Fort Worth Motorcycle Riders

Curious,
Everyone says don't use the rear brake it will lock-up.
How many of y'all use the rear brake? Or maybe, a better question should be, when do you use the rear brake?

Do you use the rear break in conjunction with the front brake? Only the rear brake? Only on the street? Only on the track? Never?

Do you use it to actually Stop? Or to keep from rolling/moving? Or to set the suspension? Or to steer with the rear tire?


I find that on the street I rarely use the rear brake, unless its an emergengy braking situation (I use both front and rear) or I stop on an incline, or horsing around doing stoppies. On the track I use the rear brake to what people call "setting (settling) the suspension" and if I run off (always remember never use the front brake when your in the weed,or sand ,or mud you get the picture).

When entering a turn you apply front brake and load (weight transfer) the front tire, this gives the front tire traction for steering into and thru the turn when balanced properly with lean angle. Too much brake and too much lean angle and you go down. Problem with this is the majority of the weight is now on the front tire with lean angle added to it. It's hard to modulate brake and lean angle and throttle all at the same time. and you have very little weight on the rear tire which has all the power. The power to drive you into, thru and out of the turn. Distributing braking force and traction threshold over two tires is better than just one.

I have found that if I drag the rear brake slightly after corner entry, light pressure not enough to stop but barely enough to slow down (you should feel yourself slowing) it transfers some weight to the rear tire, while keeping the front loaded. That weight keeps the chain taut so when you roll on the throttle aggressively as you apex (begin your drive out of the turn) it doesn't violently jerk the bike forward and it also keeps the front end from shootin up into the sky (mostly, not a guarantee). If done properly what you loose in speed you gain in momentum.

I haven't seen too many people do this at the track, with the exception of level 3 and racers. I mostly see the ones who only use front brake heavy after long straight and the rear tire comes up off the ground, and it looks like they're fight to maintain control of the bike, You know guys that "park it in the corner". Fewer are the ones who use too much rear brake and slide sideways into a turn looking like MotoGP riders.

Which one are you?

Don't be afraid to use the rear brake.

Front and rear all the time. Cant explain as to detail because my brain is handling that while Im busy with other controls.

I use the hell out of the rear brake

When two up, the rear brake helps keep the bike from lurching forward as much, with the extra weight over the rear wheel I can mash the hell out of it and slow down quick without pitching the passenger forward hard.

In bad traction conditions I use rear only, aka run off, find a magic pile of gravel in my stopping area etc.

On the street when doing a normal roll up stop I use both, helps me stay relaxed with no need to transfer weight onto my wrists or grip the tank as hard, it also helps save the front pads.

I also use it to test pavement, if I'm unsure of the grip sometimes I'll see how much braking I can apply before I start to slide using the rear. Usually do that when it's cold out.

On the track, I only use the rear brake when my fronts are fading bad, I'll rear brake early (sometimes before I close the throttle) so rear brake, throttle close, start to load the front and release the rear, it makes the bike turn "funny" so I try to avoid it. Usually under heavy braking my rear tire is "dragging" with the engine braking even with a slipper so I don't touch the rear brake at all under maximum braking.

I have heard of people only ever using front - ever - and I wonder why.

Depends on the situation. But yeah I use both

With a passenger I use the rear brake only. Makes the ride much smoother and much more comfortable for them. On the track I once lost a pad from the rear brake and went 1 second per lap faster in the next race. Since then I have tried my best to ignore the rear at all times but i notice I use it occasionally - like wheelie hill at TWS and coming out of Turn 6 at ECR. And then there are the emergency braking situations where the rear is skipping over the ground... Grinner can atest to that...

I rarely ever use the rear brake on the track except at ECR coming off the long straights. On the street, I use the rear brake when stopping, in traffic, etc. Obviously if I'm up on the balls of my feet I've got to do the initial braking with my front brakes until I move my foot.

Times I use the rear brake:

Extremely wet/snowy conditions
On dirt (includes dirt roads, dirty shoulders, track run-off, etc)
Extremely steep downhills where it feels like using the front will stoppie you over the bars
While stopped on a slight incline and I don't feel like holding the front brake
While loosening the lugnuts on an SSSA bike

I think that's about it...

I guess I'll elaborate, when in traffic I mean the slow traffic. That way I can fine tune when between 5-10mph by giving the bike enough gas to not have to feather the clutch, but braking enough with the rear brake to not have to stop go stop go stop go

I rarely use it. The most I do is coming to a stop with bad asphalt and by that I also mean bumpy. And two up does make things smoother

I use to use both all the time, every time. Since getting on the track and pushing it hard I find I use it less and less, almost never on the street anymore and typically only at the end of long straights under really hard braking. Strange, I use to be pretty proud of myself for consistantly using both, not sure when exactly I changed.

I even did a trackday once with no rear brake. Things did get a little interesting when I ran off the end of the straight into Big Bend though.

Shaun/RC30FAN wrote:With a passenger I use the rear brake only. Makes the ride much smoother and much more comfortable for them. On the track I once lost a pad from the rear brake and went 1 second per lap faster in the next race. Since then I have tried my best to ignore the rear at all times but i notice I use it occasionally - like wheelie hill at TWS and coming out of Turn 6 at ECR. And then there are the emergency braking situations where the rear is skipping over the ground... Grinner can atest to that...

Heheheheheh....yeeeaaahhhh. I will say that being I am not on the track (on the bike) to beat everyone, I just make sure and keep using both so that when the time comes to need both, Im a Chatty Kathy!
I love my litte beeyoch!

I tend to use both one the street and on the track. Street I use mostly front and then some rear...on the track, I'm on the front brake and only use the rear if I feel like I need to keep the back down

I never use my rear brake.... but then on my bike the rear is applied automatically when I use the front brake. They call it a Partially integral brake. Unless I turn off my ABS.