Do I need to upgrade my brakes?

Not going to wade through all the posts, so please ignore this comment if it's already been covered, but one of the biggest safety things to help with braking is to be looking further ahead. I am normally watching the brake lights of two cars ahead or watching out for things that the car in front may brake or slow down for.

This of course all comes with experience.

[Stu]

Originally Posted by Bri w

poor lane discipline thro' roundabouts.

.

Hope you're straightlining them when safe to do so?

[dizzyblonde]

after you've had a go at perfecting your braking...with an SV you really don't need to use them. With experience you'll find that the engine does all the hard work and you can learn to come to a controlled stop under normal circumstances, with just a hint of brake at the end!

As PeteVtwin can vouch....I very rarely use the brakes...only when necessary, or in emergency


and no I couldn;t be bothered wading through posts either

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

after you've had a go at perfecting your braking...with an SV you really don't need to use them. With experience you'll find that the engine does all the hard work and you can learn to come to a controlled stop under normal circumstances, with just a hint of brake at the end!

As PeteVtwin can vouch....I very rarely use the brakes...only when necessary, or in emergency


and no I couldn;t be bothered wading through posts either

To be honest, when coming upto junctions and corners e.t.c I tend to use the engine braking then, think this emergency stop was the first REAL time I'd actually used the brakes apart from a little squeeze on the back brake a few weeks back when going too fast for a bend and locked the back wheel and did a wiggly sliding thing down the road!

So pratice is probably the best thing for me I think!! Thank u

[dizzyblonde]

Originally Posted by Ruthja2801

think this emergency stop was the first REAL time I'd actually used the brakes apart from a little squeeze on the back brake a few weeks back when going too fast for a bend and locked the back wheel and did a wiggly sliding thing down the road!

So pratice is probably the best thing for me I think!! Thank u

yesss, practise, even those of us that have been doing it for years get it wrong...dunno about the using of the back brake in bends, errr some say use a bit to do this, some say use a bit to do that. I say don't keep trying too hard to perfect stuff and get into your own natural riding style. As long as your safe and confident in what you do, any way you get there is best.
TBH I don't listen much to advice on braking or leaning or road position etc etc, as it confuses the hell out of me and bores me stupid....I go out there and ride for myself. When I have someone with me that is very experienced I ask them to observe and give me pointers, usually they come back with not a lot, maybe just get a bit quicker out of corners(in fact I know thats always said)
I'll never be perfect but I'm a safe, predictable rider, who is not frightened of speed, but is cautious when needed, very rarely uses brakes, road positioning good. I'm a slow rider, can't be assed with being stupid fast for the sake of it....but at least I'm damn good at slow

[keith_d]

IIRC, when I was doing my DAS they said that leaving the clutch in helps to prevent rear wheel lockups because the engine will keep the wheel turning. That seems reasonable, but that doesn't mean it's right.

Keith

Originally Posted by Ruthja2801

Is 2 finger braking a bad habit?

Ok I have a bad habit already! Oops! Infact for light braking I sometimes just use one finger"!

Nowt wrong with your brakes then. It's a young, low mileage bike anyway so lets discount this.

Originally Posted by Ruthja2801

So pratice is probably the best thing for me I think!! Thank u

Correct.

Ruth I don't think this is bad brakes, soft forks, lowered suspension or lever adjustment, but do play with you lever adjustment so it is comfortable for your fingers, but don't think about lever adjustment any more than that. Your lowered suspension will change the way your bike behaves under braking, but that should only be an issue for someone moving from a different SV. This is your bike, it behaves the way it behaves, and you need to get used to it. It won't be any worse than any other longer lower bike (Moto Guzzi Griso for instance).

I think your issue is confidence.

You probably thought you were braking as hard as you could, I don't think you said if it was wet or dry, but you didn't pull a stoppie and you didn't loose the front end, so the reality is you were probably nowhere near it.

Sounds like you did OK though, in that you didn't panic grab the front brake and loose the front end straight away, which is the typical schoolgirl error. Sounds like the way you got on the brakes was fine but you reached a certain braking force, and you didn't have the confidence to squeeze any harder, or you didn't believe squeezing harder would achieve any more braking force.

It's not a Fireblade BTW, it won't pull a stoppie on one finger. The SV (especially if your 15.5 stone fat like me!) needs four fingers and a damn good squeeze to emergency stop and that may be why you feel you had no "feel" from the brakes.

The truth is the brakes don't "feel" good on the SV, they are cheap, I completely understand what you mean when you say you had no "feel", but they are perfectly capable of stopping the bike and overwhelming the tyres if you ask them to.

Get into a car park and practice long braking runs, get on the brakes reasonably firmly so you feel weight is transferred over the front, and the front tyre is squashed into the tarmac, leave the back brake alone then practice that hard squeeze. Keep practising and each time you get comfortable with how hard your are squeezing, try it harder, until you feel the back wheel just lifting off the tarmac, practice squeezing this hard until it's second nature and your really comfortable with it. Once your at this stage, start braking from a fixed point such as a line in the tarmac and note how long it takes you to stop, then hopefully as the front brake is second nature now, you can add 5% back brake and practice just adding enough back brake to bring down your stopping distance without locking it up. Think of the brake pedal as a tomato under your right foot which you don't want to squash.

Getting to this stage will take a good few hours practice, find a big car park which is empty on Sundays and take a packed lunch!

You'll ride so much happier on the road, if you know you can stop the bike.

I need to go through this exercise again myself as you very rarely get an opportunity to practise emergency braking on the road, and I haven't done this for at least 2 years.

Originally Posted by keith_d

IIRC, when I was doing my DAS they said that leaving the clutch in helps to prevent rear wheel lockups because the engine will keep the wheel turning. That seems reasonable, but that doesn't mean it's right.

Keith

but you do not change down gear during an emergency stop so the rear wheel will not lock up with the clutch out. i think the clutch is the last thing to worry about, the engine braking will assist you in stopping

[Shellywoozle]

Ruth

Think back at how long it took you to master the art of riding with confidence and that is something you worked hard at and did alot.

This skill is a skill you dont use alot therefore you need practice. You will, like you did with riding, master it. Your bike is capable of doing it you just need to polish the tecnique.

Something I need to work on too, but I leave MASSIVE gaps infront but thats due to my driver training. Go gal and lets hope you dont need to do one again soon xx

[yorkie_chris]

If you're on the bike you need to question why there are things in front of you at all

I tend to sit to the offside of the lane, that way if any nugget should pull a random emergency stop there is a second escape route. It also gives you a bit more thinking time for any nobbers pulling out from the left. And a chance for going round the outside of anyone pulling out from the right if you're lucky.
But of course road position is something you need to adjust depending on the situation.

Or if you're a nugget then you need some 4-pot calipers, stiff forks, race pads and braided lines.. Oh.. er.. #looks nonchalant#