Motorbike Braking For Dummies (continued)

So, last time I spouted off about that front brake being the mother of all brakes on a bike.  I got a couple of "less that flattering" emails about it.  All I got to say about that is "good for you!"  (I prefer that nasty comments be posted on the blog though.  There is no need for you not to be heard.  I leave every comment as long as it's targeted to the topic.)

Anyhow, back to brakes.  After I finished scripting out my first brake post, I hit the road and screwed around on the glide.  I figured that if I was going to cram my experience with motorbike braking down your throats, then I should go out and practice this myself.  It was about time to refresh my memory in regards to the handling of my FLHX Street Glide under heavy braking anyway.

As I was throwing my bike around, I was thinking about how other things affect braking. 

Tires:

The first thing that came to mind was tires.  Tires make a huge difference in your ability to stop.  Softer tires offer better traction under all conditions but wear pretty damned fast.  Harder tires offer better wear and higher mileage, but lack the real meat when it comes to cornering and stopping power.

I have tried all sorts of tires but I'll use a couple as an example for bloggin' purposes.   The Metzler Marathons were great wearing tires for touring.  I managed to get 16k out of the rear and almost 35k on the front, however, I did not like the traction or stopping ability of the tires at all.  I drag floor boards and mufflers all the time because I like to lean in the corners.  The Metzlers actually scared the shit out of me because they would cut loose often, where as the Dunlops rarely cut loose.  The Dunlops wouldn't loose traction during hard braking, but the Metzlers would constantly skip and skid when faced with harder stops.

Asphalt:

The counter part to tires would naturally be road surface.  Riding on silky smooth asphalt feels as sweet as caressing a centerfold's bare ass, but it's hard to stop...hard...once you get going and negotiating those curves are a little bit more dangerous also.  A course road surface that's even is the best, overall, when it comes to grip and braking power.  Roads that have have been traveled by eighteen wheelers constantly are the worst because of the unpredictable surface characteristics.  All those compressed asphalt divots are murder under hard braking conditions and allow the tires to bounce off the surface...not to mention the "wagon ruts" that want to throw the bike sideways during braking.  The road definitely has a say in whether you stop on a dime, or slide and whine.

Intersection stops are highly dangerous because those folks who don't maintain their vehicles dump all sorts of slippery fluids onto the roadways as they are stopped on the wait for the green light.  Stay in the left or right side of your lane while stopping as you approach a light.  The center is usually the greasy streak that will soil your shorts.

Environment:

Hot temps, cold temps, sun and shade affect your ability to stop.  On hot days I can really crank down on the brake lever, but on cold days I have to be more cautious.  The heat makes your tires softer as well as the road surface, thus giving you better stick and grip.  Cold temps make the surface of the road, and your tires, harder and less sticky.

Heavily wooded roads provide stellar scenery and lots of pine scented nose candy, however, there will be spots of shade and sun all along the way.  Some spots of the roadway in this case will almost never see sun because of the trees.  Those shaded spots are just one of the many assassins that are on the payroll of the reaper.  Moisture will not evaporate as fast in these shaded areas and will ambush you on a day that is warm and sunny.  (No to mention pine needles, which are about as helpful as a patch of ice.  Coming off a bike in heavily wooded areas is not a good thing...coming off your ride in the desert has much higher odds of survival than face planting into a tree trunk...not to mention that the forest has many more moving targets that dart in front of you.  Yet, these are the roads that everyone wants to Moto GP on...go figure.)

The Pacific Coast beach roads are the best riding around, but sand blown on-shore creates quite challenge in corners and during braking...the worst part is that sand is the hardest thing for me to pick out on the road.  The stronger the ocean breeze the slower I go along the way because it doesn't take much to blow beach sand up onto the roadway.  Failure to take caution will result in just more than sand in the crack of your ass.

All of you understand what "Slippery When Wet" means. Wet roads should require you to double your estimated stopping distance. "Double the distance and half the pressure on the brakes" is a rule of thumb that works well for me in the rain. Here is one of those circumstances where I will lay off the front brake more and increase the use of the rear. A slide with the rear is controllable here...but a front wheel slide?...not good, but still can be controlled if you are quick about it. You must ride like you are sure something bad is about to happen here...plus it makes things more exciting when you are on an uneasy edge. (Like riding a hog isn't exciting enough, right?)

