How to Wheelie a Dirt Bike On Your First Try [Easiest Way]

Wheelies aren’t particularly difficult to pull off. But if you’re learning to do it for the first time, you may find it a bit challenging. You’re here because you don’t want that to happen, and I’m here to help you. 

I’ve helped many riders learn how to wheelie a dirt bike and noted a few common mistakes most people make. Some riders start on the wrong gear, while others don’t know the right amount of throttle to apply.  

Whether you’re having the same issues or battling a different problem, this article will help you learn how to wheelie a dirtbike on your first try. 

How to do a Wheelie on a Dirt Bike [Best Way]

To do a wheelie, start riding in second gear and maintain a speed of around 15 mph. Drop the speed slightly and pop the throttle fast to move the front wheel upwards. You can lean back a bit to keep your balance. Finally, increase the throttle slightly to maintain the wheelie. 

There are three things you need to get right when pulling off a wheelie on a dirt bike. They are the lift-off, balance, and landing.

Lift Off

• To do a wheelie right, you’d want to lift the front wheel of your dirt bike upwards. It’s the first and most important step to performing a wheelie.
• The lift-off involves accelerating to get the dirt bike’s front wheel in the air. You can start in the first or second gear but you shouldn’t go higher if you’re a beginner. 
• Riders who get this step wrong usually fail to get the right speed. They are either too slow or too fast.
• If you’re too slow, you lose momentum and risk looping your dirt bike when you pop the throttle. But if you’re too fast, you may lose control and crash.
• Once you hit the right speed, slow down a bit. This gives you additional power to lift your front wheel. 
• After reducing your speed slightly, you can hit the throttle hard to bring your dirt bike’s front wheel up. 

The Balance

• Lifting your bike’s front wheel is only the start. You still have to maintain your wheelie, and for that, you need to strike the right balance. 
• You can gain some balance when you scoot back on your dirt bike to place the center of gravity in the middle. This helps you maintain the wheelie for much longer. 
• For more balance, you should lift the front wheel further up or bring it down. You can increase the throttle to go higher and reduce it to go lower. But be careful not to increase or reduce it too much as you may lose your balance.

Landing

• When you’re ready to bring the wheelie down, lightly step on your rear brake. This should bring down your front wheel in a safe way. 
• If you hit the brake too hard, the front wheel can drop too quickly, which could cause you to fall. But if you hit the rear brakes by mistake, you can quickly increase the throttle to reduce the impact. 

How to Wheelie a Dirt Bike [Step-by-Step Guide]

If you’ve read this article up till this point, you should already have a basic idea of how to wheelie a dirt bike. In this section, I’ll give you a step-by-step guide on how to pop a wheelie on a dirt bike

Step 1. Choose a Smooth Road

While you need the right technique to pull off a wheelie, riding on a smooth road can help. Roads with obstacles can make it significantly difficult to wheelie your bike. 

Step 2. Select the Right Gear

The second step involves getting the right speed to lift your bike’s front wheel off the ground. If you’re a beginner, it’s probably best to start in the first gear. However, you can also start riding in the second or third gear. Your aim is to hit a speed that’s not too slow, so you don’t lose momentum, and not too fast, so you don’t lose control. 

Step 3: Lean Back

Leaning back slightly will help move your weight to the rear wheel, where you want it to be. This way, it’s easier to lift the front wheel when you pop the throttle. Also, leaning back will help you maintain balance when your front wheel is airborne. 

Step 4: Slow Down and Accelerate

Once you hit a speed between 10 and 20 mph, slow down a bit and accelerate. Slowing down will let the fork compress, which shifts the weight to the front wheel. So when you pop the throttle, the fork rebound and acceleration combo help to lift the front wheel upwards. 

Step 5: Find Your Balance Point / Chasing the Wheelie

With the front wheel in the air, the next step is to find a balance point and maintain it. This is where your bike is balanced, and your throttle hand is not moving. This way, you can maintain the wheelie for a long period.

To find your balance point, paddle hard when the front wheel comes down and tap the rear brakes if you’re about to loop out. In between, you’ll find a sweet spot where you’re almost perfectly balanced.

Riders learning to wheelie a bike may find it too difficult to achieve a balance point. So alternatively, you can maintain a wheelie by increasing your speed when the front wheel is airborne. The more you increase your throttle, the higher the bike’s front wheel gets and the longer it stays in the air. This is called chasing a wheelie

Step 6: Bring the Front Wheel Down

When you’re ready to bring the front wheel down, ease off on the throttle and touch the rear brakes. This should bring your bike down. Congratulations! You’ve successfully performed a wheelie on a dirt bike! 

Make sure you are using proper safety gear for the ride.

