VOLUME ISSUE NOVEMBER , P105
Shumate then set out again
for the record. This time, he got it
despite being unable to see over
the high-mounted radiator. The ra
-
diator also affected the bike's bal-
ance point so much that Shumate
almost threw in the towel after
two laps. "I thought I should stop,"
he said. "But I decided to keep go
-
ing for a few laps; I didn't want to
be a quitter. Then I had too many
laps to quit, so I kept going."
With darkness rapidly ap
-
proaching, Ascot officials turned
on the track lights, and Shumate
wheelied on into the night. After
reaching the 100-mile mark,
he wanted to go for more, but
handicapped by cold hands and
a weak battery that stopped
spinning the front-wheel gyro
motor, Shumate set the front
wheel down at 102 miles, a new
wheelie record.
Two days later, Domokos ar
-
rived at Ascot to get the record
back. Again, Cycle News was
there. His goal was 150 miles on
the back wheel. His first attempt
ended early when the wire rigging
on his support harness failed
twice. Day over.
Domokos and his Honda crew
returned two days later with
a beefed-up harness but only
made it 42 miles, complaining
of a numb throttle hand. He tried
again but only went a few miles
before the front wheel dropped
when his rear wheel slipped side
-
ways on the dry, slick ground. He
tried again, only to have
the harness fail for a third
time.
"This is ridiculous," a
frustrated Domokos said.
"We're going to get it fixed
right and then come back
on Saturday morning, so
we'll have all day."
Not exactly. Heavy rain
that left the facility slip
-
pery and muddy delayed
things, but Domokos
and crew eventually got
to work. This time, the
harness held together,
but the icy-slick surface
required Domokos to
reduce his speed, and by
mile 84, his front wheel
was down again.
"My hand's numb," said Domo
-
kos as he pulled off the track and
stretched the fingers in his right
hand to restore circulation. Later,
he said, ''I'm not worried; I'll get
the record back. I'm the reason
these guys [like Shumate] are out
there doing what they're doing."
Several months later, Domokos
did get the record back. In 1984,
Domokos wheelied into the Guin
-
ness Book of World Records for
riding the longest wheelie ever.
He rode his bike on one wheel for
145 miles at Talladega Speed-
way. The record would stand
for eight years before it was
crushed by—not Shumate—but by
a Japanese rider, Yasuyuki Kudo.
On May 5, 1991, Kudo rode a
13-horsepower Honda TLM220R
two-stroke trials bike on the rear
wheel for 205.7 miles.
It wasn't until 2017 that
someone came along and broke
Kudo's long-standing wheelie
record. That someone was fel-
low countryman Masaru Abe,
who wheelied a 125cc Yamaha
Jog scooter for 310 miles at the
Kawaguchi Auto Race facility,
in Saitama, Japan. He finally let
the front wheel down after 13
hours on one wheel. He was so
exhausted that he was partially
conscious when he got off the
bike. Check out this video of
Kudo's record-breaking wheelie.
Yes, wheelies are cool. And
they always will be whether
they are for three feet or for 300
miles. But the 300-mile ones are
way cooler.
CN
WARS BEGIN
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Domokos attempted to get the
wheelie record back a few days after
it was broken by Shumate, but failed.
He eventually succeeded with a 145-
mile wheel stand the following year.
That record has since been broken.
Domokos passed away in 2000.
