| Author | Message | ||
     Holling |
Hey everybody. I don't have the you know whats to try wheelies so I thought stoppies looked a little less risky to try to learn. I have exprimented by running up to 25 mph on my 9S and progressively applying front brake hard with no success so far in getting the back to come up. What is the correct technique? | ||
| Ds_tiger |
GRAB MORE BRAKE! No really, I am sure this topic has been covered many times- my 2 cents Preload up the front suspension. Pump up the compression damping. Get to some good clean dry pavement Roll along at whatever speed you feel comfy with... Squeeze the brake lever- when you feel the front end bite, wait until the forks are fully set (loaded down in their travel) and progressively dial in MORE brake. That should get you there PS - eat your wheaties, do it sober, wear all protective gear you own or can borrow, and have a friend with a cell phone on their person monitor your progress GOOD LUCK  | ||
| No_rice |
if you arent comfortable enough to do a wheelie, from my own experiance with doing all kinds of fun dumb stuff, i REALLY dont think you want to do a stoppie | ||
| Microchop |
Better to fall off the back than go down face first and break both your wrists and or collarbone. If wheelies scare you, you aren't ready for stoppies. | ||
| Beachbuell |
''I don't have the you know whats to try wheelies so I thought stoppies looked a little less risky to try to learn.'' ...... Uh, less risky huh? Ok. | ||
| Jaimec |
Oddly enough, I found stoppies to be less imposing (and EASIER) than wheelies, too. Essentially, make sure your tires are warm, make sure the pavement is clean and dry, and for God's sakes, make sure there's no one behind you!! Squeeze the front brake in a firm progressive manner. Do not GRAB the brake; likely that'll just lock the wheel and cause a front end washout. Squeeze the brake progressively firmer and you'll feel the back wheel come up. As soon as you feel the back wheel come up, RELEASE the brake. If you don't, you CAN loop the bike over!! That's really all there is to it... but I thought I read somewhere that unloading the rear end like that will cause unnecessary tension on the belt due to the idle pulley back there... | ||
| Glitch |
Wheelies, cover the rear brake just in case you come up too fast or too far. Stoppies, wear all your gear, if you come up to fast or too far, be ready to fall. Wheelies, are easier to correct, and easier to save. Stoppies, you're toast if you mess one up, there is no save. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Continue to squeeze the front brake more and more strongly until you flip the bike over going forward, then back off slightly  I don't try and do stoppies, but on a clear dry parking lot under controlled conditions, I practice emergency braking from time to time. Build up to it braking harder and harder (but not just grabbing brakes) until the rear *just* comes up. That is your bikes maximum braking potential. You will quickly discover that a bike can stop much faster then your brain would think is possible... | ||
| Rocketman |
Some years ago I was riding with a biker friend. He and his wife on a Fat Boy, me on the Buell. We came to a red light and I pulled a great stoppie. Got it right up in the air, but then I lost momentum and felt it coming down at a funny angle realising I was cockling over. I knew if I didn't jump off quick I was gonna be in a heap on my left side with the Buell on top of me. Well it was great. I got my left foot down on the road, swung off over the seat to the left with my right leg then put my left knee on the floor assuming a quick kneeling position, then I pushed the Buell now on two wheels back upright and cocked my right leg over the seat, sat back down, let out the clutch and rode off as the light went green. My friends were laughing their heads off. When we stopped my friends wife said "you didn't mean to do that Pep". Well of course I lied to her, and we all laughed at how lucky I'd been, then she said "it did look good though, like you meant it". Stoppies. What are they? Rocket | ||
| Soggycal |
On my previous bikes, I used to do them all the time. I have yet to try on the Buell because I like it too much! One thing that used to help me get the back end up without using as much brake is to raise your butt an inch or so off the seat as you are applying the brake. It seems to make the back end a bit lighter. | ||
| Johntman |
