Rear Brake Usage during Braking

[Pantah]

Originally Posted by GoGoGavin41

Hmm, why's that there...



they must not use it. Those guys don't know how to ride anyway.

Not much. That's why they are so tiny...

[PhilB]

The rear brake is a useful tool, and does help you stop faster if you know how to use it. Therefore, you should learn how to use it. Your advice to her is poor. She should take a course or two, to get good instruction (probably wouldn't hurt you to do it, either). The advanced MSF course includes practice with the rear brake, including controlling your bike if you do lock it up.

PhilB

[Barry]

Originally Posted by bwalsh

The front brake supplies 70% of the stopping power. The rear takes up the slack. Why only use 70%(probably less if your not using bot brakes) of your stopping power? Learn/teach to use both brakes...and use BOTH of them. Practice your "emergency" braking technique often, BEFORE you need to use it.

What if your girl friend has an actual emergency braking situation, left hand turner, deer runs across road, etc? With out ever using the rear brake or practicing any kind of emergency braking the scenario will most likely not turn out well.

If you are worried about her locking up the rear tire...practice,, practice, practice, makes perfect, or close to it.

I got exactly this far in the thread, and read what I needed to see. Bold = Gold.

Barry

[Pantah]

Originally Posted by PhilB

The rear brake is a useful tool, and does help you stop faster if you know how to use it. Therefore, you should learn how to use it. Your advice to her is poor. She should take a course or two, to get good instruction (probably wouldn't hurt you to do it, either). The advanced MSF course includes practice with the rear brake, including controlling your bike if you do lock it up.

PhilB

It's a useful tool, but not for the reasons you lecture on. You're talking out your ass about things you are unfamiliar with. Who are you to lecture to anybody?

Anytime somebody posts "if you know how to use it" it means he is bullshitting. If he can't explain better than that, he doesn't know what he's doing or why.

[390beretta]

Damn Pantah, you seem a bit porky tonight! I use both brakes almost always, because as someone else said "It seems to stabalize the braking experience considerably. (except in parking lots and at very low speeds) And I want/need maximum braking when I want/need it. What part of this don't you all get? Luckily, I don't want/need max. braking often (perhaps due to the way I ride) however, when I want/need it.......I want/need it!

There are rear brakes for a reason. Anyone who doesn't use/know how to use them is adding risk to their ride. My mantra has always been "If you need max. braking, you're probably doing something wrong....or your road skills need improving". Granted, I now ride city asphalt most of the time (other than a 200+ mile highway trip to Sedona AZ a couple days ago) and I find that accurately predicting cagers actions, riding defensively, saves a lot of brake pads.

I practiced (max. braking techniques less than two weeks ago, on a lonely stretch of two lane. Had the front tire whining and the rear damn near locked up, but not quite.) How many of you have done that recently? Not a put down, just askin'

[SoSlow]

Every spring (so far, anyway), I head to a big quiet parking lot and spend a couple of hours doing drills. During the riding season, I practice emergency stops once or twice a week on a quiet stretch of road. I use both front and back brakes on pavement.

[Fictitious]

I'm confused about why exactly you wouldn't use both brakes. You'd have to be incredibly numb to your bike not to be able to tell when your rear is about to lock. For that matter, it isn't even really a very big deal most of the time when it does on a straight away.

I pretty much always use the rear brake if I don't have to stop in a hurry, and then when I do have to stop in a hurry I use them in concert. Why wouldn't you use all the available breaking power if you want to stop?

[PT Rider]

Originally Posted by Laconic

Originally Posted by DAKEZ
Practice Practice PRACTICE.

Use both and make a habit of doing a few threshold braking maneuvers each and EVERY ride.

Because when you really need it, it needs to be automatic.

It's very pleasing to execute a quick stop for a deer or somesuch, and look back on the event a few minutes later and realize you didn't even think about the brakes, you just did it.

YES!

As long as a tire is on the ground, it'll help you stop in a shorter distance. We all know that braking transfers weight off the rear and on to the front, so---
---Press hard on the rear pedal, then ease off as the weight transfers off the rear as traction decreases. A moment before stopping, press hard on the rear.
---At the same time, squeeze progressively further on the front brake as weight and traction increases on the front. A moment before stopping, ease off the front.
---Practice, practice, practice. Do this for every stop every day, with the intensity suited to the situation. Your emergency actions will be the same as your every day actions, just more of the same as needed.

