A wheelie is when you and your bike are balancing on just the front wheel. It can be performed on a flat surface or by shifting as much weight as possible off the back of your seat and onto the handlebars.
Does it damage your bike? The answer is no! You can safely perform a wheelie without a long-term impact on your bike’s performance or durability. However, it can damage your bike to a minor extent in a long-term impact if the rider does not have expertise controlling it during a wheelie.
The most common damage to a mountain bike from doing a wheelie comes from dropping it, usually caused because the rider isn’t prepared for what will happen when they let go of the handlebars.
In some cases, this can cause damage to your wheels or front derailleur if you drop it on them. There’s also a chance that your brakes will contact the ground while doing a wheelie because no rear tire supports the bicycle from above.
This can cause the brake pads to wear down faster, but it’s generally not a problem because you should replace them regularly for safety.
Learn More: 10 Best Mountain Bike Sunglasses: Protect Your Eyes On MTB Riding.
How To Do Wheelies?
To do a wheelie, you must start slowly and ensure ample room in front to balance on your bike when you start to pedal. When you drive up to full strength and speed, use your upper body and legs to lean forward until the front wheel is off the ground.
It is best to do this while traveling at a fast pace because it will give you more velocity to balance on only one wheel. In addition, the quicker you are going, the more momentum you will have to balance on one wheel.
As for your 29er, there is little difference with wheelies whether you are on 26 or 650b wheels. It would help if you did the same thing to achieve a successful wheelie that you must do when it comes to smaller wheel bikes: balance at one time and use your upper body and backside.
When it comes to 29ers, you may have to shift your weight toward the seat to balance on one wheel.
How Long Can You Do Wheelies?
The amount of time you can perform a wheelie is determined by how fast your bike travels and how far your front end is up in the air.
For instance, if your front wheel is 10 feet off the ground, you can only balance for a few seconds before putting it down. However, if your front wheel is only a foot off of the ground, then you can keep it up in the air for as long as you want.
Are Mountain Bikes Good For Wheelies?
The answer is yes! Mountain bikes are great for doing a wheelie. However, you must control your bike while performing the stunt or risk damaging it to a minor extent in a long-term impact.
One of the most common damages caused by doing a wheelie on your mountain bike comes from dropping the bike and not being prepared when letting go of the MTB handlebars. If this happens, there’s damage to your wheels or front derailleur, which can occur if you drop it on them because there is no rear tire supporting the bicycle from above.
There’s also a chance that brakes will contact the ground while doing a wheelie because no rear tire supports the bicycle from above (which could cause them to wear down faster). In most cases, this can be avoided if you have the skill and knowledge to do a wheelie.
Doing wheelies on grass is best because if something goes wrong and you drop the bike, your tires will most likely be slashed by the blades of grass instead of being damaged or even punctured by landing on the pavement.
Which Type Of Mountain Bike Is Good For Wheelies?
To find out the best type of mountain bike for wheelies, you must first decide whether or not you want a hardtail (no suspension) or full suspension.
Hardtails are great for learning and mastering wheelies because they have little give when you land from a front wheelie. But once your skills progress, it’s time to move on to more forgiving bikes with better control.
Full-suspensions can handle both types of tricks without issue, but keep in mind that if you’re looking to do higher-level tricks such as tail whips and 360s, these will be difficult on a full-suspension bike due to how much give there is in the back end.
So ensure that if this is your goal, you have a quality bike with significant parts to handle these higher-level tricks.
How Do Wheelies Damage Your Mountain Bike?
Do wheelies damage your bike? Some riders might worry that performing a wheelie will cause long-term effects, but this isn’t the case.
If you have no training, doing a wheelie can cause minor damage. On the other hand, if you are an expert rider performing a wheelie is perfectly safe without any long-term consequences for performance or durability.
The answer is simple: you don’t need to constantly worry about doing this and damaging your mountain bike. If you’re interested in performing tricks and stunts, plenty of bikes are specifically made for this type of riding, such as BMX bikes or dirt jumpers.
These bikes are designed specifically for stunts and tricks, so they’ll take much more than a bit of abuse from incredible flips and jumps.
Doing a wheelie will not cause damage to your bike if you do it correctly. Take extra precautions when doing a wheelie; you’ll be fine in most situations! It is possible for something scarce to happen, though, so be careful and have fun.
What Are The Possible Damages That Can Happen During Wheelie On A Mountain Bike?
Skipping a wheelie is easy, but avoiding the potential damage of performing a wheelie is an entirely different story.
As long as you have enough control over your bike and are prepared for what to do when things go wrong, A wheelie can be done without long-term impact on your bike’s performance or durability.
While most mountain bikers don’t need to worry about doing this trick often–or ever–it’s worth understanding the risks involved before attempting just for funsies.
