wheelie tips needed

I have always been weary of wheelies, and I am not sure if that will ever change... but lately, I have been pulling the wheel up a little, and I thought I might slowly try to develop that part of my ride. Couple of questions.... How many of you have flipped doing wheelies...especially in your learning curve?? I have been pulling it up in 2nd gear....no clutch at about 60-70 mph. Would you recommend using clutch or continue here? Did it scare the shit out of everyone when it starts to reach balance point? What do you do once you get to balance point? Let off gas a little (a lot)? feather brake?? any help would be appreciated...

High speed wheelies are more stable, but if you bite it, God bless you. Knock on wood, I've never looped a wheelie (can't say the same fo endos/stoppies). You have to be pretty far back to loop it. Most wheelie crashes I've seen were because the rider bailed in which case the bike ended up landing on its front tire before tumbling.

yeah its true, i looped my 01 last november and yes it scared the shit out of me. thing is, it happened so fast ther was literally nothing i could do to save it. i have been doing two types of wheelies, first gear and second but i don't shift to second. i ride first gear as long as i can and when it comes down i fine with it. in second i was starting out around 52-4 mph and just blipping the clutch (some call it popping). it would come up fine and i was learning the balance point. i could usually go for about 1/4 mile. that balance point on the r1 is scarry as hell because it is so high. its so high that sit down wheelies for any distance are kinda dangerous to me. i want to learn stand-ups but since i have had my 02 i have been hesitant to try it. i still do first and second on it though. but i am still learning and i don't want to rush things. most of my buds have r1's and they can wheelie the hell out of them. i even have one who sits on the tank on an 02 and can go forever!! by the way, always wear full gear when stunting!!!! i have permanent scrs on my knees from only wearing jeans when i looped it. never again!!!! i also would like some advice on second gear stand-ups!!!

Yea, I have been picking it up in 2nd more than 1st lately. It feels a lot more stable and I can definitely ride it a long ways. However, I'd say about 75% of the time, the freakin bike veers to the right. In 1st gear I ride it straight all the way to 11,500 RPM, but in 2nd it moves right. The thing about 2nd is after you pick it up you are moving so fast! I keep thinking to myself (if you crash, you die...) Also, here in OK it gets quite windy, so most days the wind is too great to try high speed wheelies.

"I keep thinking to myself (if you crash, you die...) " You're never going to learn wheelies well with that attitude. learning good wheelies takes a certain ammount of audacity and commitment, you can't be doublethinking yourself every second.

That's why slow speed wheelies are a better bet. At worst, you may break a bone on a crash, but chances are, you won't die. You probably have a better chance of being eaten by an alligator.

ha ha yea see the whole thing with wheelies is there is always a cement divider, guardrail, oncoming traffic or something in the way. I guess the best place to practice is on a deserted road or something. Usually when I get the bike up I just go into a "zone" everything besides what I'm doing at that time leaves my mind. Gotta have total concentration.

Hey what RPM are you boys pulling the bike up at in second gear? Before last week I was running it up to about 6000 to 7000 and then smacking it with just a little tug. Recently I started messing around with lower RPM. It seems the lower the RPM the easier it is to control. The draw back it you really have to work to get it up. I've been hitting it at 3700 rpm to 4000 rpm it comes up just to where you want it and doesn't require a great deal of effort to keep it there. What do you guys think??

I'm pretty much a non wheeling homo at this point. Not bad in first, but can't get that second gear clutch thing. All the info on the forum is helping, just need freaking time to practice. I have heard that going to a 1 tooth smaller sprocket on the front helps a lot with wheelies....is this truth or a waste of my money. Thanks:finger