I learned to ride on the street and had always wanted to wheelie. My first bike, a 2000 SV650S never really felt like it wanted to do (let alone hold) a wheelie. My 2nd bike, however, an 03 R6, did. It felt like it WANTED to wheelie. Back then, I was basically the over-eager labrador puppy of my college riding group. Any cool thing the seasoned riders did, I wanted to do too.
Burnouts? Cool, I learned to do rolling burnouts. But I was broke and only did it when my current rear was toast and had already scored the next set of take-offs from my racer friends.
Dragging knee? Sign me up! I would try to get that low no matter what kind of turn, 10mph or 100 mph, it didn't matter. I couldn't afford to be a track junky customer so I got in as a corner worker for DP Safety school and got most of my fix for free
Wheelies? Oh. Hell Yea. I was all about it - I spent most of early rides, on the R6, just tryin to learn to bring the front end up on ANY straight we got to. I never got (really) good at clutch ups, most of my wheelies were bounce/power wheelies - dropping my weight on the pegs & bars to compress the suspension; as soon as it hit the lowest point, hit the gas while pulling up on the bars. Since my practice was almost always while we were hauling ass, I had to learn to do it at pace, so my strength was to start in low-2nd or mid-3rd gear, starting around 45-65mph, depending on the gear/pace. I never lowered my tire pressures, specifically for wheelies, so the <20mph parking lot stuff took forever to learn, especially with stock gearing.
Some of what I'm about to say will draw ire or disbelief, but I have no reason to lie - I loved wheelying as much as I loved dragging knee around the track. Many an internet forum have called me a bold faced liar for some of these claims... which I can't exactly prove anymore since I can't physically re-create them in my old, 1-armed state (thanks to a wheelie, no less).
In my prime, I could start a wheelie on my mostly-stock R6 in ANY gear. 1st-3rd? No one bats an eye at a 600 being able to do that. But where I made some money, after running into random people during ride breaks or at the track, was in telling them I could START a wheelie in 6th gear on a 600. They'd bet as much as $50 that I was full of shit. So, if they were serious, we'd eventually go out to the desolate back roads, like Hwy 58 between SLO and Bakersfield, and I'd show them. On the 2+ mile straights, I'd get up to ~95-100mph, stand up, put one foot on the passenger peg, drop like a rock to compress the suspension, lean back while weighting the rear peg and whack open the throttle while yanking up on the bars. It wasn't consistent, about 2-3/5 times I could get the front end up, about a foot or 2 off the ground, and after a few attempts, would hit the balance point at around 110-125mph. At that speed, the BP is pretty low, given that I was standing up, catching the wind like a spinnaker sail. Having the weight mostly on the rear peg, behind the rear axle, was the real key to doing it. Of all the footage we took back then, I wish I'd recorded those the most, just to be able to validate the claim.
I didn't do those crazy-high speed wheelies very often.... my go-to, as I mentioned, was 45-80mph in 2nd-3rd gear.
Now that I've reminisced about those glory days, old man me has to kick in... don't wheelie at high speeds, especially on public/crowded roads, kids. I was good. Very good. I had more miles on 1-wheel than the average rider has on 2. Still, shit happens. Losing my arm, and briefly dying of blood loss, on my last hurrah of road riding, before planning to give up the street to focus on racing, was a not-so-gentle reminder of the risk that reckless riding poses. The only reason I survived was thanks to my race suit and back protector. I was 1+ mile into my otherwise-routine-for-me wheelie when I brought it down at ~100mph, midway through a moderate turn on the cuesta grade. The front tire, my first "brand new" (ie, not a take off) wasn't properly scrubbed in AND I happened to bring it down on some gravel that had gotten kicked on the fast lane. The tire slipped a little before catching tractions and went into a tankslapper. The bke quickly bucked me off at 100mph and I ended up sliding into the guard rail, impacting ar roughly 50-60mph (according to my friends who were pacing me) after sliding 50+ yards, across all 4 lanes of the (otherwise empty) highway.
As a result of poor youthful decision making skills, I've had the pleasure of a lot of pain and suffering since. It took about 8 years to get back on 2 motorized wheels. My 2nd post-injury bike was a 701 sumo and I often STILL failed to maintain self control to keep both wheels on the road. But, in the moment, the excitement and adrenaline overrode my rationality. The one thing I was able to avoid, however, was hitting/holding the balance point. It was (is) a hard rule for me at this point - if I can't have the self control to NOT wheelie, then at least reduce the risk of things going to shit by bringing it back down as soon as it starts floating. The dirtbike geometry/characteristics of the 701 provide a far less sketchy level of control when the front is pointing towards the heavens.... but it's still a risk. Honestly, it's irrational to risk any wheelie on public roads.... After I sold that bike for my Duke 890R I all-but-stopped doing ANY wheelies. Occasionally I'll lift it under hard acceleration but I don't really TRY to do them anymore. Do I miss them? Duh, I'm an idiot. But the short wheelbase, brutish torque, and the twitchy handling characteristics make wheelies on it feel sketchy, especially for my gimpy ass.
....kinda makes me want to get a real dirtbike, just to do 15-30mph balance point wheelies out in the dirt, when it hurts less to go down and there aren't cars/infrastructure to love tap with my face at speed. But, as we get older, priorities shift and physical consequences of poor decisions hurt more heal slower, and have a higher financial risk.
Thank you for listening to my TED talk, I wheelie appreciate it