Motorcycle Acrobatics That Will Make You Wish You Could Do It

I contacted Julien Welsch after seeing some very impressive acrobatics on his motorcycle. I wondered what is the lifestyle of someone who routinely rides on one wheel while pulling wheelies and doing stoppies is about common as morning breakfast.

Julien, how did you get started with pulling stunts on motorcycles? Acrobatics on bikes became a trend in France 9 years ago. A lot of magazine started to post wheelies, stoppies, and crazy acrobatics pictures. Finally, a book even came out. Many French riders began to try it on the road and the phenomenon took off. I met a French team and decided to try it out for myself. My first wheelies and stoppies were of epic proportion, but after much training it began to look better and better. Unfortunately, many of my friends had serious injuries since we practiced on roads. We started to ride in safer place with no cars, or people, but just friends, crash and fun.

The obvious question is this you daytime job? I was selling bikes and spent too much time contacting event organizers and sponsors, so I decided to quit my job and embrace my passion. I now have more time to prepare my seasons, I travel and have a close relationship with my sponsors. I’m currently working on my web-tv show called: “Ride Me Up”. I train everyday 2-3 hours in order to lock in the tricks. The best part of it is that I love what I do! It's not only a job, but it allows me to meet people, travel abroad and go to factories. I definitely love it and don’t regret quitting my day job. How many people can say they ride, crash, meet friends and fan daily, as well as travel around the world and discover cool new places and people? My long held dream finally became a reality.

I’m assuming you must have a few favorite motorcycles? Yes, I do and the one I choose is the Triumph Street Triple R. It's definitely THE perfect bike for me. The engine is perfect, smooth, strong, and has lot of power. The sound is awesome, and the design is sick. I was one of the first riders, to bet on that bike, and still believe it is the best bike for this sport. These days, a lot of riders use it also. As far as clothes and helmet, this year I work with Icon products. I trust this brand and promote their products. They are very active within motorcycle acrobatics and has put the sport on the limelight. That's one of the reasons I’m working with them this year.

I was impressed with how easy you made it look, you even manage to throw in humor. One of my problem is I believe I'm not funny in real life until you know me. However, I love to joke around, pull pranks with other riders and friends. In fact, my web-tv show Ride Me Up is designed to also show what happens in my life behind the scene. You can be serious, a professional rider and still use a lot of humor in your videos. I’m always open to points of views, if you have anything to say, contact me.

What I found impressive with Julien is that he does what he loves, has tons of fun, makes a living from it and manages to be professional about it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go out and try a few stunts on my razor before I upgrade to an electric acrobatic motorcycle.