Do you use your Back brake?

I'd say 95% of the occasions on which I slow down, I use the rear brake. I use it exclusively when manoeuvring at low speeds, and always at least brush it when riding spiritedly. I'm confident in the front, as long as I know the road surface is good, and I'm fine with pulling it hard, but the rear is there so I use it and if the road surface is not so good, I use less front brake which I suppose means proportionately more rear brake.

[dizzyblonde]

I very rarely use the back brake. Sv has loads of engine braking, so to be honest when slowing down to a junction or such I've usually more or less stopped before I have to use either. Besides your not supposed to use the back brake unless its for less than 10mph and slow U turn stuff

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

Besides your not supposed to use the back brake unless its for less than 10mph and slow U turn stuff

Not true.

[dizzyblonde]

well I always listen to what instructors tell me and that was a few years ago. As melody said earlier, 70% front 30% back. Way back when we first met, she was using her back brake the majority of the time. She doesn't now as she was guided by the guys...and girls on here. If you use your back brake for a lot more then you'll end up wearing it out to the metal and causing yourself an injury.

with the engine braking the SV has, I rarely use brakes at all, only when coming to a stop and slow speed manuvering


for canyon carving it's just roll on/roll off the throttle, if the corner warrants a lower gear for acceleration out of the corner, then the downshift is usually more than adequate to set my entry speed

when stopping, I use both, hitting the rear first (by a split second) to settle the suspension before applying the front brake

I prolly actually use the rear brake alone most, in slow speed manuvers, a slight drag on the rear brake will stabilize the bike, usually even slipping the clutch at the same time

[dizzyblonde]

Originally Posted by Korben

Anything below about 10mph and I solely use the Back Brake. I was taught this while learning and I have to agree in slow moving traffic it keeps the bike more stable. Plus in an Emergency stop the back brake comes on practically straight after the front brake has been applied. Again I was taught this while learning and it seems to be the best system.

I can see how people live without the back brake though. I guess I had a good teacher who left his mark on me!

Korben

and others that listen to what they're taught

I was taught 70/30 dry, 50/50 wet, but now use whatever combination is suitable for the conditions at the time from100/0 to 0/100 (and the total 100% at any time may only be gentle, I'm not always emergency braking ) this does mean using the back brake above 10 mph.

[dizzyblonde]

I don't necessarily end up 'emergency stopping' tim, I suppose I am at one with my bike. End of the day I ride safely to the best of my knowledge-practically text book ( is that good or bad?)

I was implying that when everyone talks about 70/30, 50/50 etc it's not the full effort on the brakes necessarily, and didn't want to give the impression that I'm a reckless hooligan having to do a an emergency stop before every corner. I didn't mean to imply that you were emergency stopping all the time either.

But using the back brake (in some form or other) above 10 mph is suitable in quite a lot of circumstances.

[dizzyblonde]

Originally Posted by Tim in Belgium

I was implying that when everyone talks about 70/30, 50/50 etc it's not the full effort on the brakes necessarily, and didn't want to give the impression that I'm a reckless hooligan having to do a an emergency stop before every corner. I didn't mean to imply that you were emergency stopping all the time either.

But using the back brake (in some form or other) above 10 mph is suitable in quite a lot of circumstances.

for sure tim, didn't think you were implying anything..