Steep downhill drive with corners - using brakes too hard

[kelly01]

Hey,

Not sure if this is where this post should go but as a brand new rider (picked up bike yesterday!) and in need of help...

So, I live down a pretty steep but short driveway with two hard right corners (joys of Wellington). When I get to the bottom, can smell brakes so assuming I'm riding them too hard.

What would you do to get down at a relatively safe speed? Could it just be because I'm still wearing in the brake pads a bit??

Thanks for any help - know it's hard to answer without knowing the driveway in question.


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[FJRider]

When I get to the bottom, can smell brakes so assuming I'm riding them too hard.

Is it the clutch ... or brakes you smell .. ??

Your own confidence will be likely to be the issue.

[LBD]

Hey,


So, I live down a pretty steep but short driveway with two hard right corners (joys of Wellington). When I get to the bottom, can smell brakes so assuming I'm riding them too hard.

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Unlikely to be clutch unless you have a Ducati type dry clutch...

I hope you have the engine running, bike in a low gear, clutch out, and are using the engine braking...? Then just using the front brake to modulate the speed...

My brakes would only really get hot at the end of the Teretonga strait...

[jellywrestler]

Hey,

Not sure if this is where this post should go but as a brand new rider (picked up bike yesterday!) and in need of help...

So, I live down a pretty steep but short driveway with two hard right corners (joys of Wellington). When I get to the bottom, can smell brakes so assuming I'm riding them too hard.

What would you do to get down at a relatively safe speed? Could it just be because I'm still wearing in the brake pads a bit??

Thanks for any help - know it's hard to answer without knowing the driveway in question.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

generally i use the rear brake down such a hill.

[FJRider]

Unlikely to be clutch unless you have a Ducati type dry clutch...

I hope you have the engine running, bike in a low gear, clutch out, and are using the engine braking...? Then just using the front brake to modulate the speed...

My brakes would only really get hot at the end of the Teretonga strait...

Her bike ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aprilia_Mojito


I'm guessing NO (actual) gears ... No engine braking ... and barely competant brakes.


My advice ... keep momentum with BOTH brakes ... just enough forward movement to stay upright. Take the corners wide ... with your feet to either side.

A sealed driveway should not be a big issues (with care) ... but gravel may require a little more expertise.

[ellipsis]

...practice on some old cunts Goldwing for a morning...that will turn your whole leaving home thing on your sickle into a Josh Coppins type of affair.You will want to go home just so you can leave again...

[Maha]

generally i use the rear brake down such a hill.

Absolutely, the use of the rear brake is underrated, especially in a scenario such as the one queried.

I use in general as a cover, effective in seating the rear of the bike in any downhill cornering.

[Ocean1]

Your brakes will be fine.

Here's a wee confidence building trick: Stop. Use both brakes and squeeze progressively. Stop every meter on the way down. Go back up and do it again.

By the time you've done it three times you should just about have convinced yourself you can stop any time you like, and by implication you can slow to whatever speed you feel comfortable at.

For more practice, find a bit of loose gravel and, at walking speed squeeze one brake at a time until you feel it skid, let go immediately. Try to get a feel for what you can expect from different surfaces, at walking pace.

Traction is a much bigger thing for bikes than for cars, learning to read surfaces and knowing what to expect from them is something you can get away without in a car, not on a bike.

[rastuscat]

bike in a low gear, clutch out, and are using the engine braking...? Then just using the front brake to modulate the speed....

The rear brake is definitely the go-to brake when doing slow speed manoeuvring. In particular on low friction surfaces, but also on surfaces with a high coefficient of friction.

At low speed the weight transfer under braking is minimal due to the lower momentum, so the rear brake is at least as efficient.

Trusting the front brake when taking hairpins at low speed for a new rider is a recipe for disaster.

Better to use both brakes in combination when you are new, but relying more on the rear brake, when doing low speed work. Trail it, modulate it, don't stamp on it. Use your engine braking as well, as suggested.

[LBD]

Her bike ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aprilia_Mojito


I'm guessing NO (actual) gears ... No engine braking ... and barely competant brakes.


My advice ... keep momentum with BOTH brakes ... .

Ah... yes, I missed that detail.... what he says, BOTH brakes ...

[GrayWolf]

as we progress and become experienced riders it can get hard to remember and reflect what it was like....
One small addition I would make to rastus's post...
I wonder if you are allowing speed to build a little 'before' applying the brakes? If so, you have speed you feel is a bit to much, and, kinetic energy {acceleration} that you need to retard before you actually start to 'lose speed'. So I am going to suggest, you apply the rear brake VERY slightly as you begin to move off down the drive, so you have a method of slowing speed build up, like you would with a manually selected ' low gear', rather than 'grabbing' the brakes. It may take a wee bit of practice, but it's a similar technique to what you learnt to go round the cones in your basic training,, rear brake to stabilise and control.

[rastuscat]

As GW said, the easiest and most efficient way to reduce speed is to not gain it in the first place.

It's a very useful skill, trailing the brakes.

[Moi]

I am wondering if the OP came to a complete stop at the top of the driveway with the scooter positioned with its front wheel on the down slope and the rear on the flat with her feet at the change point and then moved off from there trailing the rear brake she may find it more controlled and comfortable. That way she's more able to establish a speed that is comfortable for her and use the front brake only to reduce speed to a stop with the rear brake controlling the speed - if that makes sense...

[Drew]

Holy shit. The OP didn't ask for riding lessons, he asked why his brakes stunk when he got down his driveway for fuck sakes.

I cannot imagine any driveway long enough to get your brakes that hot, that is steep enough to have the brakes on quite hard.

So there could be something wrong, or you could be dragging the brakes a bit on the home stretch of your commute. Ya need some real world assistance from an experienced person.

[Maha]

It's a very useful skill, trailing the brakes.

Young chap, been riding for four months, soon after leaving a lunch stop, dumped his bike on the ground after trailing his brakes coupled with that slalom bullshit, he was pretty shaken. He had read ON HERE that it was the thing to do. We explained to him that it was NOT the thing to do.

Well never in the situation at least.

Trailing the brakes IS useful, knowing when to use the technique is even more useful.