He Works Hard for the Wheelies

The title of this post is inspired by Donna Summer.

It turns out that Black and Yellow is a very mature motorcycle to ride. I've done my very best to ride this thing like a rented mule, and a couple of days ago, I finally got the front wheel off the ground.

Granted the conditions are very specific, and it's mostly due to the fact that there is about 100 lbs of luggage attached to the back at any given time.

This is how it works: In most parts of France and Spain, the pedestrian cross walks are <a href="http://www.transitmiami.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/015.jpg" target-"_blank">elevated, like so.

The trick is to whack the throttle as one comes off the lip of the undulation. The combination of sudden burst of speed and torque, with the sudden elevation drop forces the front forks up, while the ground drops away. It's basically a cheating wheelie, but given the suspension travel on Black and Yellow, it's about the best that I can do.

Another experiment that I ran was to rip the throttle upon entry to the undulation and this works relatively well, but the suspension on the motorcycle is designed for varying terrain, so it generally just eats the bumps up.

The best wheelies happen coming off of the elevation.