Practice some Estops, do some with the rear only and see how long it takes you to stop, record it, put some chalk in the road or something. then introduce the front and practice till you are using front only, then note the very substantial difference, the front brake is you friend.
Obviously the perfect Estop would utilise some rear brake also, but the exercise above will prove the point. on a dry, grippy straight road, I would expect to be using 90% front 10% rear, a little less front if there was less grip.
you need to be very familiar with your front brake to do an effective e stop, and the only way to bred that familiarity is with constant use. anyone that says their bike brakes better with just the rear either has a poorly maintained bike, cant ride for sh1t, or is a liar, coz you cant break the laws of physics, simples.
My instructor demonstrated this on my CBT as we were all proper newbies and had no understanding of the difference - I’m a tame cager and my only prior bike experience was on a pushbike where I’d not dream of using lots of front brake!
Have to commend his bravery - the pan we were learning on was quite wet and if he got it wrong there wasn’t much distance before bushes, then trees and finally road with a building on the other side :crazy:
His rear only stop did have me wondering if he was ever going to stop, then when he did his front only stop (quite hairy in the wet) I was honestly shocked by the difference. I actually had to turn my head back toward the direction he came from as I was expecting him to end up much further over.
My own preference with a very short amount of time riding, is mostly front, only using engine braking if I’ve lots of time to slow - I can see lights on red in the distance and don’t want to sit there too long - my rear hardly gets any use, even when filtering.
It’s probably all sorts of wrong, but I have noticed I’m starting to develop a very nasty habit of “coasting” to a stop (with a gear selected just in case I need to shoot off again in a hurry, just with the clutch in), like I do in my car. I do try to correct it whenever I notice it, it’s proper lazy, but I know in my car it allows me to cruise gently to a stop. Just please don’t all hit me at once for being honest about my bad habit!
Clearly it is too soon for you to be frolicking on a MT 09. As I am a nice sort of bloke I will swap my XJ6 so you can fit in more practice. lets say a year and see how it goes from there:Whistling:
The font brake will stop you in less distance if you have the skills to use it properly. There is lot of “Bro Science” surrounding this subject so I suppose just find what works for you. There is a reason why there are two big discs on the front of a sports bike and one small one on the rear though.
All the force that little disc with it’s single piston gives is all the physics of motocycles is going to let you put to the road anyways . The front you load it up when braking soooo the harder you brake the harder you shove the tyre into the road increasing grip … until the bike either flips over stoppie style or the weight of push down force from the bike falls short of the demands of the tyre shoving the roads grip and it slides … on modern tyres on dry tarmac the stoppie is far more likely.
