There's a 17 second video on YouTube.com of an Austrian guy trying to do a wheelie in a parking lot while his friends tape it. He gets the bike up and falls off the back taking a hard hit to the pavement. Then all you see is people running to the crash. At least he was smart enough to wear a helmet or he would have really got hurt. It's a newer video so look under videos added this week or month.

Here ya go...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4fVkZiFpxo

that almost brought a tear to my eye only because i really wish we had more color options. id love to have a orange or black

Not to mention the one word that comes to mind...OUCH! Thats what happens when you think you can control a wheelie without the rear brake. If he would have stomped on the brake that wouldn't have happened. A cautionary tale, is how I view it.

ok that does look painful (for the bike as well) I popped the clutch in traffic one day bringing the front wheel about 2 feet off the ground and managed to keep it together ( but then I did it again fully by accident) and I scared the POOP out of myself so I got off the road and pulled into a parking lot to relax abit and a nice police officer watched the whole thing asked me "What was that did you not see me sitting in the other lane?" I told him I just started to ride a month ago and just picked up the bike a week ago , so he laughed and told me to be careful. (bike course starts this weekend)

Get that cops name.......He was much to reasonable and nice. He has to be fires..Jim

was that clutched or all throttle? never rode a versys, is that possible w/o the the use of the clutch?

yes it can

Nothing worse than showing off and it come back and bite you in the butt with the lack of experience

Yep, good torque, nice bars for pulling on and a short wheelbase = wheelies.
I'm no Doug Domokos , but there's nothing wrong with wheelies if you know what you're doing, but I try to keep the front end down if there is any traffic at all.

Dave

I agree, I won't do a wheelie unless there is no traffic as far as I can see in either direction.

Not even going to attempt it. Both wheels on the ground for me. You guys go right ahead.

At my 6,000 foot elevation, my Versys will not wheelie without the clutch (estimated 20% power loss). Spent a month with it on the CA central coast last spring and couldn't help lifting the front end everyday in 1st gear with just the throttle--made me smile everytime. I'm still not good at it and can't get the balance point thing down, and when you stomp the rear brake its certainly not good for the front end of the bike, let alone the contact point between you and the gas tank. Both wheels on the ground at all times is perfectly honorable.

50 years old here.
Part of my work entails 'Up-rigging'. I walk HIGH steel. The North American International auto show" here in Detroit. keeps me in the steel for weeks at a time. Safer free climbing when in the steel but always harnessed when in the show truss).
Ford Field puts us 210 feet off the deck .
As a stage electrician, I do a lot of focusing from a bosins seat 28 to 45 feet off the deck. Harnessed? ALWAYS !!!! ( not to mention the thousands of amps we manage to put on a show for all you good folk).
150 foot condor work platforms?: tools of the trade in our biz. Always harnessed cuz ya don't want to get bounced out.
I know risk.
I know danger.
I know what I am doing.
I Understand knowing "what your doing" making a difference but,
I JUST DON'T GET THE FASCINATION WITH "POPPING" A WHEELIE!!!!!

Bikes are engineered for 2 wheels on the ground at all times.
...or is it just a matter of..."nice bike.....to bad about your penis".

Darwin was right.
And....I will shed no tears for anything that helps improve the species.

50 years old here.
Part of my work entails 'Up-rigging'. I walk HIGH steel. The North American International auto show" here in Detroit. keeps me in the steel for weeks at a time. Safer free climbing when in the steel but always harnessed when in the show truss).
Ford Field puts us 210 feet off the deck .
As a stage electrician, I do a lot of focusing from a bosins seat 28 to 45 feet off the deck. Harnessed? ALWAYS !!!! ( not to mention the thousands of amps we manage to put on a show for all you good folk).
150 foot condor work platforms?: tools of the trade in our biz. Always harnessed cuz ya don't want to get bounced out.
I know risk.
I know danger.
I know what I am doing.
I Understand knowing "what your doing" making a difference but,
I JUST DON'T GET THE FASCINATION WITH "POPPING" A WHEELIE!!!!!

Bikes are engineered for 2 wheels on the ground at all times.
...or is it just a matter of..."nice bike.....to bad about your penis".

Darwin was right.
And....I will shed no tears for anything that helps improve the species.

Hmmmm; actually you are dead wrong: Part of being able to properly ride a motorcycle is being able to loft the front wheel on occasion and there is only one way to learn........practice. For example, you can't ride a dirt bike properly without learning how to wheelie over obstacles and while this skill goes unused the majority of time on the street, I have often lofted the front wheel over potholes, speed bumps, curbs, etc. etc.

We've all seen the tools that have to wheelie or weave in and out of traffic at double the speed limit and that is irresponsible.......but to suggest wheelying has no place in the proper operation of a motorcycle is incorrect.

.........and that has nothing to do with the size of my penis!

Dave

While Stagehand and DPelletier both make valid points , it seems they both missed the point , wheelies are about having fun , the guy in the video was in a parking lot and the title is " My first wheelie " , this is just part of learning for some people , many new drivers do burn outs and end up fine, some do one and crash the vehicle somehow ( like this guy * language* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yklgnXtAv7A ) , it's a crap shoot either way , just like you might fall off a steel beam tomorrow even with all your safety training and experience ( I hope not ) , point is , accidents happen , that is why we call them accidents , and when we try and push limits to have fun......... things happen , we learn and move on ..........usually to the insurance office and /or the doctors office :D

hehehhe, ace of spades ?

was that clutched or all throttle? never rode a versys, is that possible w/o the the use of the clutch?
That is possible in first without the use of the clutch. You'd have to pin the throttle and lean your weight way back (which it looks like he did), but it's certainly possible.

I played with getting my front wheel up once just because I'd never done it on purpose before. The V is pretty easy to loft the wheel, you just have to commit to it. One round of playing in a parking lot was enough for me--I found out it's hard to do by accident and the wheelies are really easy to control, which was enough for me.

yes it can

Nothing worse than showing off and it come back and bite you in the butt with the lack of experience

+ 10. end of the day you proof nothing.

:cheers: