Quote:
Originally Posted by akima
@ csmith12 - Thanks for your response.
I like to practise coming to a quick stop on many of my rides. I do it to train myself and to make sure the brakes are working well, should I actually need them. I check around me to make sure there's no one else on the road, bring up my speed and then stop as fast as I can. When I do this I can usually hear my front tyre chirping. I'm guessing it does this as it slightly loses and regains traction on the uneven road surface. My questions:
1. Is it a good or a bad sign that my front tyre chirps? IE Am I braking like a boss to bring it to that point or am I braking too hard and it's not optimal to have these tiny loses of traction as I come to a stop?
2. I already know to use my legs on the tank to stop my body weight going onto the bars. Is there any other small tip you can offer me to handle my weight better while braking. For instance: should I aim to have my weight central between the two wheels or should I be aiming to have it slightly further forward or back on the bike? |
Question 1. The chirps of the tyre are a signal that you're on the edge of locking the wheel, it will pay dividends to react to that sound vs reacting to the final lock up. Is it a good or bad sign? In this case where the rider is adjusting to quickly changing traffic, it is a good sign as it lets you know that you are braking to max available traction. However, note that poor skills can reduce available traction and vice versa for skilled riders. Your VERY end goal is to brake hard enough where there are no chirps but still get MAX performance. It's super hard to do... I will admit. It's a process of practice and knowing your bike at an intimate level (you have heard me say that before
).
Question 2. It is always best to have you body weight to support your throttle roll as the corner demands. For example; you need to roll throughout the corner, but then see a lorry... Your body weight is already 60/40 on the rear (seated further back), when you need to get stupid hard on the brakes, your body position is already in the most helpful position to balance out the weight transfer to "ridiculous" hard on the front. This seating/body position will also support easier reduction of lean angle to max brake even harder as needed, just as this rider did in the vid. Which is another thing he did well.
Also, you CAN keep both knees on the tank during braking despite your hang off seating position. When the turn point comes, then all you have to do is relax your knee out leg. The benefit to this is, if you need to late brake hard... you still have both knees on the tank for max control.
The only other option is to do the Rossi leg dangle for added theatrics... hahahahhahahaha If you are going down, go down in style.
EDIT: I don't really mean that in a silly way, I am saying always work hard to find a positive in a negative. All too often we focus on the negative and fail to learn. :\