Wheelie crash day ... photos at the end

[F9Phoenix]

Spent a day practicing wheelies ... because I was dumb enough to do it without wearing my boots, I did way more damage to myself than I should have (graphic hospital pics at the end of the vid) ...

Good news is I have been able to get back on my bike in the past couple weeks and have been riding ...

 

[MrFalloffalot]

When i saw u were wearing SNEAKERS???WTF?? Had the thought 'if you were wearing boots' blah blah.
But in 'Hind-sight' is allways the perfect clarity we never see before. You survived, learnt a valuable lesson and also learnt how to wheelie that little better. Hopefully better wheelie footage next time??

Getn used to whats going on ina wheelie is VERY tricky+confusing at first, but its all about that Balance point/Throttle/Clutch/Brake control/etc.
LOTS to think about when trying on a Motorbike. Coz you DONT wanna drop it?
Grab someones Mountain bike, practice the 'Balance point' on that first, get one of the many things that rattle and confuse new 'Sky Gazers'.

Apart from that, NICE, liked the mess u made, allways BETTER ifu get the 'action shots' to prove it, whenu all healed.
I reckon that was the foot-peg? to make that size gash? Those jaggered edges on the pegs are nasty!

My brother did very similar, although was the swing-arm bolt that peiced his ankle (Ankle between Bolt and retaining wall, afta loosing ina corner). He was wearing the right boots, so it can happen even if you do wear the gear.
He only noticed the 'Squelching' of liquid in his boot, poored blood out, ARRRGGGHHH, then CALLED THE AMBO straight away too!! lol


Dont mind me, im not a Gory kinda guy, just been around a few messed up bodies in my life, so im never shocked with the gory pictures or accident scene.
And Level3 1stAid. (ALL riders should do a 1st Aiders and Crash Scene course IMO) If not for you, for your mates?

Nice Vid, glad your still 'Walking', well kinda Limping i spose? lol
> : )

 

[F9Phoenix]

Yeah, mistakes all around, I just don't even know what I was thinking ... if I ever attempt to practice again, it's going to be on dirt and I do eventually want to get a small dirt bike to practice on instead (bicycle is a good idea too) ...

I do believe it was the foot peg that caused the gash ... the bike was pretty much undamaged ... the stock whale tail got bent up, but that was a good thing as I was just looking for an excuse to replace it ... I have since put an Edge tail light kit on it ... looks so much better, cleaner ....

Seeing the blood and all for the first time definitely was scary ... all I could think about was losing blood and consciousness ...

Still currently limping around on a boot, but no longer need crutches ... ever since, I've been riding exclusively with my dirt bike boots on ...

 

[MrCods]

Holy shit batman, You really did a good job on that, Props for riding so far before you bled to death lol, Glad you are getting better.

 

[LIvlogs]

Well you sir just convinced me further to invest in a nice set of boots. Sorry to see that happen but we've all had those times we're we screwed up in order to learn.

As for some wheelie tips, it sounds like you're slipping the clutch just a bit too much to bring the front end up quickly. Really drop that clutch to get the front end to pop up, You'll get the feel for it with enough practice. I learned on dirtbikes throughout my life but i got my best practice the passed year with my little 110cc pitbike.

 

[F9Phoenix]

As for some wheelie tips, it sounds like you're slipping the clutch just a bit too much to bring the front end up quickly. Really drop that clutch to get the front end to pop up, You'll get the feel for it with enough practice. I learned on dirtbikes throughout my life but i got my best practice the passed year with my little 110cc pitbike.

OK, well here's a question I had then ... what does it mean when people say "slipping the clutch" and "dropping the clutch?" I assume it means the rate at which I'm letting go of the clutch, right? For example, "dropping" would mean just completely letting go from nothing to something? That's kind of what I was trying to do when I was practicing ...

I think one of my main issues was I didn't realize that I didn't need to hold on to the throttle the whole time to keep the bike up ... it was only after and watching other vloggers that I was able to see that they were feathering the throttle, not stuck on it ... I think that was my main issue ... also, I just wasn't experienced enough, but that comes with time and dumb mistakes like this ...

 

[LIvlogs]

OK, well here's a question I had then ... what does it mean when people say "slipping the clutch" and "dropping the clutch?" I assume it means the rate at which I'm letting go of the clutch, right? For example, "dropping" would mean just completely letting go from nothing to something? That's kind of what I was trying to do when I was practicing ...

I think one of my main issues was I didn't realize that I didn't need to hold on to the throttle the whole time to keep the bike up ... it was only after and watching other vloggers that I was able to see that they were feathering the throttle, not stuck on it ... I think that was my main issue ... also, I just wasn't experienced enough, but that comes with time and dumb mistakes like this ...

Yeah when i say drop the clutch, i mean fully let it go as fast as possible. let it "snap" out from your fingers if that makes more sense. Wheelying is hard to explain in text since it varies so much from rider to rider and from bike to bike. The ideal goal is the pop the front wheel up to just below, or at the balance point, and then adjust the throttle to keep it at that point. When first popping it up that usually means reducing throttle so you don't loop it out, like in the video.

A really good and safe way to practice would be to not focus on getting to the balance point at first, but to get the front wheel off the ground and wind out the gear you're in and hold it off the ground for as long as possible. Then as you get used to the front wheel being off the ground you can slowly bring it up higher and higher until you're comfortable with the balance point.

This video is the best i've found to explaining the best way to learn wheelie's.

 

[F9Phoenix]

Yeah when i say drop the clutch, i mean fully let it go as fast as possible. let it "snap" out from your fingers if that makes more sense. Wheelying is hard to explain in text since it varies so much from rider to rider and from bike to bike. The ideal goal is the pop the front wheel up to just below, or at the balance point, and then adjust the throttle to keep it at that point. When first popping it up that usually means reducing throttle so you don't loop it out, like in the video.

A really good and safe way to practice would be to not focus on getting to the balance point at first, but to get the front wheel off the ground and wind out the gear you're in and hold it off the ground for as long as possible. Then as you get used to the front wheel being off the ground you can slowly bring it up higher and higher until you're comfortable with the balance point.

This video is the best i've found to explaining the best way to learn wheelie's.

Cool, yeah, that's what I thought. I had been doing exactly what you said about just getting the front wheel off the ground a bit and holding it ... that's kind of what I did earlier in the video ... the crash happened on more or less the planned final attempt of the day, I just wanted to really rip it up and felt confident I could pull it off ... problem is I just kept the throttle going hard ...

Thanks for the tips and info, definitely helps ...

 

[LIvlogs]

You certainly were making good progress throughout the video, keep up the practice and you'll have them down soon enough. Big props to not letting the one loop out scare you away from learning how to wheelie. One thing i've figured out in my life.. Never say "one more..". Anytime i've ever said one more anything, it's usually led to some type of crash/accident/painful injury in my experience. Now when i nail whatever it is i'm doing after many attempts, i end it on that note.

edit: though i just realized i've only wheelied my DRZ once LOL. I've never been a big wheelie guy but i practiced it a bit on my streetbike. I more or less leave the wheely-ing to my pitbikes.