Snow? pffftttt....there are no standards for this weather type. A clear, dry day with dry roads means nothing in snow country. Try not to travel in this crap if you can help it. I have dumped bikes while stopping, starting, turning, leaning....pretty much all of it. There is just no way to predict snow country. A road that looks perfect and dry can turn out to be a horror flick of the black ice variety...you will be on your ass before you even know what the hell has happened.  Here is another instance where the front brake basically gets fingered only...and very gently. Here, I reverse the braking power model and favor the rear.

Mechanical:

Brakes don't do a damned bit of good if you are not taking care of them.  You absolutely must inspect your entire brake system often.  I have run across things on my 08 Street Glide that would have resulted in brake failure.  For example;  While I was detailing Tramp I came across a portion of my clutch cable that was wearing away the outer wall of my rear brake tubing.  The constant pressure from using the clutch cable and the constant vibration was enough that, if I had not caught it, it would have resulted in a hole in the brake line.  No brake fluid, no brakes...it's that simple.

Don't assume that the designer, and engineer, of your bike got it right.  Every vehicle will have some problem with it because it was envisioned, engineered and built by dudes and dudettes...and I have never met one person who is perfect or error free...ever.  Your bike is going to have problems that might have been missed by the bike building gods.  You owe it to yourself to do these checks yourself and learn about your bike.  Fighter pilots do a walk around check before every take off...you should too.

Distance, Speed, Weight and Wheelbase:

The heavier your bike, the better grip you have on the road when stopping.  I have also found that heavier bikes yields higher mileage from the tires...the downside is you need more distance to stop that bike.  Keep distance, the weight of your ride and speed in mind.  I don't need to say this but I will...the faster you go the more momentum you have so the greater distance you will need to come to a safe stop.

Here is the really interesting thing I have discovered.  The greater the wheelbase, (the distance from the front axel to the rear axel),  the less effective the front brake becomes, and the more stopping ability is transferred to the rear brake.  So if you are running longer rakes, like a chopper, then your rear brake has more stopping power than a bike with less rake.  Part of this is because the more rake a bike has, the less of the bikes weight is shifting to the front tire.  (I think this is why most old school chopper riders argue the fact that the rear is better than the front.  They are partially right, but the front still has more stopping power regarless.  A chopper requires more rear brake than, let's say, a sport bike with less rake.)

Mental State and Stress:

So you don't think that stress and your mental state have anything to braking?  pffftttt.....forget everything else I have just told you about braking then and park your ride.  You are the most important component of your braking system.  If you are tired, stressed, shivering or sweating with swass or swoobs, (sweaty ass or sweaty boobs) then you are going to make that flashing error in judgement that may end it all in a flash.  Without you, nothing will work right so make sure you are on top of your game at all times by stopping when you are tired or physically overtaxed....trust me, I have had to severely curb my desire to do distance just for this one reason alone.  My head has accepted the fact that my 1k+ days are for special occasions only.

Constantly think about the road surface, your speed and the weather conditions as you run free.  Mentally rehearse what you are going to do if you need to make a hard, or emergency, stop at every mile marker...seriously.  The road changes and the conditions change with every minute.  I do it so often that it has become second nature.  It has become automatic and subconscious now.  That is exactly what you want.

whew...time to brake here...

As you can see, braking on a motorbike goes way beyond just the act of stomping on brake pedals and brake levers.  You might have picked up on my efforts to get you to think beyond just braking techniques...but you can't argue that all of the above are vital to proper braking on the sled.  If you do the same thing with the brakes every time you stop, under all the different circumstances you will encounter, without thinking about all of the other things that affect your braking then I'm already getting started on carving out your headstone on a slab of granite. (You're welcome.)

On the final bit of this threesome series on braking, I'll go over some real crap that has happened to me during braking.  Maybe we will both get something out of it.  It's always good to remember what you did wrong so that you don't do it again...there is only one thing better than that though....telling someone else about your mistakes so they don't have to go through same horrible shit....hopefully.