I just took the OnOneWheel.com wheelie school in Fl. last week. Man, what a blast!! We used the '04 Triple courtesy of Triumph. We hit the throttle in first at around 21MPH to lift the front. The rev limiter cut in too quickly to hold the front up for any length of time on setting number one since the bike was accelerating down the dragstrip. We progressed up to level 5 by the end of the day and found the bike very willing to lift easily. I learned two important things; 1) the bike will easily go past vertical and I was only saved by the added braking mechanism! One cannot find a perfect balance on the rear tire. Don't even try. You should simply try for about 45 degrees and keep enough throttle to maintain this angle as the bike accelerates. 2) One gets the feeling that the bike is not at a very substantial angle while the onlookers see the bike as being almost vertical! So, keep it sort of low and ride it out at that angle and don't try to balance it straight up! .... Oh yeah, have fun!
Now I have to learn how to get the front up on my '02 ST.
So what basic technique do they suggest? Clutching it up? On/off/On w/ throttle? Just whacking the sucker wide open from 7K (or whatever) RPM? Were they running stock gearing?
Bike is stock from Triumph except for the school's safety add on at the rear. You can check out their web site for information. As stated in the original post, no great secret to getting the front up. Get up to 21 mph in first gear and whack the throttle. Bike comes up easily. If I were to try it without the safety mechanism on back, I would be scared to lift the front wheel more than a couple of feet. Really, 2 feet is plenty. Don't try to balance the bike straight up in the air. You can't do it and you WILL hurt yourself.
I find that my triumph is very easy to balance. The center of Gravity is perfect for riding low speed wheelies.
Also you dont have to wait till you get 21 mph, just twist a little from stop and boom there you are.
If you get Triumph's TORQUE magazine you would see in the last issue Stunt king Kevin Carmichael uses the Speed Triple because it is so balanced and easy to do stunts on.
You dont have to pop the clutch for a wheelie, just roll steady on the accelerator, and pull. You can balance in first but it is noisy as hell, and very very twitchy. Mind you that my second bike is a haro freestyle bike.
I did my ST today. Using 3500rpm/27 mph and sliding back a couple more inches on the seat in 1st. Bike accelerates and rises pretty dang fast. I felt more in control with the speed triple. What is a good technique for getting up in 2nd gear with an ST?
Linear Mode
