At the moment Metzler M7 RR - which are fine - I just don't think smooth tarmac and cold weather/winter riding are what they are the best at. On Friday - Metzler Roadtec 01 - give them a go. Personally winter time is not really the time for hooliganing about anyway, so will try something a bit better suited to winter. Not sure what your Blade is like but my old one was pretty docile until 4,000 RPM, then it woke up, and the exhaust valve opened and it even sounded different - and went like fook after that
Having owned 3 x RR4-RR7s I know that the fork is incredibly spongy regardless of how much pre-load you have dialled in. I'd say under a downhill emergency stop the fork would easily bottom out, which could have also contributed to the wheel locking.
Nothing like as soft as the fork on my CBR650F - that bottoms out on an average speed bump. The suspension quality on my RR6 is in a different league. Still, hadn't considered that as a possible contributory factor That sounds about right!! Want to check the map my PC3 is running to make sure it's the right one for my Yoshi can, but equally I don't want any more power. I need like a permanent rain mode map or something...!
Bet you papped yourself! Haha. I did an Ady Smith enduro day a couple of years ago. One of the drills he does with people is riding down hill in a grassy field and trying to stop the bike whilst sat down using only front brake. The front end just will not grip, it locked up everytime and you became a sledge. Then he got you to repeat the drill stood up getting more weight over the front. Straight away you can stop on a hill using just the front brake. I think my point is even with the best tyres in the world your grip is still heavily reduced purely from riding downhill. I think what you need to fit is some motogp style winglets to aid front end downforce.
I find the front brakes on my RR8 sharp and in the early days I had a couple of frights doing hard braking at high speeds. When your instinct takes over you sometimes put too much force into it. With familiarity, you start to feel the braks a lot better. Unfortunately there are more & more idiots (car drivers) who really don,t know how to handle approaching emergency vehicle and creat unnecessary dangers to other road users. My permanent solution was to slacken the brake lever a a 2~3 clicks; the resulting slack compensates for the brake's power when braking hard. You shoud also use the rear brake as much as you can specially in low speed traffic. Last but important, I never box myself behing another vehicle and try to ride closer to one side so in instamces like you had, I have a chance to steer & slow dow or speed up to get past the slowing down car
Not sure I totally agree with this approach - you are purposefully nerfing your own brakes to bypass what exactly? Learning the proper application technique? And encouraging rear brake over front brake usage is just as dubious - locked rear wheel will take you down just as fast, if not faster than locked front break. I just see these suggestions as being similar to tell someone to be sure keep a dull blade on their circular saw just in case they get their hand in the way - rather than teaching them the proper and safe way to use the admittedly dangerous saw. But I do understand a sport like motorcycling will have many different ways to skint he same cat, so please don't take my critique as an attack
Rear brake at low speed is very useful and helps create a smoother stop, especially with pillions on board. At higher speeds they only only good for activating the brake light unless you are able to back it in to corners
Does anyone still dump gears - or is it just me ? In a hurried stop, somehow find myself dumping gears, changing down in very short order - even better now with slipper clutches. Is that right or wrong I wonder. Reaction for me seems to be stand it up and dump gears - I want to be stood upright and in first gear as soon as possible please
I did many years of mountain biking (push bike) before learnig to ride a moto. I just carried over the rear braking skills over and my brain just got on with it without any prejudice. I tend to use it a lot in urban riding, when it is wet or slippery (I prefer the rear to step out rather than the front folding) and reducing emergency braking distance (proved to me during my CBT training). At high speed, open road I use it to balance the bike into a corner or help me out if I carry too much speed and run the risk of going wide in addition to the other necessary bits such as front brakes, changing doing, etc. I may have been misunderstood. Fact is that rear brake doesn't have anywhere near the stopping power of the front. I use both most of the time to complement each other and sometimes just one depending on circumstances. Remember honda c- braking? I really like it; now I do it all myself. I have read comments from early racers that they never touched it but also noticed that more are starting to use it to balance the bike during cornering. I agree RC; there are different ways to skin a cat; important thing is that it is skinned and you are home & dry. I was sharing my point of view and experience not preaching. The reach adjustment on the lever is there for you to fine tune the brake to your liking & style. On my bike, I have made it more progressing I was brought up in a world without ABS, TC and other electronic aids. But you HAVE TO MAKE SURE you still have full braking power without the lever touching the bar or squeezing your fingers; think of full emergency braking (isn't this a fearture of honda's ABS?) Mattie I also do what you mentioned which is sensible but sometimes you have no time to do this and if you are already doing 20, there is not downchange left. Slipper clutch is a help but situations can deafeat so don't put all your faith in it.
Any more talk about skinning cats and there'll be some serious downvotes happening. A man's nearly bursting into tears over here
These have gone on the bike this morning - still need to scrub them in but was impressed with how warm they got after a short urban ride given how cold it is out. Let’s hope they can alleviate some of the braking anxiety...!
I locked the front at the end of crofts start finish straight, took turn 1 at a whole new pace. Had the front step out on gravel/stones a couple times, sent the bike wild when it gripped again.
Don't get too nervous about it. We've all got it wrong while getting used to a new bike. Enjoy your ride If you ride in cold weather, be militant about tyre pressure. For me. I make sure they are 35/40 or higher otherwise the bike flip flops a lot when the tyres cool down (first ride or being stuck in traffic) specially if they are worn.
