Everyone likes a long wheelie!
But while they might be good for developing your balance,
in reality there are very few situations that require an extended wheelie.
There is a much greater need for the short
practical wheelie to get you over obstacles on the track.
A common issue?
Riders say their bike isn't powerful enough.
Or it is too heavy.
Or they lack the strength to get the front wheel up.
Or they say the only way to wheelie their motorbike is by using the clutch.
In every case, it comes down to getting the technique right!
Good technique means using your body weight and the motorbike's suspension to provide the lift.
With good technique, you will need very little throttle.
And most importantly, you won't pick up a lot of speed.
When you fail to weight the motorbike and use the suspension,
you rely more on the motorbike's power and end up with too much speed.
In gnarly terrain, this will simply throw you into the next obstacle too quickly and off balance.
The aim of the short practical wheelie is to lift the front wheel as quickly as possible,
with minimal throttle, and very little increase in speed.
Ideally you should have the front wheel up to near
the balance point before the bike has moved more than its own length.
If you are really having trouble, try using a 'kicker' first...
a little log or little bump.
See our video about using kickers here.
We also believe it's critical to learn covering your rear brake as you learn to do wheelies.
It takes a long time to automatically prevent
your motorbike from flipping by touching the rear brake.
See our rear brake vid for more information.
The small stand-up wheelie.
Make sure your foot is correctly placed to cover the rear brake.
Jump on the footpegs to compress the suspension.
As it rebounds, apply a small amount of throttle and a gentle pull on the handlebars.
Even if the front wheel doesn't come up high,
practice gently dabbing that rear brake to make it a natural instinct.
If you have good clutch control and balance, try this technique from a standstill.
The same principle applies for wheelies when sitting down,
although it's harder to compress the suspension.
Push down hard on the handlebars to compress the front forks,
then apply throttle and clutch the moment the forks start to rebound.
Remember the whole key of the small practical wheele is to use as little power as possible,
and pick up as little speed as possible.
You are using the bike's suspension and power to mostly lift the front end,
not drive the bike forward.
You can see with all these obstacles that a huge
increase in speed is just going to make things more difficult.
A handy trick for getting extra lift is to quickly dab the front
brake just as you are weighting the footpegs to compress the suspension.
This not only reduces your speed further,
but stores extra energy in the forks to lift the front wheel higher.
In our coaching, Chris Birch said he often adds some rear brake as
well as this helps to compress the rear suspension further too.
A final note, as your wheelie technique comes together it will
also become important to be able to land your front wheel when and where you want,
for techniques like the double blip and punch method of crossing logs.
Does all of this sound difficult?
It usually is.
Many of us have to unlearn bad techniques such as relying on power,
and the timing can be very tricky at first.
But keep practicing as we know from experience there is always that breakthrough moment when
it all comes together, and it opens the door to a whole pile of advanced enduro techniques.