Anyone have some feedback on the "sweetspot" in the rpm range to do a roll-on wheelie? I've been playing with it (total newbie, scared to death) but can't seem to get that rear wheel up in a smooth fashion...advice? Just want to know I can do it...atleast once.

-- Larry Nipon (vze277jp@verizon.net), August 20, 2002

Answers

meant the front wheel...

-- Larry Nipon (vze277jp@verizon.net), August 21, 2002.

Being a "newbie," I would consider practicing wheelies on a different bike. It would be cheaper to buy a used CBRF2 or GXSR600 than throw the MV down.

-- John Milotzky (jmilotzky@wi.rr.com), August 23, 2002.

Larry, I can't give you an answer except that the front wheel of the MV is not exceptionally easy to bring up compared to most bikes. It's not due to lack of power, it's mostly weight on the front wheel. I've done some wheelies on it, but I never found the balance point so I never did much to ride them out.

Now, here's why I don't do them. They are extremely hard on machinery. There are some idiots around town that are learning stand up wheelies and in the process are frying their cranks because the oil pump went dry. They have done this multiple times (!). Of course, on the MV some extra clutch slippage is necessary to get some RPM together so the front will come up. I'm not even sure how easy it is to get a clutch or how much one cost. This puts extra wear on the clutch. I keep meaning to order one just to have it but I haven't yet. I also have no idea how fragile the front wheel is. It's possible to bend the wheel if you panic and hit the rear brake (although it wouldn't do much on my bike, I'd probably continue to just go over backwards).

So there you have it. I leave the wheelies to my R1 (rarely) and my mountain bike.

-- Andy Ruhl (quadreverb@yahoo.com), August 24, 2002.

I have pulled many successful wheelies off the clutch on my 2000 F4S. No probs so far with the clutch (6000 miles), which is about the only thing that hasn't gone wrong. The only problems directly resulting from wheelies were a slight oil weep from one fork seal (went away) and the steering head bearings went a bit loose - no UK dealers had a tool to adjust them either ! You can pick the front up in any gear over crests, as long as you are over 9,000 rpm. Also, you can lift the front in low gears (1,2) flicking side to side, our out of slow corners on hard throttle. Looks good, but really too much weight over the front for real stuff.

-- Dave Stephens (david_stephens@storagetek.com), October 22, 2002.