Total Motorcycle Community Forums

I was out riding with one of my usual riding buddies and his gf. He's very experienced, rides a ZX10R, and he and I ride about the same pace.

She is a very inexperienced rider, she's put maybe 1000-1500 miles on her Ninja 250 in the last two years she's owned it.

We were riding with him in front, her behind him, and me at the rear in a staggered formation. We were riding along in pretty heavy traffic and paying attention in front of us as well as to the car trying to merge into us from the right. The cars in front of us braked suddenly and all 3 of us hit the brakes pretty hard. Here's where the issue comes in.

You need to use the front brake!

I've noticed with a lot of Ninja 250 riders that they use their rear brake the most. I understand why, seeing as both are equally effective on that bike, not to mention that the front causes the weak forks to dive. That said, it's a bad, horrible, terrible habit. She locked up her rear brake and the rear end kicked out to the right. The bike went down and she tumbled off into the lane to the left. Her helmet is scraped all to hell, but her TourMaster jacket held up extremely well. She is a little torn up, some fatty tissue missing from her knee, a decent bruise on her hip, and a scraped up hand (wear sturdy gear people, those thin gloves are next to useless). She'll be ok, but the bike is probably totaled. We had probably 10 people stop and make sure she was alright, and blocking traffic for us, so that was absolutely terrific.

Another side note is that I've always wondered if staggered formation was really the way you should be riding, and after seeing what I saw today, I can tell you that it's exactly how you should ride. The bike in front was to the right, her bike to the left, and my bike to the left. When she went down, the bike went forward and slightly to the right, missing my buddy/her bf's front wheel by about 3 feet. I was able to stop before I hit any part of her bike or her solely because I was off to the side.

I am glad it all worked out!!!! I am a huge "your back brakes are for holding you still at a stop" and thats it, kinda guy!!! FRONT, FRONT and more front there is a reason most bikes have 2 to 4 times more braking surface on the fronts.

Glad She's not hurt worse.

I am a huge "use all three brakes all the time; front, rear, and engine." kinda guy. My GS500 has twin discs, one in the front and one in the rear. LOL

And I no longer hold a bike with the rear brake at a stop on a hill, I hold it with the front brake. The thumb works the throttle nicely to start up. At 81 I'm just not comfortable holding the bike on one leg. Don't laugh, you'll be there soon enough if you keep on riding.

Glad the lady got her rear brake induced low side experience out of the way with a minimum of injury.

Wrider wrote: I was able to stop before I hit any part of her bike or her solely because I was off to the side.

Cr@ppy deal, and I am sorry to hear it happened, however the BEST way to avoid hitting a bike in front of you that is crashing is following at a safe distance. We train people that it is staggered formation that will save your butt but crashing bikes rarely stay in their previous lane position.

I've seen way too much of this over the years to be convinced otherwise....

Also - and not trying to be a dick here, but you mention "that both front and rear brakes are equally effective on that bike". From your years of experience I think that is not what you were meaning to say right?

Do bikes come with rear brakes??

High_Side wrote:

Wrider wrote: I was able to stop before I hit any part of her bike or her solely because I was off to the side.

Cr@ppy deal, and I am sorry to hear it happened, however the BEST way to avoid hitting a bike in front of you that is crashing is following at a safe distance. We train people that it is staggered formation that will save your butt but crashing bikes rarely stay in their previous lane position.

I've seen way too much of this over the years to be convinced otherwise....

Also - and not trying to be a dick here, but you mention "that both front and rear brakes are equally effective on that bike". From your years of experience I think that is not what you were meaning to say right?

1. We were following at a safe distance, but the car in front of us went from 35 to fully stopped in no more than 50 feet. We were all braking pretty hard, and even though I had a good amount of following distance going, the bike parts that were thrown off were in my direction of travel. Had she rolled to the right instead of to the left, I would have had about 3 feet between my front tire and her.

2. Most bike (as in every bike I've ever ridden except a Ninja 250) are more effective at stopping with the front brake. For some reason, whether it's the equal brake disc sizes or what have you, the Ninja 250 stops equally well with front or rear brakes (until the rear locks up of course). I've ridden 3 that I can think of and found it to be true on all 3. That, combined with the fact that the front dives the weak forks really easily on them, makes beginner bikes more apt to use the rear brake.

Gummi, apparently they do. I use the rear brake solely to hold my bike at a stoplight like Brumbear does, but only when I'm feeling lazy. Otherwise I'm like GSJack and just use the front.

<<<Otherwise I'm like GSJack and just use the front>>>

Whoops Wrider, read my post again!

I said "I am a huge use all three brakes all the time; front, rear, and engine kinda guy. My GS500 has twin discs, one in the front and one in the rear."

On the GS you will find the rear brake rotor is noticeably larger than the ones on the 600cc sport bikes but not really equal to the front one of the GS. But combined with effective engine braking it can come close. I haven't ridden the EX500/250 bikes but assume they are similar from observation. The single disc front GS brake doesn't unload the rear like the sportbike twin rotor ones do also making the rear more effective. I have Progressive springs on the front.

No I meant as far as holding the bike in place...

I am so used to riding dirtbikes, got cut off one time riding my dads 2005 kawasaki meanstreak first time riding a bike with a higher value and all the weight that comes with the price tag. I locked up the back tire very quick let off and used the front brake, I actually like using my front brake dirtbiking now.