How bad are wheelies on your engine?

[MudBug]

So ive been doing alot of wheelies lately, and Ive been hearing things about it being hard on the motor. But so many people do it? it cant be too bad if everyone who ever wheelied hasnt blown their engine.

I understand that with the engine tilted backwards, the oil would rush to the back and the oil pump would not work as good and the gears in front of the engine would be without oil. (so ive been told)

Id like for Mythbusters to try THIS one lol!

[atcrider1]

nothing bad ever happened to my old 350x. i used to ride wheelies through all the gears

[oscarmayer]

it's jsut tuff on the clutches not the motor. and only tuff cause your reving and popping it to get a wheelie.

[Custom200]

To be honest i never had any need to pop the gears on my trikes to wheeile. I guess it really depends on how you ride the bike

[Autophysn]

that's a new one to me, you sure the noises are not from something else? Maybe it needs a tune up, you know, lil oil on the chain, change the oil, basic stuff like that. Unless you store it standing up on two wheels, then maybe I can see an issue there, but even still

[Russell 350X]

When I do wheelies on my 350X, I don't "pop" the clutch. Never had a need to.

I've heard on the older 200 and 185 Honda motors it would starve the top end of oil after really long wheelies.

[85Tecate]

Used to ride wheelies on the 185 for upwards of 2 blocks at a time with no problems whatsoever. There for a few months that all we worked on was wheelies. Unless your running it for a LONG time with it tipped up, i would say its ok.

[jeffatc250r]

Ive never had any problems, and ive been know to do a one once in awhile

[whipit]

The issue here is oil starvation. If you do a near verticle wheelie, you probably are starving your engine because the oil pickup is on the bottom of the engine, not the back of the engine. If you do verticle or near verticle wheelies for long distances at high RPM, there is no doubt your motor will be spanked sooner than if you had not- parts start to wear i a hurry without a constant oil supply

in drag racing and also street stunting, relocation of the oil pickup and/or running multiple oil pickups is not uncommon. when a drag racer launches hard at the start the bike can starve for oil because it is all slammed to the back of the motor. same deal for a stunter doing a 12'oclock wheelie for a few min. at a time

dont believe me? go start your four stroke three wheeler and leave it idleing on its grab bar for a while. it will blow up...the only question is how long will it take

[Thorpe]

Havent blown one up yet...

[lndy650]

ive had a few come into the shop because of this. the last i did was a suzuki 450 the kid was doing 1/4 - 1/2 mile wheelies and seized the rod bearing. the main bearings were discolored from exessive heat also. this was a very low milage wheeler. ive done a few wheelers due to this. it depends on where the balance point is how long the wheelies are and where exactly the oil pickup is but this is not a myth and can happen. as for the bigred mudbug i had one when i was a kid and all i did was ride wheelies everyday. never blew up but i wouldnt doubt things were worse than they could have been. no matter what if your going up hill or in a wheelie the main bearings and rod are getting less oil because its all in the back. and if the pickup line isnt submerged the topend will fry

[MudBug]

mostly when I do them, I have it up really high and just tapping the gas to balance, rarely ever hitting a high RPM. so should I worry?

[jensenracing77]

i did 3 mile wheelies all the time in the 90s with my 350X. i did them in all 6 gears. never had a problem. i even done the 3 mile wheelies with passengers all the time. it is easier with a passenger, the extra weight makes it easier to steer on the back wheels. some day i will do it again and get a helmet cam. this 3 mile stretch has several up and down hills on it also.

[lndy650]

ive only seen this problem with suzuki so far...

[Dammit!]

Depends on the trike. Some engines are more likely to have problems than others.

A 2-stroke can wheelie for days since the top end gets it's oil from the gas and there's plenty sloshing around in the tranny to keep the bottom end happy.

On a 4-stroke it depends on where the oil sump is located. I know a first generation 200x can have problems. I can speak from personal experience that they can run dry if you do a lot of near vertical wheelies. I also had one of mine spit a bunch of oil out the vent hose while doing wheelies once. Haven't had a problem on my 350x yet.