1000 Wheelies Project: The End / The Cake Ride

The 1000 Wheelies Project is over. It's done. It's complete. There are no more motorcycle wheelies to pull in this project. And it's taken two years to record this feat. October 19, 2010 - October 28, 2012 are the official dates for the, count them, one hundred Moto Morning Wheelie Sessions (MMWS) that made-up the 1000 Wheelies Project.

As an overview, the task was for me, MotoBum, to get good at pulling respectable motorcycle wheelies. All that really needed to be done was to transition the bicycle wheelie skills to motorcycle wheelie skills. It sounds easy on paper. In practice, it's a small bit tricky. 

See, the rear brake on a motorcycle is under the right foot -- the toes no less. A bicycle has a nifty handbrake to control such details. Just squeeze with the right index finger. Easy. Using the right foot compared to one finger is like having cerebral palsy, or so I'm told. And use of a rear brake is mandatory in executing choice wheelies.

Body english plays a big role in a wheelie. For example, on a bicycle, one can pull on the handlebars quickly to make the front tire come a foot off the ground. Try that on a motorcycle. You'd be lucky to get the suspension to uncompress half an inch. So, on a motorcycle, as the rappers say, "you've got to pop-the-clutch, yo." While that's not exactly a fact. It is the truth, in philosophy. A good hard launch of power on a motorcycle is something that just really isn't possible on a bicycle. It lofts the front effortlessly.

Which brings us to throttle control. Yeah. Like, how many throttle cables per year does the the average Joe stretch beyond manufacturer specification on a bicycle? Zero. Right? Zero. And that's the real obvious difference between a bicycle and a motorcycle. Motorcycles have throttles and bicycles have nada. Nothing. No throttle. No power. No gas to modulate.

I've overcome all these issues.

These past 1000 documented motorcycle wheelies have taken me from hopeless uphill balance-point chaser to bonafide semi-pro motorcycle wheelie puller. I have sponsors. Just check out Righteous Stunt Metal next time you need an easy-pull clutch lever. That's all I have to say.

And riding over a cake on one wheel during your 1000th wheelie is something that I can highly recommend.

Moto Morning Wheelie Session -- MMWS -- Log (All 1 - 100 sessions):
coming soon...

The Last 10 Wheelies Video with The Cake Ride:


Special thanks go to T-Bird, rug rat Maja, Josh RSC/Righteous1 Miller, Last Minute Ryan, Ghostface KLR, Swamp Monster, E-rock, Superstar Wendy, Shotgun Ruthie, and Mrs. Moore for enabling this life-long motorcycle addict with time, parts, labor, garage space, tools, tequila, cake, rock and roll, wifi, photography, passion support, and the 10 minutes here and there to pull the 10 wheelies or so required to pull off a stunt like this. 

See Also:
1000 Wheelies Project: The Intro
1000 Wheelies Project: 250 In
Hard Brake to Hard Break
1000 Wheelies Project: 750 In

And...
Another 1000 Wheelies

And...
Third 1000 Wheelies

The 996th Wheelie

The 1000 Wheelies Project Cake

The 1000th Wheelie with The Cake Ride

Wheelied-on Cake

Two-year-olds Love Wheelied-on Cake

DirtWise Academy with Shane Watts

The Dirty Crew was fortunate enough to attend the DirtWise Academy in order to increase our dirt riding skills. We got more than that. It was a great time! Our class was in Tulalip, WA on July 2-3, 2011.

From left to right: Superstar Wendy, E-rock,
Swamp Monster, Wattsy, Ghostface KLR,
MotoBum, Last Minute Ryan

What did we do? What did we learn? Well... we focused on dirt bike riding fundamentals. Each drill had us working on the same skills, just in different ways. Body position, balance, and use of the controls each deserve their own skills manuals and we could spend a lifetime mastering them. We tested ourselves by applying learns learned doing drag races, riding ruts, pulling wheelies and stoppies, doing log grinds, riding over obstacles, selecting good lines, and having good form for excellent dirt bike control. We learned to become one with motorcycles.

There are so many nuances to riding well that, when combined, make it all really difficult to get right. Especially when years have been spent getting it all wrong. We have much to unlearn. Basically, we got schooled and loved every second of it. It was craaaaaaazy.

DirtWise Dirt

DirtWise TDC Feet

The Dirty Crew is DirtWise (and looks the part)