Here Are Some Of The Possible Damages That Could Happen:
- Wheel bearings will be damaged if you have not correctly lubricated or maintained them, which can happen whether a wheelie is on purpose or accidental.
- Damage to your rear suspension will occur when the bike’s weight shifts forward upon lifting the front wheel and shifting your weight from being centered over the bike. If either of these consequences seems undesirable, try to avoid the wheelie.
- Your disc brakes will continue to stop your wheel by clamping onto the rim, but if you squeeze the lever too hard, it could break.
- The chain could slip off the rear sprocket–although this can happen whether or not your front wheel is lifted, it’s much more likely to occur during a wheelie since there’s no weight on the rear tire to keep it pressed against the sprocket.
- This is why you should always keep one hand on the handlebar when riding–less pressure will be put onto the levers, and you’ll have a better grip if things go wrong.
- The wheelie can cause your frame, fork, or handlebars to crack or bend if you’re not careful. The problem is that a wheelie will put extra pressure on the front frame, fork, and handlebars–your bike will be off-balanced to an end during this stunt, placing most of its weight on one side. This can potentially result in your front frame breaking in half if you’ve got an aluminum one and substantial bends or cracks in a carbon fiber frame.
You can avoid most of these specific damages by keeping your weight centered in the seat (which is what you should be doing when you’re riding anyway), avoiding extremely tall wheelies, not flipping the bike over while performing a wheelie, and never performing a wheelie if your bike isn’t in top condition.
In short, a wheelie can damage your bike–beyond the wear and tear caused by everyday riding–but you shouldn’t be scared of doing one just for funsies because it’s probably not as dangerous as some people make it out to be. Just keep these tips in mind before attempting any stunts like this.
How Do I Get Better At Wheelies With My Mtb To Reduce The Damages?
A wheelie is an extreme stunt that requires a lot of skill to pull off. You might need to get better at controlling the front end of the bicycle when performing this stunt, and that’s true: you need more control over the steering and braking so that you don’t hit obstacles on the trail. But wheelies can damage your bike when you are on flat pavement even more than in the mountains.
So, yes, you should practice in a safe place like a parking lot or empty basketball court and then move to manipulate them out in the dirt, but it’s up to you if you want to keep doing these tricks. One thing is for sure: they don’t damage your bike.
What Is The Best Gear To Wheelie A Mountain Bike?
It is generally easier to control your bike in lower gears because wheelies are done while in the future on flat surfaces. The only possible situation where you could pull off this stunt would be going uphill or downhill.
Three gears can be used when performing a wheelie: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. The lower the number of your gear, the easier it will be to do any stunt. It is recommended that beginners start practicing with first or second gear because they are much easier than third one.
And if you want more challenges while doing this stunt, try to learn how to control your bike in higher gear! Remember what type of gear I should use and where I should practice my stunts – on flat pavement or somewhere else.
Is It Harder To Wheelie A 29er?
It does not matter if you have a 29er bike than any other type because they all require the same technique for achieving a successful wheelie: balancing on both wheels while raising one in the air using your backside and thighs.
If you are interested in how hard it is to do a wheelie with 29ers versus 26 or 650b bikes, the answer is that it depends on the bike and how maneuverable you are at riding your mountain bike.
Many factors are involved in a wheelie, such as strength, balance, technique, and momentum. You also need to consider what type of mountain biking you do since larger wheels have more resistance when going over obstacles, making balancing and doing a wheelie more difficult.
Why Is A 29er Harder To Wheelie Than 26″ Bikes?
If the bike has smaller wheels, it will be easier for you to wheelie it because they are lighter and have less rolling resistance.
However, if your bike needs more power to overcome the resistance, you will find it easier because you need some speed and momentum to do a long wheelie. In addition, if your bike has smaller wheels, then the more maneuverable you are at riding them.
If you have experience doing a long wheelie with 29ers, 26, or 650b bikes, you will probably agree that there is little difference. The only noticeable difference is that it may be harder to do a wheelie with 29ers than 26s if you have no experience riding them.
How To Do A Front Wheelie On Your Mountain Bike?
First off, pick a nice, flat area to practice. Learning a wheelie on a ridable surface is much easier than on an incline or decline.
A smooth surface with few rocks and bumps is also essential: you want to avoid your first attempt being on rough terrain (if the bike jerks around too much, it will be challenging to balance it).
How To Teach Your Bike To Wheelie?
First, you’ll want to start pedaling and get up relatively high. When you’re tall enough, grab a fistful of brakes (both front and back), pull up on the stem, then jump off and let the bike coast to a stop. It’ll drop a bit when you unweight the front, but don’t worry; jump back on and pedal again for another wheelie attempt.
