3rd gear wheelie

busa854

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I have been doing second gear wheelies for some time now, but every time I would shift into third the front end would drop on me.....until today. I got a little brave today and right before I redlined second, I gassed it pretty good to get the front a little higher, then shifted to third and kept on riding. The best one I rode was to an indicated 140mph. My bike is all stock except 16T on the front. Has anyone here been able to ride into fourth gear with a relatively stock busa? I think it can be done as long as you keep it high. And don't start flaming me, I had my gear on.
 
But you still wheelied. and yo'll probably get flamed by someone, but not me. on that note, I'm practicing wheelies every night when I leave work on my 900rr.



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I have been practicing 1st gear power wheelies for a couple of months now. I just changed my set up to 17/43 . I can't believe the diffence. It is so much easier to lauch the front end. Question for ya, do you start your wheelie in 2nd gear or do you start out in 2nd. If you start out in 2nd gear, how do you do it, power or clutch?
 
I start in second gear. I just get going about 55-65 mph, clutch it, rev a little, release clutch and nail it. If you are just starting to do second gear wheelies I would suggest that you pop it up several times to get the feel for it before you actually try to ride it out. Thats what I did. The busa has so much torque that you can actually clutch a wheelie in second gear only about a foot off the ground for a pretty good distance. Another thing I always do before riding a wheelie is to get all the back against the hump. It will help a little bit. Good luck and be careful. Oh, one more thing; cover your brake pedal. If you get too high, give it a tap, but don't panic and brake too hard or you'll have a rough landing.
 
I've gotten to about 140-150mph in 3rd (maybe 4?... dont remember)... One time I came down a little crossed... There was some side wind, and I started getting pushed off the road. I was leaning with everything I had in the opposite direction, but nothing... the bike just kept moving over closer and closer to the grass
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. So I let off the throttle and came down with the bike not aligned straight
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. I got a violent shake, but I leaned in to the center of the road and gave it some throttle and came out alright.
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. It was fun
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.
I haven't done long speed runs or wheelies in a while though. I moved to northern florida and theres a lot of TRE's... err.. trees, around. I had my bike regeared at 17/43 and have been doing slower wheelies and going to the drag strip
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.
Oh, and remember guys... be careful. Especially when doing high speed stuff... you might have all the gear in the world (and it might protect you from the road rash), but if you hit a tree, fence, car, wall, etc, etc, etc, at 150mph, your Focked.
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. That's the main reason I *try* not to go too fast. In south florida there's plenty of STRAIGHT roads with little/no traffic, so that if you mess up, you'll just be sliding for a long time... If you see trees or anything with more inertia than you, I'd suggest sticking to going slower. You know, slow wheelies are an art themselves...

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It seems like every time I get it up, the bike seems to fall to the right. I guess I have to lean left! LOL
 
I've rode dirt my whole life and I'm 42.
Wheelies are my show stopper.
I just hang it high threw the gears and cover the rear brake.
Repeat......Cover the Rear Brake!
Don't get discureged I still can't do Stoppies!
I get scarred like a school girl!
Peace B↑S.D.M.F.®
 
hard to wheelie with a 9" over swingarm
I can't wheelie on mine at all, others have tried as well but no go. They did however get off the bike and say dayummmm its been a while since I was able to leave a mark that long in the road:)
Even with a 6 inch arm all my bike does is break traction if you attempt to wheelie the thing....
 
maybe its a fear of torque thing for me, I can do power wheelies through all the gear but I can't clutch them for anything. Stoppies (even on the busa) have always been easier for me, just make sure that you are straight before you even think about raising the rear, new suspension helps some too.
 
It seems like every time I get it up, the bike seems to fall to the right. I guess I have to lean left! LOL
It's probably due to the rear wheel being out of alignment? That would be my first guess. Having a death grip on the handle bars could be the problem as well? Relax the hands and grip the tank with your knees. If that don't cure the problem, string line your rear tire to make sure it's aligned properly.
 
Once you have mastered the balance point, you'll find you can wheelie in any gear you like. It's just a matter of getting her up to the sweet spot and keeping it there. I tell most guys when they are learning to master the wheelie in low gear before moving up to higher gears. The faster you go the easier it is to keep the front wheel up. But, the crash will be much more burtal if you fall. In low and second gear compression is all you need to bring her down if you get a little over center. If you loop it, it will most likely be on the launch. If you do get crazy on the launch and take her over backwards, good luck on saving it with the rear brake. It will happen so fast you won't have time to think about the rear brake.
 
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