Wheelies

[Gene]

No, I don't want to do them. My 85 CB 650sc Nighthawk doesn't do wheelies. I discovered this after I first bought it, trying full throttle in first. Actually, I bet because of the heavy engine in the front. Your experience?

[Bob H]

With the recent carb overhaul and jetting my 93 NH 750 "may" be able to do a little wheelie with a "clutch up" but since I just replaced my clutch at 40,000 miles I am not going to try. The power to weight ratio isn't there.

I was also curious when I bought it (11 years ago) and it would not do a wheelie without some help from the clutch.

Trading off with a friend's MT-07 that thing can wheelie pretty easy without help from the clutch. Very light bike, 400 lbs.

Back in the late 1970's I used to do some pretty good wheelies on my Kawi Z1 but I was crazy. At least I never dropped it. I did flip a 2 stroke Yamaha 360 doing wheelies.

[Gene]

Actually, I hadn't thought of wheelies, until a little boy asked me to do one. A lot of the teens here love to do wheelies on their electric bikes.

[Northern Rider]

Back in the day I used to do wheelies on my 73 Kawasaki Z1900, the only problem was the oil ran only in the engine and when I pulled it up it would wheelie but when the oil ran to the rear of the engine, a big puff of smoke would come out of the pipes and the bike would drop down. On the other hand the 70's Honda 750's had an external oil tank and they would wheelie for a quarter mile! Luckily I saved face by blowing them off the road with my 900 Kaw speed.

[Larry Fine]

On the other hand the 70's Honda 750's had an external oil tank and they would wheelie for a quarter mile!

They had what is known as a dry-sump engine. There were two oil pumps.

One pump distributed oil from the tank to the engine, and a scavenger pump moved oil from the oil pan back to the tank.

The main advantage was that the crankshaft did not have to spin in the oil and lose power to friction and splashing.

[Northern Rider]

Interesting, thanks for the info Larry!