Do this several times in a row until your bike has figured out what you’re asking it to do: as soon as you pull up on the handlebars, it should pop up into a wheelie by itself.
You can also teach your bike to wheelie with no brakes: To get your bike to do this, coast uphill while pulling up on the handlebars. Don’t do this on a downhill because you’ll end up crashing when your bike doesn’t pop up.
Also note that if you don’t have much suspension on your bike, it will be challenging to pull off the trick without brakes (For more information about wheelies with no brakes, read the article Do wheelies damage your mountain bike? here)
Balance The Wheelie:
Once your bike pops up on command, it’s time to balance it. This is much more difficult than getting the bike into a wheelie in the first place; most people can get their bikes to jump up with little practice, but balancing them can take weeks or months of practice (for your bike to stay balanced while you’re coasting, it must lean slightly forward at all times when in the wheelie position; if it depends too far back, your front tire will touch down and the bike will fall).
So don’t be discouraged if you can quickly get your bike up but can’t maintain it. By now, your bike should be balancing itself in a wheelie, which is a good start.
Try to get your bike pointing forward as you’re riding with no hands. Take both hands off the bars, and see if it stays balanced (if not, try again until it does). If you can do this (and, likely, you won’t be able to do it at first), you can now attempt some tricks.
If your bike doesn’t balance for you, try pushing down on the handlebars as it’s jumping into a wheelie–this will force the front tire back down onto the ground (assuming that your rear tire is already off of the dirt.)
You may need to practice doing this until you can get your bike to balance well on its own, but if your bike will not balance for you and you cannot force it back down, try pushing down on the bars; this should bring everything back under control.
Avoid Turning While Balancing A Wheelie:
As mentioned, most starting riders need help balancing their bikes while turning. If you’re one of these riders, try once you can (turning while balancing a wheelie makes it exponentially harder). Turning should be your last priority until you’ve gotten used to balancing the bike during everyday riding.
Practice leaning forward slightly while coasting at low speeds (this shifts your weight forward, and it is beneficial on a bike with no brakes or suspension). Once you feel comfortable doing this at low speeds, try it at higher rates. This should help you get a feel for leaning during balance.
Try balancing your wheelie while pedaling backward, going downhill if you have enough speed to keep it up. This can help you balance your wheelie more quickly because you’ll have more weight on the front wheel if you’re pedaling backward.
Practice “catchin’ ’em”:
If your bike catches air at speed (i.e., flies off an obstacle that isn’t big enough to pop it into a wheelie), the only way to keep it balanced is to pull up on the handlebars while leaning slightly forward quickly.
This will cause your front tire to come back down, and your bike should be able to take off again. Practice this by riding over small logs or rocks that you think your wheels will catch to know how to handle it when you actually *do* grab your wheel.
Doing a wheelie with no brakes is one of the most challenging things in mountain biking. However, if you can do this, you’ll be able to maintain balance while turning (more on that later). This will take a lot of practice and confidence building; don’t give up!
Practice Balancing Your Bike While Turning:
Before you can balance your wheelie and turn, you’ll need to practice steering your rear tire back onto the ground when it’s off of the ground.
The movement is very similar to pulling yourself out of a forward roll in gymnastics–you lean in the direction you want to turn and then pull up on the handlebars.
However, this is much harder to do in midair than it sounds because your bike will be moving at a decent speed when you attempt this trick (if you’re not going fast enough for your rear tire to come back down when it pops off of the ground, catch
How Are Wheelies Doing In BMX Compared To Mountain Bikes?
Research has been done on how wheelies are doing in BMX, and the study found that wheelies are less popular in bike racing and more of a stunt for fun. Riders must continually be able to quickly control their bikes with fast reflexes, which is difficult when performing such a stunt.
The research also found that BMX riders use chain tension devices to reduce the pressure on the chain and spokes. This allows riders to pull off tricks easier at high speeds without damaging anything on their bike.
Mountain bike riders do not have this luxury because most directional bikes do not come with these quick-release devices.
Mountain bike wheels are larger and more durable than BMX wheels, so that they can withstand higher speeds. A lack of pressure on the spokes makes it harder to maneuver, but a rider can pull off wheelies in high-speed situations.
There is no pressure on the chain with a wheelie, so pulling off this trick takes less skill. In the mountain biking community, wheelies are more of a stunt than in BMX. Mountain bike riders can perform wheelies at much higher speeds and longer distances. We will see what future research brings about this trick.
Conclusion:
Mountain bikes are ideal for doing a wheelie! You must have expertise in controlling your bike when performing this stunt because you can damage your tires or brakes if you need to know what you’re doing. But generally, they are great bikes for practicing and enjoying wheelies.
For more details on this subject, please check out this post that I published recently Bike Damaged In Shipment: What Would You Do?
