How I Started My Own Motorcycle Wheelie School (Without Knowing How to Weld)

In October 2024, I decided to do something a little crazy: start a Wheelie school.

Not buy one. Not franchise one. Build it from the ground up—including the wheelie training machine itself.

In November 2024, I ordered the steel for my first motorcycle wheelie training machine. I’ve done a lot of things in my life, but building with steel and welding were not on that list. I was nervous. Actually, I was scared that I’d spend thousands of dollars building my own Wheelie training machine, and it just… wouldn’t work.

No one wants to burn that kind of money or spend months (or years) troubleshooting a sketchy contraption in their garage.

But the entrepreneurial bug had already bitten, so I took the task head-on.

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No Welding Experience, No Problem (Kind Of)

I had zero welding experience. So I did what most of us do when we’re in over our heads: I talked to people who knew more than me.

I spoke with several different welders, asked a ton of questions, and eventually chose one to partner with. From there, the real adventure started.

All in, it took us over three months to build the first Wheelie machine. To be fair, it wasn’t three months straight. It was:

• A weekend here

• A weekend there

• A random day off

• A late night or two

If you condensed all that time together, it was probably about a month of solid work. But mentally? It felt like a year.

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The Struggle Was Real

Building a motorcycle wheelie training machine in California is not as simple as grabbing a few parts off the shelf.

One of the major components of our machines is weight—around 650 pounds of lead for ballast. Just tracking that down (legally) in California was a mission in itself.

And that was only one of the headaches.

Other challenges:

• Hunting down a shop with a plasma cutter that could cut what we needed

• Ordering the wrong material (more than once)

• Buying parts that didn’t work and having to return them

• Dealing with people who tried to change the price after we had already agreed on one

It felt like every step forward came with a mini-boss battle. But inch by inch, mistake by mistake, we kept going.

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Finally… We Built a Wheelie Machine

Eventually, we got the machine to a “let’s see if this thing actually works” stage.

Our first test? My 2023 GSX-R750.

The time? About 10 p.m.
The place? The middle of my street.

I’m sure my neighbors loved the sound of a sport bike on a brand-new wheelie trainer that late at night—but they had watched us work on this thing for months, and not one of them said a word.

We strapped the bike in, took a deep breath, and tested it.

And it worked.

The machine turned out great. I was honestly shocked and insanely stoked. After all the stress, all the money, all the “what if this is a huge mistake?” moments… I had a functioning Wheelie machine sitting in my garage.

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Toy for Me… or Wheelie School for the World?

Once everything worked, I had a decision to make.

Was this just going to be an expensive toy for me and my friends?
Or was I going to turn this into something bigger—a full-on Wheelie Academy, where riders could learn to wheelie a motorcycle safely, in a controlled environment?

That’s where the idea of Wheelie Academy really clicked for me.

This wasn’t just about doing wheelies. It was about:

• Helping riders build confidence

• Teaching proper technique in a safe, progressive way

• Giving people the chance to experience wheelies without risking their bike—or their body

And that’s how my motorcycle wheelie school was born: out of fear, frustration, a lot of trial and error, and a stubborn refusal to quit.

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Why I’m Sharing This

If you’ve ever thought about starting your own thing—whether it’s a wheelie school, a riding business, or any other crazy idea—you don’t have to have all the skills on day one.

I didn’t know how to weld.
I didn’t know how to build a wheelie training machine.
I definitely didn’t know how many times I’d want to quit.

But I started anyway.

And if I can go from “no welding experience” to “Wheelie machine in my garage and a school in motion,” then your idea might be a lot more possible than you think.

Stay tuned—I’ll be sharing more behind-the-scenes stories about what it’s really like to build and run a motorcycle wheelie training business in California.