Brakes! - Train your brain! - Teaching granny to suck eggs!

There have been too many crashes lately, and the roads haven't really started getting horrible yet, so it's going to get worse. A fair few of those recent crashes have been directly attributed to misuse of the front brake! When it comes to your front brake YOU MUST TEACH your brain to react in a certain way. Instinctive human reactions have no place being anywhere near your front brake lever. You NEED TO OVER-RIDE YOUR INSTINCT!

So, I don't really care if this thread is teaching granny to suck eggs, and as much as many of you probably think I'm a barsteward, I do have a heart and I don't like to see people getting hurt, so I'm going to teach granny to suck, suck, suck!!!


This thread isn't for the "I'm Valentino and I could out-brake an ABS bike" crowd anyway, if you already think your a braking god, this is not the thread for you or your comments.



In the same way you instinctively put your hands out when you fall, there are two very common scenarios where instinct lands you in the sh!t.

1. Emergency braking panic - you panic and grab the front brake lever and immediately lock the front wheel

2. Mid-corner panic - you think your not going to make it round a corner at the speed you are travelling, so you brake

so.....

1. Emergency Braking. You need to TRAIN YOUR BRAIN to take control of your fingers in a panic situation. Find an empty car park and practice, practice, practice. Imagine the panic and treat each practice as if it were an emergency. Having a friend give you a signal at a random point, to tell you when to stop is a help. TRAIN YOUR BRAIN in an emergency stop panic situation to tell your fingers DON'T GRAB, SQUEEZE!. Squeeze gently, don't snatch or grab, gently at first until weight has transferred to the front and you feel the front tyre is squashing into the tarmac, then squeeze hard.

2. Corner Panic. You need to TRAIN YOUR BRAIN to control your fingers, your throttle, your countersteer pressure, and your body position. DON'T BRAKE, LEAN!. I'm not going to suggest you should practice this, because it could so easily end up in you lowsiding your bike, but it can be practiced in relative saftey in a car park by marking out a roundabout in chalk, and I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

But the theory is this, if you find yourself starting to panic because you are not going to make a corner, take control of that panic and think! Lean further, countersteer harder, give the throttle a tiny twist more, pull the bike down into the lean with your outside knee if you need to. Expect something on the bike, or your foot, or your inside knee to touch tarmac, and don't be surprised and let it disturb you if it does. It's better to lowside the bike and crash having tried to make the corner, than to crash because you panic'ed and tried to abort. You'd be surprised what the bike and your tyres can do.

The over-riding message in this thread, and it's something that EVERY RIDER MUST LEARN is

TRAIN YOUR BRAIN

You must train your brain to maintain composure and control in a panic situation, so you react how you need to react on a motorcycle, not how instinct is telling you to react. It not an easy thing to do, when adrenaline suddenly rushes round your body, your heart beats faster, and your brain goes "OH F*#K!", but as a motorcycle rider, you MUST learn how to do it. It doesn't matter how many years you've been riding, if you haven't got this drilled into your skull, you are susceptible to this type of crash when the sh!t hits the fan.

If anyone thinks any part of this isn't clear, or could have been explained better, please feel free to chip in.

If anyone can post up any reading, youtube videos, etc, which we can see 'here and now' on the internet, which helps explain this, please do so.

Whilst I understand and agree with the sentiments....PMSL!

TRAIN YOUR BRAIN! That reads like one of those cheesy american infomercial things with the amount of times you said "TRAIN YOUR BRAIN."

But yeh. Do what he says.

[fizzwheel]

Moved to bike talk so it doesnt get lost amongst the IB.

Originally Posted by Milky Bar Kid

Whilst I understand and agree with the sentiments....PMSL!

TRAIN YOUR BRAIN! That reads like one of those cheesy american infomercial things with the amount of times you said "TRAIN YOUR BRAIN."

But yeh. Do what he says.

yup, i've had a few occasions going into the corner, think cack not going to make it, or faster than I would normally go, so brake then feel the bike start to come up/run wide so come off the brakes and make it round, pheeww
It's the coming off the anchors that's the hard part, and as YC has said in the past, when you do brake, brake hard once you have transfered the weight to the front of the bike that is.

Originally Posted by Milky Bar Kid

Whilst I understand and agree with the sentiments....PMSL!

TRAIN YOUR BRAIN! That reads like one of those cheesy american infomercial things with the amount of times you said "TRAIN YOUR BRAIN."

But yeh. Do what he says.

LOL yep, i thought the same, ill remember this post for a long time, ill be quoting the slogan randomly.

#updates signature

Yep, learning to make sure you're not in too high a gear going round that corner so you can use the engine braking wisely really makes a difference. I've lost count of the number of times I've had that "oh sh%&*" moment only to thank my reactions for rolling off the throttle and leaning over more. Thankfully I've built this awareness up through my 125 experience, and it's so much easier to apply to the SV with it being so much more stable when leaning - as I've found anyway.

We have a few "fun" corners round our way, I've found just trundling around them at 30 mph while leaning as far over as I dare really helped me get to grips with just how forgiving the SV can be and I don't get scared so much if I do take that corner a bit wider than perhaps I'd have liked because I know I can lean more and she'll sail round

Good thread btw Ralph

Sorry Bluefishman, just to clarify, the structure of your post made it confusing

Originally Posted by bluefishman

yup, i've had a few occasions going into the corner, think cack not going to make it, or faster than I would normally go, so brake then feel the bike start to come up/run wide so come off the brakes and make it round, pheeww

It's the coming off the anchors that's the hard part

Is talking about panic in a corner

Originally Posted by bluefishman

and as YC has said in the past, when you do brake, brake hard once you have transfered the weight to the front of the bike that is.

Is talking about emergency braking in a straight line, and has nothing to do with cornering.

Originally Posted by beabert

#updates signature

More 's

At least people will remember it! Mission accomplished

[DarrenSV650S]

I'm at the other end of the scale sometimes. I don't brake enough for fear of locking up. Like a week or so ago I was going along a fast straight on a single lane country road and suddenly noticed the road was flooded up ahead and had to brake quite quick to stop in time. But because the road was damp nearer the flooded bit I was thinking about that and how it might be slippy.