what's a wheelie?

[d.kathrens@genie.geis.com]

I have discovered that there are apparently at least two definitions of
"wheelie". I often hear "do a wheelie" when riding my unicycle and I finally
stopped and asked "Just what do you think a wheelie is?" The answer was
surprising:

"A wheelie is when you ride with your front wheel off the ground."

It was like dawn breaking. They weren't being deliberately stupid, they
thought they were being clever by challenging me to do something which was
(by their definition) impossible. Now I understand why they seem satisfied
when I pogo the uni.

I replied, "No, a wheelie is when you ride only on the drive wheel."

This is of course distinct from an "endo" where you coast on the front
wheel of a bicycle. Mountain bikers do this, & freestylers actually lock
the front brake and hop on the front wheel.

I want to take an informal poll and ask everyone here, does YOUR definition
of a "wheelie" require a front wheel?

Hopefully our captive lexicographer Jack Halpern will have something
definitive to say on the subject.

======================================================================== =====
| Dennis Kathrens | |
| | |
| Contrary to popular belief, | Q: "Hey, where's the other half of | the object
| of unicycling is | | not to fall, but to stay up. | your bike?" |
| | |
| | A: "Where's the other half of your wit?" |
| d.kathrens@genie.geis.com | |
======================================================================== =====

[Jack Halpern]

d.kathrens@genie.geis.com wrote:
|>
|> I want to take an informal poll and ask everyone here, does YOUR
|> definition of a "wheelie" require a front wheel?
|>
|> Hopefully our captive lexicographer Jack Halpern will have something
|> definitive to say on the subject.
|>

I realy haven't much to say on this subect. Webster's Third New International
Dicitionary defines it in the Addenda section as:

"a maneuver in which a wheeled vehicle (as a motorcycle, bicycle, or dragster)
is balanced momentarily on its rear wheel or wheels"

That's the way I always thought about it. As a joke you could hop and call it a
wheelie, but seriously speaking wheelies simply don't apply to unicycles.

Stay on top, Jack Halpern, IUF Vice President

[Unicycle@aol.com]

In a message dated 95-09-23 09:46:41 EDT, you write:

> I want to take an informal poll and ask everyone here, does YOUR definition
> of a "wheelie" require a front wheel?

First, you would have to tell us which wheel the unicycle represents; the front
or the back.

When people tell me to do a wheelie, I tell them "this is a wheelie."

When people say "you lost your other wheel," I say "this IS my other wheel!"

John Foss unicycle@aol.com

P.S. My definition of 'wheelie' is when a bicycle is ridden on the rear wheel.

[Neil ''Fred'' Picciotto]

In article <951011050049_121150866@emout06.mail.aol.com>,
Unicycle@aol.com wrote:

> First, you would have to tell us which wheel the unicycle represents; the
> front or the back.

Both! Clearly it is the frontmost wheel, and also the rearmost.

> When people tell me to do a wheelie, I tell them "this is a wheelie."

> P.S. My definition of 'wheelie' is when a bicycle is ridden on the rear
> wheel.

Alternately, you could define it to be riding with the front wheel in the air.
That's why when people tell me to do a wheelie, I hop.

...derF\lieN
<--------

+--------------------------------+
| Neil "Fred" Picciotto | derf@brown.edu | nfp@cs.brown.edu |
| http://www.netspace.org/~derf/ |
+--------------------------------+