Thought it might be appropriate to look at the other side of riding skills - it is not all about going fast. Being able to stop is probably more important still - It is not good having been in the right if you are in a hospital bed! Advanced Riding Techniques By Mark Garrad, Principle Advanced Roadcraft Techniques. Braking: (to a STOP) A warning: Before practicing the techniques discussed here, please ensure you have read the article to the end and understand what you are about to attempt. If you are not sure, then post a question and get things clear before you go ahead and try this. As always with braking techniques it takes time and practice to feel comfortable with new ideas, build up to this gradually. We all tailgate! One of the questions I used to ask to illustrate this point was, “At 100kmh on the motorway, how many car lengths do you leave between you and the vehicle in front?” General answers ranged from 3 – 8, not bad you might say. At that speed a bike is covering 27 meters per second. If an average car is 5 meters long, then the recommended minimum gap of 2 seconds equates to a following distance of 54 meters, or very nearly 11 car lengths. So I say it again, we all tailgate!! That being so we had better be willing and able to use the front brake properly! An important skill to master, and apart from confidence, one of the easiest, is developing the confidence to use the front brake firmly on the road but that takes time, and if not maintained through regular practice, it quickly fades. Find a good clean quiet road with room to accelerate up to about 80kph/50mph and room to STOP, build up to this, we are not looking at how fast you can go before you brake but how to improve braking from speed. Pick a braking marker to use repeatedly and gradually build up to braking from this sort of speed. Once you are comfortable with braking from this speed keep your approach speed the same, what we are looking to achieve is decrease our stopping distance, and we will only see this if we keep a constant approach speed. Remember the basic formula for speed –v- braking, double the speed, quadruple the braking distance, and so let’s make sure we have plenty of stopping distance. There is a distinct difference between stopping and slowing down, out on the road if we are slowing for bends, two fingers are plenty, for stopping, lets try all four fingers, every time we are going to STOP. What we are trying to achieve is maximum force and feel at the lever, getting the most out of the braking system on the bike. We also want to make this technique a muscle memory, so that if we need to stop in a hurry, this memory is going to take over. The more modern and effective sports bike brakes are exceptionally effective, this techniques is still applicable, but also requires an awareness of the types of braking forces achievable, so build on this technique slowly. (Where short levers are fitted there is obviously not enough room for four fingers, so feel free to adapt this technique to your particulare set up). With five control inputs to consider, keeping things as simple as possible when the manure is going through the air conditioning works the best. In order then:- 1. Clutch in. 2. Back brake, take up slack and lightly apply, not too much 3. Throttle off. 4. Front brake, set up, squeeze. 5. Gear, select first at stopping point. With practice this will blend into one smooth motion. What you do with your upper body also affects your ability to brake firmly, stay nice and relaxed with the elbows loose, this allows the suspension to work without having any body movement transferred into a steering input, don’t tense up, and maintain all three contact points, bars, seat and tank. To prevent sliding forward into the tank, grip with the knees, irrespective of the style of bike you are riding, and resist the temptation to use forward foot controls like a car brake. Cruisers are still going to have significant weight transfer, and standing on the rear brake is going to lock it up and the first reaction is to release all braking inputs, which means setting everything up again, and hitting what we are braking to avoid. By getting the clutch in we are removing the engine from the equation, any throttle input here is just noise. Some may argue that this removes the option of engine braking; my answer would be that the front brake is much more effective than the engine for STOPPING. As the clutch comes in, take up the slack in the back brake and apply lightly, up to 95% of braking effort is done by the front brake, the back is to add stability. By applying the back brake first the suspension compression required for good braking is started before the more effect front brake is applied. As the weight transfer to the front occurs unloading the rear tyre, moderate the rear brake by lifting your big toe to prevent locking up the rear wheel. What ever type of bike you ride the pad of your big toe should be used to control the rear brake pedal, not the ball of your foot as in a car brake pedal. Set the bike up for hard braking by lightly applying the front brake, this compresses the front suspension, increasing the front contact patch and commences the forward weight transfer. We continue into the squeeze phase, the front contact patch is increasing, allowing more braking force, and since the front suspension is loaded, it can accept the increased input. Ideally the lever should locate behind the second knuckles of all four fingers and as we close our fist we are squeezing the lever back smoothly, feeling for the front contact patch. If we are abrupt or harsh we run the risk of locking up the front and dropping the bike, so the key here is to be SMOOTH. Braking effort should be increasing all the way to coming to rest. As the bike is coming to rest, change down into first, once stopped, check the mirrors, is the vehicle behind stopping as quickly……probably not, so we are stopped, set up to make an exit somewhere safe, a driveway, central reservation, up the pavement, anywhere really as long as we can get out of the way……quick. We want to keep relaxed and alert to changing situations, try not to focus on the reason for the stop, but instead of a way around, where before the incident we want to stop and be planning an escape route. Keep your head up, shoulders relaxed, elbows bent to absorb movement from the bike, feet on the pegs and knees gripping the tank. And keep practicing. A final reminder to build up this skill gradually, ask questions if you are not sure of something and most improtantly of all - BE SMOOTH - DONT GRAB OR SNATCH AT THE BRAKE LEVER.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 23:39:37 +0000
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