South Island deep shingle roads, post your riding tips here.

[thepom]

I ll come round if your up for a dvd session......

[Transalper]

I only have space for 4 or 5 people at a stretch and we have 4 now.
Any more hands and we'd need a new host.
Most convenient evening for me will be this Friday the 25th as J is otherwise occupied then.
After that I don't know.

[babysteps]

My $0.02 if you think you need to use your front brake, don’t. And secondly as most people have said use your body position to steer the bike

[cooneyr]

My $0.02 if you think you need to use your front brake, don’t.....

I disagree. Even on gravel the front brake has the most power. Learning to modulate the front brake is a very helpful thing. Gentle and progressive application is the key.

[That looks like fun]

When my beemer still had ABS it gave a lot of confidence with the front brake in gravel, unfortunatly it gave stuff all stopping with the rear one
No ABS, had to learn how to brake properly again, and there aint no better teacher than a gravel road

[Moki]

+1

For those in Welly with the same questions I have this DVD also. We could do a DVD evening sometime if anyone is interested. I also have 2nd advanced DVD.

I need to get that off you sometime soon Eddie

[Transalper]

Indeed, the only time I'm reluctant to use the front brake is on ice, or probably a big deasle spill if I fail to avoid it.
It even works fine in mud if you apply it correctly.

[tri boy]

I guess i use the front brake about 75% of the time. Picking when n where, and getting a feel for whats happening is the challenge. Braking while verticle is the secret. Powerful is the front. Mmmmmmmm.

[drbandit]

I have to agree, (spent too much time riding mountain bikes instead of motorbikes over last 18yrs.) The front brake is so important. 70/30% in stopping.The important thing is modulate it. Use as much as necessary before corner... but very little if any in corner. On steep sharp downhills you just have to slow the mass down and if engine breaking/rear brake isn't working you gotta use front brake. The two together work way better than the back.

[AlpinePossum]

My $0.02 if you think you need to use your front brake, don’t. And secondly as most people have said use your body position to steer the bike

I use the front brake. Too effective not to. As I mentioned in my post I find covering it with two fingers helps for fine control on the throttle.

Two fingers are usually enough in gravel anyway. Much more and the front wheel starts doing Bad Things.

On all except slick surfaces I use both brakes, I just use slightly less front on the gravel and release at the first hint of a slide.

I'll definitely take on board yours (and others) suggestion to use more "body english".

[AlpinePossum]

I find it hard to think back to how I ride this stuff - just do it like I have for years.

Heh! We're all going to see our arses next time we ride gravel.

Instead of focusing (as mentioned above), we're going to be sitting their thinking... "What did Ruralman say? Was it move our weight forward or was it back, inside peg or outside?" then WHAM we'll be tits up nursing some serious gravel rash.

It's the centipede effect... Supposedly centipedes just know which leg to move first... unless they stop to think about it first!

Ah well, that's usually the way of it... try it with conscious thought and get it wrong, sleep on it, then get it right the next day with subconscious thought.

[babysteps]

Hmmm I'll rephrase what I typed above for clarity. "If you feel you need to grab handfulls of Front Brake, dont"

[Transalper]

yes, handfuls bad, very bad, that sounds betterererer

[Ruralman]

Heh! We're all going to see our arses next time we ride gravel.

Instead of focusing (as mentioned above), we're going to be sitting their thinking... "What did Ruralman say? Was it move our weight forward or was it back, inside peg or outside?" then WHAM we'll be tits up nursing some serious gravel rash.

It's the centipede effect... Supposedly centipedes just know which leg to move first... unless they stop to think about it first!

Ah well, that's usually the way of it... try it with conscious thought and get it wrong, sleep on it, then get it right the next day with subconscious thought.

Oh shit was it that confusing - let me see - how about when you really need the front wheel to steer then put your weight forward. If you just need the front wheel to float over some stuff without causing too much drama then get your weight back (just like when you ride the longitudinal ruts on a trail ride)
was that simple enough to go into the sub conscious ??