Floorboards and braking

[andyvh1959]

Since most bikes we ride here feature floorboards, it is worth discussing how we use the brakes on bikes with floorboards, and techniques of braking. Your floorboard to brake pedal setup should allow you to keep the heel of your boot on the floorboard during any level of applying the rear brake. Doing this is a certain way to minimize over applying the rear brake and causing the rear tire to lock up and slide. This applies if your bike has ABS or not. If your rear brake technique, or rear brake pedal setup, causes you to lift your foot off the floorboard and apply the brake it is much more difficult to modulate the rear brake to keep from over applying rear braking effort. The important factor is that avoiding rear tire lockup maintains bike stability and tracking during braking events, and reduces TOTAL braking distance.

Brake Timing wise; apply brakes at the same time. There is no reason or gain to 1st apply the rear brake and then the front brake. Now, If you apply the rear brake 1st it does have a tendency to squat the rear of the bike down slightly and reduce front end dive when the front brake is applied. That enhances braking stability, but adds to braking distance. The same bike stability effect is achieved when both brakes are applied at the same time; the bike "squats" into the stop more level, and maintains bike stability than if one brake is applied first.

Overall, brake timing is the most critical; it impacts total braking distance. TOTAL braking distance is PERCEPTION distance plus REACTION distance to equal total braking distance. Typical timing from perception, that we need to apply the brakes, to reaction of applying the brakes is about 1/2 second. Using 60mph as an example means we travel 88 feet per second. That 1/2 second delay means we travel 44 feet before even applying any braking action. We all know that real braking is 70% front and 30% rear. If the rear brake is applied first, you ADD to the total braking distance. At 60 mph, that slight delay could be the length of a semi tractor-trailer before any real braking is achieved. That added distance could mean you hit the object versus stopping clear of it in total braking control. Even at 35 mph (the most common crash speed) you travel 51 feet per second. A delay in applying both brakes effectively adds to the total braking distance enough that you could travel half way into a typical residential intersection when that Buick turns left in front of you.