wheelie bars- need alittle insight

[icyuod2]

i tried building a wheelie last year. i used a sissy bar and a couple of inline sk8 wheels. it was fashioned much the same as this
http://cgi.ebay.com/Bicycle-Wheelie-Bar ... otohosting

i found, while it prevented me from falling back, there was really no way to steer while in the wheelie.

the wham-o wheelie bars have a full skate board truck on the rear. from the video it looks like you can steer the bike simply by leaning to the left/right alittle. (much like a sk8board.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtBoETwl5Co
i found this n.o.s. bar on ebay but i imagen it will be more than i want to spend in 6 days.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Bicycle-Wheelie-Bar ... otohosting

so i want to make a second attemp. is a sk8board truck the only way to allowing steering in the wheelie?
does the schwinn type wheelie bar allow you to steer? (maybe a blunder in my design?)

what else works?
might as well make this a collective thread for wheelie bar info. if ya got pic's, please post em. (and let us know what does and doesn't work, pro's con's etc.)

thx guys and gals

 

[Quanah]

icy, have you thought about using a sh8board truck assembly? Make it like the Ebay pic, and weld a flat plate to the bottom to bolt the truck to. Seems to me that would be perfect, I would think that it would steer good enough to do circles.

 

[JoKeR63]

The skate truck system works well but the frame it's mounted to must be rigid enough to lean the truck.
I tried a couple of setups before settling on this, I can ride wheelies for blocks.
Plus it's a little bit safer for old farts like myself.

 

[icyuod2]

The skate truck system works well but the frame it's mounted to must be rigid enough to lean the truck.
I tried a couple of setups before settling on this, I can ride wheelies for blocks.
Plus it's a little bit safer for old farts like myself.

thats awesome! can we get a pic of the old fart doing a wheelie?
figured i would use an old sk8truck, and now i'm thinking i need some real soft bushings (so not so much force is required to lean the truck)

anybody have a wham-o wheelie bar? care to share some dimensions? i might be better off just trying to copy the original, instead of planning one from scratch.

 

[Quanah]

I see the upper braces run on the inside of the seat bar, that would make it strong enough laterally. Good pic!

 

[Quanah]

Icy, the trucks I had were really old, but I could just loosen them up to make them steer more sharply, on my OLD sk8board, aren't trucks like that anymore? I haven't checked out sk8boards for years, so don't laugh! :mrgreen:

 

[icyuod2]

these are alittle before my sk8 days (1980-96 fairly competitive in the local circiut) but i seem to collect em none the less.

i swiped wheels off one for chain tensioners. figured i'd use the other 2 wheels and truck for the wheelie bar (period correct i might add. lol)

the softer allow you to keep the trucks tight (quiet) with all the movement of a loose set of trucks.

 

[Quanah]

I noticed the use of one for a chain tensioner, good idea.

 

[spinman]

FWIW, I'll be getting the Raleighrons' wheelie bar you show in the ebay pic in a couple days. I'm installing on my '69 Sting-ray.

I'll do an eval. after installation and post the results. I wouldn't think steering would be an issue since back in the day, we pulled wheelies w/o the bars and just relied on the rear wheels. We were happy to just hold a wheelie for a few seconds let alone steer her around. :lol:

Spin

 

[icyuod2]

i look forward to that evaluation.

did ya check out the wham-o vid on youtube? stearing is a must!

 

[Fireproof]

That Wham-o video is too cool!!! The Consumer Product Safety Commission would never allow fun like that these days! :shock:
By the way Icy, I didn’t see a "Black Knight" board in your collection . . . oops, I’m giving away my age!

 

[icyuod2]

That Wham-o video is too cool!!! The Consumer Product Safety Commission would never allow fun like that these days! :shock:
By the way Icy, I didn’t see a "Black Knight" board in your collection . . . oops, I’m giving away my age!

black night? oh do go on.

 

[zaz]

Popping a wheelie with wheelie bar seems childish in the Wham-O commercial even for daddy o, in fact it's a bit more difficult.

