Blog 15: Dutchies Hostel – Why not try a wheelie?

The Dutch are well known for their two-wheeler culture. Bike usage in Amsterdam has rised 40% in the past 20 years. Moped numbers increased by almost 60 percent. Currently 1 in 25 Dutch adults owns a scooter, compared to 1 in 38 in 2000. Combined, Amsterdammers cover a distance of two million kilometres every day! Sometimes, even on one wheel!

Which brings us to the actual topic of this post. WHEELIES; it’s more difficult performing a wheelie on a scooter than performing it on a bike. With that being said, it’s not impossible or utterly impossible. I’ll guide you through the procedure:

  1. The first thing is to grab the handle tightly.
  2. Now you need to twist the throttle quickly so as to give it the initial lift. As you’re doing this, just pull the bike up with the handle. Make sure that you don’t pull it much at the first time or you might tend to pull it too up. If you get the scooter or bike too up, just make sure to apply the back brake. The scooter will come down abruptly so beware of that.
  3. My advice to you would be to take it slow. Don’t try to get the bike all the way up in your first try, its more important to get the feel of it.
  4. Practice will help you get the bike up more easily and safely.

For inspiration look at this 10 minute video preformed by the „Amsterdam Achterwiel“.

Want to give it a try? Or just want to bike through Amsterdam without performing wheelies. You can at Dutchies. You can rent a bike with us for €12,50 per day.