I nearly had an accident on the high road today!:crying:
The car in front came to a stop so suddenly! I dont know if he missed the turning or the reason why he stoped, all i know is that his brake lights dindn’t work and he wasn’t indicating! My instincs was to slam on the brakes both front and rear at the same time and it took forever to stop or so it seamed! the guy spead off so i couldn’t even say anything! He looked like an young guy and it was an old vauxall corsa!! I’am still shaking! Had i been going any faster i’m sure i would have gone inside the boot of his car!!
Can anyone give me some tips on how to brake safe in an emergency?? Can you actually turn the bike while you braking?
well from wot i remember its front then rear then more front and rear, ya can turn as ya brake but gotta be careful, and obvioulsy not as u slam the brakes on, helps if your in the right gear too, that way engine will do some of the braking for ya, glad to see ya ok though
Sounds like a close one, we’ve all been there - hard braking safely? Difficult in extreme situations, and unless you’re exceptionally talented I wouldn’t try steering under hard braking, you’ll deff bite the road.
Trick is not to be there in the first place, distance, forward observation critical, but that said, if you do end up in that situation the book says apply rear first then front - however. if you’re braking really hard then it’ll all be on the front and the back brake will have little effect.
Concentrate on the feel from the front, you should be able to feel the back lifting then you’re getting close to max breaking - as an exercise, and to learn what your brakes feel like at the extreme - find a clear stretch of dry, well surfaced road and break really hard - a good rider on a warm day should be able to squeal the front tyre.
Had a similar experience earlier this year when a driver got tired of waiting in a queue and pulled out as I was approaching fast - did my first ever rolling stoppie! Nearly folowed by my first ever heart attack!
Keeping good stopping distance is better than having to slam on the anchors, but finding somewhere safe and off the road to practice emergency stops comes a close second best.
Practiced emergency braking quite a few times at machine control days in a nice safe environment, with supervision on days organised by my local IAM. Thought I was getting pretty good, but still managed to loose the front and have a low speed spill last time I practiced. Back on the bike and did some more straight away.
Guess message is to practice and as suggested leave space.
two words, progressive and smooth. they should sum up every part of your riding especially your braking.
as has been said prevention is better than cure, but if you find youyrself in the situation as we all do sometimes, be smooth with the levers, don’t snatch them.
feel with your front and rear wheels, how much grip do you have, are you upright or leant over are you about to hit a manhole cover or bump? DO NOT get target fixation, look for an escape, if you’re too close and it’s all gone properly pete tong, off the brakes onto the throtle and through the gap.
practising pulling in your brake levers at slow spped, only you’re going to know when they are going lock but if you prgressively add more and more braking force rather than dump it all on at once, you’re less likely to have problems.
nothing makes up for experience though, practice practice practice ad learn from your mistakes
I second BB in that braking distances are v important…
i have the habit to keep a couple of seconds distance from cars in front of me & when i realise im closing in i suspect something is up so I slow down.
having that space has saved my @ss a couple of times (even with ABS )
Sometimes that’s easier said than done on London roads. The amount of time I’ve left about 3 car spaces between me and the car in front and some eejit has jumped into it and then slammed their brakes on cos they’ve misjudged the speed of the vehicle in front.
Sounds like on reflection you were too close. But you had a margin for safety or you would have hit him. The problem is when we have a margin, even extra margin for someone else’s error, it can easily be eroded by others either either overtaking us, filing the gap in front we created. Or by the vehicle in front doing something unexpected and the next thing we know is that our extra margin has been diminished…Occupational hazard?
I could teach you how to get quite comfy on a stretcher!:hehe:
but I hope your ok mate 
)
Glad you OK mate:)