Wheely - I did it cos he made me do it
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My first wheelie (on a streetbike) occured just a few weeks ago as I was pulling off of the Blue Ridge Parkway to head home after work.
Where I get off of the parkway, there is a stop sign and looking to your left from it to check oncoming traffic there is a slight crest on the hill so you can't see very far, and have to be fairly agressive to pull out to begin with. Well I had made my commitment to pulling into the lane when in my last moment of periphreal vision I catch a set of headlights topping the crest at a pretty high rate of speed. So knowing I didn't have much time I rolled hard on the throttle to just get out of this persons way. Well, the front wheel lifted a foot to a foot and a half...then didn't hit the ground again until I hit third. It sort of frightened me for a moment, then I remembered those many years ago of racing motocross and riding dirt bikes with friends and seeing who could do their best Doug Domokos impersonation, and I just stayed centered and rode it out. It felt REALLY good...sort of like I was 12 again. I never knew that Ducatis could give you back 25 years...until now.
Oddly enough, I seem to lift the front wheel for just a moment pulling away from that stop sign almost every day now...just to make certain there is a safe distance between me and any other traffic of course. [laugh]
Where I get off of the parkway, there is a stop sign and looking to your left from it to check oncoming traffic there is a slight crest on the hill so you can't see very far, and have to be fairly agressive to pull out to begin with. Well I had made my commitment to pulling into the lane when in my last moment of periphreal vision I catch a set of headlights topping the crest at a pretty high rate of speed. So knowing I didn't have much time I rolled hard on the throttle to just get out of this persons way. Well, the front wheel lifted a foot to a foot and a half...then didn't hit the ground again until I hit third. It sort of frightened me for a moment, then I remembered those many years ago of racing motocross and riding dirt bikes with friends and seeing who could do their best Doug Domokos impersonation, and I just stayed centered and rode it out. It felt REALLY good...sort of like I was 12 again. I never knew that Ducatis could give you back 25 years...until now.
Oddly enough, I seem to lift the front wheel for just a moment pulling away from that stop sign almost every day now...just to make certain there is a safe distance between me and any other traffic of course. [laugh]
Well, as I said, many years ago I used to try to ride them as far as I could on the various RM50s, 60s and 80s I used to race. Of course the weight bias is about the same as it used to be...I was around 90-100 lbs then on 150 lb bike and now I am 210 lbs on a 400 lb bike.kopfjager said:
tell me you don't live in Auckland !
i only lived there for 4 years and got hit by more cars on my bike than in my previous 12 years of experience. I've even had to peat the living shite out of two idiots (one in Mt-Eden one in Ponsonby).
My poor Monster S4 went down in her second week while waiting in traffic at the roundabout next to the prison (Mt-Eden side of the motorway).
all that to say that NZ car drivers ARE the WORST in the world. i speak of experience since i've lived in Canada, US, France, Italy, Taiwan, Australia and NZ. I used to fear for my life 300 days a year on my bike over there.
i only lived there for 4 years and got hit by more cars on my bike than in my previous 12 years of experience. I've even had to peat the living shite out of two idiots (one in Mt-Eden one in Ponsonby).
My poor Monster S4 went down in her second week while waiting in traffic at the roundabout next to the prison (Mt-Eden side of the motorway).
all that to say that NZ car drivers ARE the WORST in the world. i speak of experience since i've lived in Canada, US, France, Italy, Taiwan, Australia and NZ. I used to fear for my life 300 days a year on my bike over there.
Yes...Auckland is my town and I certainly can not defend the drivers. They can be appallingly bad and I have many theories why.
Not sure if they are the worst in the world statisticly but that is besides the point - many of them should be a long way better than they are to make the roads a safer place for the rest of us.
Not sure if they are the worst in the world statisticly but that is besides the point - many of them should be a long way better than they are to make the roads a safer place for the rest of us.
My first wheely came after a winter spent modifying my engine. I had put in a big bore kit, flywheel, FCR and blah blah (no-one wants to hear this crap 
) . So the ice was gone and I took it out for my first ride. I started off by letting out the clutch at about 1k rpm and then giving it some gas. I loved the initial feel of each cylinder fireing until about 3k then wham. The front wheel just rocketed into the air. I hung on and pulled in the clutch to come back to the ground. The Desmo B*tch had sure gained some muscle. The next stop was a stoplight at a major intersection in town. I was second in line at the light. I tried to start gently but killed the bike instead. With cars behind me I needed to move quickly. I got the B*tch started again and this time gave it too much throttle as I took off. In a flash I was headed skyward and into the back of the car ahead. Just in time I got both wheels back on the ground and short of the car ahead. Cool. After that I figured out how to handle the new power and keep two wheels on the tarmac. [cheeky]
) . So the ice was gone and I took it out for my first ride. I started off by letting out the clutch at about 1k rpm and then giving it some gas. I loved the initial feel of each cylinder fireing until about 3k then wham. The front wheel just rocketed into the air. I hung on and pulled in the clutch to come back to the ground. The Desmo B*tch had sure gained some muscle. The next stop was a stoplight at a major intersection in town. I was second in line at the light. I tried to start gently but killed the bike instead. With cars behind me I needed to move quickly. I got the B*tch started again and this time gave it too much throttle as I took off. In a flash I was headed skyward and into the back of the car ahead. Just in time I got both wheels back on the ground and short of the car ahead. Cool. After that I figured out how to handle the new power and keep two wheels on the tarmac. [cheeky]So I'm on this charity ride (yeah I know), anyhow we're going by a large crowd and we had a gap in the line. Everyone was getting on it. (At least as much as an HD will do) So I'm rolling along on the brandy spanking new s2r 1k and give it a little throttle. Next thing i know, my tire is pointing skyward. Came back down cool and collected. My heart was beating so loud it was all I could hear.
Needless to say my buds came up to me later and remarked how sweet that looked. I just smiled. I couldn't lie and tell them it was my inexperience with the bike that put me up in the air and I didn't want to sound like an idiot, so i just smiled and said nothing.
3 of them have visited thier local duc shop since.
Needless to say my buds came up to me later and remarked how sweet that looked. I just smiled. I couldn't lie and tell them it was my inexperience with the bike that put me up in the air and I didn't want to sound like an idiot, so i just smiled and said nothing.
3 of them have visited thier local duc shop since.
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