Emergency breaking - How not lock up the rear? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Emergency breaking - How not lock up the rear?

DDean

Well-known member
Site Supporter
Aside from heading to a parking lot or an abandoned road and letting'er rip, what tips do you guys have?

Ive had to hit the brakes pretty hard a couple times from 80ish kph on my non-ABS Duke (which has amazing brakes). I seem to be better with the front than the rear, but the rear (and possibly the front) is locking up, squeeling a bit and has gotten a bit sideways on me. No biggie, I can countersteer it and keep the bike under control even though the body of the bike is pointed in a different place than the wheel. Sounds worse than it is, but it doesnt bother me.

But Id like to learn how to modulate the rear brake better. I have decent feel in my commuter footwear but not good feel at all with my A* boots on. I lock the rear up with either.

Any tips beyond telling me to be on/off the brake as needed? Im not sure I want to be off it for any amount of time if I NEED to stop. How did you guys master this?
 
I figure that if I need to stop, Im better off using it than not. Is that not the case?
 
its not needed. we your front forks are completely compressed, which shoots up the rear of the bike, making it really easy to lock.
we never use it on the track, going 250 plus down to 60, so I see few needs for it on the street.
 
Nothing but practice. Go to a parking lot and do it until you don't lock it up anymore.
 
I guess that is the heart of it - the unweighted rear makes it close to useless in threshold situations.

So riding around normally, its useful. Grab a handful of front brake and there is no weight on the rear anyways. So its not going to help.
 
Ya don't bother learning how to use the rear brake, it's a useless tool...
 
If you are coming from fast speed down to sudden stop.. And you insist on using your rears. On a sport bike you cant go more then 25% at most anything more and the rear slides. Once you brake all the weight on a sport bike is in the front.

Mind you that 10-25 percent on the rear makes a difference but but takes a lot of skill to not slide it.

What u do is i will use only fronts at the begining and come in with the rears near the end very lightly. Or i just dont use them


"If i was educated, I'd be a damn fool"
 
My guess in a panic stop instinct will be to put both brakes on, not saying right but that is likely to happen, just be sure bike is upright/straight I guess. Most rear brake slides can recover not like a front tire slide, Good advice on this forum.



RE question on how to master, me was the school of hard knocks after 2 or 3 rear locks you have more respect of bike, mainly not braking
hard or gearing down fast...of course lot of things come into play especially the tension on rear shocks.

After adjusting my rear shocks brake locks became less, knock on wood have not had a brake lock for over 6 months, one or two is scary enough don't want to chance fate.
 
Last edited:
The advice given for not using the rear brake is not completely correct. Sure for track application, the rear is rarely used by racers.

On the street, especially more with less than ideal conditions the rear brake however is very useful.

OP, all the riding schools teach how to brake with both front and rear brake, and also what you should do when the rear wheel locks up.

Worth while spending a weekend at a course to learn the fundamentals of street riding.
 
[h=2]How not to lock up the rear? Keep it in gear. [/h]
 
practice.


+1, my theory of rideability is we likely will not remember pizz all in a panic panic situation what we learned at school, but school can't hurt....
we need to practice to get or memory down pat....but some days I kind ride smooth and some days forget the basics.
 
Last edited:

Back
Top Bottom