Buy a bike with ABS brakes. ABS measures the traction of each coupl'a inches of pavement and gives you something like 98.5% of the maximum traction that pavement can handle.

[farmerstu]

Originally Posted by kerhonky

This is the point that everyone else seems to have missed. If your bike will do a "stoppie," as most bikes will, then you can get 100% of your braking power out of your front tire. It's just a matter of learning where that threshold is and being able to stay just under it reliably.

Until your girlfriend becomes an expert at stoppies though, she should be advised to practice emergency stops using both brakes.

lots of bad advice here . threshold braking with both brakes should be done every ride. it should be automatic. most bikes are not sport bikes . most bikes are cruisers and standards. also to the op a klr front brake is more than adequate you just need a strong hand.

[ParaMud]

The tons of motorcycle racers do not use the rear brake during straight up and down braking into the corner.

Their job is to slow down as much as possible in the shortest amount of time and they don't use the rear brake.



As for using the rear tire to brake, YES I do. I downshift! and sometimes I still brake the tire loose which doesnt bug me.

[GoGoGavin41]

Originally Posted by ParaMud

The tons of motorcycle racers do not use the rear brake during straight up and down braking into the corner.

Their job is to slow down as much as possible in the shortest amount of time and they don't use the rear brake.



As for using the rear tire to brake, YES I do. I downshift! and sometimes I still brake the tire loose which doesnt bug me.

I'm 99% sure they use linked brakes.

[hajime]

I dropped my the bike while I was using a loaner for my beginner MSF course, because my hubby told me not to use the rear brake... I was kind of mad at him. Illogical, but sometimes us women folk are that way. After passing the course, I found some empty dry pavement and practiced braking a lot. I was terrified, but determined. I taught myself to use the right amount of front/rear depending on conditions. I also tried a dirt bike which gave me a feel for a sliding rear tire. I locked up the rear brake about a year ago, didn't go down...That was a nice wake-up call.

After, four years of riding and learning everything I can, I'm feeling a bit more confident. My final opinion, because this was a problem for me. Teach her to use both brakes. Explain how the physics actually works. She is probably really smart and can get this.. I know it's scary to let her try. I figure my hubby is a great rider but a bad bad wife teacher.

[Onward]

Anyone I am "teaching" to ride, I've told straight up, I can get you going on a motorcycle, and you need structured motorcycle education to ride properly. I tend to get nominated to teach how to ride a lot of the people I know by virtue of I've been riding longer, and have more miles than most other people I know. I also know I am not qualified to tell people what they are doing right wrong or indifferent. For all I know I do plenty of things wrong (actually I am sure I do). With that said I use both brakes, on any bike any time. My sport bike stands right up on the front wheel with enough vigor on the lever (the rear locking up is unnoticeable when off the ground). I also ride year round so long as there is no snow or ice on the road, and regularly will do brake checks with the front or rear to get an idea current road conditions. Never been in a situation to know if it will help me or not, so I pretend that it will help.

[SocalRob]

I agree with Pantah as long as we are talking about a modern sporty bike. The rear wheel accounts for such a small amount of the stopping traction IF you are properly applying the front brake, that there is a good argument for putting 100 percent of your concentration into getting the maximum front brake usage. In a good panic stop the rear tire should be either off the pavement or only have a few lbs load, and that should be with your butt slid back. Unless you have ABS, if you are not getting the rear wheel off the ground and/or getting the front wheel marginally locked up, you are not getting all you can out of the front.

This thread is a good argument for linked ABS brakes. One great thing about having ABS brakes is it makes high speed full on brake practice safer. For the first several years I owned my GSA with ABS I would practice panic stops at 75mph until the ABS kicked in every day. Don't understand how people talk about never locking up their brakes. Seems like you should be locking your brakes or having your ABS kick in during practice on a regular basis.

[SocalRob]

Originally Posted by GoGoGavin41

I'm 99% sure they use linked brakes.

I seriously doubt Moto GP bikes use linked brakes. I would be somewhat surprised if they use ABS.