MOTORCYCLES - Using the Rear Brake

There is a lot of disagreement about the proper use of the rear brake. People that don't understand braking at all, particularly if they have experience in cars, often gravitate toward the rear brake and avoid the front brake. Fear of going over the handle bars is bound to be a fairly large factor in this, but it's also just easier for people that are used to using their foot to operate the brake to continue doing that without thinking about the effectiveness.

I've seen plenty of situations where someone needs to stop and their instincts send them to the rear brake, and when they realize that they aren't stopping as fast as they need to, they just press harder on the brake lever and end up with a locked tire and aren't gaining anything in terms of stopping power.

The other end of the spectrum is people that don't use the rear brake at all.

There are plenty of reasons to use just the front brake, especially on a race track where you never actually stop, you just have to slow down to make your turns. By using front brake only to set your speed for a turn you have the added benefit using the weight transfer to load up the front tire and really plant it into the road, which helps with making the bike more responsive to your steering inputs.

This is great when you are slowing, but it does present a problem when it comes to situations where you have to stop suddenly. On the road there are plenty of times that a rider will have to get stopped as quickly as possible. If 70-90% of your braking power comes from the front brake, that still means that 10-30% of your stopping power comes from the rear tire.

I know that a lot of people avoid the rear brake because it's easy to lock it up, but when you are faced with a potential accident 10-30% can be the difference between a scare, and an ambulance ride. Instead of avoiding the rear brake because of the potential for lock up, doesn't it make more sense to practice using both brakes so that when you need to get stopped now, you can actually use 100% of you stopping power?

The most effective way to stop a bike is to have both wheels at the very edge of locking. Full threshold braking is a balancing act, it requires constant adjustment of both brakes to keep them barely turning, but the payoff in stopping distance is worth the practice, and I've always ended up with a satisfied smirk on my face whenever I hear the hum that the tires give off at that point.

This article was contributed by Jeremy of Vancouver Island Motorcycle School