If pressed to come up with one word that describes the very best way to keep safe control of your machine at all times, it would be: “smooth”.Įverything we do on a motorcycle should be done smoothly and progressively.
How you apply the brakes is crucial to your safety. Take it from me, keeping the rear wheel at the rear is a very satisfactory state of affairs! When the rear wheel is locked up, most of the traction will be lost, and the rear of the machine will want to “overtake” the front. This will make the rear wheel more prone to locking up. This translates to better braking efficiency with the front wheel.Ĭonversely, weight will be taken off the rear wheel as we brake. The reason for this is that, as you apply brakes, most of the weight of the machine and rider will be transferred onto the front wheel. The optimum ratio in the dry is: 70% front, 30% rear. One of the things to address is how much braking is done by each brake. With that in mind, let’s move on to the brakes: How much braking should be done by each brake? It is something we obviously can’t avoid, but it is worth keeping in mind so that as we are riding, we are continuously trying to keep the machine as near to that ideal as possible. Why is that important to remember? Well, it’s because anything that causes us to deviate from that ideal condition is going to rob us of some stability. Before we get started though, I’d like to make an important note about general stability on a motorcycle:Ī motorcycle is at its most stable when travelling at a constant speed in a straight line. There is quite a lot to cover here, so I have broken this subject into two parts.
Motorcycle anti lock braking system series#
Continuing on our series covering the basics, I’d like today to talk about braking.
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