HD fatality accident, braking question

[one Wolf]

Once the tire starts to slide it may as well be greased. Coefficient of friction "traction" goes to zip

 

[LaserDave]

I wasn't dissing Harley riders. I ride Harleys as well as others.

Fair enough. Good post. It just blows my mind that people on huge bikes believe back brake is better.
The back brake on my Glide is pathetic, but I use it sparingly. The twin fronts are pretty good, after adding braided lines.
The Sportster has no brakes at all! A painful lesson in the hygroscopic properties of brake fluid.

 

[Jesse H]

The back brake on my Road King was amazing. For most normal stopping it was adequate.

Most Harley riders I know use both brakes and constantly scrape the floorboards off their bikes. But then they're all motor officers

 

[cheez]

Fair enough. Good post. It just blows my mind that people on huge bikes believe back brake is better.
The back brake on my Glide is pathetic, but I use it sparingly. The twin fronts are pretty good, after adding braided lines.
The Sportster has no brakes at all! A painful lesson in the hygroscopic properties of brake fluid.

I'm posting with due respect to the fallen rider, despite the vulgarity in the attached videos. Skip over the videos if loud, angry F-bombs aren't your thing, my apologies for their presence.

The back brake is "safer" if that makes sense, not necessarily "better"- it's just harder to grab a little too much of and have an immediate catastrophic response. Because of the seating position, the rear wheel is also more weighted with cruisers than in other bikes with other riding positions, especially given the low, forward foot placement, bringing lots of levering force down on the rear tire.

Here's an example of me, earlier in my riding career, grabbing a little too much front brake after just having new brake pads done all around and just immediately wiping the front when it locks. Too much rear would have meant lockup and a rubber stripe giving time to recover from it, not an immediate lowside. (Caution, vulgarity by me after the wreck, I'm an angry elf. )

By no means is this an argument that the front brake should not be used- just that most cruiser riders will favor the rear brake as a result. I had an experience early on when I started riding bikes that weren't cruisers (FJR1300 specifically) where my rear braking force proved entirely useless at doing anything but applying rubber to the asphalt in a noisy show. Physics say your front wheel is where all of the stopping power is for most bikes, especially those you're gripping at the tank with your knees instead of at the seat with your butt. These days I could stop well before his rear bumper using 85% front brake. (Same vulgarity warning, I'm working on my riding zen, I promise.)

 

[woodsguy]

All Good Kids Like Milk.
A little ditty that was drilled into my head many years ago by Lowell Jones and Dowell driving instructors in Kellyville Oklahoma to remember the 5 seeing habits.
Aim high in steering.
Get the big picture
Keep your eyes moving
Leave yourself an out.
Make sure they see you.
This was a truck driving school for commercial vehicles.

I have been through this course many times when I still worked, I think it was Smith system we used or something, lol. But great points! Thanks for the reminder. try to remember this plus the advise to stay out of clusters!

 

[woodsguy]

Your the only one that has ever mentioned this on this site as long as I have been around here AFAIK. I tell my self before/during a ride. And added one thing 100%SEE. Be 100% on point/ 100%energy, or park it.

Very good point on the "100%", so many times I slip from this and have to remind myself to focus on job at hand.

 

[woodsguy]

How fast would you have to be going to leave a 100 ft skid mark and still have enough speed to kill yourself on the back of a pickup?

Steering seems a better option than maximum braking most of the time.

I'm far from an expert and there's bet good advice and knowledge in this thread, this said I believe 60mph would have done this easy. Once the rear was locked he was just a passenger. Bike doesn't look "that bad".

 

[StromXTc]

Cheez as far as cutoffs, I either pass up cars and stay ahead of traffic. Intensionally stay even with the drivers windows so they know I'm there or completely drop out of their lane change zone. I know it's different in bumper to bumper where I usually won't be found in the first place. This ain't California (yet).

This guy's death has not gone unnoticed. It has really got our attention and got us talking about safety. This is post 83 already.