Pictures at the top, write up and explanation further down the page.
The Ixion Wheelie Day - delayed by Foot 'n' Mouth and Harry Hyams eventually takes place at Kemble Aerodrome.
Home of the BEST BLTs and largest amateur wheelies in - errrr - Gloucestershire.
This page is photographic proof that even boring old IAM guys can get it up in stylee!
Tip of the (crash)hat to Andy & Greg. Best Wheelie Instructors in the UK - nay: in the WORLD.
Hoddy (grubby yellow Aerostich) organised.
*** WRITE UP ***
Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks
The Stunt Wheelie School (that's the last time I type the full name) is run by Andy Burnett. It has two claims to fame: it is still the world's only regular, professional wheelie school and it uses Andy's own patented "anti-flip" device to enhance safety and punter confidence. There have been other wheelie schools, but often they don't provide the 'bikes or have the safety device and none of them are yet regularly established with a firm base and a good track record. How firm? Well Andy offers a cast iron "money back" guarantee. You will wheelie by day's end or you get your money back. No one has yet requested their money back - and the school runs five or six days a week, teaching up to 10 or 12 people a day. As to the cost - we paid 150 pounds sterling a head for two groups of three - each group with a dedicated instructor, 'bike and practice area. The 'bikes are box standard Suzuki Bandit 1200s, with all the more crash damageable bits stripped off and the safety devices added. They are not re-geared or tuned, but they do have over size oil coolers fitted, as they spend the whole day being revved out in 1st gear ... and Suzuki hasn't fitted a revlimiter to the 1200! Bendy Educational ThingAny skill is like Woody' Allen's shark metaphor - if you don't keep moving forwards, it dies. When my broken leg meant a year not improving my riding skills, my riding really deteriorated. I've been riding for 26 years, done several courses and advanced tests and been to the Nurburgring and learned to ride off road.Personally, I did the wheelie course for two reasons: to gain a new skill and to have fun. I didn't expect to learn a heck of a lot which was relevant to day to day riding, but it was another motorcycle learning experience. Other people were there just for the crack, to improve their R1's wheelies, to improve their racing (especially the Mountain at Cadwell). All six of us were more than happy with what Andy and Greg (the 2nd instructor) taught us. In fact, I'm pleased to say that I learned some stuff that is relevant to day to day riding and my off roading, so a real bonus there. And, boy, was it fun too! How does it work?Andy teaches "throttle" wheelies. He's against clutched wheelies as being unnecessary and over complex and far more prone to polish and, eventually, burn out clutch plates. A fair few people come to the school who can already do good clutched wheelies - to learn the more machine friendly technique.As with any good teacher, and Andy is a very good teacher, the new skill is broken into a series of "bite sized" chunks - each with an exercise to let you practice it and to allow the instructor to watch you doing it. In seven steps I moved from a non-wheelier to getting a 1200cc 'bike up (albeit not as far as I'd ideally like) to about 30degrees for a couple of 'bike lengths. The ones who could already wheelie or had more balls were doing 20 to
50 metre monos. I think my longest was only 20 metres, but I now know how
and know how to improve.
The CourseWithout an instructor, to spot what you're doing wrong, and anti-flip device, to give you the confidence to get it up high early on, and a big practice area ... you are not going to learn to wheelie in a day. For this reason alone, I'd suggest doing the course. The lunch is good, too!The "steps" Andy teaches are: ride at the right speed (without peering at the speedo!), get your position right on the 'bike, get your use of the controls right, get the front to come up fast (before the power tails off), catch the wheelie at a sensible angle (by dipping the throttle slightly while it still wants to rise) ... and "wobble' or feather the throttle to hold the wheelie and gain distance. The "dip" on a short wheelie and the "feather" on a longer one also
give you the chance to visit higher gears and to bring the front down without
a head bearing smashing crash landing. I can't say that my feather / wobble
technique was perfect by day's end, but I know what I need to work on.
Right SpeedThe launch speed for your 'bike is key. For the Bandit 1200, you need (in first) to ride along at 20mph. 22 is too high, there's not enough "spare" powerband, it'll all be over before the front is high enough. And 18 is too low; the 'bike won't come up fast enough when you gas it - so you'll get a long, low, fast accelerating wheelie instead of the tall, relatively slow one that makes for a good stunt.The right speed is "just into the bottom 5th of the powerband" in thew gear you want to use. 20 for a Bandit 1200 in first. 30 for a TDM in first. 35 for an R1 in first and 70 for an R1 in second - which may be why so many R1 wheelies are clutched up in 2nd. The first exercise was simply to ride past the instructor at 20mph. Until you could do it without looking at the speedo at all. As Greg said we would - at lunchtime we all agreed that getting the speed right for the 'bike was really crucial. So, if you're 'bike sometimes wheelies and sometimes doesn't, it may be that, like the Bandit (which is hardly highly tuned or highly strung) a couple of MPH makes a big difference. The second exercise was to teach us to ride - still feeling comfortable and relaxed - with our weight much more rear biased than most road riders would normally. There's a dual gain here - less weight on the front and also more weight on the back. Better traction (it'll wheelie, rather than spin out) and the rear shock is a bit compressed. But the weight bias is also vital for LANDING from your wheelie - weight on the bars will cause a hard landing which is bad for the 'bike and - if the tyre wasn't quite straight on landing - could cause a crash. The first step to learning to actually mono-wheel is to "cough" the front up. Opening and closing the throttle while coughing (out loud) ensures you open it for long enough, but not for so long that you go too high initially and scare yourself. From here - skipping a bit for brevity - you soon (by lunchtime) learn to get the front wheel up 6 times out of six. If you really wish to learn to wheelie, do the course, an article of mine isn't going to teach you. However, forget about the clutch, sit back and GRIP with the knees and get the approach speed right and you'll be a lot closer than you were. Overall - this course is highly recommended. Assuming you already have
your Advanced Test, which should always come first, of course. Contact
the Wheelie School on Tel/Fax: 01793 822 115.
Anti-flip DeviceAndy's anti-flip device is basically a microswitch and a carbon fibre rod, mounted on the rear mudguard. When the rod hits the ground, the switch, wired into the existing sidestand switch, kills the ignition briefly. Foolproof and easily adjustable. The trick is to make it neat, reliable and waterproof. Andy sells 'em for about 125 quid. There is also a version to help rolling stoppies and infra red and gyroscopic versions are on the way - in case you don't want a carbon rod off the back of your 'bike.But think of the kudos: "That's to stop me flipping over backwards
when I do wheelies."
Write up by Hoddy (c) November 2001 |
|
