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Wheelie School!

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 10:31 am
by Beamish
Spent yesterday at the Jimmy Fireblade wheelie school :biggrin Brilliant day and a well structured course. poor 600 Banditos are the steeds and they get some proper abuse :eek2 . Every one of the students could pull 50 yard one gear wheelies by the end of the day :twisted: Its a tough daythough , my hands, neck. arms and shoulders are stiff as a priest at a primary school!
Couple of piccies

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Re: Wheelie School!

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 11:40 am
by benny hedges
is this the same one geo went on???
i know he had a great time too & went back for more,.... then tried his new skillz out on the storm and ended up sat on his ass lol :lol:

i wouldnt mind a go tbh, on someone elses bike... im ok at getting the wheel up but not very good at smooth landings lol, and my unintentional wheelies are always on corners for some reason!

Re: Wheelie School!

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 2:21 pm
by Beamish
I know, my first couple of clutch up with the Gixxer are going to be very steady :biggrin . Cant even raise my arms this morning, feel like I have been in a car accident :lol: once i have full use of my faculties its straight to the airfield for some practice on my bike :eek2 Clutching the wheelie up is far better than the power wheelies I am used too, much slower start speed. :cool2 .

Re: Wheelie School!

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 5:17 pm
by Miztaziggy
I used to clutch them up on a CBR6. I bought an R1 in the end with the main reason being that I wanted to be able to power wheelie.

I know people always say it is safer doing a clutch wheelie, and I can see why, but to me, power wheelies felt much easier to pull off smoothly. A clutch wheelie can sometimes come further up than you expect and the landing can then be quite hard.

With the R1 I used to just gently roll on the power in 1st or 2nd and it would come up fairly slowly. As long as you dont slam on the back brake or let off the throttle completely, the front would always come down quite gently.

I always found that by using the clutch to wheelie, the front would come up higher at a lower speed meaning that if you didnt get it to the balance point, or keep the power on to keep the wheel in the air, it would slam down hard.

Still trying to master them on the Storm, there isnt as much torque as there was on the R1 so I feel I have to be going faster to pull up the wheel and somehow it feels a little unsafe....

Re: Wheelie School!

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 6:34 pm
by geodude
Awesome Beamish. Love it!!

Its a great day out and I know what you mean about the post wheelie day pain. The first time I went, I rode the storm to the school, wheelied all day and then rode home again. I was shagged!!

It was on a Saturday and the Thursday after, (having not ridden any bike since the Saturday) I flipped the storm so do take it easy. We live and learn eh? hehe

Did the bandit have any kind of anti flip device on it? Can't see owt in the pics

Benny, Jimmy fireblade is further up the country than South Coast Stunt Wheelie School. Both use bandit 600s.

As for the power vs clutch debate, there are benefits to both. I prefer clutching it up. I would struggle to power up the beemer :eek2

http://www.osbikers.net/scswsgallery/main.php Check out Adam :)

Re: Wheelie School!

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 6:40 pm
by Beamish
Geo, I purposely took the car as I knew it would be dodgy jumping on to 170 bhp after the Bandito :lol: I will take it reeeeaaaallll slow when feeding in my new found skills on the Gixxer. They had the cut off jobbie that has given me whip lash like symptoms :lol: I had a feeling for where the balance point was but it kept crashing down involuntary, it was a that point he uppped the stakes :P What a buzz :thumbup:

Re: Wheelie School!

Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 4:38 pm
by 20_rc51_00
nice work. I have been practicing in an industrial area myself. Practicing st gear clutch and on some lonely straights I try 2nd gear clutch. managed a few ups in 2nd gear nothing consistent or lengthy though.... The funny thing is that when you go out the next day after practicing you can actually feel the wheelies are a bit better and more consistent! have fun

Re: Wheelie School!

Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 8:52 pm
by Beamish
20_rc51_00 wrote:nice work. I have been practicing in an industrial area myself. Practicing st gear clutch and on some lonely straights I try 2nd gear clutch. managed a few ups in 2nd gear nothing consistent or lengthy though.... The funny thing is that when you go out the next day after practicing you can actually feel the wheelies are a bit better and more consistent! have fun
Funnily enough so have I, its a different world on the Gixxer though, easier but more scary do to the cost factor!