Triumphrat

JoshF · 10-31-2009, 11:47 AM

As discussed in an earlier post I am looking to buy my first bike and am interested in the Street Triple R. In my research / obsession I have been looking at YouTube videos of the bike. In one video it seemed that whenever the rider accelerated he either pulled a full wheelie, or the front wheel came off the ground briefly. While to experienced riders wheelies may seem cool - to a noob they are one of the last things I want to happen to me on a bike.

My question is what makes the bike pull a wheelie? Is the engine so powerful that it's hard to control? Am I nuts to consider this as my 1st bike?

I have spent some time on a 250cc bike both in my MSF class as well as in some private training.

Sheain · 10-31-2009, 12:24 PM

I think it has to do with how heavy the bike is in conjunction with how much torque it has. Some bikes are obviously easier to get the front wheel of the ground with. But what it all boils down to is clutch control. If you let it out too fast with too much throttle (especially on a bike like the street triple) then the front end will come up.

Neanderthal · 10-31-2009, 12:50 PM

You will not pop a wheelie unless you are trying. There has only been a couple times, under very hard acceleration, that the front wheel has become light on me, and I'm pretty sure it did not come off the ground.
That being said, the Striple is one of the easier bikes to perform wheelies on.

Diego · 10-31-2009, 03:04 PM

I'll pretty much second that. Unless you are a reckless individual who regularly tends to grab too much throttle, or else are less coordinated than I am (and if you are, please seek medical help

), the Street is not going to wheelie unless you tell it to. The riders in some of the videos out there are basically showing off on purpose, and that's not very a responsible thing for clips which are likely to be the basis for a newcomer's buying decisions.

That said, this is one of the areas in which a fairly powerful bike like the Street can fool a newcomer who gets too confident too early. Practicing clutch operation on a less powerful machine until it becomes second nature does have certain advantages. You'll have to be the judge of your own capacity for self-restraint.

jsobell · 10-31-2009, 10:00 PM

Lots of bikes out there weight only a little more than the ST3 but have 50% more power, so I'm not sure why people keep raving about the ST3's 'high power', and the bike sure doesn't hurl the front wheel skywards at every set of lights unless you crank the throttle up to 10,000RMP and slip the clutch out quickly holding the revs high. If you do this on any bike, even a 250, you can generally get the front wheel off the ground.
If you're a 'person of large stature' (er... overweight or overmuscled) then that makes the front more likely to lift as the C of G is higher, and if you have a pillion then you've got to be a bit more careful because the C of G is further back.
A bike is just like a car where you slam the throttle down and it gets dangerous and unstable. If you needed a Fiat 127 to learn driving, then get a 125 bike to learn riding, but if you managed in a normal car, then consider the ST3 as it's a normal bike.

Twitchy

p.s. My ST3R has a twitchy throttle!

Diego · 11-01-2009, 01:49 AM

It's odd to hear a 100 HP, sub-400 pound dry weight machine called a "normal" bike.

alphamang · 11-01-2009, 03:24 AM

Um...

My wheel more than flirts with the ground in 1st gear if I'm pulling hard... just saying.. and I'm not talking about slipping the clutch... I'm talking about a 15mph roll on to full throttle... that wheel does NOT stay down

wont · 11-01-2009, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alphamang

My wheel more than flirts with the ground in 1st gear if I'm pulling hard... just saying.. and I'm not talking about slipping the clutch... I'm talking about a 15mph roll on to full throttle... that wheel does NOT stay down

I'm with alpha on this. Starting at about 8-9K RPMs, my front wheel smoothly and gradually (in comparision to "popping" a wheelie) comes off the ground by at least about 12 inches if I roll on to WOT from a rolling start of 20mph or less. It drops down and comes back up during a shift from first to second, if I drop the clutch as I go WOT again. The wheelie in second is just a popper, though, although the front end does get light around 8-10K again. I can't say it comes off the ground for sure when I'm in second, though.

For reference, I'm 5' 10" and 205 lbs.

Neanderthal · 11-01-2009, 10:12 AM

There's never a moment when you need to roll WOT on the Striple. You're just doing it because, well.....

JoshF · 11-01-2009, 11:13 AM

What does WOT mean? Please explain to the noob.