Braking, high speed low speed

[Jamiepo]

Ok, here is a bit of background ifo, I have been riding different types of biikes from about the age of 8 (CT 90 was the first !!) and have not had a heck of a lot of on road, high speed experience. I had a CB 400 for about 6 months but used that mostly around town.
I need to know the proper way for braking before corners, I have the bad habit of favouring the rear brakes from years and years of beach and dune riding (not a good idea to use too much front brakes going down a dune!!!).
My experience tells me 50/50 at low speed ie round town. But at high speed I have no idea, I wanna say front/back: 20/80 depending on road surface, rain etc and kinda go with the way my bike ( when I get it) feels.
I spose that the type of bike matters and am pretty sure that I will get a GPX250.

So what is the best idea for me??

Thanks,
James

[Monsterbishi]

Personally, I haven't used the back brake on any of my bikes for about 5 years...

[Jamiepo]

For some reason using the front brake scares me!!!

[Monsterbishi]

It's something you're going to have to get over, the front brake provides over 90% of the bikes braking ability... The rears are there really only to help correct the bike in certain situations.

[M1CRO:Me]

You answered your own question about which brake gives the most braking ability, sooooo.. it really will depend on how many km's you need to shave off prior to going around. Personally, if I need to adjust down in speed (slightly), I will consider chopping down one gear or touching the front brake.. if its a hard-out major, then both front and back (only very slightly) are coming on!! Otherwise I still tend to favour the front...

Around town, I have been known to "coast" up to an existing red-light with just the back brake on, or occasionally I have the odd "two" fingers around the front brake... Choice is yours but I am sure others will have a view

[Korea]

It's something you're going to have to get over, the front brake provides over 90% of the bikes braking ability... The rears are there really only to help correct the bike in certain situations.

I agree totally with Monsterbishi, but here's why:

As you brake, all your weight moves forward which makes the back end lighter and therefore easier to lock-up. A skidding tyre will not slow you down or stop you as quickly. (anti-lock brakes, hello?)

For open road riding, my advice is to engage the back brake lightly as you engage the front brake, then forget about the back and just concentrate on what the front is doing.

Does this help?

[John]

as above, Front Front Front - its pretty hard to lock the front up - you haveto really try as long as your on a suitable surface, typically I brake in the corner to help steer the bike, I use the rear alittle bit in the wet but mainly the front as the rear is just to easy to lock and I find that its nice to have that little extra stablising brake power there if it needs to be called upon, it really will depend on your riding style, just remeber front front front!

[FROSTY:Me]

mate--buy yaself a moto guzzi--then use any brake ya want (interated braking system)
seriously -as above --favour the front brake -if that scares you--go out somewhere quiet and practice untill it stops scaring ya.
in the wet -I prefer a more 50/50 braking action leading into heavy braking where I go to 70/30 front over rear .

[bugjuice]

ditto on frosty and the above. Going into a corner hot, the back brake will do pretty much sfa to scrub off enough speed. I've been in some tricky situations myself where I've misjudged a corner, and have yet to lock up the front wheel. If anything, let the engine do the braking for the back wheel as you down shift. Then you only need the rear braking setting up for the corner. Use the front brake and let off as you coast into the corner, as you reach the point where you see the exit of the corner, smoothly accelerate out of it. By using your back brake too much, you'll start to trail the rear in and could get it a wee bit sideways. Nothing wrong with that, and I sometimes do it myself, but it's far from an effective way of braking.

brake you habit before you go hooning round. Around town where you've got plenty of time to judge and stop, it doesn't matter which brake you use. But out in the open at a pace, you've got very little time to be making such mistakes..

I saw a an accident that was on one of those police crash investigator series. An inexperianced guy riding a motorbike thru an industrial area was doing about 80k in a 50 zone. A truck saw a clear road and crossed his path into a drive way. The bike came round the corner (if he wasn't speeding, the truck would have seen him), and he locked the back up, and there was no evidence that he even tried the front brake. Subsiquently, he smacked into the side and was killed. If he had grabbed a fist full of the front, he would have stopped in a quarter of the distance, and would have avoided the truck altogether.
Hate to put a downer on this, but the front brake is your friend..
And I'm far from saying your a bad rider or whatever. In fact, beach riding and dirt riding will give you more experiance in some areas, which others will never get. Just remember it's a different environment you're riding in now. And go easy in the wet too. You can lock up in the wet, so just nanna around. That's what I do..

[sAsLEX]

I only use my front, and two fingers nearly all the time.

[ZorsT]

I saw a an accident that was on one of those police crash investigator series. An inexperianced guy riding a motorbike thru an industrial area was doing about 80k in a 50 zone. A truck saw a clear road and crossed his path into a drive way. The bike came round the corner (if he wasn't speeding, the truck would have seen him), and he locked the back up, and there was no evidence that he even tried the front brake. Subsiquently, he smacked into the side and was killed. If he had grabbed a fist full of the front, he would have stopped in a quarter of the distance, and would have avoided the truck altogether.

We studied that crash in a motorbike course.

It was actually a 70k zone, and he wasn't speeding. But yes, he did lock up the back and slid right into the side of the truck. Very sad.

Front brake would have saved his life...

[bugjuice]

We studied that crash in a motorbike course.

It was actually a 70k zone, and he wasn't speeding. But yes, he did lock up the back and slid right into the side of the truck. Very sad.

Front brake would have saved his life...

thanx.. was a long time ago I saw that, so going from a faded memory.. just such a waste since it was an easy thing to do, to avoid the accident..

[vifferman]

Look, do some serious interdweeb surfing - there's tonnes of stuff on there.

As has been stated, the front brake supplies most of your stopping power, due to weight transfer and a larger surface area. But the back brake does have a role. If you apply the back brake before a corner, then the front, it settles the bike and makes for less front-end dive. Plus as long as the back brake isn't off the road, it does offer some retardation, and every little bit helps when you need to slow down in a hurry.
There are also situations where the back brake is superior, like slow-speed manouevres, where you can use the back brake like a rudder to help steer the bike, and using the front brake could dump you on your head.

Get over your fear of the front brake - practice using it HARD to stop. If you carry on going "I'm too scared!", you could find yourself ploughed into the back or side of a car, truck or pedestrian.

[Deano]

And brake on the straight before it's too late - (at least until you feel comfortable braking while cornering) - grabbing a handful of front or rear brake while tipping in to a corner is not recommended.

[el milanes]

It depends on the weight ratio over the two wheels. It's wrong just using one of the two. I'd say you should progressively increase the pressure on the front brake the more the wheight is moving forward. http://pdmec4.mecc.unipd.it/~cos/DIN...raking_new.htm