bit quick in first and off it goes - front wheel airborne! lol..

 

[Redbone]

I have no problem with just power on (5-6K) 1st gear wheelies, try to stay away from them though. Now, shifting into 2nd gear under power wheelies with smoother landings are a lot of fun!

 

[RaWarrior]

This is on plain black asphalt--the stuff that "sparkles" as you drive by in bright sun. NY doesn't have a lot of concrete roads.

I did another mega-burnout, this time just to see how long until it hooked up. Started rolling about 15mph in second through an intersection, straightened out and nailed it. Instant burnout all the way through second, continued through third, and when I hit 4th it finally hooked up-about 75-80mph. So I did one continious peel-out for probably 100-150 yards, from 15 to 80mph.

Leaning back seems to have no effect whatsoever. Trying to just "power up" with a roll-on just gives more and more acceleration, and then it breaks loose if you go past 3/4 throttle in 1st or second.

I guess it's really not a big deal, since I know cops around here take antics like that very seriously....I know one guy that got busted for riding a wheelie on his CBR at 100+ for like 2 miles. Cop was behind him the whole time. Revoked license, bike impounded, like $5k of fines and spend the night in jail.

On another note, I was behind another Vmax while out riding yesterday on 310 between Canton and Massena. Carbon look with supertrapps. Anybody here?

 

[kaboom]

This is on plain black asphalt--the stuff that "sparkles" as you drive by in bright sun. NY doesn't have a lot of concrete roads.

I did another mega-burnout, this time just to see how long until it hooked up. Started rolling about 15mph in second through an intersection, straightened out and nailed it. Instant burnout all the way through second, continued through third, and when I hit 4th it finally hooked up-about 75-80mph. So I did one continious peel-out for probably 100-150 yards, from 15 to 80mph.

Leaning back seems to have no effect whatsoever. Trying to just "power up" with a roll-on just gives more and more acceleration, and then it breaks loose if you go past 3/4 throttle in 1st or second.

I guess it's really not a big deal, since I know cops around here take antics like that very seriously....I know one guy that got busted for riding a wheelie on his CBR at 100+ for like 2 miles. Cop was behind him the whole time. Revoked license, bike impounded, like $5k of fines and spend the night in jail.

On another note, I was behind another Vmax while out riding yesterday on 310 between Canton and Massena. Carbon look with supertrapps. Anybody here?

That was me!!!!!!!!!

Headed home from work.....you were with a sportbike of some sort.....:eusa_dance:

 

[gamorg02]

haha how the hell do the 2 bikes in northern NY find each other?

 

[RagingMain]

haha how the hell do the 2 bikes in northern NY find each other?

Its like you and your computer...they are in love :stir pot:

 

[kaboom]

haha how the hell do the 2 bikes in northern NY find each other?

Karma.....:eusa_dance:

 

[Dr.n2o]

If I get her out of the hole real hard and keep it stuck open, it'll pull it up 1st,2nd, and a piece of 3rd . Man I love that bike :biglaugh: