A Hard Lesson For 50+ Cyclists!
 

As a 50+ rider was crossing the finish arch at today’s Cycle NC, he decided to pop a wheelie in front of the folks sitting off to the side enjoying a cool one. Unfortunately he must have forgotten to feather his rear brakes and he reared up too hard.

The front wheel came all the way over and he landed hard on his back. He couldn’t get up and EMS was called. They put him on a gurney and carted him off to the hospital. Not a very spectacular finish....

Leave the wheelies to folks with the skills like Sagan!!!

I strongly disagree with this fatalist world view.

Many folks over 50 keep riding wheelies, manualing, etc. because they don't let the kind of fear on display here dominate their thinking.

Leave the wheelies to those with skills. It's not about age.

An AARP wheelie thread.
Must be getting cold outside :rolleyes:

When I was in my teens I used to be able to ride my Schwinn Varsity down the street on the back wheel, AKA "Wheelie". I then thought it would be cool to shift gears while riding on the back wheel. That was not a good plan and it was the last time I did a wheelie on a ten speed! Now mountain bikes , well , that's another story. Joe joesvintageroadbikes.wordpress

Great, a show-off AND a drama queen. If I pulled a stunt like that, I would consider it my duty as a man to get up and walk away from the scene under my own power, even if it killed / paralyzed me. I'd rather die than have emergency help summoned, but that's just me.

Or Hinualt or Merckx!!! :lol:

http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/B...fbFc_jPI2l.jpg

lol, with ya man!

when I was a kid I could do a wheelie on my Sting Ray. but one day, on my way to school, showing off for the girls, my front wheel fell off. I had to come down on the fork somewhat. uninjured, I watched my wheel roll thru a big intersection & down the road a 1/10th? of a mile. talk about a walk of shame

wheelies were a necessity in our neighborhood. Have seen Sagan do it. Does anyone else do it on a road or mountain bike?

OK, wheelies are officially off of my show-off scorecard. Stoppies are still ok though, right?

I have been trying for awhile and still can’t do it. Im going to keep trying.

I'm 54, still do wheelies, and also lack the skill to do them consistently or well. The trick then is to only do them under jogging speed, so if you come up too far you just drop off the back in a jog. Platform pedals only.

"A man has to know his limitations"

I’m fixin to jump over a shark tank with my MTB bike. None of this sissy wheelie nonsense. If Fonzie could do it with a motorcycle than I can do that with a MTB :lol:

I think the last wheelie I did was riding a motorcycle, when I was a teen. May have to try again... with street shoes.

I'll do a small, brief wheelie occasionally on my mountain bike, but that's about it.

I decided to make my sting ray cooler buy putting a smaller wheel on the front. So I took off the 20" wheel, and put the 16" wheel from my sisters bike on the sting ray. Yeah Baby! looks good. Off for a test ride. Got half way down the block, going good. Decided it was time to lift the front wheel off the ground, I was the neighborhood wheelie king. Slide back on the banana seat, and pull up on the ape hangers. The front wheel comes up, and I see it bouncing down the street with out me. My only though was 'oh crap' before the fork blades slammed into the pavement. That was the first time I was unconscious in the street. And how I learned about axle size, and how to tighten nuts with a wrench.

This.

When I rode dirt bikes my friend Dave was the wheelie master. Another friend bought a Husqvarna automatic and said you couldn't wheelie it because no clutch, etc. Dave says he can wheelie it and does. Of course it shifted into second and over backwards he went.

Was alcohol involved? Because alcohol seems to be involved in a lot of these types of accidents. :lol:

Bike magazine had an article about whether one was born with the "wheelie gene" or not. Theory was, no gene, no wheelie.

alcohol seems to be involved in a lot of accidents in general

Dig this...Spent two weeks riding in Italy in 2013. One Sunday morning a club ride was coming towards us. Hanging off the back was a guy riding a MTB with...wait for it...no fork and thus no front wheel. Perpetual wheelie. Our host told us there used to be a rider who would climb nearby Monte Grappa that way.

Take off that skirt and put on your big boy pants. I jumped the Snake River Canyon on a fat bike, succeeding where Evel failed.

I can catch lots of air, bunny hop like nobody's business, but a wheelie is not in the cards.