I have the same wheel actually and I've never had issues with it. When I first got Spike I was also a little concerned as he didn't seem to be using his wheel either. He didn't have a wheel at the Pet Shop where I got him and it did take awhile for him to take to it - now he's on it all the time. I think some hamsters get it straight away but others just take a little longer. Instead of food you could also try a little substrate - that might be a better indication actually since he may just attempt to get to the food to eat it and not actually be using the wheel.
Good luck on the Zombie thing, I'm still working on it myself. I generally make myself a cappuccino before taking Spike out for playtime and drink it while he plays.
The back touching seems to set off most hamsters, in the beginning at least. Bearing in mind that this is just my opinion but logically since hamsters are prey animals and in the wild would be at risk of being snapped up by birds I think touching their backs sets off a natural defensive instinct. Spike pretty much let us do anything we wanted to him from the beginning but he flinched every time I touched his back and clearly disliked it so I just avoided it at first. Getting to the stage where they trust you completely so it doesn't bother them takes time and even then you're still going to get hams that just don't like having their backs touched no matter how much they trust you.