I HAD PRACTICED DOING STOPPIES ON AN M2. STARTED WITH JUST A COUPLE OF INCHES AND WORKED MY WAY UP.THEN I READ WHERE YOU NEEDED TO BE GOING AT LEAST 30-40 MPH TO CARRY ONE. SO AT ABOUT 35 MPH I DECIDED TO GO FOR IT. JUMPED IT UP QUICK TO ABOUT 11 O'CLOCK. HAD LET COMPLETELY OFF THE BREAK AND IT FELT LIKE FOREVER BEFORE IT CAME BACK DOWN, BALANCING ON WHETHER IT WAS GOING TO GO OVER FRONTWARDS OR COME BACK DOWN. WELL IT CAME BACK DOWN LIKE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO. THAT WAS SPRING OF 2004. HAVEN'T EVEN TRIED A SMALL ONE SINCE THEN.I'LL STICK TO THE WHEELIES. LIKE MENTIONED BEFORE. THERE IS NO CORRECTION FOR A STOPPIE. BUT LIKE SOGGY SAID I FOUND IT WOULD COME UP QUICK IF I WOULD TRY TO RAISE MY BUTT AND PUT MY WEIGHT OVER THE FRONT END. HAVE FUN. | ||
| Goozyman |
why on earth would you want to risk beating the hell out of yourself , and more importantly your bike, doing something as stupid and squidly as a stoppie? stick with learning *cool* sideshow tricks like rolling burnouts and 140MPH wheelies [sarcasm] | ||
| Rocketman |
why on earth would you want to risk beating the hell out of yourself , and more importantly your bike, doing something as stupid and squidly as a stoppie? Because we can. Consider this. If your car / pickup truck / whatever had a large pointed spike facing your chest coming out of the steering wheel, would you change the way you drive, or cease driving altogether? Rocket | ||
| Debueller |
I find wheelies easy and entertaining, but stoppies scare the hell out of me. Probabally because I crashed so many times dirt riding due to falling towards the direction of travel. (front end washouts, over the handelbars, running into stumps, roots, ruts and falling, ect) Something about seeing the ground rush up to my face unnerves me (Message edited by debueller on October 26, 2006) | ||
| Diablobrian |
It can be useful to know how to control your bike in the event the rear wheel comes off of the ground in a hard/panic braking situation. If you do not know where the limits are how can you get the most out of your bike? I don't go out and practice stoppies, but I do practice hard braking and the rear wheel has been known to come off the ground on occasion. ideally I want the rear wheel to be just skimming the surface of the ground enough to keep the bike straight without real effort on my part. This is supposed to be the point where I have the best balance of stopping power and control. However, remember not to touch the rear brake during such a maneuver. It will promptly lock up. If you do practice emergency braking and stoppies please have the courtesy to do it away from other traffic, and the sense to wear all of your gear while you do it. (Yes, another ATGATT post. I'm on a crusade) | ||
| Jerseyguy |
Debueller - I've had exactly the same experience. I will admit though, that I've been practicing stoppies on my yz250f. I've got an overgrown grassy open field that is relatively soft (compared to asphalt) to fall on. I can do short ones. On my XB12Ss I've only had the courage to do little slow speed ones that you could hardly call a stoppie. Like when the back tire comes up 6-12 inches just before you stop. I always use full protective gear when stunting in the dirt or parking lot. | ||
| Djkaplan |
I tried to impress my nephews with my stoppie prowess on a mountain bike a few years ago. I told them to, "Watch this!", and took a swan dive into the pavement right in front of them. Their squeals of laughter made the pain even worse. | ||
| Debueller |
Now that you mention mountain bikes, I've done more ugly over the handlebar get offs on bicycles than I ever intend to do on a motorcycle. (no stoppies for me, thank you) Further reinforceses my phobia of the rear wheel being airborne any more than a few inches above the front. BTW, I've been hurt way worse with bicycle involintary get offs than motorcycle get offs. (teeth, brusied ribs, stiches) Protective gear really makes the difference. (Message edited by debueller on October 26, 2006) | ||
| Freezerburn |
Well I have a fantastic stoppie nose wheelie mountainbike buell crossover tale. I used to race mountainbikes as a downhill pro up here in canada in the 90's and one of our fans was none other than Steve Crevier. He would show up at the odd race and cheer us on. Now I had been a Crevier fan watching him race street bikes at Westwood Raceway in the late 80's/early 90's, so I thought it was kinda cool. Now can Crevier nose wheelie? On a mountainbike down a fairly steep grade on Whistler Mountain he nose wheelied about 100 yards over extremely varied terrain - none of that geeky trials pogo stuff - just crazy brake modulation. Wade Simmons and Dave Watson (freeride mountainbike stars) were dumbfounded as was I. I would like to be able to pull off a good stoppie on my Buell, but I know it's a more painfull/expensive learning curve than it was on the mountainbike. I'll stick to wheelies. Freezer | ||
