Your thoughts please. I have seen this widely debated. But it seems there must be a right answer, and someone here knows it.
Both. The real difficulty is the ratio between them which can vary depending on conditions, though the front should always be more - unless you are trying to lay the bike down to avoid a more serious problem or you are young at heart and like doing skids and have cards in your spokes.
My bike has a rear brake? Huh…never used it…weird.
Your thoughts please. I have seen this widely debated. But it seems there must be a right answer, and someone here knows it.
It is only an issue for emergency braking. I was taught by John Howard that one needs to use both and needs to practice this so one learns how to do it right. One other thing one needs to practice is how to push the body back to change the center of gravity so one can brake harder without going over the handlebars.
It could be an issue for braking on corners I guess but if one is braking on corners one is a fool, as one should brake before the corner, or at least before it gets sharp.
I use both, you can modulate the rear brake so that you don’t skid the tire around. Although, skidding the rear tire around isn’t all that dangerous. Using both brakes can slow you down a lot faster than either brake alone. One time on my tri-bike I did 2 foot endo (stoppie!!) because I grabbed a handful of front brake and did not try to share the load between the front and rear. I know that during a corner on my motorcycle, that the whole bike feels more “settled” if I trail the rear brake a little more than the front as I enter the corner. I think it keeps the rear end planted. I would not use too much front brake during (i.e, trail-braking into) a corner on a bicycle or motorcycle because the front tire is busy managing traction from steering inputs, and braking forces. I would rather let it have the traction for steering input. I have had the front end slide out while on the moto and trust me, I would rather have the rear slide out anyday.
My road bikes are all set up rt. front and my cross/mtb are rt. rear. Like on the motorcycle I use the rt. hand much more in braking. I almost endoed in an Xterra race that I grabbed too big of handful of front brake so I switched to rt. rear on the mtb. Odd system, but works for me.
I probably use 80% front, 20% rear, but also ride fixed about 1/3 of the time with only a front brake and back pressure.
Here is how I would like to corner:
Enter corner at full speed,
At apex of corner, apply front brake full force, while simultaneously lifting the rear wheel from the ground and pivoting the bike around the now stationary front wheel. The rear wheel then regains contact with the ground, still spinning at full speed. You release the front brake and away you go. No need for a rear break.
That would be cool.
-Colin
At apex of corner, apply front brake full force, while simultaneously lifting the rear wheel from the ground and pivoting the bike around the now stationary front wheel.
I’d like to see some video of that.
Techniquely speaking…if you are skidding the rear wheel…you let off the FRONT brake and the rear wheel WILL stop skidding. Think of your weight distribution during braking…it is pushed forward. To push your weight back to the rear, to wieght the rear wheel, to stop the skidding, you release the front brake slightly and…poof* your weight automatically is distributed to the rear wheel ever so slightly to stop your skidding of the rear wheel. The rear wheel needs more wieght on it when it is skidding…its skidding because you have pushed your weight forward by braking really hard. Other then throwing your body to the rear more, which is a good thing…releasing the front brake does the same thing…enough to stop the skidding rear wheel. It works!! We teach this is mountain biking and is very usful on trails as well as the road.
This goes with my concept of a weak rear brake and strong front brake. If for a slow corner, I feather the front brake and hardly touch the rear. I will go with a harder force if I were going fast into a tricky corner, with a bit of rear brake. If on panic stop, I stand up, pull my weight back, then grab more front than rear brake, making certain I don’t skid and lose control.