Do a Wheelie
Want to impress your friends by doing a wheelie? A wheelie is a dramatic bike trick in which you bike with the front wheel in the air and the back wheel on the ground. Basically, it's biking on one wheel. Keep reading for instructions on doing a wheelie.
Steps
- Switch your gear to a very low gear, like 1-1, 1-2 or 1-3, where you can keep yourself moving forward, but very slowly.
- Get enough speed so that you can just barely balance. This allows you to go slower during your wheelie and maintain the wheelie longer, because it's a lot harder to ride a wheelie when you start out fast.
- As you are riding, the first thing to do is push down your handlebars and then pull up and backwards almost immediately so that you can basically "whip" yourself backwards.
- Get your pedals to about 11 o'clock and 5 o'clock, then push down on the 11 o'clock pedal and Pull back on the handlebars a bit, lifting your front wheel off the ground.
- Continue to pedal.
- Lean back (not too far) and pedal very hard. If you do it well, you will find yourself riding on the back wheel. When your center of gravity is over the rear wheel, you will reach the point where you can balance. Maintain that angle.
- Without increasing speed, keep constant pressure on the pedals. You will sense when your center of gravity shifts. Adjust pedal pressure accordingly. If your center of gravity goes too far, you will tip over backwards. When you sense this, decrease your pedal pressure.
- Also when you feel the need to go backwards, pull in the back brakes slightly. If you do end up going backwards and you can't save the wheelie, make sure you jump off the back of your bike so you don't fall on your Gluteus Maximus. Run with your bike until you can get back on.
- Do not press the front brake when landing, or you could fall forward.
Tips
- Don't do wheelies with clip-in pedals. If you fall backwards, you're toast.
- Before you go and try it out, practice this so that you know what to do if you go too far backwards:
- It takes a while to do a really good and impressive wheelie, so don't think it is easy stuff. When you do try these steps, try to twist them a bit and see if maybe doing it a little bit differently will do the trick.
- If your on a gear bike, try the lowest gear setting, then attempt the higher gears one by one.
- Experiment with sitting on the seat, standing in the pedals, raising and lowering the handlebars, and using different seat levels.
- If you feel like you are falling back, take your legs off the pedals and place them on the ground for a safe landing.
- If you're tipping to either the left or the right side, turn the handlebar in the opposite direction, all the way if necessary.
- It is good to do wheelies on a flat road or up a small but not very steep rising ground (small hill on the road).
- You will need a lot of practice. Be safe.
- Keep your fingers on the brakes so that if you feel your weight is shifted too far backwards you can pull the back brake which will slam down the front wheel before you flip over backwards.
- Have a lightweight bike. Remove the front pegs from your bike for a lighter front end.
- Don't forget to wear a helmet. Safety first!
- Unless you have plenty of spare inner tubes laying around, try not to slam your front wheel on the ground if you feel your going too far backwards.
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Sources and Citations
- Videos provided by Pure Cycles