The easy way is to build those dragster like bar seen on a german Bonanza Boy bike.

With high loop sissy bar and a head rest this guy could easily take a nap.

anybody have a wham-o wheelie bar? care to share some dimensions?

We use the metric system, you have to divide all measures by 2.54.

You'll need Buddy Holly glasses.

 

[icyuod2]

that is so appreciated thx so much for taking the time to do all that for me/us.

that big wheelie bar is awesome! but i imagen ya run into the same problem as the schwinn type. try and lean the bike to turn and ya fall over.

i wanna build a bike specificly for wheelies, but i wanna be able to ride clear across town while doing a wheelie.

thx again, the pic's/info are absolutely fantastic!

 

[Quanah]

I wonder if one wheel might be better? Two would be best for straight wheelies. As long as the front wheel is spinning, you can control the lateral lean, by turning the bars left and right to allow the wheels gyro effect pull the bike that way.When it slows down,(f. wheel spin), you have to resort to alot more body english. Back in the day, I could ride a wheelie for about 1/4 mile, or until I just couldn't pedal fast enough anymore.The thing was you wanted to keep it up on the balancing point at all times, so you could go as SLOW as possible, when the front end drops down a bit and you have to pedal hard to get the front end back up, you gain alot of speed and eventually when you go faster and faster you can't pedal fast enough to keep the front wheel up, you simply run out of gear. I could turn 90 degree corners easy, but never could master a 360. Whe I was young and Wham-O came out with that bar, I was going to make one with a old seat bar, after all thats what the pic looks like anyway, but I never had any wheels, so it never got built, my sisters sk8 board had metal wheels if you can imagine that. :shock: I knew that wouldn't work out too well!

 

[JoKeR63]

I wonder if one wheel might be better? Two would be best for straight wheelies. As long as the front wheel is spinning, you can control the lateral lean, by turning the bars left and right to allow the wheels gyro effect pull the bike that way.When it slows down,(f. wheel spin), you have to resort to alot more body english. Back in the day, I could ride a wheelie for about 1/4 mile, or until I just couldn't pedal fast enough anymore.The thing was you wanted to keep it up on the balancing point at all times, so you could go as SLOW as possible, when the front end drops down a bit and you have to pedal hard to get the front end back up, you gain alot of speed and eventually when you go faster and faster you can't pedal fast enough to keep the front wheel up, you simply run out of gear. I could turn 90 degree corners easy, but never could master a 360. Whe I was young and Wham-O came out with that bar, I was going to make one with a old seat bar, after all thats what the pic looks like anyway, but I never had any wheels, so it never got built, my sisters sk8 board had metal wheels if you can imagine that. :shock: I knew that wouldn't work out too well!

No. Tried that with the bike I pictured. Raises the challenge level by quite a bit, YMMV.

 

[bones_over_metal]

The only real way to wheelie is on one wheel!
Get good enough at it and you can hold it across town.

That's the mountain biker in me coming out :lol:

 

[spinman]

Got the Raleighron wheelie bar today. Looks pretty cool. The wheels are secured nice and tight and spin super smooth. I wasn't sure exactly how to secure the lower truss rods to my Ray, so Ron was nice enough to call me back and 'splain it to me. By the way, he also sells these as 'kits' for half the price of pre assembed ones. That'll save you like 50 beans.

Though there are 3 holes along the lower arm, he says its best to use the hole closest to the skate wheels. Given that, I'm gonna cut off the other 2 holes and also bore a new hole on the top truss rod alomg the sandwiched area closest to the beginning of the round section, and cut off the excess. This way, it'll cinch up the unit closer to the bike both for aesthetics and more strength.

Should all be done this weekend. I'll post pics when done and hopefully one in motion.

Spin

 

[spinman]

I wonder how much the Wham-Os cost back in '66??

With NOS ones going for like $400 now, it's probabaly a better investment than gold. :roll:

Spin

 

[Quanah]

Spin, hope to see a pic of your bar in action!