I know the old adage about front vs. back braking and I've seen that your front brake will stop you horrendously faster than your back brake but as a general rule I don't find a fast brake required. I therefore feel comfortable relying more heavily on my back back.
Scenario: Cars slowing in front of me. I use my back brake, touch my front brake minutely and change down a gear. Problem solved.
I've always been a bit militant about my back brake and using it more than my front brake. It feels more controlled.
Yesterday, however, I was forced to perform 2 emergency stops and locked it up both times.
Scenario: Cars putting along at 50kph, large gap ahead of me and suddenly traffic stops. I'm not expecting traffic to stop where it did and am completely caught by surprise. Emergency brake. Lock up the back wheel and keep careering towards the back of the car, release the back brake and take a firmer hold of the front, reapply the back brake and lock it up again. Stop with an inch to spare. Traffic moves on straight away and I'm forced to let out a deep breath and go again or be run over.
Traffic heads off fast and I'm all shaky from the fright. Traffic stops suddenly again and although I've got plenty of room this time (and paying attention) I still lock up my back brake.
So why did I lock it up? Getting so used to using my back brake, in an emergency, I go straight for the back brake. But because I'm also pulling in my front brake more and therefore displacing all the weight of the bike onto the front wheel then a harder than normal back brake results in a locked up back wheel because there's no weight there.
Solution - retraining myself to use my front brake more.
My mood - annoyed that I have to relearn something that I've purposely taught myself not to rely on. There's nothing wrong with using my back brake as I have, except that when push comes to shove in an emergency situation, a locked up back wheel doesn't help to slow you much at all.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
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