| Djkaplan |
"I've been hurt way worse with bicycle involintary get offs than motorcycle get offs. (teeth, brusied ribs, stiches) Protective gear really makes the difference." Hell... I knocked an entire digit off my IQ when I went down on a 10 speed in the early 70's. This was before bicycle helmets were even invented. | ||
| New12r |
Whats a bicycle helmet??? I love doing stoppies, way cool trick to learn, plus as stated above..... Learning the limit of your brakes is crucial to avoiding crashes in panic stop situations. I could not tell you how many wrecks I have avoided just knowing how much brake was really there! | ||
| Glitch |
I could not tell you how many wrecks I have avoided just knowing how much brake was really there! there was this time coming home from the Vortex when out of the blue a car cut across three lanes to make a left turn out of the far right lane, cutting off three motorcycles, one of which was New12r...that's just one story about needing to know your limits... | ||
| Trac95ker |
Speaking of limits, I had a car do the same thing (but only across two lanes) and I endoed at about 5mph. I was ok for the most part but my bike had about $5,500 worth of damage. At the track I've had the back end come up,but I wasn,t trying. | ||
| Livnlo |
it can be done http://www.raptorsandrockets.com/images/Buell/Buel l_CityX_stop_r.jpg | ||
| 99buellx1 |
I dont remember anyone saying that it couldn't be done, just sharing techniques.  Get moving about 40+ mph, squeeze the brake to compress the forks, and allow the tire to get a good bite. Then lean your body forward and raise your butt off the seat just a bit, and squeese a bit more brake. It's kinda a three step process with applying the brake. 1. Load the forks and tire. 2. More pressure to raise the rear 3. Vary the pressure to keep from flipping/coming down. The reason you need the speed is because the first step will slow you down and you want to be rolling when the back comes up and you want to be able to set it back down while still rolling. I do not advise trying to do a stoppie to a standstill. This is where I see the most people crash, I feel you actually have more control while you're still moving. Once you have stopped it's a roll of the dice. (Message edited by 99buellx1 on October 26, 2006) | ||
| Jaimec |
This should go without saying, BUT: As in all maximum braking efforts, be absolutely sure your bike is pointed STRAIGHT and is perfectly perpendicular to the road when you start braking or there WILL be pain! | ||
| Irideabuell |
I think most experienced riders would be amazed at how they handle a stoppie even if it wasn't planned. I say this as I did one (not on purpose, of course) while in Robbinsville, NC riding the Dragon. I was riding through town heading to the Dragon when an old fart in one of those older Lincoln Town Cars decided he didn't want to turn left after all from the median turning lane and zipped out in front of me doing ~35-40 mph. I laid pretty heavy on the front brake in an effort not to run into the back of this car and had the whole bike standing up on the front wheel. Sub-consciously I let off the brake enough to lower the rear of the bike and come to a stand still about 4 inches from his bumper. I learned two things that day. First, I was pleasantly surprised at just how well that Buell front brake works in an emergency situation. And second, that I am a better rider than I give myself credit for. I practice reactions in emergency situations often, but you never really live the real thing until it happens to you. Without any practice at all I think I'd have done some serious damage to my Lightning and maybe even myself. | ||
| Docktor |
Stoppies are easy as hell. Grab some one elses bike and a fist full of brake lever... All done. the main point is to use ya mates bike. Will ya drop it learning to stoppie? probably, Will ya drop it learning to wheelie ?. probably. See the moral here dude ?. Doc | ||
| Debueller |
Docktor has a point. I, for one, would be better at "stunting" if I had access to someone else's bike.  I would also need an assortment of free quality safety gear and a personal spread of pavement. | ||
| Djkaplan |
I learned to stoppie offroad on dirtbikes. The first time I ever heard about someone braking so hard the rear tire came off the ground, was Gary Nixon in 1976. I had never actually seen anyone doing one before I tried it myself. |
