Help with Wheelie!!
 

Well sad to say I have a Walmart MGX-DXR bike that I have been on for 5 or 6 months just riding around my neiborhood. I am not going to any trails or anything like a real mountain bike should, just riding with my friends around the neiborhood. I was wondering how to actually ride a wheelie on flat ground for over 25 feet or so while sitting down. Ive been trying and trying to ride one for 4 months and have gotten nowhere and practice EVERYDAY.

I cannot relax when my front is in the air, I cannot lose my grip or i go back down when im up in the air with my front, I guess it is because of the heaviness of the cheap bike.I cant even touch the brake or I lose balance and go down, I have to use all my force to hold it up and my arms are sore.I try leaning back and i cant lean any further back without flipping over( which i do alot because i cant reach my brakes.) Since you guys ride nice mountain bikes that cost more than 70 dollars lol you might not be able to help me. I'm just wondering if you have any tips, if so please share.

dude its easy, go into a realy easy to petal in, not first, go to about 3rd of so, like 1 in front, 3 in back ;) start practice on light inclines, its realy alot easier on inclines, list pull up and petal furiously. Dont act too rexlaxed or pull to hard or you'l be on your ass in a second. if your lucky..

It's not that eay for me, 1 out of 10 tries I actually go a little bit strait, when my front tire is up in the air I **** out and turn the handlebars for some reason. I think it might be because i pull up a little harder with my left hand. Even if i luckily ride strait, after about 2 seconds the tire drops even when im pulling back and leaning. Most likely I fall back when I lean back to keep my tire up. Do you think i need a better bike because its not exactly the best one for doing wheelies lol.

You shouldnt be spinning that fast on a wheelie. I run a 38t front with an 11-34 cassette and im in either 4th or 5th gear. I can wheelie pretty much as long as I want to.

I do feather my brake alot, which is important. Even wallmart bikes have a little screw that adjusts reach for the brake lever. Try that until you get a new bike.

Buy a unicycle if you want to ride on one wheel so badly!

practice on a slope, going up it.

Doing a wheelie is not easy, but here are some tips to help you out.
Do as Southern91love said. Start out on a small uphill. Lower your seat 2-3inches from where you normaly have it. This lowers your center of gravity and makes it "easier" to balance.
Sit on the tip of the seat. Then you feel what the bike is doing.
Keep your knees wide apart (point your kneecaps to the tips on the handlebar) and use them to keep your lateral balance.
You can also use your front wheel to help you keep your lateral balance. The trick here is to turn the wheel in the oposite direction of the way you are leaning. Left lean, turn right, and vice versa. I know this is oposite of what your head is telling you, but it works. I could explain the physics behind it, but it would take to long...
For the longitudinal balance (forward/backwards) you use your pedals and rear brake.
If you feel like the front wheel is falling to the ground, pedal
If you fell like you are falling backwards, feather your rear brake. Make sure your rear brake is working well. Fell on my butt yesterday on my friends bike because I did a wheelie with a bad rear brake.
If your front wheel keeps falling down, you are not leaning backwards enough. It feels uncomfortable at first, but trust your rear brake and use that to keep you from falling backwards.
The fun part is that you need to do all of this at the same time. Only way to do this is practice, practice and more practice.
It will be a little harder on a heavy X-mart bike than a real bike, but stay in there and you will get the hang of it eventually..

Is there any way if I practice alot more I can ride a wheelie without back brakes? Because I kinda dont have back brakes lol I bent the rim while doing a bunnyhop so I had to undo the brakes so they wouldnt rub on my bent rim so even if i could reach it, brakes dont work. I read these articles on how to do a mountain bike wheelie and it says sit down lean back and pedal, from there, relax. I CAN'T RELAX im trying as hard as i can to keep that wheel up off the ground with my arms and by leaning back. How long would you say it would take a slow learner on a gay bike with no brakes to do a long wheelie like over 100 feet or in other words as long as i want.

I find it easiest to use first up front and third in back, or second up front, first in back. Sitting in the saddle.

Just pedal up and keep going fairly slowly. Lean back and kind of relax, don't tense up a lot, just move a little to balance. I've done maybe 50 feet this way, and I usually touch down by trying to spin too fast and running out of torque.

If you're a slow learner... hell, over a year lol

I don't use brakes to do wheelies. Then again, I have a fairly nice bike and my back wheel isn't bent.

i used 1 3 too

Madman, 50 feet on that ratio? Whoa.

50 feet isnt long at all.

Exactly. Trials riders can ride manuals for like > 100 feet...

(he told me on msn he only gets to ride once a week, and as a result can only wheelie for 10 feet)

i'm currently learning by leaning back in the seat and tugging slightly with the arms and not really lifting with them - using arms to lift the handlebars affects your left/right balance which causes you to turn the handlebars the wrong way to compensate for the direction you're falling. if i start to fall backwards my feet slip off the bike in time to land on some body part other than my back. that way i'm on my feet and the bike's still in my hands albeit upside down.

Part of maintaining a wheelie, as opposed to a manual, is accelaration. So you need to choose a gear that you can pedal continuously for 100 feet or more, without spinning out. That's why you're being told to practice on a slight incline - it will keep you from gaining too much speed. Once you get the wheel up, only pedal as much as necessary to keep it up. Spinning furiously will lead to failure. Also, balance is important. Practicing something as simple as a track stand should help you with balance. You should also go practice on grass. Not bong hits, a grassy field. Just bring your front wheel up and roll with it, not pedalling, just getting a feel for the fore/aft and side to side balance.

Anyone have a link to the video clip of that guy pulling the giant manual in San Francisco?

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=94679

That one?

EXACTLY!!! The people who are starting out in 1-3 arent going anywhere. I use a 38t ring with gears 4-6 in back. 11-34 cassette. Starting out in a 22t ring is bad.

You have to pedal and throw yourself back in your seat. If im going too fast I lean back and brake at the same time - kinda like a unicycle. When Im falling back I feather the rear brake, and when Im falling forward, I pedal faster obviously.

You'll void your warrenty doing 'stunts' and 'tricks'

I've been practicing wheelies too. My problem isn't keeping my balance or falling backwards, I can't even get my wheel higher than two feet for longer than a second. Is my frame too heavy, or am I doing it wrong?

Or, is it harder to do wheelies on bikes with full suspension?

Usually is. It's very hard to do them on crappy full suspension bikes also.

When you say "sit on the tip of the seat", does that mean sit on the front part of the seat( narrow skinny part that is closest to your handlebars) or the tip of the back of your seat so you can lean back more. Wouldnt sitting on the front part of the seat put weight closer to the front and make it harder to keep the wheel up?

And for the leaning back and not using your arms to lift the bike......it's impossible I cant lift my front wheel in the air if i dont pull up with my arms hard even when leaning back. Do I need to bounce the front up with my suspension and lean back then ride it? Ive been trying for so long and cant ride it past 4 feet!!!

Can you pop the front up far enough to jump back and land on your feet? That'd be a good start.

Yes I flip back and land on my feet all the time, I am wondering two things. Do the useless hook looking things on the end of the handlebars on my mountain bike have any purpose, and do they make your bike heavier to lift up a wheelie? and how do you control the sideway balance PLEASE. If i had handlebars that were glued strait and couldnt be turned I would wheelie forever but the bike always lean to the side and I know people say dont let it lean but I cant help it, it just leans by itself I guess. Probly not that, I just dont know how to control it.