Feature
How To Not Try This At Home: 12’ Clock Wheelie
Find a wide open area suitable for falling down a lot
Illustrations By Ben Classen III
The Bike Issue
Introduction
Opening Sprint
New local cycling advocacy group Bikemore comes off the starting line fighting
Memento Mori
The white “ghost bike” at the intersection of Lafayette and Maryland avenues disappeared
How To Not Try This At Home
12’ Clock Wheelie
Breaking Away
The Baltimore superhumans that manage to race bicycles while leading actual normal lives on the side
Published: April 18, 2012
1) Find a wide open area suitable for falling down a lot; try a basic wheelie going uphill first. This will make sense later.
2) Get going forward a couple of notches up from “slow.”
3) With one pedal at about 12’clock, at the top of its rotation, apply pressure while pulling back on the handlebars with your arms straight.
4) Find the “balance point,” where the bike “naturally” rides on one wheel; apply brake pressure when the bike begins to topple backward.
5) Or, get up, check for serious injury, and re-attempt.
6) 12 o’clock is, unnaturally, past this balance point.
> Email Michael Byrne
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