Emergency braking practice - in the wet

[mowgli]

I replaced the brake fluid on my bike the other night. It was raining lightly and the road was wet but I went out anyway to get a tag and tested my brakes on the way. Brakes worked. Big improvement in lever response as expected with new fluid. The following day on the ride home from work it was bucketing down and with brakes fresh in my mind I decided to do some impromptu emergency braking practice. It turned out to be a new and valuable experience.

Once off the main road and on my usual straight piece of back road I checked nothing coming up behind and went through the usual routine. 60k moderate. 60k max effort. 100k moderate. 100k max effort. I was pleased that despite the rain that I could still pull up pretty quick. Not as quick as in the dry but the tyres felt way more solid than I was expecting.

One thing did surprise me early on and that was the effect of wet discs, pads or both I'm not sure. Braking response would start out poor for the first half a banana but then all of a sudden it would sharpen up quickly almost as if I'd panic braked. During the later stops when I knew it was coming it was less of a surprise and I found myself anticipating the grab by pausing a little in the initial pull on the front lever.

I've heard of riders braking in the wet where the front just disappears from under them. I imagine if you were leaned over a little and the brakes grabbed unexpectedly as they dried then you'd lose the front pretty quickly. All the more reason to practise in the wet.

So to summarise emergency braking in the rain is a great way to become familiar with your bike in a controlled wet environment before you have to do it for real. I certainly got a lot out of it. Ride safe.

[NDORFN]

Yep, as strange as it may seem to some people, practise does improve you abilities.

[FJRider]

Reminds me of the "hand grenade theory"

During my army basic training, we had grenade training. We had practice throws with dummy grenades to start.... with throws measured for safety aspects. Then we were given our first "live" grenade. This was usually found to be another "dummy" ... but usually got thrown an extra 5 metres or more.

When its for real ... practice helps, but adrenalin helps too, when its for real.

[NDORFN]

Meh... posted something stupid. Don't know how to delete it.

[FJRider]

Meh... posted something stupid. Don't know how to delete it.

Click edit .. then ... delete post.

I didn't care about target ... I just wanted the bang as far away from me as I could ... as you may appreciate...

[H00dz]

Reminds me of the "hand grenade theory"

During my army basic training, we had grenade training. We had practice throws with dummy grenades to start.... with throws measured for safety aspects. Then we were given our first "live" grenade. This was usually found to be another "dummy" ... but usually got thrown an extra 5 metres or more.

When its for real ... practice helps, but adrenalin helps too, when its for real.

LMFAO Fj, thats the army for ya !!!!

[jonbuoy]

Its the little patch of diesel or oil that you can't train for, brake over one of those in the wet and things get out of shape pretty quick :eek5:

[FJRider]

Its the little patch of diesel or oil that you can't train for, brake over one of those in the wet and things get out of shape pretty quick :eek5:

Thats when "Pucker factor" kicks in ... ;)

[BM-GS]

That's what ABS is for, to help you when too many of those bloody variables vary all at once, or "Oh shit!" is all you have time for.

ABS is no excuse at all for not practicing, though. Good for you - everyone should do it.

Actually, ABS lets you play even more, with impunity once you learn to trust it. I had a BMW with their ABS2, and had great fun on a heavily-cambered backroad, smothered in tar-snakes in the wet. So long as you grabbed both brakes as hard as you could you just stopped, dead. Trouble came when you only tried one brake and it let offffffffffffor ages before coming on again about half a car-length down the road.

[mowgli]

Its the little patch of diesel or oil that you can't train for, brake over one of those in the wet and things get out of shape pretty quick :eek5:
There was a not so little (100ish meters) patch extending from BP Cloverlea, through the roundabout and down Gillespies Line this morning. Clearly a case of tank overfull and spilling along the right wheel track. Thankfully it stuck out like dogs balls. The rain probably washed it away quickly.

[BMWST?]

i did a advanced refresher course mostly for the opportunity to practise my braking on my(new to me) bike.Its good to practise with a third party watching ,they can tell you things like"you are looking down","You can still brake harder than that","You didnt lock the back wheel" etc etc.It is good practise to NOT slam on the brakes,but to apply the front mildly then squeeze,and as you come to a lower speed squeeze harder still.. .I would expect to have a couple of front wheel lock ups....(even on a 1989 r100 gspd!)

