[Matt]

“How do you pop a wheelie?”
You need a sudden surge in power, any sufficiently powerful surge will do it.

On most lower power bikes that means you need have the engine in the powerband, but not putting power to the back wheel (clutch in). Then when you let go of the clutch quickly (usually by mistake) the rear tire hooks up and starts accelerating the back of the bike near instantly and torque lifts the front of the bike (Remember Newton’s laws, for every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction… well, all the torque being transferred into the ground to rotate the front of your tire “down” is also rotating your bike “up”).

Any bike with enough available torque can “power wheelie”, that is, wheelie without dropping the clutch. You simply have the bike in a low state of power deliver (cruising along with minimal throttle, but engine in power band) and snap the power on.

This is (one of the many reasons) why big torque bikes like the Trimph triples and litre bikes like your own CBR1000RR are ill advised starter bikes. The amount of torque available during sedate riding (without having to pull in the clutch or drop a gear) is enough to loft the front wheel with a snap of the wrist.

On inline four bikes (again like your CBR1000RR, but also like the smaller 750cc and many 600cc super sports) there is also a dramatic rise in torque as you enter the power band. This means that at 4000rpm you can twist the throttle and only produce, say 25 pounds of torque. You get used to that, ride in that way, and never worry about lifting the front wheel. But then by 7000rpm that same twist of the wrist might make 40 or 50 pounds of torque, which is now enough to lift the front wheel. So someone learns the bike, “respects the bike”, and then one day, plays with the revs a bit higher, and the power delivery is much more than their body is expecting or knows how to handle.

—
“The two seconds between ‘Oh S**!’ and the crash isn’t a lot of practice time.”