June Bug Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 (edited) According to Ryan Leech, "Can a wheelie save the world? No. But social distancing can, and practicing wheelies can encourage social distancing. That's why we're giving away our 30-Day Wheelie Challenge course." Here ya go: https://learn.ryanleech.com/free-wheelie Edited March 19, 2020 by June Bug 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheX Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 Awesome, thanks for sharing this! I'm in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntonioGG Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 Me too! Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 Hell yeah! I'll give it a try. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throet Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 I'm on my last conference call for the day with a couple of high ABV brewskies under my belt. Thinking I should go out after this call and practice my wheelies! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
circuitbreaker Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 i'm not gonna sign up, but i'm in for the challenge. just need to try and practice every day. anyone make progress yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throet Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 On 3/20/2020 at 10:56 AM, circuitbreaker said: i'm not gonna sign up, but i'm in for the challenge. just need to try and practice every day. anyone make progress yet? I got out today finally and made it to Day 5 of the program, which is pretty much where I've been stuck forever. I practiced for a good while and look forward to what comes next. Honestly I don't even care that much about wheelies but have heard that mastering wheelies is a great way to find your balance point for doing manuals, which to me is much more useful out on the trail. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
circuitbreaker Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 practiced a bit while riding with the kids yesterday. i think my best was 4 pedal strokes. i can definitely feel the balance point. but it is hard to keep my wheel up. haven't had to feather my brake much yet, so probably need to get my weight back a bit more. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntonioGG Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 I've done zero. Our park is too wet and we shouldn't ride on the grass while it's so wet. I'm not doing this on the sidewalk or street. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheX Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 4 minutes ago, AntonioGG said: I'm not doing this on the sidewalk or street. That makes two of us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bamwa Posted March 24, 2020 Share Posted March 24, 2020 On 3/20/2020 at 10:56 AM, circuitbreaker said: i'm not gonna sign up, but i'm in for the challenge. just need to try and practice every day. anyone make progress yet? I keep spilling my beer down my shirt, but I'm gonna stick with it gawd dammit. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
circuitbreaker Posted March 24, 2020 Share Posted March 24, 2020 Practiced a bit again today. Got one or two more pedal strokes on my best try. My body feels like its trying to figure out the side-to-side stability while pedaling. I just ride on the street and clipped in. For some reason, i'm not scared of looping out, it all seems very controlled. I do prefer practicing on a slight incline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bamwa Posted March 24, 2020 Share Posted March 24, 2020 Squish or no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
circuitbreaker Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 Mostly Full squish, you can lock it out, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
circuitbreaker Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 (edited) just went out for a quick 5 minute practice. that's 4 days in a row! feeling more confident in general, probably got 10 pedal strokes in. i noticed the reason i don't really use my brake much, if i feel my weight getting too far back, i'm naturally leaning forward to counteract. i keep my arms straight the whole time, so it more like i'm leaning into my shoulders. i guess keep your arms out straight in front of you, and them move them back and forward by using the shoulders without bending your elbow. not a big movement, but enough to counteract the weight. *just realized its silly for me to try and explain this, its something your body's just gotta figure out itself. it's all muscle memory. at the same time, it is pretty cool to feel it happening. Edited March 26, 2020 by circuitbreaker 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntonioGG Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 (edited) I did my first practice yesterday. I was already at a level where I could do 4 strokes, but it was a race to get those in before the front wheel dropped. Yesterday I was able to get 10 strokes in, and I felt the balance point @circuitbreaker and Ryan Leech mention. I also had never used the rear brake to bring the front wheel down but I practiced that yesterday. I got a little bit of a lean to the left so I hope some of the next few lessons help with that. Oh, I was clipped in since it's the same bike I use for my regular riding. Edited March 26, 2020 by AntonioGG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtb_jeremy Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Not that I can wheelie, but have wondered if practicing simply riding with no hands would be a good thing to practice for help for side to side stability skills. It seems like riding with no hands at slower speeds and doing turns may help with muscle memory of balancing when doing wheelies. Maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntonioGG Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 I can ride and turn with no hands on any bike for an extended period of time. That doesn't seem to help with tilting while doing a wheelie. On my practice today, I finally looped out. Thankfully today I decided to do it on my backyard where it was a nice soft fall. It was weird because even though I practiced using the rear brake, and I'm finding the balance point, as I was looping back, my instinct wasn't to unclip or use the brake, I was trying to use my body to balance and I failed. No true advance since yesterday, just more practice. I forgot to watch today's video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
