Get the Wheel up!!!

boy wheelie how to CC Photo by nathancolquhoun

On the way home from work tonight a little kid from my estate spotted me coming and popped off the curb on his crappy mountain bike, running a ridiculously low gear he pedalled like lightening to pull up alongside me and I thought “Ha! Race time!”, he looked me in the eye then pulled a rad wheelie, he dropped the front wheel back down and I said “Nice!” to him. As we came up to the roundabout he dropped his feet off the pedals to the ground and shouted “I’VE GOT NO BRAKES!” then sped off around the roundabout, I went the opposite way and 5 minutes later I’m writing this.

He was awesome and I wan’t to be just like him, I would looooooooove to be able to wheelie but everything is against me. I didn’t learn when I was a kid, then I started skating and didn’t ride a bike for 15 years, then I got a frame with toe overlap, then broke my collarbone and this summer I forgot to even try to learn! I simply have to get these things on lockdown, I wanna be able to get the wheel up every single time that a kid shouts it from across the road, it’s all I think about.

Someone out there teach me how to do it because in the short time I tried to learn on my conversion before I got the track frame with overlap I just kept drifting off to the right all the time and really couldn’t keep it going in a straight line. I’m free from overlap now and willing to try very very hard. Post all your wheelie tips in the comments for me and I’ll make a video over the next couple of months of my progress so that you can have a good old laugh at my expense at Christmas.

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Posted in Fixed, Miscellaneous on 28/09/2010
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  • Neil

    I like that.
    Kids race me up Shakespeare Road sometimes. One second I’m idling home minding my own business, next second I’m hell for leather towards an imaginary finish line surrounded by a blurred cluster of every type of bike under the sun. Always puts a smile on my face.
    Can’t help with the wheelie. When I was a kid I’d either fall of the back or plunk the front wheel straight back down. And I spent hours trying. Haven’t tried as an adult. Just got it into my head that I can’t do it. Which is a bit sad.

    • Ty

      I’m hoping I’ve not missed the boat, I’m determined to become a wheelie master!

  • Fergal

    I’d love to be able to wheelie – used to be pretty good at it when I was a kid but haven’t managed it since I’ve need riding fixed. I’d say at least at the start you’d want a pretty low gear, also use risers rather than drops and have both your bars and saddle as high as possible as this will make it easier to get started. Good luck!

  • http://www.fixedgearcardiff.co.uk Tim

    All I know is you’ve got to keep those arms straight…

    You do realise that you’ll look like you’ve nicked the bike as soon as you can do one though?

  • chris

    Fix your stare at the horizon apparently and keep your arms straight. I always curve off to the right but probably because I’ve usually got a bag on my my back. Good luck!!!

  • Lee Powell

    Personally I wouldn’t learn to wheelie on a fixie or a road style frame – if you’ve got an old XC style mountain bike hanging around learn on that.

    Find a quiet car park on a Sunday afternoon and just practice. I’m no expert, but every day n my commute to work I try again, and again, and again… I found I had to lean back further than I originally thought, and it’s all in the moving back motion, and not yanking the bars up.

    Get a nice low gear, pedal along at about walking pace, move your weight forward with bent arms (like the start of a bunny hop, except you’re sitting down) and then move your weight back when you come up, don’t yank, or pull hard at the bars, the forward / backwards motion should make the front end come up – then it’s just practice on quickly finding the balance point and pedaling while holding it. gently feather the brake if it starts to go too far back, pedal a tidy bit harder if the front starts to drop.

  • Lew

    I went from no wheelie ability, to being able to wheelie 200m-1km. It Took me about two years in total to learn. I started leaning when I was 34, so you don’t need to be a kid!

    +1 on learning on a mountain bike. Lee is kind of right in what he is saying but I doubt anyone can learn to wheelie well in a Sunday afternoon in a car park. Try 10-50 Sundays!

    To learn to wheelie is pretty hard, but pretty easy to perform once mastered, although you still go through better and worse times, sometimes I sit marginally short of BP and accelerate too much, other times I sit past BP and hang on the rear brake and slow down too much.

    Can be very frustrating trying to learn to ride on the balance point, you will fall off the back a few times but pop up the front wheel short of BP a million times.

    Some other tips:
    - Have a perfect drive train
    - Rear brake isn’t too grabby
    - Medium seat height
    - Wide rear tire 2.0 +, street or hard-pack pattern easier
    - Smoother road is better (like a racetrack)
    - Headwinds are annoying, tail winds are fine and side winds suck balls!
    - Low gears pop the front up easily, but BP harder to keep
    - High gears will make it harder to pop the front up, but BP is easier to keep
    - 3X9 mountain bike, I prefer 2 cog front 5-6 or 7 rear cogs
    - Learn manuals, track stands, hops and endos when you get pissed of leaning wheelies
    - Manuals are cooler than wheelies!