Braking Tutorial

[dog64bull]

Do you guys know of any good braking tutorials?

[Valiant]

Why does one need a tutorial for that? Squeeze the brake, the bike stops. Simple.

Other than that, squeeze it, don't grab it, and don't brake while turning.

If you need maintenance tips, the owner's manual should have that in there.

[dkazzed]

-It's impossible to lock up the front wheel.
-Don't lock up the rear wheel, you may lose control of your bike.
-Brake before you turn.
-If you need to brake mid turn, don't use the front brake. Use small amounts of rear brake and be mindful not to lock that wheel.
-Find a parking lot and practice practice practice.
-Practice on a wet day too.
-Start out light and eventually get harder. Get to the point where you are confident with stopping hard with just your front brakes. And then reintroduce the use of rear brakes to boost the braking effort. The ideal ratio for hard braking situations should be 90% front 10% rear.

[SECoda]

Don't drive aggressively.

[dkazzed]

What SECoda said. 2-3-4 second rule. 2 seconds dry city streets, 3 seconds dry highways, 4 seconds in intermittent weather. People might try to budge into your 4 second space on the road, just reduce your speed and form another 4 seconds. It's not worth your life to get aggressive.

[Valiant]

-It's impossible to lock up the front wheel.

Whut?

[gn2]

Aim to not use the brakes.

[speedandstyle]

http://www.msf-usa.org/library.aspx

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation has some nice and free manuals on the basics. Best thing is to take a course if they have them near you. Practicing in a large but empty parking lot is good too. You should practice basic braking but also emergency braking. Learning how to swerve is also good; avoiding the need to brake in certain situations.

Lately, I have been working on only using the rear brake in parking lots. You often have the front wheel turned in a parking lot but also often need to stop. If you give even a small amount of front brake while the wheel is turned it will try and pull the scoot into said turn. However, since you also are slowing you end up going down. Using the rear however does not cause the front to dive like that so it is safer. When I was trained they didn't cover this aspect{parking lot braking} and I learned to always use both brakes although differently depending on the situation. Several people on various forums recommend the rear only for parking lots and I have to say it works.

[dkazzed]

-It's impossible to lock up the front wheel.

Whut?

Ok maybe what I said is only applicable in my BWS but it doesn't lock up even on wet roads no matter how hard I brake. Maybe the brakes suck.

[WhiteNoise]

Have a look at these YouTube vids and....Practice!

[homie]

This is what can happen if you ride a motorcycle with a manual clutch and you jump on a PCX twist and go... you might just grab the front brake hard thinking its a clutch when stopping... don't be this guy.

[dkazzed]

The front brake is on the right side of motorcycles and scooters. The left lever is the clutch on motorcycles or rear brake on scooters.

I've come to the conclusion that this is quite subjective and riders should get acquainted with their bikes to see what works best.

[you you]

This is what can happen if you ride a motorcycle with a manual clutch and you jump on a PCX twist and go... you might just grab the front brake hard thinking its a clutch when stopping... don't be this guy.

What a lot of fuss made from a little get off

[djcat]

Braking is one of the things you need to constantly train to keep the skills, even class one British Police riders do train emergency stops regularly.

The main issue with emergency braking is not giving the weight transfer enough time to compress the front suspension and let the front tyre "dig" into the tarmac. The more grip you use for braking, the less grip you have left for turning - hence the need to slow down before you turn in.

When braking, do not "just grab" the front brake, but compress it gradually! The more you train it, the faster you can do that, takes me less then a fraction of a second by now. Start slowly and as you feel the weight moving to the front, increase your game carefully.

Emergency braking is one of the things you need to master to get an unrestricted class A motorbike licence in UK/EU.

[you you]

The front brake is on the right side of motorcycles and scooters. The left lever is the clutch on motorcycles or rear brake on scooters.

I've come to the conclusion that this is quite subjective and riders should get acquainted with their bikes to see what works best.

No you are quite right about which are the clutch and brake levers