Use Both Brakes

OK I finally got to see it with my lap top... not sure why it wouldn't play on the other or my iPhone.
Here's the deal... it was classic lock the rear brake, zero traction, a little skidding fish tail and having no idea how to counter steer in a skid, with lean into the left skid and then when he let go of the rear brake so hard, the rear tire got traction again, the bike tries to right itself (it always knows) and hi high sided him.
Classic in the sense that like any of you who ride motocross would know.... when that rear tire hooks up after a skid, the bike will try to stand up if you are still leaned into the skidding turn with the front wheel pulling opposite.
And applying front brake in a high speed turn under neutral power is a mistake too... you will throw the weight and balance off by unloading the rear tire and spin out again.

Kidkawie wrote: That guy was a novice.

I'd do a stoppie before that happened. 20+ years of MX and single track you learn how to brake.

Absolutely. I always advice newbies to ride dirt bikes for awhile first.
I can lock up both brakes and still keep the bike upright. I avoid the doubles on my GPz though... :laugh:

Heh heh heh
The guy in the shorts has a man bun

ThatGPzGuy wrote:

Kidkawie wrote: That guy was a novice.

I'd do a stoppie before that happened. 20+ years of MX and single track you learn how to brake.

Absolutely. I always advice newbies to ride dirt bikes for awhile first.
I can lock up both brakes and still keep the bike upright. I avoid the doubles on my GPz though... :laugh:

Broke my collarbone on a dirt bike once. Taking the jumps through the greasewoods and one caught the bike, I kept going. Tried to roll but landed on my shoulder. The bike rolled up to me and fell over the other way. Had to ride it home.
I stuck to street after that.
Steve

swest wrote:

ThatGPzGuy wrote:

Kidkawie wrote: That guy was a novice.

I'd do a stoppie before that happened. 20+ years of MX and single track you learn how to brake.

Absolutely. I always advice newbies to ride dirt bikes for awhile first.
I can lock up both brakes and still keep the bike upright. I avoid the doubles on my GPz though... :laugh:

Broke my collarbone on a dirt bike once. Taking the jumps through the greasewoods and one caught the bike, I kept going. Tried to roll but landed on my shoulder. The bike rolled up to me and fell over the other way. Had to ride it home.
I stuck to street after that.
Steve

if you haven't rolled up a motocross bike at least a half dozen times in your lifetime, then you either haven't really ridden one or you probably should not be riding one.

Yeah, got too crazy on the thing. Let the young bucks do the stunts. They heal up better. I was 25 then. Taking a trials bike out alone, how STUPID.
Steve

Front brake versus rear brake effectiveness is a geometry problem.

Some bikes, when using maximum braking power, do almost all braking with the front. In extreme braking, obviously, the rear will do nothing if the front brake can lift the rear wheel off the ground. (Once the bike starts to tip forward, that much, you no longer have maximum braking applied. Your ability to slow down is then limited by the upright angle of the bike.)

However, other bikes may get the majority of their braking from the rear. The longer the wheel base, and especially if the front end is extended, the rear brake does increasingly more, as a percentage. The extreme would be a super-extended chopper. The front brake does almost nothing, and will lead to the front end washing out. That's why you often see choppers without a front brake, since it won't get used much at all. Obviously not a good design for handling etc. but they do exist, and you need to be aware of that in case you ever get on one. (You certainly won't be able to do a stoppie with a chopper.)

The bike in the video looks to have a pretty long wheel base, for its height and weight, in which case he is probably in the habit of using significant rear brake, and rightfully so. He just panicked and used too much. I doubt the geometry of that bike would allow for a stoppie either.

Do we know for sure he didn't use the front? I suspect he did. That would make the rear come around faster like it did in the video. (Then as Bruce said, when the rear re-gained traction, he was spit out like a bale of hay.)

I've broken a few bones being crazy on dirt bikes too. By the time I was 18 had broken leg, ankle, both wrists, dislocated toe, collar bone. Parents used to joke that I seem to be in the hospital every weekend. :lol:
Well, I enjoyed every minute mostly. That darn toe was the worst, rolled a Yamaha DT400 off a big dropoff, I guess got my foot caught in the wheel. Took off my boot and the toe was like 2" out of place. I still feel that after 40yrs now has passed. Get older, feel all those crazy moments now. At least I can say I've never hit anybody on the road, or locked up my rear brake and crashed thankfully.

It seems being that low to the ground both brakes would have been effective. He decided to take evasive action then realized it was too late and put it down.
Steve

One thing for sure, he was glad to have the chin-bar on that helmet, and gloves. That was a total face-plant landing.

And the bike landed on him. I wonder how many cruiser riders get back on a bike after something like that? Any newbe for that matter. :whistle:
Steve

loudhvx wrote: ....

Do we know for sure he didn't use the front? I suspect he did. That would make the rear come around faster like it did in the video. (Then as Bruce said, when the rear re-gained traction, he was spit out like a bale of hay.)

No way did he use the front brake. Check the video out again and notice that the speed differential between his bike and the car in front of him was not that great. He really was not going that much faster than the car when he began braking, so the bike should have been able to decelerate as quickly as the car since the car did not appear to be doing a panic stop. In fact, he and the bike only barely caught up with the car after he crashed. Considering the fact that a bike that is braking properly will slow down much faster one that is flying through the air he should have been able to slow down safely. His bike appears to have a stock front fork and front brake, so I seriously doubt that the front brake would have been ineffective. I'm convinced that if he had applied the front brake he would have easily been able to slow the bike down. He seems to be a very inexperience rider with no clue about how to brake a motorcycle (rather than how to break a motorcycle). Ed