Difference between a burnout and a wheelie

[TallTom]

Hey I met up with another Busa at a restaraunt parking lot this weekend. We both have stock bikes but he has a lot more riding experience on his than I do. He has had his for like 3 years, to my 4 months.

So anyway as he leaves the parking lot there were a few punks on 600s etc that came cruisin up on him as I was still in the parking lot. Anyway the other Busa pulls up to the light and all the other group of smaller sportbikes pulls up on him at the same light. The Busa did a very nice hellacious burnout on take off that smoked up the intersetion and left my mouth dropped open.

So here is my question. And I don't know that I will ever want to actually get good at this, but, I got to thinking about it. How do you do a burnout compared to a wheelie? I mean the principle seems to be run up the revs and pop the clutch and off she goes. But it seems to me that the front wheel will want to go up as much as the rear wheel will want to spin. Obviously they both can't do it at the same time. So how does one set up for a burn out vs. a wheelie? It is also a safetly issue to think through. The principles of weight transfer etc. are important to think about in handling situations on the road for safety reasons. What keeps the front wheel down in favor of the rear wheel spinning and vice versa?

The only wheelies I have done have been accidental power on wheelies that I simply back off the throttle from. Never thought about how to do either on purpose.

 

[grabntwist]

If you just snap the throttle wide on cold tires the Busa will go up in smoke. Otherwise just tap the front brake and snap it wide open in one motion. That will spin the wheel most of the time. Be very carefull.

 

[Charlesbusa]

(TallTom @ Nov. 19 2006,14:52) It is also a safetly issue to think through.  The principles of weight transfer etc. are important to think about in handling situations on the road for safety reasons.

As for safety, it is always safer to keep both wheels on the ground and neither one of them spinning.

As for principles of weight transfer;
I'm not sure what you're asking, but this might be what you're asking about. The more weight/force you apply to a tire, the more traction it will have(ie more acceleration/braking/cornering ability). The less weight/force that is applied to a tire, the less traction it will have(ie less acceleration/braking/cornering ability).

 

[CAT3]

TallTom, actually you can do both at the same time, burnout while pulling front tire up. As Charlesbusa was saying, weight transfer is the key to traction, or the desired lack there of. Laymens terms.... if you slide your ass back on the seat, extending your arms (but not locking them out) and sit upright (or leaning slightly back) you can wheelie quite easy. If however, you want to burnout, lean over the tank like in a full tuck (the farther forward the better) and simply crank it WOT and the tire will smoke it up. If you watch drag racers launch, they kick their legs back, and lean as much of their weight forward as possible...twist throttle to rev limiter and smoothly release the clutch while pinning throttle. Keeps the front wheel down, has just enough weight over the rear (combined with a stickier tire) and the bike launches forward aggressively without nose up attitude. Good luck with it and practice in a remote area as possible, saves the embarrassment if you fudge it up, and keeps those bystanders safe.

 

[schroetf]

always good to ask questions-how long have you actually been riding?

 

[heavybusa]

the difference is use of the front brakes.

I dropped my bike twice learning the burnout, thanks to frame sliders the damage wasnt bad.

 

[TIMMYDUCK]

Burnout = Front brake applied, weight of body on soles of feet, apply power and release clutch, spin rear.produce smoke.

 

[CAT3]

For a stationary burnout, like you'd do at the track yeah I use my front brake, but for sitting at a light and wanting to smoke a little and or smoke as I roll out, no front brake action. I also try to stay away from compensating with the clutch, like clutch popping wheelies, I use the snap throttle closed and immediately WOT to power up the wheelies. The clutch action just seems to unpredictable, but I think if you practice enough that way its not really different then power wheelies...

 

[V8N3T]

Why do you wanna show off and burn up your back tire anyways? Its a waste of money. And abuse to your bike.

 

[xzvs]

cause burnouts are way cooler than running into a mountian

 

[Lucky34]

There's different ways to do wheelies and different ways to do burnouts....