circuitbreaker Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 3 hours ago, AntonioGG said: On my practice today, I finally looped out. Thankfully today I decided to do it on my backyard where it was a nice soft fall. It was weird because even though I practiced using the rear brake, and I'm finding the balance point, as I was looping back, my instinct wasn't to unclip or use the brake, I was trying to use my body to balance and I failed. No true advance since yesterday, just more practice. I forgot to watch today's video. Glad you got that out of the way. just keep those brakes covered. I also practiced today, but it was kinda lazy. no breakthroughs. 5 days in a row though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiantm3 Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 If you HAVE to pedal to keep the front wheel up, then you haven't found the natural balance point yet. Front wheel needs to go higher. Once you are in the natural balance point you should be able to stop pedaling and the front wheel shouldn't drop. It's also much easier to control the bike left to right and it doesn't want to flop to one side like it does when the wheel isn't high enough. I've been practicing wheelies almost every day (when it doesn't rain) for the past 10 months or so. I'm not great at it, but it's definitely easier to find that balance point when the bike is already rolling fast. But the biggest thing to remember is that if you have to keep pedaling and pedal faster to keep the front up, you aren't at the balance point. Same goes for if your front wheel keeps flopping to the left or right really easily. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntonioGG Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 4 hours ago, radiantm3 said: If you HAVE to pedal to keep the front wheel up, then you haven't found the natural balance point yet. Front wheel needs to go higher. Once you are in the natural balance point you should be able to stop pedaling and the front wheel shouldn't drop. It's also much easier to control the bike left to right and it doesn't want to flop to one side like it does when the wheel isn't high enough. I've been practicing wheelies almost every day (when it doesn't rain) for the past 10 months or so. I'm not great at it, but it's definitely easier to find that balance point when the bike is already rolling fast. But the biggest thing to remember is that if you have to keep pedaling and pedal faster to keep the front up, you aren't at the balance point. Same goes for if your front wheel keeps flopping to the left or right really easily. Good points. I'm actually much worse the faster I go. I can pop up and wheelie almost from a trackstand, and I feel that balance point b/c I can stop pedaling and keep the front end up. My yard is not even though, so naturally I lose and gain forward momentum and that's when I have to do a half pedal. But that feeling of being at this point is awesome. And yes, the moment I feel like I'm just speeding up I know I didn't pop it up far enough so I just start over. I skipped my practice today but did go on a good road ride. Gotta keep the fitness up too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throet Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 Funny how it seemed so easy on one these back in the day. I remember as a kid wheeling down the street effortlessly, slow and steady. Did the banana seat and sissy bar make the difference? There was no feathering the brake back then either! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree Magnet Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 (edited) I bet that banana seat let you sit your butt right next to balance point. That would be a fun bike to have just to ride wheelies on. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited March 29, 2020 by Tree Magnet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4fun Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 9 hours ago, throet said: Funny how it seemed so easy on one these back in the day. I remember as a kid wheeling down the street effortlessly, slow and steady. Did the banana seat and sissy bar make the difference? There was no feathering the brake back then either! I use to be able to ride a wheelie from my drive way to me friends house 6 blocks away like it was the natural way to ride a bike! On both my BMX and mountain bike. Now I’m lucky if I make it 50ft! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree Magnet Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 I pulled out the DJ bike today and my oldest son and I had a manual competition. We have a slight downhill so we would start at a crack in the street and use sticks to mark our longest one. When you find that balance point, it's so cool. I managed to get a few good ones but I don't know what I did different from all the other times. The weather was amazing for practice and you can easily maintain the 6' distance from any neighbor. Also, you're going pretty slow with a helmet so even if you loop out, it shouldn't be an ER trip. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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