[Closed] How long did it take to learn how to pull a wheelie?

50 years and counting...

30 odd years. Still crap.

i must be better than druidh 32yrs for me 😆

Still can't. But I'm only 44...

So im not the only one who can't do it haha.

Took me about a summer holiday 😀 i can now wheelie for aaaaaaaaaaaaages. Its fun.

I should put a concerted effort in, I suppose - I keep giving the bars a little tug and deciding I probably can't do it, so i shouldn't try too hard!

Used to be able to do 'em for fun when I was a kid.

But now.......no chance!!!!,despite trying my damndest!!

One of my mates can pull a wheelie & keep going for ages...git!!

yeah. one of my riding mates can pull them for fun and it looks so easy! But it aint!

yeah. one of my riding mates can pull them for fun and it looks so easy! But it aint!

when i was 26, i consciously set myself the goal of learning to wheelie by the time i got to 30, so i practised everyday.

When i wasn't on the bike, i was practising it in my head.

i asked for advice, and i listened.

i watched people who could wheelie, and i tried to copy them.

i still can't wheelie, maybe i'll get it by the time i'm 40...

(i can just about manage the fore-aft balance, but simply haven't a clue how to control the left-right balance)

As far as I know, the only way to master the wheelie is to find the balance point...
The only way to find the balance point is to pull up a LOT harder than you think necessary & practice coming off the back of the bike.
IMO/E until you master the fear of the unknown you will never be comfortable.
HTH.

I bought my first mountain bike in 1988. As of August 2009, I have yet to manage a wheelie...

31 years, 4 months, 4 days... Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Not really tried to learn... Might have to now! 😀

Bob

what's a wheelie? 😉

minutes, but I was about 8

Can manage one for about 1 metre,which took me 36 years.
Stick it in the middle ring,with a middling gear out back,push down hard on pedals,and front will come up,no problem.As said success is mostly to do with finding the balance point,which involves falling off.....a lot.

i've lost the ability. 20 odd years ago i could wheelie a postman's bike, now i'm lucky if i get 4 crank turns. Also lost ability to go no handed :-/ old age sux

I tried to learn a few months ago - I can go for around 4 crank turns like BluePalomino, but that's about it.

Reading that makes me feel so much better! I thought I was the only rider in the country who couldn't. Not a chance.

TBH after pulling a wheelie in front of the wife whilst clipped into spds resulting in agonising screams and upturned tortoise impressions, I've given up.

Would like to learn to manual though 😀

What's harder, manualling or wheelies?

Depends on how long the wheelie is - I can do one for about 2 seconds - but being clipped in tis not the best - I'd try a bit more if I were on flatties 🙂

I still havent taken off stabilisers off my Trek, why on earth would anyone want to lift the front wheel in the air ??!!??!

I suppose next you going to tell me people are going to jump in the air with both wheels off the ground 'bunny' style....its all completely unnecessary . I not even going to mention those people who who ride gung ho style through forests, thats why roads where invented

Yours Sincerly

Victorian Cyclist

PS To educate you on the merits of safe, proper and moral cycling I include a photograph of my good self and the wife on an enjoyable Sunday jaunt following the rules of the road and conducting myself with the moral sobriety severely lacking in today's cycling community. As you can see my good lady is enjoying the experience in the knowledge that I am keeping all five wheels firmly on the road whilst travelling at the heady speed of 1 miles per hour.
[img] [/img]
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😉

you appear to have miscounted your wheels.

i suspect the fifth wheel is airbourne, shame on you.

Nearly 40 years and still trying.

Wheelies are for people who can't manage proper riding, you know, going up big hills without pushing and riding down the other side also without pushing - or crashing (much) The only wheelies of any use are half a crank revolution to get your front wheel up a 2ft step going uphill or manualling rocks and ditches on the way down, anything else is showboating of the highest order and incredibly vulgar.

Bitter? me? never!

I'm making good progress since I've been re-training myself to pull up on the left foot instead of the right. I can manage a few pedal turns now 😀

I have a mate who can wheely anything, I hate him. Seen him wheely an XR200 whilst sitting down dragging his left hand on the ground. He can go round in really tight circles both ways. When I showed him my first mountain bike he got on and just lifted the front wheel for the length of his farm drive. He hadnt ridden a push bike in about 10 years.

I couldnt wheely if my testicles were at risk 😯 now I just dont bother trying.

