Stoppies

[larriken]

I am still pretty crap at them but it is really about confidence and just having a go. Start small and just keep doing them over and over. Front bike on, feel it biting, weight forward abit like you lifting up, and just keep doing it. Like I say, I am pretty average at them but it is exciting when after an hour or two you are doing some pretty sweet ones.

[loosebruce]

Yeah start on a MTB, i can hook mine skywrads on the front at 70kph+ to a stop, good when you've got an 8 inch rotor being bitten by a 4 pot hydrualic caliper, it's pretty much the same deal on a motorbike.

Few things, get heat into tyre before hand, having the front lock and tuck at 140kph is not much fun believe me.
Be real progressive and smooth on the brake, you want to start braking heavily (as if you are braking for corner hard) get weight on the front tyre, shift your body weight forward and squeeze the brake a little bit harder kinda like your're bouncing your weight forward, it'll start to come up, then it's just a matter of practice and more practice. prolly 60-80kph is a nice speed to start off for rollers.
A good road surface is nice as well and does well for confidence to start off with, be aware to if the wheel does lock get off the brake asap and it'll come right.
If you find that the bike keeps going sideways on you, you can help by keeping your head up and looking dead ahead, weight shifting in stoppies to turn you basiclly shift your weight and steer to the opposite of where you want to go, also tapping the back brake can kick the rear up another few inches.
As for flipping it, unfortnily like a wheelie with the back brake, you dont have a hell of a lot to save your arse.
I've started getting some coasters going on the GSXR then it blew up and now i'm stuck on the TL, it's okay bike, but real heavy and brakes have no where near the feedback the GSXR as, but coasters are a wicked feeling, scary as fuck though.

[Sniper]

Plan on upgrading my brakes soon. Will fitting braided lines and higher spec brake pads give me a better feel of what the bike is doing or is it mainly a guessing job.

I have started practising rolling stoppies but I think I will get a shitter bike to practise on first.

[Korea]

I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but actually going a bit faster seems to be helping me a lot with rolling stoppies.
Originally I was coming to a stop (from about 30kmph) and lifting the back on the poxy Exiv125, but with a bit of extra speed the rolling bit is coming along more naturally (still only talking about 50kmph~ish).
I've only got a single pot, single disc setup, but some braided lines are in the works...

Stoppie Pic taken a while back: Work in progress; less than a foot off the ground at this stage...

[flash]

does doing stopies wreak the back suspenion at all?, or the real wheel bearings or the wheel, etc?

[Korea]

Well, after a lot of abuse, my front brakes have gone a bit wooden and they don't have the bite they used to.
But I'm sure some new braided lines, liberal brake bleeding and some new pads will sort that out.
As for the suspension, the come-down for me isn't too much worse than going over a judder bar at speed, but then again the bike wasn't made for stoppies.
I've been pretty hard on the front suspension coming down from botched wheelies lately - can't be good for the fork seals and internals...

[onearmedbandit]

JWALKER should be able to help you Sniper. Was talking to him the other day and he says he can get them 3 feet off the ground. Not bad for a guy who has only been riding for such a short amount of time. You guys should start a Christchurch stunt club!!

[far queue]

I have started practising rolling stoppies but I think I will get a shitter bike to practise on first.

I was surprised to see you doing stoppies the other night - I wasn't expecting it. They looked cool though. You were very consistent with them all achieving about the same height - around 12". Well done.

does doing stopies wreak the back suspenion at all?, or the real wheel bearings or the wheel, etc?

I wondered this the other night too. The bike landed with quite a bang and the suspension didn't seem to absorb much of it. What will it be like as you get higher?

[Sniper]

JWALKER should be able to help you Sniper. Was talking to him the other day and he says he can get them 3 feet off the ground. Not bad for a guy who has only been riding for such a short amount of time. You guys should start a Christchurch stunt club!!

Yea......... right. You should see them. He is coming along nicely but he is still learning. As am I. I'll get some pics of us together cause a stunt club in CHCH isn't such a bad idea. I just need to get my hands on Brens bike.......

Thanks Far Queue. Im getting them higher and higher, but those were just little ones. I wasn't going to do the usual 4 foot or 12o clock stoppies when the newbies were around.