Rear Brake

you brake to set your speed, not to slow down

i read that in one of my books and it totally changed the way i look at braking all together.

I'm a rear brake user in almost every situation. Hear me out.

When I first hit the brakes (slowing hard or stopping), the front end isn't weighted yet. It's only once the weight transfers forwards that you get the increased power from the front brake. You can watch the forks, as they dive, that means more weight is on the front tire. This is why you squueeeeeeze the front brake, rather than just grab a big fistful instantly--it takes a little time to get the weight on the tire so that it can handle a lot of force. During the time that the fork is compressing, the rear brake can give you a little boost, becuase it's still useful at that point. Once the forks are compressed and you're under full braking, you'll want to be off the rear. At rest, there's like 57% of the bike's weight on the front wheel (43% on the back, and yes, it varies according to what kind of bike you have and how you're sitting). Under full braking, there's perhaps a few pounds on the back and nearly all the weight is on the front. The reverse is true on accelleration, of course. When you use the rear brake while you're transferring weight forwards, you stabilize the chassis as well as gain some braking force from the back.

Another time that I'll use the rear brake is to get on the gas a little earlier in a corner. Yes, dragging the brake while cracking the throttle. Again, it stabilizes the chassis a bit, but more importantly it allows me to get the gas slightly on earlier. Why is this important? It means that I can roll into the gas without a lurch from the chain/trans slack getting taken up while I'm at max lean (which means "as far as is relatively safe/comfortable on the road" not "scraping everything and making Doohan look like a hack").

If you use the rear brake like this, it also allows you to slightly tighten your line up without letting off the gas. On slow speed stuff, this can make it easier to do smoothly (I'm probably better with my brake control than my throttle smoothness, sadly, but it also applies to bikes with poor carbueration/mapping).

So many people say that the "rear brake is worthless, it just locks up"... Have you adjusted it to fit your riding position and style? I can lock my rear brake if I'm coasting down the road at 30mph or so, but it requires me literally standing on it, getting my weight off the seat and putting my heel on the lever. It's also set to have a small amount of free play at the top, so that I don't accidentally drag it unintentionally by having my boot touching it.

On the street, you need to have more ability than the situation calls for, at any time. You also probably shouldn't be approaching max braking power with any frequency (if you are, slow down before you kill yourself, eh?). Knowing how to use the brake is going to help you have more control over the bike in a given situation.

On the track, uhh... Mick Doohan added a thumblever to control his brake after a crash left him unable to actuate it with his foot (and proceeded to keep kicking everyone's ass at the time). Reg Pridmore advocates using it on "every turn" at the track (CLASS founder, very old AMA Superbike champion, father/teacher of another successful Pridemore). Nicky Hayden actually burned up his rear brakes occasionally during races and had some problems running well in Indy once becuase it didn't work. Casey Stoner uses a ton of rear brake while riding (from his dirtbike experience, probably). Do you really need more examples of why it's a good thing to have a well adjusted rear brake and knowing how to use it on the track?

It's like anything else. Get it set to where you can start using it, and then practice until you're comfortable with it. Stomping on the brake while leaned over is going to cause problems, but that's true of the front brake and throttle too, isn't it?

Originally Posted by bo1142

I'm not a fan of the rear brake, but I do wish I could get to the point were I would need it on the track. If you watch DTK, Colin talks about having to stay on the rear brake to help keep the front end down because of the extreme amount of power. That's what I would like to learn!

If you think about it, he's saying it's easier to dab the rear brake than to modulate the throttle. Hrm...

I use it with out even thinking about it. A rear wave router does loos cool tho...

almost never
alot of small time racers dont even use it... that shit can get you in trouble more than its worth