Quote:
Originally Posted by rockNroll
Practice. If you're using any engine braking your stopping distance will be greater than if you use only your brakes... engine braking wastes time and distance when your objective is to get your bike or car stopped or slowed as quickly as possible.
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Incorrect the engine is helping you slow down when you start braking above its idle speed. Nobody said don't use the brakes, what we said was use the brakes and the engine, both provide decelerating energy. If you watch some motorsport that still uses manual transmissions you will see that they don't pull the clutch while they are braking until the last possible moment when they do all the gearchanges quickly. According to you Ninja manual you should hang on till 5k before you downshift each gear. So in an emergency pull the clutch when you get below 5k.
Check out the august 2009 issue of Bike magazine, they talk to Valentino Rossi about how he takes coppice (great bend on donnigton park). Some random quotes from that article from the great man himself.
- "When you brake without shifting down is more difficult because you don't have the help from the engine"
- "i use the clutch to change down because is more smooth, the bike stay more stable, just two fingers to disengage the clutch just a little bit"
- "I use 95% front brake"
- "so now the rear brake is just to help stop the bike, because five per cent is better than nothing"
Sorry but Rossi is the GOAT (greatest of all time) and if we put him and anyone from this forum on a pair of ninjettes on a track I'd bet he could out-brake all of you. I would love to see people try
Now racing is one thing and an emergency on the street is another, but the goal is the same, get the thing stopped as quickly
and safely as possible. If a kid jumps out in front of me, i really don't care if I stall it, my priority is to just stop. Better to have a me and that kid ok and the bike stalled, than a collision..... but hey the engine is still running! I guess the next biker to arrive at the scene of the accident will get a chance to use the killswitch for one
above 5k that engine is helping you slow down
below 5k and above idle it makes no odds either way
at or below idle, the engine is working against you until it stalls