Serious Crash Unit last night (early this morning)

[ManDownUnder]

I prefer to use both all the time

ummm.. you don't? It's a rare situation when I totally bias the braking onto one or the other...

[90s]

Wonder if it has anything to do with riding push-bikes where you really don't want to use much braking on the front brake and people automatically swap that over to motorcycle riding?? I'm surprised when people tell me they use the back brake for braking, then again, I used to too, until I was told to use the front for all my braking except for really slow riding and emergency braking (using front and a little back).

If this is how you ride a push bike, then you are not riding it properly. Physics just the same - your braking power is heavily biased towards the front. As a cycle commuter in London I had a disc brake on the front and almost never touched the rear in 5 years.
Now in the forest things are different ... but still not that different ...

[90s]

I was (I think) the only person who asked the mechanic to swap the brake levers around so the front brake was on the right, as I'm used to. I'm glad I did this because to me this was a road on which you really need to know which lever is connected to which brake.

Odd, because on 99% of cycles the front brake is on the right.
I am very unusual in setting up my front disc brake on the left - it required a custom order from hope.

The moral - always set up any machine for your own comfort and requirements. Our ex-porker driver wasn't able to - he didn't understand bikes. I think Mikkel was alluding to the rear brake for porkers thinking of the rear-engined machines such as the 911. Lock the brakes on those babies too quickly and you exit rear-end first from the road. Which is what he did, exit stage left.

[Badjelly]

Odd, because on 99% of cycles the front brake is on the right.

In New Zealand, yes, but in the US and, apparently, Bolivia it is usually on the left.

[WasPhantom]

Practice practice practice! You need to practice the emergency stopping until such time as it becomes second nature, exactly the way he would have done in a car.

Once you've done that, practice some more! I'm happy to say it saved my ass the other day when [*shock*] someone pulled out in front of me.

Did I meantion you should practice?

[scumdog]

It is amazing the number of riders at the RRRS course who say "I have never used my front brake". Or, have the back wheel locked in the braking exercise but , very reluctantly, apply just the tiniest amount of pressure to the front (and only because they are told to ). And are eventually utterly amzaed at how quickly they can stop when they do use the front.

Usually crusier riders, but not always.

Rarely use my rear brake except to stabilise the bike going downhill on a loose surface.

Was most surprised to find you CAN lock up the front wheel on a Harley under emergency braking. (OK, I have and FXDX which comes with twin discs)

[koba]

Didn't see the show, but from what a mate said about it they based the conclusion of him not using the front brake on there being no sliding damage to the trye?
Does someone who saw the show properly think that going by the facts available he may have locked the back, been using the front brake and not been going the 70kays the cops said he must have been going?

[NOMIS]

Didn't see the show, but from what a mate said about it they based the conclusion of him not using the front brake on there being no sliding damage to the trye?
Does someone who saw the show properly think that going by the facts available he may have locked the back, been using the front brake and not been going the 70kays the cops said he must have been going?

fark, when i first got my bike i locked up the rear on my way home hardly use the rear any more i do when braking hard but with alot more pressure on the front, even in cars you have alot more braking power going to the front than the rear. but its so eay to lock the rear up on a sports bike as most of the weight is over the front,

[Mikkel]

It's a poor practice to completely neglect your rear brake. Unless you're doing a stoppie there will be some stopping power unused in the rear brake.

Hell, if you're stopping in a straight line it's better to lock it up than stay off the rear brake!


Could brake failure have been involved in the accident?

[pzkpfw]

We studied this film on my CBTA course with Andrew Templeton.

They seemed to have it well sussed.

Bear in mind a lower speed restriction due to the limited visibility (bends) was part of the result - they didn't just say "the guy on the bike was too fast", nor could they really fault the truck that turned in front of him.

(It was a 70k zone, I think.)

[MotoKuzzi]

Then you get a bike like the Moto Guzzi California with rear and 1 side of the front linked. Front brake only is not much use.

[koba]

I learnt to ride on a bike without a front brake.
Sure makes one appreciate how close locking and stopping best on the back really are.

[skidMark]

Didn't see the show, but from what a mate said about it they based the conclusion of him not using the front brake on there being no sliding damage to the trye?
Does someone who saw the show properly think that going by the facts available he may have locked the back, been using the front brake and not been going the 70kays the cops said he must have been going?

Witnesses said he wasnt speeding, cops did brake tests and concluded the speed dropped off meant he could have only used the rear, makes sense racing cars you use your foot to brake, he had been riding i think four days, bandit 250.

The speed limit used to be 70, they figured out for the truck to see the road was clear, take off and pull into the driveway, was less time than it would take any vehicle to come into view and be at that point before the truck had pulled in, this is why bush road is now a 50kph zone, it's the corner with the lunchbar on the inside.

Ive seen the show 2 or 3 times over the years, twice when i wasnt into bikes, and just last year when i watched it eagerly.

It was mainly due to rider inexperiance.

He panicked, i have odne it myself in similar situtions, but now i can concentrate and go right, look for the gap how to save this, front brakes is a good start, such a waste of a young life though.

SM

[skidMark]

It's a poor practice to completely neglect your rear brake. Unless you're doing a stoppie there will be some stopping power unused in the rear brake.

Hell, if you're stopping in a straight line it's better to lock it up than stay off the rear brake!


Could brake failure have been involved in the accident?

Nope they checked the vehicle, in full working mechanical order.

Road condition was also good.

[McDuck]

When i emergency brake i push the rear till the Tyre is beginning to skip, back off a little (but not much) then pull the front brake as hard as i need to do to stop, mean while keeping an eye on the back ensuring it still has traction.



Is this wrong?