Emergency braking

[Flash]

Proper advice tells you to use your brakes in conjunction. From my experiences I would definitely use the front brakes (almost exclusively). Mine work real well.

I did have the bad habit of using the rear brake only. My inexperience showed off rather quickly. Lets just say a 15-20 foot fishtail is no fun. The first time I did it was when a truck ahead of me stopped at a yellow light! :x  I fishtailed and was able to stop in the lane to the right of him. I sure was glad that lane was open. The second time it happened I was on a busy highway during rush hour in the left lane and the cars started to back up real quick. The SUV in front of me was also caught off guard and swerved to the left shoulder. I fishtailed to the inside again. Everything was in slow motion. I happened to have a another biker directly behind me on his 600cc rice rocket. All I saw was a plume of smoke (presumably from his tires) fly by me. I sure am glad he didn't rear end me.

As far as downshifting you always want to be in the proper gear at all times in case you need to accelerate out of a bad situation. However, be sure not to let out the clutch to soon or else your high revs will lock your rear wheel and you might kill your engine if you panic and don't keep on the throttle.

[paui]

i think my front tire is crap b/c whenever i emergency brake (about 2 times a day with crazy nyc taxis and crazy drivers who dont care about life) and the tire almost always makes a sound (gRRRRRRRRRRRWWWP!) and sometimes the bike itself gets upset (the front wheel would kinda wanna tankslap? i cant really describe it but once it happened and the bike wanted to drop down on its right side)
i know some of you are questioning my braking skill but i was a wonderful braker (?) at msf and i dont ever grab the front brake....sometimes the tire makes sounds when im barely pulling in  the front brake lever

[pantablo]

Paui,
your front tire is probably old and dried out. check it for cracks. check the manufacture date on the side...oh, now I've forgotten how to decifer the code...I think its this: there'sa  4 digit number on the side wall (may be last 4 in a grouping) the first 2 digits are the week of the year they were made, the last 2 the year. I think thats right, not sure.

How old is tire anyway?

[alerbaugh]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this but if you lock up the rear tire, keep it locked.  The back tire has a habit of sliding out and if it regains traction it could spill you out.   The only time I've ever used emergency braking was coming home from school in the rain, a car cut in front of me and braked hard for a stoplight.  My back tire locked up.  She came about 3-5 inches from having a 17inch radial up her tailpipe :nana: .  Because I ride offroad so much, lost traction is second nature to me on 2 wheels.  Don't panic, you can stop.  It could also help if you shoot between two cars as well.

[Rema1000]

I typically just concentrate on the front in the dry, since I know I can get the rear wheel off the ground, and I will just lock the rear with my clumsy left foot. But at high speeds, leading with the rear brake will get some weight shift onto the front tire before applying the front.

I'm with Kevin:  as you bear on the front binders, ease up on the rear and forget about it: by the time it is useful again, the bike is almost stopped, and the emergency has passed.  I think in practice it feels more like a blip of the rear brake, or a firm tap, and then you're off the rear already.  When I really bear on the binders, I have shifted all braking to the front wheel in under a half-second.

The front brake is your true friend .  The rear brake is only there to introduce you to your new dear friend, the front brake.

PS-This was my first season, and I haven't wadded, so I don't really know what I'm talking about.

[JohNLA]

I have now driven in LA traffic for two days and 400 miles using only my rear break and engine breaking.

Monday morning, one of my brand new front brake pads just broke off. :x
I remember hearing a snap and thinking, what the hell was that ? I pulled over and didn't see any obvious problems.
The single pad up front gripped and sounded fine for the rest of the day :dunno:

Tuesday, it started to make that nasty grinding noise. So, I took a closer look and saw the problem.
I remembered this thread and said I'll give it a go with just the rear brake, for kicks and to get a good feel for it. Also, I can't afford to take a week off of work and buy new pads again.

In conclusion, I don't understand why when the front break works great and the rear brakes are not even as good as old timey drum brakes. They lock up way to easy.
I am fixing to head down to the basement and see if I saved the old pads and throw those on until I can get some new ones.

[JohNLA]

Alright, I took the brake apart and both pads were there but completly spent after only 900 miles of use.
They were non sinthed(sp) KBC's. I am going to check with my mechanic and see what he thinks. :dunno:

[Kerry]

Sheesh, John - 900 miles?  That's what - one work week at the rate you're going!

