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Braking Technique - Advice?

2K views 14 replies 9 participants last post by  Philbytx 
#1 ·
I recently bought a 2018 Suzuki V-Strom DL000. First bike I've owned with a Combined Brake System (CBS). When you grab onto the front brakes, the CBS automatically adds rear braking in a way that promotes stability. The bike also has ABS. Riding my previous road bikes, I would allocate front and rear brake forces between the wheels the old fashioned way.

Question: With the CBS, is it best to brake by just pulling the front brake lever and letting the system allocate braking force?

Thanks
 
#2 ·
The CBS doesn't provide enough rear braking for me in normal riding, so I use the rear as normal. Think its meant more for safety in situations than everyday riding.
 
#4 ·
Apply back brake first, then Fronts, increasing pressure as needed.
You will definitely notice improved braking when you do (y).
Especially with ABS, need to get on the front brake, hard, immediately for shortest stopping distance.'Staging' your braking will only lengthen your stopping distance. As always, find a nice empty parking lot with clean pavement, get up to a normal speed, and practice stopping as hard as you can. Keep adding pressure until the ABS kicks in. When on a tall bike, under hard braking, there is very little weight on the back tire, so it can contribute almost nothing to braking. So prioritize the front brake, and add back as possible.
 
#6 ·
I still use the rear brakes, but on the 1000 it's mostly front. Mine doesn't tend to fold up in the middle under braking and I'm seldom braking hard other than in emergency situations. And then the rear usually gets so light the rear brake isn't doing anything useful. And seriously hitting the front brakes HARD on a DL1000 is like tossing an anchor out, they can stop in stupidly short distances if you need to stop badly enough.

The lack of need for a lot of brake is just my riding style - I'm not riding everywhere as fast as I can. Your mileage and what works best may vary depending on how you ride.
 
#7 ·
I learned braking on drum SLS Brit bikes almost 60 years ago. Raced using TLS and progressed to single solid discs/rear drums.
I also rode BMW's with ABS 1, 2 and finally my R150RT with the wonders of iABS (servo assisted!). Now back to unlinked Suzuki ABS brakes....

In my experience, in normal street riding, using both brakes in conjuction (and with practice), will stop you sooner.
 
#8 ·
Bad situations can develop so quickly that you should always apply the brakes so that you can initiate maximum braking at a moments notice.
I ride as I always have, knowing that 80% of your emergency stopping power is in the front wheel, and that as more weight goes on the front wheel there is more traction to add more braking. That means less traction to the rear wheel. My guess is that ABS is more about preventing the unskilled rider from crashing as a result of locking the back wheel, which then comes around and ends up high siding the rider.
The rear pads on my 2010 DL650 are the original pads. Pre ABS I discovered it best to apply both brakes lightly and if urgent stopping was needed, apply the front brake only hard.
 
#10 ·
My guess is that ABS is more about preventing the unskilled rider from crashing as a result of locking the back wheel, which then comes around and ends up high siding the rider
That is very true. But there is more.
The big benefit to ABS on bikes and in cars is that when things get chitty and you are under full-on brakes... you can still steer! Running into a object at a slower speed is a crumby 2nd prize when you have just steered around it. I have only really needed it twice. On both occasions I just kept riding it. The tires sounded like a over-produced TV show. In fact that startled me. They never did that in my little parking lot tests. Those events were about a year apart and neither were on my V2. It was that BMW beast.

On my V-Strom the rear end does get light under braking. I can't prove it but I'm pretty sure that if it got to the point of actually engaging the ABS, the rear end would come back down. I'm hoping that stays just a theory ;).
 
#9 ·
Best braking advice I can give is to take an advanced riding course and learn from people who know about it and can teach it to you properly. After that, practice, practice, practice. The practice part is especially important at the beginning of riding season or after any lengthy layoff. Find a deserted road, with corners, and practice until it becomes second nature and you won't be surprised by how the bike reacts. Study up on the tires's "friction circle" and how it relates to the bikes handling.
 
#11 ·
FYI. The rear will stay in the air under extreme braking with the front ABS cycling. The bike doesn't seem to want to flip end over end, apparently the fear of Harley riders everywhere, just pops up and hovers.

I suspect eventually the ABS will give up but every time I've had to do that I've peeled off enough speed quickly enough that I never found out whether the ABS does shut down.
 
#12 ·
FYI. The rear will stay in the air under extreme braking with the front ABS cycling. The bike doesn't seem to want to flip end over end, apparently the fear of Harley riders everywhere, just pops up and hovers.

I suspect eventually the ABS will give up but every time I've had to do that I've peeled off enough speed quickly enough that I never found out whether the ABS does shut down.
Interesting. Thanks.
I used this search term and found nothing:"slow-mo video motorcycle front wheel using abs".
 
#13 ·
If we're just talking about casual braking, then no technique whatsoever is required. Can even do the 'pirate' and ignore the front brake entirely.

But tough to try to program the brain for different braking under different conditions. So mine is programmed to brake hard with the front and back (no ABS) at the first sign of trouble, and let off the back brake when it starts to skid. I usually see a couple motorcycle 'accidents' a year where a rider going 30 MPH can't get the bike stopped in 100 feet (too timid, or back brake only) and either falls down or plows into a car blocking the path. Clearly the wrong programming.

Probably good to get accustomed to braking while leaned and turning as well. A good rider course will teach the concepts, then up to the rider to practice until they can be accomplished.

Oh, and lock your arms and grip the tank with your legs so you don't lean or slide forward, and put even more weight on the front tire and off the back. Not to mention moving you body closer to the 'crash zone'.
 
#14 ·
What Brockie says. Always apply both brakes, knowing that roughly 80% of braking power should come from the front. When I sold my Sportster it still had the original rear pads after 35k miles, but was on the second set of pads up front, which sounds correct to me. I now have a bike with combined braking on the front lever (GS) but I still brake exactly the same way as before. Having said this, at the BMW offroad training I recently participated in we sometimes only used the (combined) front brake, but these were low speed technical maneuvers where it is harder to gently apply the rear brake while standing up and balancing the bike through a tight obstacle course.
 
#15 ·
Remember guys, more importantly, using the appropriate braking technique(s) also helps A LOT when you have a pillion.

SWMBO still frequently rides with me but we don't do the Interstate trips that we did on the BMW.

Even with the iABS power/linked brakes, there was a noticeable difference between using just the front brake lever and the front/rear lever combo when "panic" braking.

Interestingly, on the early BMW linked iABS brakes (2002/early 2003 models), there was an issue with the sensitivity of the rear brakes and how they quickly brought on the front brakes.
Shortly after (later 2003), BMW modified the system to reduce the sensitivity and allow the rear brakes to act somewhat "independently" for a short period of pedal travel, which
allowed the rider to drag only the rear brakes, when needed.
 
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