Are You Making this Fatal Mistake When Braking on a Motorcycle? 

Similar. I drive a car like I'm on a bike (minus the leaning, LOL) and my family were truckers so I have a lot of respect for them. It's terrifying to be in a car with someone that has never ridden a bike nor has knowledge of trucks. Their driving is totally reactive and not all predictive.

Spot on. Sadly, most "accidents" are just negligence and misunderstanding of the rider's own skills. And we all have to live paranoid because of that. In most cases where there was an accident, almost all involved parties were pushing things further than they had to.

Agreed, I have over 3 million accident free miles in a Semi. It is the best possible discipline for strategy while on a motorcycle.

@@vincenttarquini4235 yep, still a little shy of three million but getting there.

I drive an 88,000 pound fire truck and drive like I am in that thing all the time. All the training I have taught me that everyone around me is not paying attention, so plan on stupid happening all the time.

I tend to manage the traffic behind me by leaving extra space in front of me forcing the behind car to take notice of long slowing down and the flashing on-off my brake lights

Who is even thinking not to use the front brake? There are centrainly several who don’t know how to use the back one

Wow, just wow. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Think fast, pick an option, and might not be the right one, but as long as you can live to ride another day, you did something right. In 50 years, one broken leg and some broken parts say success to me.

Crashing to avoid a crash is still a crash. I prefer to not crash.

Yup. Using your tires to stop is always better than using your skin.

Which has a higher coefficient of friction? A tire, or the metal and/or plastic parts of a motorcycle? Anyone who tells you to lay down a bike on purpose knows nothing about riding or physics!

I've heard it plenty of times

Clutch in or the engine dies.

@@MCrider With the clutch out, you stop more quickly due to engine breaking as you throttle down. This is how they teach you in Singapore and test you for emergency braking. You are taught to pull the clutch in at the last moment as you are about to stop. Incidentally, the emergency braking test section is conducted on wet concrete.

I was wondering about this, too. He says that the "quickest way to stop a motorcycle is to use the front & rear brake in unison to the threshold of traction." Well, that's what ABS does...keeps you at the exact threshold of traction.

@@kurt4409 Not exactly, but pretty close with modern ABS systems. Part of the problem comes from experience with early ABS implementations that used coarse sensors and fairly slow processors and actuators. We have all seen the videos of the front wheel locking for a noticeable amount of time, unlocking and rolling and then locking again. And most of these systems telegraphed substantial pulsation/vibration to the rider through the brake levers and the motorcycle in general. Those systems didn’t brake at the threshold, but rather alternated between skidding and brake release which made it fairly easy for a highly skilled rider to out brake them on good pavement. Most current ABS systems use very finely pitched sensor rings combined with very fast 32-bit processors and very fast linear actuators. These systems can detect slippage of the wheel long before lockup occurs and can lessen the brake pressure rather than nearly completely release pressure as in many first generation ABS systems. My BMW ABS is nearly imperceptible when engaged and the front wheel never full stops unless I hit something really slippery like snow, ice or an oil patch. Many experience motorcyclists formed their impression of ABS in the very early days and haven’t adjusted their opinion as the technology has progressed. Modern ABS with lean angle capability is a wonder of technology.

I agree with you, if you have a braking computer on board, ABS, then just use it for the best possible stop.

In a true emergency, ABS will always outperform the rider. Because ABS has nerves of steel, even in a life or death situation.

Hey LT, do you have links to the studies? I have looked and can’t find real studies, just conversations like this. 👍🏻

The greatest skills any motorcyclist can have is acute situational awareness, a defensive driving mindset, and a certain amount of fear about what could happen. Over-confidence without rationale thought processes breeds greater risk taking and reduces margin of error. Most accidents are a culmination of a variety of factors and one's reaction in a unexpected situation is not easily practiced or predictable. Riders get older and their physical skills gradually decline over time (visual acuity, reaction time, physical strenghth). If you want to ride a motorcycle and significantly increase your safety margin then accept that the most sophisticated rider aids such as 6-axis IMU with lean angle ABS traction control and linked braking will be your best defense. Anyone who believes their finely honed, ninja-like braking techniques can outperform such tech should think again because testing has proven otherwise. This is no longer the 70's, 80's, 90's, early 2000, 2010 stone ages of machismo motorcycling. The latest tech can leverage a human's intuitive nature to grab full brake in panic situation to achieve maximum braking rate as fast as possible while preventing rear wheel from coming off the ground causing loss of all steering control. The systems allow one to maintain line in a corner while braking without needing to stand the motorcycle up which then takes you out of the turn radius and off the road. Similarly, your practiced braking on dry road surfaces is ONLY good for that condition but what happens where there is something on roadway (sand, oil, diesel, leaves, grass, mud, water). Guess what your practiced braking technique will put you immediately on the ground. When riders don't need to focus on braking they instead be focused on finding a path out to maneuver the motorcycle. Then when they do and let's say that path is off the road and onto the shoulder of gravel the braking system will help manage that and not the rider. In my youth I low-sided two times off-road without any warning at low speeds on grass. In both situations I grossly over-estimated the available traction conditions either due to dew on the grass or the speed at which I could brake or lean. It was the best place to learn but I will never forget those events even though I had been riding offroad for some time prior and NEVER layed a bike on the ground previously. It was a wake-up call to the unexpected. I have encountered similar pucker moments on the street spilled diesel, sand on a roadway, and a deer that suddenly jumped out of ditch and decided to run alongside and in front of me but fortunately no lowside or accidents. My final point being most responsible individuals carry insurance even though we don't plan to get in an accident. Yet we can never practice enough to keep our skills at high level because time is a fixed quantity and to be honest such things take effort and we all have tendency to revert to the path of least resistance. The new tech does not reduce you manhood or intrude on the otherwise normal skills of motorcycling. It does not cost that much (probably less than $500) embedded in price of a higher-end motorcycle and is best insurance policy against your own failings regardless of skill set or age.

A racer that lives out in Aspen, CO told me to treat every corner in Colorado as a dangerous one.

Do you ever feel it’s acceptable for a rider to NOT use there brakes during an accident and if they do not. Hit a vehicle- and get injured do you believe that it would be their fault.

I have seen that video...I think it was a joke??? Not sure though.

@@MCrider Me neither!

Ride it like a surf board!😮 Hahaha 😂

@@edwarddollbaum5671 A surfboard with hot exhaust and engine parts.

Which has greater grip - steel motorcycle frame or leather jacket/pants. I'll let the bike go sliding ahead of me thanks.

Don't ever feel that you're not ever in danger!!