Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

wheelstand warriors discussed as they explored their mutual and divergent skills. The first question, why are wheelies such a crowd pleaser, drew this response from Doug: . "When the front wheel is up in the air it means you can't steer. That means you're out of control, at least people think you're out of control and going to crash. Some people are just amazed that you can ride around on one wheel. It's like a powered unicycle, It depends on who sees it. The general public thinks it's impossible. It's like .driving a car on two wheels. They don't believe it. When I hear the cheers I try a lot harder. Usually I hear an ahhh if I don't make a section of the track. I haven't been booed yet. If anybody boos me when I'm out there, I'll quit. If they don't like me, I don't want CO do it." Bernie explained the value of his trials wheelies. "My wheelie turns give me that extra step against everyone else in World Championship competi· tion. In indoor trials a big part of the whole show is doing wheelies. If you can't do a wheelie people don't get excited. It's the same thing Doug's doing. "Another thing, where you have to come around a turn with a bank, and then climb up a step. It was a lot easier, especially if it was slippery, to use the bank co start the wheelie and then put the front wheel on top of the step. That way you don't have to accelerate co lift the front wheel because it was already up. That also reduces the chances of spinning the rear wheel." Doug hasn't fooled around with the banked wheelie turns that Bernie of~en uses. He also hadn't heard of the teerer· totter trick that Bernie invented. For that one Bernie approaches the seesaw, lifts his front wheel and places it above the raised end of the teetertotter. That slams it down to the ground. Then he rides up the teetertotter and down the other side. "The hardest part is trying to do a wheelie up the wooden ramp once it has dropped down. Doug, you ought to set up a teeter-totter in the middle of the straight. Tl!at would be cool for your halftime show," Bernie suggested. 'Td like to take a 1300, bu'ild a ramp l'ike_at the Grand Canyon, put on a parachute and h'it the ramp lz'ke James Bond w'ith that ski jump. I thmk that would be the neatest feel'ing. " - Domokos. "Hitting it with the front wheel would stop my gyro wheel from spinning. I don't really need it, but it does make things easier. There's one way I want to learn to ride my bike though, a different way and I haven't told anyone yet. It will be so bitchin', the crowds will freak out. A different way to ride the bike and do a wheelie. And I'd like to wheelie over 20 cars end-to-end and break the windshields." "Sammy Miller has ridden over 26 aucos placed end to end." "I think it would be harder to ride over cars 'on a trials bike. A trials bike feels weird to me, squirelly. The bars are so forward you don't feel like you have any controls." Bernie wheelies up on the pegs while Doug sits down most of the time. "I have more control with a sit-down and us doing wheelies and going over double decker buses. " "Maybe we'll do it someday. I'd like to get her on the back of my bike while I'm wheelieing. She'd be perfect. She has nerve." .''My wheelz'e g'ives me o 00 that extra step agaznst O"l everyane else 'in World .-4 Champ'ionshzp .... $.< compet'it'ion. " 0.Schre'iber. < - wheelie because I'm closer to the center of gravity. My whole body is on the bike, I can squeeze it with my legs and feel more secure. I can stand up, but I only do it when I'm doing real tight circles." Bernie wanted to know if Doug could bunny hop. Bernie has gone over seven people lying side by side. The technique, a lot easier on a bicycle, calls for approaching the quivering mass of flesh on the ground. lifting the front wheel and then unloading the shocks and springing the rear wheel off the ground. Doug's reply was negative, he hadn't tried it, but he felt he could do it if he practiced and adapted the shocks. Doug does have a different kind of stunt in mind for the Superbowl of Motocross this year. If he brings it off, he figures he'lI freak out the L.A. crowd. And if Doug pulls it off, the individual who will help it happen will. be that announcer extraordinaire, Mr. Motormouth. Larry Huffman. "He's really good at his job. You can't really announce what I do, but he sets the people up for it. Then he does countdowns in the whoop sec· lions~ He's a big part of my success. He really gets the American crowds to respond. "Like in England, Ivan Mauger (eight-time Speedway World Cham- pion) had never seen me before. They had me practice before the show first. You know, let this turkey go out there and ride. So I did my thing for Ivan. Everyone seemed to appreciate it, but nobody said a word. Then I started to get applause after the announcer, Bruce Flanders, got them going." Bernie's itinerary this year includes five months overseas, basing in England, plus occasional flybacks for motorcycle shows and indoor exhibition trials. Doug will be doing all the stadium races, and some of the American GPs, nationals and Trans· USA races. He also hopes to start doing some NASCAR races. And he heads for the Isle of Man in June. When asked to explain his sudden popularity, Doug suggested, "It freaks people out. Why have I gotten this magazine coverage? Why hasn't somebody else done what I'm doing the last 80 years?" "It's just like trials, Doug. All those years and nobody bothered doing floater tum wheelies in the sections. I've ridden over there three years and still nobody else does it." "We're firsts, Bernie." "Doug and me and Debbie Evans could probably do a Barnum and Bailey Circus that would blow people away. Debbie standing on her head "Think you could stand on your head, Doug?" "1 think anybody could do it if they practiced. She just practiced." "No, she looked at a photo and did it the second time she tried. Now she does a back flip dismount from the headstand and lands on her feet." "I'll bet a gymnast could do it too." "I can't even do a headstand here on the floor. She has to balance the bike while she balances her body." "I don't think anything is impossible, Bernie. I didn't think I'd ever wheelie a Kawasaki 1300 either, but if you put your mind co anything, you can do it." "I used to think I'd never get up that waterfall I went up today." "It's all in your head, applying your· self. There's a guy on a Harley, Bernie, who does a headstand on a moving bike. a room for error there. Yet he does it, it's fantastic, but it doesn't get much recognition." "And you're on co-.ers, Doug, and guys who win championships aren't." "If you have something different, you have something to sell." Bernie wanted to know if Doug felt his skills were learned or just natural. ''Well, I just say I'm saving my secrets for when my book comes out. I'll tell everybody what I know in the book. It's 100% practice, but it's a lot of positive attitudes, things more than just practicing. In my case, I use the back brake like in motocross on a jump. When the front wheel starts to come up, you'll save your butt everytime if you hit the back brake. You stop the rear tire and the torque brings you down. You could jump off a mountain and brake and control your pitch all the way down until you hit bottom," "It would be great to do something like that, ride out the back end of a 747 and parachute down. Just open your chute and let the bike keep going." 'Tm working -on a rear wheel wheelz"e. You lock thefront brake and try to do a whole 180 wh'ipp'ing the rear end around the front wheel and w'ind up go'ing back the way you came." Schre'iber. ''I'd like to take a 1300, build a ramp like at the Grand Canyon, put on a parachute and hit the ramp like James Bond with that ski jump. I think that would be the neatest feeling." "Doug, are you riding beyond the 25

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