As you get more practice at pulling off a wheelie, you can adjust the seat height to whatever you want. Keep in mind that this may change your center of gravity and mean you need to relearn how to balance your bike.
As with the seat height, you can adjust the gear whenever you want. You should be able to do a wheelie no matter what gear you’re on. It’s much easier to learn on a middle gear, though.
Local parks will be great as they are both large and grassy, which will mean you’re less likely to get hurt if you fall off your bike. If you don’t have a big park nearby, you can also practice on an empty sidewalk, a very quiet road, or anywhere that you can safely ride a bike. If you can, try practice your wheelies on a very gentle uphill incline. This will make leaning backward and balancing the wheelie more natural.
Once you gain more confidence, you can start doing wheelies when traveling at a higher speed. Start slow and gradually get faster as you practice doing a wheelie.
If you don’t know which is your dominant foot, try doing a few wheelies leading with each foot and see which way feels more natural. Your dominant foot is the foot that you put forward when you feel yourself falling over. While standing straight up, get someone to give you a light shove and see which foot you put forward to stop yourself.
Make sure not to bend your arms more than 10 degrees when you pull back. Doing this is a bad habit, negatively messes with your center of balance, and also does not look nearly as cool. Start with small wheelies at first and slowly try and bring the front wheel higher and higher off the ground as you get a better sense of the balance of your bike. It’s much safer for you to undershoot the wheelie and let your bike land back on the front wheel than it is to overshoot it and fall backward of the bike. If you feel like you’re going to fall backward, pull on the rear brake. This will stop the back wheel from moving and set you back down safely on the front wheel.
If you feel yourself falling backward, tap on the rear brake to lean forward slightly. If you start falling forward, pedal a little faster to gain some more acceleration and tilt backward a little. Keep in mind that you’ll also need to maintain your balance side to side. Try and keep your weight centered down the middle of the bike to prevent yourself from tipping over. If you feel yourself tilting to one side, slightly shift your weight to the other side or turn the handlebars the other way.
Try not to land on your front wheel too harshly. While front suspension will cushion some of the blow, you don’t want to put the wheel under any unnecessary stress.
Full protective gear includes a helmet, face shield, gloves, jacket, pants, and proper boots. Make sure everything is covered to prevent serious injury if you fall off.
Make sure the road doesn’t have any big potholes, cracks, or anything that could throw your wheelie off unexpectedly. Find the smoothest, bump-free road that you can when first starting out.
As you do this, lean backward on your bike to lift the wheel up further and get a higher wheelie. This will take a little practice to avoid getting too high, so start small at first. Rotate your hand slightly forward and around the throttle before you pull it backwards. This will make pulling back on it sharply much easier, as well as naturally bending your elbow to help you lift up the front of the bike slightly. [13] X Research source
If at any point you feel like the bike may start “looping” and fall back onto you, hold down the rear brakes immediately. This will stop the wheelie and set you back on the ground.
If you need to bring down the front wheel very quickly, shut the throttle off and don’t accelerate again until the wheel is just about to touch the ground. Tap the throttle just before the front wheel touches down to soften the landing slightly.
