Down shifting to decelerate?

[Fallout]

I always down shift when coming to a halt and do a lot of my deceleration with engine braking. Having just inspected my tyre and seen a lot more wear than I would expect, I'm wondering if this has contributed to it. Obviously with the SV engine braking, you can take a lot of stress off the front pads and pretty much eliminate the need to use the back brake when leisurely decelerating.

Is this right though? Is it correct to down shift and use engine braking or should I be doing it all with the brakes? I've heard mix advice from people. My main concern is longevity of the bike/tyres/chain/pads.

Gears for going, brakes for slowing.

Originally Posted by Kilted Ginger

Gears for going, brakes for slowing.

Hate to say this but.....I will never agree with this statement....I was taught to use the gearbox (as well as the brakes)...It offers more control...

Blipping the throttle should help eleviate some of the harshness of engine braking. personally I use a bit of both to slow down but probably around 70/30 in favour of brakes if I had to guess (in normal braking).

[Fallout]

Do you guys reckon engine braking contributes to tyre wear? When you come off the clutch and the twin torque kicks in, it can slow you down pretty quick. I wonder if that can cause split second locks (or near to locks) when you come off the clutch, wearing the tyre quicker. Blipping the throttle would probably help in that case.

Your tyre is the only part of the bike in contact with the road so when you scrub off speed I'd have thought the the friction through the tyre is the same whether you use engine braking or brakes. Think its how quickly you scrub off your speed that will make a difference. Slow steady deceleration ought to result in less wear than sudden hard deceleration in regards to the tyre. Using a lot of engine braking may well however result in more wear to other parts eg chain & sprockets etc.
Just my opinion, maybe someone more knowledgeable will say different...

[Bibio]

the smoother you ride the less you wear stuff out.

Blipping your throttle aswell as going down the box smoothen's the gear changes, doesn't stop any harshness. If anything it makes it worse because your upping the revs & lowering the gear.

I've always used engine braking, aswell as in the car. How I've been tought & I've never had a problem with either.

& Persoanlly I wouldn't say 'correct' or 'incorrect'. At the end of the day if your comming to a stop, your doing it right? If your tought 'gears are for going & brakes are from slowing' then thats the way you will ride, but doesn't mean that ways right or wrong either.

[flymo]

Originally Posted by acting_strange

Hate to say this but.....I will never agree with this statement....I was taught to use the gearbox (as well as the brakes)...It offers more control...

Entitled to your own opinion of course.

But the brakes are designed to slow down the bike, they do it very effectively and the level of control is influenced by your skill with them, not a technical limitation.

A little engine braking assistance isnt going to do any harm, in fact it does actually help to steady the bike, but relying on it too much is dangerous and potentially damaging to your engine. Bear in mind that rev limiters have no influence on the engine speed when its driven by the wheel rather than the ignition system.

Using the front and rear brake together properly is difficult, but only because of lack of practice, its because most people do not use them both together.

if you shift braking effort from the front to the rear, then obviously the rear tyre is doing more work and the for sure it will wear quicker.
Try shifting more of the brake balance to the front, dont change down so aggresively and roll into the corners.
i find the engine brake is so excessive of closed or part throttle that its smoother to hold the bike in a higher gear, brake normally (front and rear). Holding the engine at almost neutral torque on deceleration makes for a waaay smoother ride and theres plenty engine torque to accelerate out of the apex anyway.
if you rely too much on rear brake then the bike just wants to stand up straight when your trying to tip it in.

all the weight moves forward when you brake so the back lifts and the rear chatters and risks locking up. So stop trying go against physics and go with it. thats why your brakes are bigger on the front.

for another thing the load snatching from drive-brake moves the chain slack from bottom to top and changes the thrust faces on everything inside the engine.