[Merc]

I tend to be pretty wheelie happy and while I only have one ride under my belt on the FZ-09, this thing loves to wheelie! I burnt the lower end bearing in my last bike (a suzuki) because of oil starvation doing long wheelies (miles)... so I'm a little skittish now.

Just wondering if anyone knows if the oil pickup is well positioned on this bike for this sort of thing or if one should be careful not to overdo it?

 

[DNFDOUG]

I spun a bearing, doing massive wheelies, on my 1982 Kawasaki GPz750, mid wheelie. It totally sucked, but I did not crash. Somewhere there are photos of a cut-away engine and you might get a look at it, probably in the "I got a tick" thread.

 

[Poogamer69]

If your doing mile long wheelies.........my fist is outstretched for you to bump.

 

[Merc]

Update

As an update to this, 6000miles on bike - I looked over the diagrams and the oil pickup seemed well positioned for this sort of thing. I didn't hold back on having fun but didn't go for any records either. I'm sure there have been a few dozen 1-3 mile wheelies with no ill effects on the motor nor have I noticed an oil light coming on. By no means definitive but it seems up to the task.

 

[Mothy]

I think the fact that it's used for stunt bikes says a lot about how well designed the oil pickup is. I've had bikes that flash the oil warning light under hard braking... not once for the FZ yet.

 

[Merc]

I think the fact that it's used for stunt bikes says a lot about how well designed the oil pickup is. I've had bikes that flash the oil warning light under hard braking... not once for the FZ yet.

I had heard that stunt guys modify the oil pickup on some bikes, esp for slow 12 o'clock stuff. I tried to find mention of them doing the same on fz but couldn't find anything so I guess that says something in itself.

 

[ridetofish]

Seriously, I once knew an idiot that claimed he overfilled his ZX9R sump just to avoid such issues.
He sold that bike because he said it was too slow.