ok well as regulars might know I’ve been on a bit of a mission lately to repair the wear-and-tear from the wheelies & drifting practice so far, as well as protect the bike for future wheelie activity.

It’s been hard on the bike, and highlighted any pre-existing weaknesses, but I also learnt a lot about what I want and need from the bike in order to do this in a not entirely half-assed way.

I love the clipon risers I’ve been rocking most of this year. My “ideal comfort position” was with them not even on full height, about half height. It added maybe 1.5″ each side in height and the same in width. It didn’t mess with the aerodynamics too much, but gives excellent control from the slightly wider stance, but you can still get down in the corners when you need to. Nice.

However, not so good for standup wheelies. Angles all wrong, doable but feels unnatural. We don’t have lots of power to play with so I need to try and optimise my position as far as I can. I needed to try and push weight back so she comes up more easily, so I added a bit more height to the clipons, which helped but was higher than I’d like and the angle was still wrong somehow, and the brake reservoir hit on the screen constantly which is super annoying.

No, back where I started, I finally need to fit the motocross bars.

However, last time I considered this issue I hadn’t just built exactly that thing for somebody else had I? No you had not Other Barry, no you had not.

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Episode 4: A New Yoke

So below is the new yoke I prepared like for the bike above. I was hoping that the motox bars would give me plenty of space for the extra rear handbrake lever which has to fit in there somehow too. The main thing I want though is this angled-slightly-upwards stance which should be much better for standup wheelies (which are my main/ultimate goal) – both with pushing my weight back so it’s easier to get up, and being in a more natural position once up, so maybe retain control somewhat.

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It’s all on and working now and I really like the feel of it, though it is somewhat like having to learn to ride a different bike. I guess mostly it’s about positioning my weight which is different – maybe I’m sitting more relaxed so hanging off somewhat into a corner perhaps doesn’t come as naturally.

However – I am prepared to compromise a little on position IF this helps noticeably on the wheelie front. From the testing I’ve done hopping around on the bike while in the stand it feels really good (i think), however, I won’t know for a while, not till I’ve put the new fork on anyway.

So I guess we’ll just have to wait for a bit and see..