Something similar happened to me on my old R1. It came up way too fast and I freaked out and slammed on the rear brake. Bike came down so hard and fast that I racked myself on the gas tank so hard that it dented it, and my boys were black and blue for about a week!! It also knocked the wind out of me to the point I coasted off the road and just fell on the ground. After that anytime the front wheel comes up it scares the sh** out of me.
front brake for wheelie control??? wtf?
- Thread starter xzx12r
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Something similar happened to me on my old R1. It came up way too fast and I freaked out and slammed on the rear brake. Bike came down so hard and fast that I racked myself on the gas tank so hard that it dented it, and my boys were black and blue for about a week!! It also knocked the wind out of me to the point I coasted off the road and just fell on the ground. After that anytime the front wheel comes up it scares the sh** out of me.
It's about enertia. The stored energy of the spinning wheel suddenly stopping can possibly transfer that energy in a forward motion. Therefore acting like applying the rear brake. Think of dirt bikes while airborne. If you gas it the rear drops, apply the rear brake and the rear lifts. Yet the rear wheel isn't touching anything. It should work with your wheelie issue with the front brake. Just make sure your off it before the front touches down.
In theory it works, sure...but not in the rear world.
It has already been stated that you would only get to apply the front brake one time anyway, then it stops or is barely moving.
Myself and anyone who can ride a controlled wheelie can carry the front long enough to where it's no longer spinning anyway.
To think that in an "oh sh*t! moment", the bike is going back past the balance point, you then must close the throttle, apply the rear brake and do whatever possible to shift your body weight forward. In that millisecond you have to do whatever you can to save from looping the bike, grabbing the front brake is the last thing on anyones' mind. As well as landing with the front brakes applied is a great way to crash.
The "inertia transfer" of the front wheel suddenly stopping would be too insignificant to notice or do anything to prevent the bike from going over backwards.
Until now, honestly, who has ever heard of using the front brake to control a wheelie? Who has EVER seen a stunter use the front brake to control a wheelie? Never, and never. There's a reason for that...it doesn't work!
Also keep in mind that the idiot who told the OP this said that he could just keep using it again and again. As it's been said, and as common sense tells us, once the front wheel is stopped in the air, aside from the wind blowing it slowly, it's stopped, and it's not spinning any until it touches the road again.
And, if you gas a dirtbike in the air, the rear doesn't drop, the front will raise(and very little if any). Just as if you apply the rear brake in the air, the rear does not raise, the front drops.
I don't care what the laws of physics say on paper, I raced 250B MX, and I stunt and wheelie 4whleers, dirt and streetbikes.
It just doesn't work that way in the rear world.
It's never going to work. Never.
Consider it this way.
The rear wheel is spinning, the bike is on a wheelie.
You hit the rear brake. The spinning force(inertia)is suddenly transferred into the swingarm, which is of course is attached to the rest of the bike. So that clockwise spinning force now forces the swingarm to rotate clockwise, so the bike drops to the ground.
Now consider the same force applied to the front wheel.
The bike is on a wheelie, the front wheel is spinning. You hit the brake and suddenly stop the front wheel.
That same clockwise spinning force is now transferred from a wheel that is hanging from a pair of forks.
The forks will now be hit with a force that is traveling up and forwards(clockwise).
There is nothing attached, mounted, or in front of the forks.
All that inertia can do is push the forks up, and forward...up and forward, how you want the front wheel to be on a wheelie.
That inertia and the angle of the front wheel will make any change too miniscule to even notice.
Myth busted.
I'll be the first to admit when I'm wrong. Or humbly concur when proven wrong.
I never said the rear brake or throttle on a dirtbike was a myth, re-read my post.
When you jump a dirtbike, if the front is too high, hit the rear brake. This transfers the inertia from the spinning wheel to the swingarm and therefore the rest of the bike. This causes the front of the bike to lower or dive. The exact same effect as applying the rear brake on a wheelie to hold or lower the bike.
If the front is too low when jumping a dirtbike, then pin the throttle, lean back, and hope that the front is going to come up some, from the sudden aggressive throttle and transferring bodyweight backwards. Pinning the throttle is in the hope that you can get some wheelie effect in the air to correct your bad situation. That the quick acceleration will cause the front to raise some from the previously decelerating rear wheel. It doesn't do much either.
I have been doing this for over 25 years. I make no claims to be some super star rider either, but I know what I'm doing and what I'm talking about.
So what should I do now? Go ride a wheeile, grab the front brake, watch as nothing happens, then come back and say I told you so?
Would YOU belive it? I doubt it. You don't belive what I'm telling you now.
I'll just agree to disagree, no hard feelings
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