With the benefit of youth and the trusty Raleigh Areana (little wheeled one) about a day or 2 to get 4-6 decent pedal revolutions in (its a massive grunt to get a racer stood up), that increased slowly until I had to stop counting and judged it by how much of the road I lived in, until I could do all the road.

Practice on an uphill, as said you gotta be able to flip it, know your going to flip it a few times but can still land on your feet. If you trying to learn clipped in you will need to go straight to using the back brake to check it in an emegrency flip situation, rekon it might be easier to forget the back brake thing and learn on flats, dragging the back brake is great once youve nailed it, but just another thing to try and learn if you cant already wheelie.

And its going to be loads harder when your older.

BUT once you have it you will never lose it, it came back real quick once i started cycling again.

As a self confessed wheelie addict - who has attended a wheelie school (for motorbikes), with 25odd yrs spent refinning the skill and practice probably covering twice a week. Heres my suggestions for cracking it.
Pick a slight upward slope/or flat ground - avoid anything downhill for now.
Pick an easy gear, say middle front chain ring and 1 down from top at the back - nice and spinney to lift the front with minimum effort.
A little back brake helps - set it up so its 1 finger use (without stretching the finger) this means you can feel some very slight resistance from the back brake, match your finger for the front brake (but don't pull lever) so hand position is equal both sides.
With back brake giving a little resistance, do the lazy option to get the front up - push down on forks a little - say 1" travel, then use the pop and best foot forward, push the pedals purposefully to make the front wheel lift, theres not really much lift from the arms, the gearing and your pedal input brings the front up. Don't pracitce wearing SPDS - use flat pedals, then if you go over the back - no worries.
Begin by going higher than you think necessary, at some stage your "feel" the balance point. The point at which the bike is in harmony with being on the back wheel, from here its using your knees for balance/to steer and pedal smoothly catching any rearward dip with the back break and if the front drops bit more pedalling.
Hope this helps.
only people who can't wheelie knock doing them!!!
once sorted, the coaster wheelie is when going downhill becomes much more entertaining.

Above post covers most of it. - just like to add that magical balance point is about 15 degrees further back than you think, and really trust your back brake. Try jabbing it on har d a couple of times once the wheels up and you will realise how quickly it comes back to earth. Once you have an idea of where that balance point is the key then is to learn feather the back brake enough to just rotate you forward slightly instead of pile-driving your front wheel into the ground.

Oh and it's not about pulling up on the front end - that just makes your body go down and forward (equal and opposite reactions and all that). It's abolut rotating around your rear wheel axle, so once you've got a bit of lift with a good pedal stroke then it's about leaning back, rather than pulling up. Keep your arms fairly straight.

Si F

Never have learnt - prefer to rhino bike through things

I thought everyone could just do wheelies, born with the balance required.

i don't think there's anything wrong with my sense of balance, i can feel when i'm starting to fall left/right, i just don't have a clue what to do about it.

the way i see it, i can lean myself / lean the bike (roll) / twist the bike (yaw) / turn the bars / some combination of the above.

nothing seems to work.

tis very frustrating, a bit like learning french...

ahwiles
you need to steer with your knees, literally jut them out like your knock-kneed, then let bike move/be loose between the gap you've created with your knees.
Try dropping your saddle height a lot too while you practice.
Practice, practice, practice.....etc.....

I tried for about a 1/2 hour a day on the way home from work for a few months. Every now and again, one attempt in 20 will be successful and I'll get some way across the car park. Usually I'll flop around with the front wheel not coming up straight, so if anyone's got any suggestions how to solve this, I'm all ears. I have no idea how to feather the brake to bring the front down - seems it's a case of a falling off the back feeling, bit of panic grabbing and the front wheel's on the ground again.

It's like floating, with the front wheel weightless, when you do find the balance point.

to stop falling left or right just do what you would do if your front wheel was on the ground; use your body weight to keep your balance i.e. move at the hips and knees.

our gorups current wheelie challenge is the length of the ladybower dam. its a nightmare when theres a crosswind! got it on monday though, first time for about a month.

Been in the back lane behind my flat practising. Getting better. Cheers for the advise people.

I can't wheelie the tandem.

Most other bikes are piss easy though.

To be fair though I did learn how to do it at a very early age.

I eEither raise the wheel 1" or fly off the back; nothing in between 🙁

20+ years and still try like I was a kid again.
Agree SSS, given up trying the tandem, can barely unweight the front enough to get through all the sag in the forks!

......used to be able to wheelie my Raleigh Medale (racer) at will. alas no more 😥