Found an old motorcycle saftey/technique video from 1990

eru000

New member
A blast from the past! Still relevant today, of course...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIWBZv45gqg"]STREET SMARTS (1990) - Motorcycle Safety Video - YouTube[/ame]
 

Rotaryknight

New member
nice video, some of the advice are outdated like the braking part but its still useful.

Also...such cheap gasoline lol
.97 cents regular 1.03 for premium

The steering part can confuse some people. One guy says to turn right you pull on the left and to turn left you pull on the right. He is right, its the same as pushing left to go left. If you ever ride one handed you can see why pulling the right towards you will make you turn left.
 
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Rotaryknight

New member
They said they recommend using only the front brake.
I can see why they would recommend that back then since the suspension on bikes will compress a lot more compared to present day suspension. If the front compress during heavy braking the rear will lift up and the rear brake will be useless. Todays bike will not compress as much and will keep the rear tire on the ground but you can still lift the rear.

Its safer to brake with both front and rear
 

eru000

New member
They said they recommend using only the front brake.
I can see why they would recommend that back then since the suspension on bikes will compress a lot more compared to present day suspension. If the front compress during heavy braking the rear will lift up and the rear brake will be useless. Todays bike will not compress as much and will keep the rear tire on the ground but you can still lift the rear.

Its safer to brake with both front and rear

I would argue to disagree. For one reason above all others (as there are a few): concentration. If you are braking in an emergency, 100% of your focus should be on braking as hard as possible, while not locking your wheels. Why worry about two wheels when the front brakes can (in many bikes) lift the back tire off the ground?

Yes, many heavier bikes (especially cruisers with their center of gravity farther back) can't lift the back tire off the ground, but still, the front brake can reduce the weight of the back wheel to almost nothing. It's SO easy to lock up the rear wheel when it's grip on the road is reduced, especially when focusing on not locking up the front (and the car/object/etc that you're about to hit). There's really no reason to use it in panic stops.

That said, I use it all the time while cornering and doing slow-speed maneuvers. My rule of thumb is that the front brake is for stopping, the rear brake is for controlling.
 

MotoZen

New member
I agree with rotary and that's also what they teach in the PA safety class. You should practice emergency braking and stopping your bike with both brakes should almost be a matter of muscle memory.

Sent from my other favorite addiction (Galaxy S3) using Tapatalk.
 

eru000

New member
It's not so much muscle memory as it is unnecessary and arguably dangerous. You should really only use the front brake when emergency braking. It's so easy to lock up the rear wheel by using too much rear brake, which can happen regardless of 'muscle memory'. I say just not even make that happen.
 

JDZIII

New member
Its important to know how to use all your braking power in all diifferent types of situations. Thats why its there. You shouldn't get into the habbit of just using your hand brake all the time. On the 8, unless you've got a different fork set up, you bite those fronts hard, and they lock up, your doing a stoppy or going right over. Even at 15 mph.
 

eru000

New member
On the 8, unless you've got a different fork set up, you bite those fronts hard, and they lock up, your doing a stoppy or going right over. Even at 15 mph.

Correct, which is why you should focus 100% on those brakes, and not the rears. Why split your attention between two different braking systems, when you have almost all of your braking potential in one, and the very easy ability to crash with the other (rear; locking it up then highsiding).

As long as you are going straight and aren't on horrible roads, you should be able to recover from a locked front wheel if you release quick enough.


Its important to know how to use all your braking power in all diifferent types of situations. Thats why its there. You shouldn't get into the habbit of just using your hand brake all the time.
This is also correct. You should practice panic stops in a parking lot regularly, in different conditions. You should also practice slow-speed maneuvers and cornering in a parking lot as well. You should use the front brake for the former, and the rear for the latter.

You have two VERY different braking systems that operate completely differently from each other. They affect the dynamic forces on the bike in very different ways. To be blunt, the rear brake is horrible at slowing the vehicle down in an efficient manner. And the front is horrible for any kind of control-braking.
 
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Rotaryknight

New member
From my experience of riding motorcycles, the best way to stop is to use both brakes progressively increasing pressure on the front and a steady pressure on the rear. As you brake you hold the clutch in and shift all the way down coming to a dead stop and putting your left foot down on the ground.

You can use only the front but if you do it with progressive pressure it will not stop as fast as with both, the only way is to apply pressure hard to the front but then you risk the chance of locking up the wheel and doing a stoppie. Many novice riders do not have the reaction time to undo a lock wheel hence the reason for using both brakes.
If you brake with the front only make sure you have an ABS equipped bike.

It all basically boils down to this. If you are riding on the track, Front brake use is ideal because locking the rear at high speeds will make you high side. For the streets its pretty hard to lift the rear up unless you do it intentionally or you are not using progressive pressure on the front, if the rear is on the the ground no matter if even 1% of the weight is only on it, that is 1% braking you just lost if you dont use the rear.

Keith Code and most racing schools like the yamaha Championship school here in NJMP teaches you to use the front only for braking, but thats for track racing. MSF and other saftey classes teaches you to brake using both for the street.

Riding in the wet though REQUIRES both brakes whether on the track or street. But then again, when it rains and I am alone on the road, I become a hooligan. I sometimes lock the rear up for fun and fish tail side to side lol
Rear brake isnt totally useless, many people including me use it to scrub off speed mid turn instead of the front.
 
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eru000

New member
From my experience of riding motorcycles, the best way to stop is to use both brakes progressively increasing pressure on the front and a steady pressure on the rear. As you brake you hold the clutch in and shift all the way down coming to a dead stop and putting your left foot down on the ground.

You can use only the front but if you do it with progressive pressure it will not stop as fast as with both, the only way is to apply pressure hard to the front but then you risk the chance of locking up the wheel and doing a stoppie. Many novice riders do not have the reaction time to undo a lock wheel hence the reason for using both brakes.
If you brake with the front only make sure you have an ABS equipped bike.

It all basically boils down to this. If you are riding on the track, Front brake use is ideal because locking the rear at high speeds will make you high side. For the streets its pretty hard to lift the rear up unless you do it intentionally or you are not using progressive pressure on the front, if the rear is on the the ground no matter if even 1% of the weight is only on it, that is 1% braking you just lost if you dont use the rear.

Keith Code and most racing schools like the yamaha Championship school here in NJMP teaches you to use the front only for braking, but thats for track racing. MSF and other saftey classes teaches you to brake using both for the street.
See, to me, a lot of track riding is not any different from the street. You use a lot of your track skills on the street. Proper cornering, braking, etc... the bike isn't going to know the difference between a track and the street (barring bad road conditions, like potholes and such). Yes, you are usually going a lot faster on the track than on the road, but on the freeway, I (among many others) regularly travel 80+mph, which is track-level speed...

But then again, when it rains and I am alone on the road, I become a hooligan. I sometimes lock the rear up for fun and fish tail side to side lol
I need to try that sometime :) Unfortunately I live in NYC, so I'm never really alone on the road.

Rear brake isnt totally useless, many people including me use it to scrub off speed mid turn instead of the front.
Never said it was. That and slow-speed maneuvers is exactly what I use it for.

All-in-all, I think this is also dependent on the bike you ride. If you're on a sportbike, rear brake for slowing down is largely useless, and arguably dangerous. For a big, heavy cruiser, the rear brake in conjunction with the front is probably a good idea.
 
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