Quick Tips For Beginners To Prevent Crashing

Beginners are more likely to crash when learning to wheelie a dirtbike. But with the following tips, you can prevent crashing:

1. Try using smaller bikes: Smaller bikes are easier to lift off the ground. As a beginner, you can wheelie more easily on a small bike and avoid crashing. 
2. Wheelie on a flat surface: It’s harder to wheelie on a surface with bumps. Hence, it would be best if you avoided bumpy roads. 
3. Start from the first or second gear: With time, you can practice third gear. But you should avoid starting too fast if you don’t want to crash.
4. Don’t lean too far back: Leaning back will help you maintain balance. But if you lean too far back, you could loop out when the front wheel is airborne. 
5. Use the Clutch and Rear Brakes: Keep a finger on the clutch to get off the ground much easier. But if you feel you might look at it, hit the rear brakes gently to get you back down. 
6. Try Sitting Down at First: Most riders agree it’s easier to wheelie while standing because you gain better control. However, this may be a little above your skillset as a beginner, so you could try starting to wheelie while sitting. Once you’ve mastered the right throttle power to get the front wheel off the ground, you can wheelie while standing. 
7. Practice: As is with anything that requires some level of skill, you get better through practice. The more you practice and get better, the lesser your chances of crashing.

How to do a Wheelie With a Clutch?

Follow the steps below to do a wheelie with a clutch:

1. Select a gear

Start with the first or second gear.

2. Start speeding

Move with a speed between 10 and 20 mph and increase it gradually.

3. Pop the Clutch

Once you’re moving at the required speed, apply the throttle and clutch. Apply more throttle before you release the clutch quickly. If you apply the right amount of throttle and release the clutch quickly, your front wheel should be in the air. 

4. Maintain balance

Once in the air, you can apply more throttle to move the front wheel further and then reduce your throttle to get it down. Find a balance point to maintain the wheelie without moving your throttle hand. 

5. Bring the front wheel down

Release the throttle gradually and slightly touch the rear brakes to bring your front wheel down. Emphasis on releasing the throttle gradually. This will reduce impact when your bike’s front wheel lands back on the ground. 

How to do a Wheelie Without a Clutch?

This is called a power wheelie. Follow the steps below to learn how to wheelie a dirt bike without clutch: 

1. Select a gear

If you’re using a small bike, start with the first gear. But if you’re riding on a bigger bike, you can try the second or third gear. The aim is to start slow.

2. Find the right speed

Like the clutch wheelie, start with a speed between 10 and 20 mph.

3. Slow down and accelerate

Ease off on your throttle to slow down a bit, and then crack it back open to accelerate and pull the front wheel up. The whole idea is to raise the front wheel solely through hard acceleration. 

4. Maintain balance

Increase the throttle to take the front wheel higher and reduce it to bring it down. Find a balance point to maintain the wheelie without moving the throttle.

5. Bring the front wheel down

When you’re ready to bring the front wheel back down, reduce the throttle gradually. You can touch your foot slightly over the rear brakes for better landing. 

How to do a Wheelie on a 4-Stroke and 2-Stroke?

2-stroke bikes are a bit more tricky. So I’ll talk about what you need to do to get it right on 2-stroke bikes. 

Below are the steps to wheelie on a 2-strokes dirt bike

Select a gear

Start with the first or second gear.

Start speeding

Move with a speed between 10 and 20 mph and increase it gradually.

Hit the clutch

Once you’re moving at the required speed, apply the throttle. Before the front wheel lifts off the ground, apply a little clutch to send it upwards. It’s important to get the timing right and ensure you don’t pull the clutch all the way.  

Maintain balance

Once in the air, you can apply more throttle to move the front wheel further and then reduce your throttle to get it down. Additionally, you’ll need to hit the rear brake to bring the front wheel back down. Unlike in 4-strokes, reducing the throttle alone won’t do the trick. 

Also, you won’t have enough time to react when the front wheel reaches the point before it loops out. So it’s important to keep your foot over the brake at all times. 

On 2-strokes, you can’t maintain a balance point where your hand is off the throttle. You’ll need to keep applying your throttle and brake to stay airborne.

Bring the front wheel down

Release the throttle gradually and hit the rear brakes to bring your front wheel down.

Follow the steps below to wheelie on a 4-stroke bike:

Select a Gear

You can start with the first or second gear. 

Start Speeding

Like in 2 strokes, choose a speed between 10 and 20 mph, then increase it gradually. 

Slow down and Accelerate

Unlike in 2 stroke bikes, you don’t necessarily need to hit the clutch to get the front wheel up. 4-stroke bikes have better torque which allows them to accelerate faster than 2-stroke bikes. 

Hence, you can lift your 4-stroke bike’s front wheel by applying the right acceleration. To do this, ease off on your throttle a bit to slow down and crank it up. If you crank it hard, you should have enough acceleration to raise your bike’s front wheels

Maintain Balance

To find your balance point, paddle hard to take the front wheel higher and reduce the throttle to bring it down. 

Bring the front wheel down

Release the throttle gradually to bring the front wheel down. You can also touch the rear brakes lightly for better landing. 

FAQ

Final Thoughts

Anyone can learn how to wheelie a dirt bike on their first try. But you can only succeed if you follow the instructions religiously.

That said, it’s okay if you don’t get it on your first try. Many riders did not. Some people have to practice for weeks to gain mastery. But if you do the right thing, you can shorten your learning curve and show off your wheelie skills to your friends in no time!