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Yes, use the front brake, it gives you a lot more stopping power than the rear brake. This is even more important on a motorcycle, where the front brake has som
by xyzzyz 5y ago
Yes, use the front brake, it gives you a lot more stopping power than the rear brake. This is even more important on a motorcycle, where the front brake has something like 90% of the total braking force.
One could even argue that it doesn't even make much sense to use rear brake at all on a motorcycle: while in some cases using rear brake only might be enough (e.g. when you want to just slow down a little), you still should be using front brake every time, to develop muscle memory so that you will use the front one whenever you need to break hard. Never using the rear one forces you to develop proper habit of always using the front one. The loss of braking force from not using rear brake is rather small, especially as you can't push on it hard when you're brake using front one, because you're risking skidding rear wheel, as almost all weight is on the front tire. Recovering from rear skid is not what you want to be thinking about when emergency braking.
That said, using both front and rear brake on a motorcycle does make a difference, so if you've been practicing emergency braking (or have ABS on your bike) and are comfortable with a little bit of skidding, you can use both to squeeze some extra stopping power. Crucially, though, remember to always use the front one.
- mzi 5y agoAll braking will transfer the weight from the rear wheel(s) to the front wheel(s), regardless which brake you're using. So braking with only the rear brake will transfer wight to the front wheels until you loose traction on the rear wheel and just skids. But this shift in weight can be used to initiate braking: a touch of rear brake will shift the weight forward so that your front wheel gets more traction, and then you apply the front brake. This is even more apparent on a motorcycle.
- flyinglizard 5y agoThis is why you rapidly but gradually squeeze the brakes, to allowing time for the suspension to compress before overloading the tires. This is true for any vehicle.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- flyinglizard 5y agoIn track riding we generally never use the rear brake. We brake with the front and downshift to use engine braking for the rear. And this when we want maximum braking force. That said some bikes like cruisers and tourers have such weight distribution that the rear is much more effective compared to other bikes, but these bikes many times come with linked brakes.
- xyzzyz 5y agoYes, but even in those cruisers, front is still significantly more effective than rear.
- vladvasiliu 5y ago> Crucially, though, remember to always use the front one. This. However, many cheaper bikes have a weird-feeling front brake, so I can understand how beginner bikers may be somewhat apprehensive to use it. But to your point, this is why it's so important that riders get in the habit of using it in non-critical circumstances, so that they learn how the bike behaves. On a separate note, I do find the rear brake useful on automatic bikes [0], in that it feels closer to slightly disengaging the clutch than the front brake does. Of course, I'm talking very slow speeds here, and realize this isn't particularly common. --- [0] I'm talking about Honda's DCT, so bikes with actual clutches and gears, as opposed to a CVT.
- tonyedgecombe 5y agoI came off my bike and broke my arm after mistakenly hitting the front brake rather than the rear on a damp slippery road.
- peatmoss 5y agoIf the experience hasn't put you off motorcycling, I recommend taking a refresher riding course, or better yet, a traction course like Skidbike. You likely low-sided due to hitting that front brake rather than progressively squeezing it. Also, if you do take a Skidbike training course, you will be shocked at how good ABS is. Some friends and I took such a course a couple summers ago, and with the ABS disabled, we all low-sided the bike (outriggers prevent a full crash) hitting the front brake. With ABS enabled, none of us were able to provoke a low-side. Lastly, using the rear brake in slippery conditions is the worst take-away from your experience. While over / abruptly applying the front brake can result in a low-side crash, the same overreaction with the rear brake can cause you a high-side crash, which is a much worse day. If you do find yourself with the rear end skidding, KEEP the brake on. The risk is in getting startled, letting off the rear brake, and regaining traction. This happens violently and is what throws the rider off the bike in a high-side.
- tonyedgecombe 5y agoIt was a bicycle, not a motorbike. The reason for the accident was it was a European spec bike so the brake levers were reversed. It was new and I just hadn't internalised that switch by the time of the accident. If I had hit the back brake I would have been fine.
- peatmoss 5y agoAh, I missed the thread change. Oddly, motorcycles use the same front brake lever position as the bicycles in most non-US countries. It is indeed confusing when they are swapped as such.