Wheelies:
For power wheelies, you just gun it, and when the rpms get to around your peak horsepower, the front wheel will rise
Clutch wheelies, you pull the clutch in, rev up to where your peak horsepower is, and pop the clutch (this can either make the front come up, or if there is TOO much power, the rear wheel wont grab, and instead you will do a burnout)

Burnouts:
Rolling burnouts (when you are moving), you pull the clutch in, rev up to around peak horsepower rpm, and pop the clutch out... hopefully it will be too much power for the rear tire to handle and instead of hooking, it will spin, causing a burnout
Stand-still burnouts (easiest and safest), you are at a stand still in first gear with the clutch pulled in. you stand up off the seat (to reduce pressure on the rear tire, aka, less traction), lean forward (even less traction on the rear), hold the front brake really hard so the front tire doesnt move, rev up the bike, and pop the clutch out. In this case, there will be too much power and the bike wont wanna go anywhere cause the front is planted firm on the ground, and the rear is light because ur heavy butt is not sitting on top of it, so with excess power, it will spin in a burnout.... hold the rpms almost at redline with the clutch while NOT holding the clutch in, and hard on the front brake (a little tricky because you have to hold down the front brake, and twist the throttle at the same time), and you will be doing a massive, monstrous burnout after a few seconds..... really really dense could of smoke and really really cool looking (but very expensive

 

[Lucky34]

btw, as for your original question,
Both the wheelie and the burnout involve lots of power to the rear wheel... difference is if you break the traction threshhold of the rear tire, you will get a burnout, if you dont, you will get a wheelie. (holding down the front brake and shifting your weight to the front of the bike lower the traction of the rear tire significantly, so you can be sure that you will burn out and not do a monster wheelie)

 

[Lucky34]

oh, and of course, the most adrenaline-delivivering thing of all (except for dragging a knee on a curve), when your rear wheel spins WHILE you are doing a wheelie

Who here has had that happen? (it used to happen to me a lot when I wheelied with my old, worn out, Dunlop 208's)
btw, if you will be doing burnouts/wheelies, MAKE SURE YOU WEAR YOUR #$%^%$ GEAR!!! AND DO IT SOMEWHERE WHERE IF YOU FUGG UP, YOU WILL BE THE ONLY DUMBA$$ ON THE GROUND!!!

 

[busacruz]

theres nothing like having your rearend fishtialing through 1st,2nd, and 3rd gears as long as you know whats going to happen and how its going to happen. yes it will get expensive if your doin it all the time but if its something you want ta do to impress at times i see nothing wrong with it ,heck theres noone here that givin the oppertunity to own a 69' camaro or something wouldnt light up the tires at any givin time, i say practice rolling in fist gear at around 3-4 grand and just give her full throttle and hold on

 

[CAT3]

(Busaman86 @ Nov. 19 2006,18:40) oh, and of course, the most adrenaline-delivivering thing of all (except for dragging a knee on a curve), when your rear wheel spins WHILE you are doing a wheelie

Who here has had that happen? (it used to happen to me a lot when I wheelied with my old, worn out, Dunlop 208's)
btw, if you will be doing burnouts/wheelies, MAKE SURE YOU WEAR YOUR #$%^%$ GEAR!!! AND DO IT SOMEWHERE WHERE IF YOU FUGG UP, YOU WILL BE THE ONLY DUMBA$$ ON THE GROUND!!!

Been there a few times. Once it was intentional, the other times more of a WTF? moment, but still enjoyable.

 

[johnstein]

there is a thin line between rolling burnout and loopin the bike same thing with wheelies ! burnouts cold tire wheelies warm tire safe bet watch other ASSCLOWNS destroy thier bikes and tires and youll always have the sweetest ride around , get a beater if you want to destroy somthing !

 

[300Busa]

my tire only lasted 1600 miles, I don't know what went wrong

 

[PaNDeM1C]

Keep your butt on the seat and both wheels on the ground. That's much better than your body on the pavement and the plastics all scratched up! And yeah, just buy a beater bike if you want to screw around. Seeing your busa all beat up after a crash will bring tears to your eyes!

 

[V8N3T]

(xzvs @ Nov. 19 2006,17:52) cause burnouts are way cooler than running into a mountian  

 

At least I put a dent in the mountain!

 

[chrisjp]

wwheeeeeee