Another part of emergency stops we tried the other day was changing down .... and stopping in first gear,ready for a quick escape for the cager coming up behind with his eyes glued to stereo/cell phone/navman.....
The other thing to realise is when you are in a real emergency situation you will most likely WILL slam on the brakes and maybe lock BOTH wheels....your practise will enable you to recognise whats happening and release the brakes breifly and reapply in a more measured way

[Zuki lover]

I was taught that you try to evenly apply both front and rear brakes in the wet - should help you to avoid any oops on the road :sweatdrop .... and a mess in your undies LOL

[racefactory]

I was taught that you try to evenly apply both front and rear brakes in the wet - should help you to avoid any oops on the road :sweatdrop .... and a mess in your undies LOL

rubbish i'm afraid, the front will always be able to take a hell of a lot more braking force than the back. if you are emergency braking the last thing you wanna be thinking about is that fucking useless rear brake, reason being the average rider in the rain on public roads with traffic around is not going to be able to concentrate on moderating both brakes to before lock to save his life. there is no weight over the rear end and all you will end up doing is a)locking it up and slewing yourself down the road. b)crashing because you didnt stop in time by utilising the front brake to the max. putting all the focus into getting the front applied before lock will bring you safety and the shortest stopping distance.


60k moderate. 60k max effort. 100k moderate. 100k max effort.

Sure you were applying maximum effort? To the point where you feel the front wheel intermittently skid?... that's max effort.

Well done and i agree everyone should do this, wet and dry, learn and get to know what the tyres can handle before they find themselves up shit creek without a paddle really needing to know... besides it's really fun!

[Icemaestro]

Tell you what I hit today in the wet....whole lot of clumps of grass on the road...like someone had been mowing in the wet! Not going to lie, grass is a lot scarier than diesel for me now! (managed to get a foot down and save it while going through the corner)

[mowgli]

60k moderate. 60k max effort. 100k moderate. 100k max effort.
Sure you were applying maximum effort? To the point where you feel the front wheel intermittently skid?... that's max effort.
Yup. I expect to lock up (at least partially) then reapply a brake in a max effort stop.

[Devil]

Hey mowgli,

That bike has HH sintered EBC pads in it (along with EBC pro-lite rotors). They dont like being cold. The combination of wet and cold will make the braking performance shithouse until they warm up (doesnt take much). I had that combination of pads/rotors because of playing on the track. Good for summer, not quite so good for winter.

If it becomes an issue for you throw in a set of organic pads next time. They work a bit better at lower temperatures.

For a demonstration, find a nice dry downhill set of tight twisties and watch the braking performance dramatically increase as they warm up.

[george formby]

I feel a tad guilty reading about diligent riders here making the effort to practise & find safety limits. I have been riding for quite awhile & just jump on & go. I also know that my reaction time & concentration has suffered over the years. I should follow this good example but an incident about year ago demonstrated that once you have got the skills you keep them. About 11pm on a pi##ing wet night, sat at a hundy, I slowed slightly in preparation for being dazzled by an on coming 4wd when bugger me, the trucks lights lit up a dirty great dog asleep on the road right in front of me.
Squeeze on the front brake, a little pressure on the back brake to keep the bike stable & then a fistful of front, ploughing the forks down. Their was no way I could stop & had to release the brakes enough to swerve round the dog & not put myself in front of the truck. I used enough front to chirp the tyre but obviously scrubbed off enough speed to make the swerve. None of what I did was conscious, it all happened way to fast.
My point? I have ridden bikes for years on & off road & practiced locking the front on grass, sliding the back, smoothly unloading the forks to turn as I come off the brakes etc, basically playing & becoming a better rider. If I had had to think when I saw the dog it would have been to late for me. The first part of safely riding away from this incident was slowing down when I knew that I would be dazzled, to increase my reaction time.... Practice your braking but more importantly in my opinion, develop your roadcraft so you can maximise your bikeskills. I still consider myself very lucky to have got away with it though.

[sinned]

Reminds me of the "hand grenade theory"

During my army basic training, we had grenade training. We had practice throws with dummy grenades to start.... with throws measured for safety aspects. Then we were given our first "live" grenade. This was usually found to be another "dummy" ... but usually got thrown an extra 5 metres or more.

When its for real ... practice helps, but adrenalin helps too, when its for real.

Watching where it landed before ducking for cover was the scary bit.