Motorcycle Braking: Front VS Rear - When & Why

front brake rear brake both brakes when and why should you use which brake on your motorcycle unlike a car that has a single brake pedal a motorcycle has a front and a rear brake that can be controlled independently how do you know which one to use and when well this week on mcrider we'll talk about breaking strategy my name is kevin and i release a weekly video here on mcwriter focused on road skills or road strategy to help you become a better writer become a member of mcwriter and get access to even more tools to help you stay sharp and develop your skills on two wheels now before we get into braking strategy let's get some common terms out of the way as it relates to braking systems there are length brakes or combined brakes which is a system for linking the front and rear brake on a motorcycle or scooter in this system the rider's action of depressing one of the brake levers applies both front and rear brake so it doesn't matter whether you squeeze the front brake or use the rear brake with your foot it applies both brakes there's also integrated brakes where applying just the rear brake applies some of the front brake as well and when it comes to the variations of integrated and linked braking systems it's best to refer to the owner's manual to see which your particular motorcycle has as there are different variations depending on the manufacturer of the motorcycle some motorcycles also have abs abs stands for anti-lock braking system and this keeps the tires from locking up and skidding if you get ham-fisted with the brakes in an emergency in reality all of these different braking systems have very little impact on your strategy for braking they're a backup but they're not directly impact your strategy if you're using the correct technique that is i always encourage every writer to start with good technique and then it doesn't matter what braking system you have because the rider's in complete control of the stocking power and the various braking systems act as a backup to the skill of the rider so always focus on your skill use these braking systems as a backup the brake with most of the impact on your stopping distance on the street will always be the front brake that's because as you stop more and more weight is shifted to the front of the motorcycle so as the motorcycle comes up begins to stop more and more weight bias goes to that front tire most larger motorcycles will have a brake disc and calipers on both sides of the front wheel so that front tire has much more stopping power than the rear which has one disc on the rear these are designed to handle a lot of heat these brakes on the front to get the motorcycle to a stop as quickly as possible and even on motorcycles with just one caliper in the front it'll be much larger braking system on the front than on the rear of the motorcycle because the front brake is so critical in an emergency think of that rear brake as more of a control brake so when you're stopping in an emergency it provides additional stopping power to the front and maybe the difference between stopping in time or hitting the obstacle so you always want to use both brakes in an emergency in slow speed situations that rear brake adds additional control and refinement to what the rider is trying to do at slow speeds so in what circumstances should you use which break and why well first let's talk about normal braking when coming to a stop at like a stop sign or a stop light you want to use both brakes in this scenario the smoother you are with the brakes the smoother the motorcycle will come to a stop i always tell riders to initiate every stop with the front and the rear brake you build up your muscle memory and that way in an emergency that muscle memory is built up using the front and rear brake to get the motorcycle to a stop however if you've become proficient at braking in normal braking and emergency situations so for our skilled riders there's one trick that you can use and experiment with to smooth out your normal stops even more remember we call that rear brake the control brake so when coming to a normal stop if you initiate braking with both brakes so i'm using that front and rear brake to initiate the stop and a few feet before the final stop you can smoothly release or let out on that front brake and finish the stop using the rear brake you'll find that if you do that that your stop will be much smoother and in a much more controlled manner the motorcycle will also be more balanced as it comes to a stop because there's not so much quite as much forward bias on that front tire so the technique is you have the front and rear brake applied for a normal stop if you want to smooth out your stop or experiment with that before coming to a complete stop say the last five or ten miles per hour slowly release that front brake and finish the stop maintaining the rear brake the motorcycle will be much more balanced and control when you come to your stop emergency braking in an emergency you want to get the motorcycle stopped as quickly as possible without locking either tire that's whether you've got abs and or not on the motorcycle you really don't want abs engaged if you could keep from it you want to use both brakes to accomplish this but primarily focus your focus should be on that front brake where most of your stopping power comes from the initial application of the front brake should always be smooth but in an emergency if you continue to smoothly apply that braking power to the front brake as more and more weight transfers to the front you can stop the motorcycle in a shorter distance so if i'm riding down the street and i come up to a stop my brake hand here this is a normal stop at a stop light i'm going to start squeezing on that front brake and i'm going to squeeze until i have enough stopping power to get the motorcycle to a stop now i'm riding down the street and a car's pulled out in front of me i'm going to go to that front brake in the same manner i'm not going to grab it remember if i grab it i'm locking up that tire if you don't have abs it's a quick way to crash if you do have abs you're going to extend your stopping distance a little bit so you want to go straight to that front brake the way you normally do the difference is in an emergency i'm going to continue applying pressure to that front brake so as the motorcycle goes and it begins to slow down more and more weight is transferring to that front tire giving it more stopping power and i'm using that stopping power by applying more pressure to that brake lever to get the motorcycle to a stop the rear brake just adds a little additional stopping power to the process and how much it applies to the process will be dependent on the type of motorcycle you ride so sport bikes get less stopping power from the rear and cruisers and touring bikes get a little bit more it depends a lot on factors like the rake of the forks and the weight distribution of the motorcycle also when carrying a passenger or a lot of luggage you'll get more stopping power from the rear brake in those situations as well slow speed control use the rear brake for slow speed control like when performing a u-turn moving through slow traffic out on the street and especially when the handlebars are turned at slow speeds light use or dragging the rear brake so keeping a little steady pressure is a very useful technique and practice to practice in these slow speed situations just using a little rear brake to drag it in those slow speed situations really helps balance the motorcycle out in slow speed situation you want to stay away from that front brake the quickest way i know of to drop a motorcycle is to apply the front brake with the handlebars turned at slow speeds it's the perfect recipe to learn how to pick up a motorcycle by having those handlebars turned and reaching out and getting hold of that front brake you want to make sure you're using the rear brake and that you're being smooth with it especially when the handlebars are turned now there could be hours and hours of content on the subject of braking on a motorcycle and while i can't do it all in a single video here on mcwriter i have set something up especially for you guys if you go to mcwriter.com break videos so mcwriter.com break videos i put together a full page of videos all on the subject of breaking on a motorcycle so if there's something you still got questions about i encourage you to go to that page and you may find the answer of what you're looking for these videos are available for free to every writer who's watching this video and just wants to learn more about stopping on a motorcycle just consider it my m.c rider christmas gift to all of you guys so if you're looking for videos on emergency braking normal braking how to be smoother trail braking or trips are not dropping your motorcycle at slow speeds you'll find it at mcwriter.com break videos until next week guys i hope you have a very merry christmas this is kevin with mcrider and i'll see you on the road you

Channel: MCrider - Motorcycle Training

Views: 197,856

Keywords: motorcycle brakes front or rear, front brake, front braking, motorcycle brake techniques, rear brake motorcycle, ABS brakes motorcycle, emergency braking motorcycle, how to brake on a motorcycle, integrated brakes, linked brakes, when to use front and rear brakes on a motorcycle

Id: jHhRZLHA-cA

Length: 10min 12sec (612 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 18 2020