Quote:
Originally Posted by sombo
Well for starters the heat dissipation on bikes is vastly better thanks to the rotors being completely out in the open with 100% of the wind flowing over them. That alone is a major advantage over cars. Also we have vastly less mass to put stress on the brakes creating less heat. You'll find that the rotors on modern cars even when taken care of properly and not pushed too hard don't last very long anymore (a few thousand miles if you're lucky). However, on a bike if properly taken care of, the rotors seem to last dang near forever (at least compared to car rotors lol).
Secondly, she wanted to know about slowing down/maintaining speed on a downhill curve. Now, in MSF they showed how bad it is to use your brakes in that sort of situation. Because your traction is reduced in a curve due to the lean of the bike, it is unsafe to use your brakes. If you accidentally brake too much you will cause the tires to brake free while in a lean (very bad for you and bike). This however does not apply to cars which don't lean and don't have reduced traction in downhill curves (like highway off ramps) and can safely apply brakes at that time. When in a turn and the need to brake comes up you should straighten the bike and apply the brakes.
Hope I'm not boring anyone to death and making sense to people.
|
Cars have to obey the same laws of physics as bikes. Simply put if you are turning there is less than 100 percent of your available traction left for braking because some of it is being used to turn, and the reverse is just as true. It is safe to use brakes while turning providing you are not using 100% of tire traction available going around the turn. The trick is learning how to balance braking, acceleration, and cornering forces and stay within the traction limits of your tires. If you can master that youll be a better rider than most of us ever will be. Down hill turns can be a pain, especially if the turn in question tightens up after you have already set your entry speed and have rolled on a little throttle. Gravity is working against you and now you have to decide what to do to survive the corner. My approach, given this street riding and not on the track is to brush the brakes while easing off the throttle gently and lean the bike more to make the turn. The combination of leaning the bike over more, easing off the throttle, and just easing the brakes on a little will slow you down surprisingly quickly, and if you are riding so quickly you dont have a little traction left over for brakes you are riding too aggressively for conditions. Any of you other guys feel free to chime in.....:-)