Which brake is the most powerful on the bike? Which is the most stable?
I don't have a favourite brake. I use both, in different proportions related to the circumstances in play at the time. Lean angle, momentum (speed), necessity, coefficient of surface friction, that sort of stuff.
I learned a thing or two when I learned to ride, on a CT90 on a farm in Western Southland in the 70's. Wet grass, front brake, down ya go. Get up, brush off the wet grass, off you go again. Front brake, down ya go. What did I learn? Bloody front brake, won't be touching that again.
I know many people who don't use the back brake at all, because the front brake is the most powerful. This is related to weight transfer arising from monentum.
I know just as many people who never use the front brake. Perhaps they had an off because they locked the front brake on a low friction surface (like me), perhaps they used the front brake while leaning in a U-turn, and tipped over (also part of my learning journey).
For example, on gravel at low speed, pulling the front brake on is likely to lock the front wheel due to a low coefficient of surface friction. Especially given the low speed, there's not much weight transfer anyway, and it's likely the back brake can remove the momentum perfectly well. Lock the back wheel on gravel, no biggie. Lock the front, down ya go.
The other end of the scale is when a plonker pulls out of a side road ahead of you. Assuming there is no escape path, and that an emergency stop is necessary, the front brake is crucial. Applying it progressively will commence the weight of the bike coming off the back wheel, reducing the ability of the rear brake to reduce momentum. The good news is that the weight coming off the back wheel is going onto the front wheel, compressing the suspension, travelling down through the forks, hub and spokes and flexing the sidewallls of the front tyer. If you have the tyre pressues correct, the contact patch speads put as it shpould giving you far better contact with the world, making your stop so much quicker. The back, while it's not removing much momentum, adds to the stability of the stop.
One thing that is clear is that those folk who only ever use one brake are compromising their riding, and probably their safety. And until the day it goes wrong, they won't even know it.
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