hi guys
i just wanted to get every ones feedback as i have been heard so many different things about braking from loads of different people, with different bikes and just wanted to hear what everyone says.

right so i was taught to brake mainly will my rear brake and only to use my front brake in conjunction with my rear as an emergency brake. and this is what harley taught me as i did all my training with harley.

then i have been told a mixture of different things such as a 70-30% brake with rear and front then a reverse of 30-70% rear and front and the same for a 60-40% split.

then some of the techs at harley have said they never use the rear brake at all and just the front.

personally i use the rear brake when cornering, and in bumper to bumper style traffic, i use my front and rear when coming down from high speed, my rear for moving amongst traffic on the highways and generally my front when im coming to a stop in a straight line but then ease of the front and engage the rear when i get down to slower speeds.

what are your guys opinions? as the stuff i have heard has been from people who have all learnt to ride in different parts of the world

 

Use both brakes 99% of the time.

 

70% front / 30% rear braking in an emergency.

Otherwise, first rear braking to slow down and stabilize the bike, then front & rear braking to come at a complete stop. This how I do it, anyway, still alive after 30 years of motorcycling...

 

70/30 front/rear. Grew up doing that, and it's what they teach in the motorcycle courses as well. Only time I don't use front is in slow corners

 

Both nearly always, the practice is good for you. However in the only two panic stops I have made, the closest I have got to going down was braking in a curve when a car made a left turn in front of me. The force throws you fwd and it's hard not to come down on the brake pedal for the rear. The rear tire of course shot out pointing me to the left. However, due to lots of practice, I managed to get off the pedal and the shift allowed me to be in a position to go to the left of the cars back bumper and still not hit the on coming cars stopped in the left lane. It all happened in a few blinks of an eye. If you do not practice both all the time, one of these days you will go right into the rear of something that may have been avoidable. However I sometimes only use one to steer better in slow long turns that are well researched.

 

learn to use that front brake.......it's your only friend, if your bike has two wheel braking. Rear brake has a place, just not as much.

 

This. The majority of your braking force is in the front brake. Not utilizing that is just giving away a good part of your safety margin.

Too much rear brake & you're just begging to lock the rear wheel. Maybe that's where all the "I had to lay it down" comes from?

I only use the rear at low speeds & to occasionally bleed off a bit of speed when I need to scrub off a touch of speed in a curve.

 

That sums it up right there.

 

yeah what Carl'69 said, I had to lay it down= I lost it after to much rear brake.

 

Front brake when you need to stop; rear brake for scrubbing off speed; or if you're riding on a gravel road or something similar. You know as your your front end dives/compresses that's weight transferring to the front wheel do you really want to be on the rear brake when you have all that weight on the front wheel? I'll admit on a bike like the Limited the rear brake is more effective than lighter bikes, but I'm not getting into that habit of using a lot of rear brake.

I got lucky learning to use a front brake, rode a CB750F for a year with no rear brake, after that year I could out brake most, ride faster learning to carry more speed down a straight because I knew what my brakes were capable of. IMHO