I'm trying to remember: were your new pads the EBC Kevlar (or "organic") ones?  I got almost 17,000 miles out of my stock front pads, and I'll be ready to replace my EBC Kevlars after about 13,000 miles.

I don't want to go sintered, but I'd like to get a little more "bite" back on the front brakes.  The stock Suzuki pads seem to be somewhere in the middle.  (Wonder what they're made of....?)  Maybe I'll go back to the stock pads next time around, if the price isn't ridiculous.

[JohNLA]

WARNING!!!  DO NOT BUY THESE PADS. They are loud and wear way to fast.

1   4978 EBC KEVLAR BRAKE PADS FA231         Shipped ID: 11/06  

This is the parts number of the pads I managed to wear out in less than a months time. Okay, it was more like 2 thousand miles and not 800 Also, I had been primarily using the front and not even bothering with the rears. I started doing that because my rear pads wore first on the OEM pads and I thought I could work on my use of the front brake. Needless to say I am back to using both.
They were also very noisey. Not that typical high pitch brake noise but something a lot lower like the sound of an electric engine.

This morning I asked the guy who runs Motorcycle Peformance on LaBrea if he had any idea why the pads went so quick. He was at a loss but recomended what I think are refered to as "Sinthered" but it does not say that on the pakage. He also had them in stock which was a bonus since I had them in and was working by 11am.

The new pakage says FA231HH EBC Double-H.
They are gold in color instead of grey like the last ones.
They are almost silent like the stockers even when brand new.  So far I am happy with them but I only have 80 miles on them. So judgement is out until I see how long they last.

[JohNLA]

I just looked up the OEM brake pads on Bikebadit and they were $65

[Blueknyt]

doing any rolling endo's? those will absolutly chew up pads. all my bikes that have hydraulic rear brakes i intentionaly introduce a minute amount of air into the system,  i have seen alot of racers do this same thing, for this helps prevent locking up the rear under panic braking. you still have brakeing power and the wheel will lock should it get light enough but it will unlock sooner and have less chance of coming around on you. granted i have gotten out of using the rear brakes except for wet/gravely area's

gyroscopic physics to apply, but not to the extent that everyone belives, i have done rolling endo's with rear wheel locked the minute it leaves the pavment, and there isnt much gyroscopic forces applyed to a 3mph wheelie. traction and ballence is the key forces that play at controling a motorcycle.

[Kerry]

WARNING!!! DO NOT BUY THESE PADS. They are loud and wear way to fast.
EBC KEVLAR BRAKE PADS FA231

Interesting - Those Kevlar pads are the very ones I've been using.  Perhaps:
1) You got a defective set?
2) You brake a whole lot more aggressively than I do?
3) There's more left on the pads than it seems?

The new pakage says FA231HH EBC Double-H.
...judgement is out until I see how long they last.

I'm more concerned about how long the ROTOR will last with the sintered pads.  Am I too out-of-date?  Are today's sintered pads more gentle on rotors than I heard in the past?

I just looked up the OEM brake pads on Bikebadit and they were $65

Hmmm.  I guess I won't be going with the OEM pads then.  Thanks for checking!

I looked in my toolbox and found that I already HAVE a brand new set of EBC Kevlars waiting to go on.  I guess it'll be longer than I thought before I recover some of the "bite" on my front brakes....  But at least I'll be able to compare two sets of EBC Kevlars back-to-back.  Could be interesting.

[JohNLA]

No stopies and one pad was completly gone and the second close behind but like I said I was using the front brakes exclusivly in lots of traffic.
Even still 2000 miles is not reasonable. I think maybe I did get a defective set. :dunno:
I am real happy with the new sintered pads. At least it does not sound like a second engine running every time I touch the front brake.
Thanks for the heads up on the rotor wear. I will keep an eye on it.
Thanks Blueknyt, I will look into the air in line trick.

[Blueknyt]

2000 miles, well, not proud of it, but i did burn through 1 set of pads and warped one rotor inside 8 days, it was stoppies and endo's everywhere when i was first learning to do them, the Sliding caliper on the GS flat out sucks, it doesnt "float" enough, i have cleaned and lubed and cleaned and left dry the slides on the caliper so many times, but the caliper still binds alittle on the pins and this contributes to the rotor warping. Fresh lube on the pins helps alittle but not forlong.ive tryed dry grafite lube, lithium, teflon based, never seaze ,and standard grease but they all Gum up after a short time.   im still trying to gather parts for katana 600 front end swap out, but, takes $$, something i dont have as of late.