Total Motorcycle Community Forums

I've been reading a lot of tips on how to improve your riding habits, and raise your riding skill. I stumbled upon a thread about how going up hill is different than downhill. How so? I've never ridden on anything other than a parking lot surface, haha. Does acension or decension and gravity make the bike lighter or heavier? Handle easier or harder? I'm curious.

Also, how do you know when to use the hand brake or the rear brake? I think I read that you an only hand break if the bike is going straight (e.g. rolling up to stop lights) and rear brake when going around bends and turns (anything where your bike wouldn't be fully straight.) Are there certian situations for one or the other? Both? Or neither? Perhaps sometimes it's best to let the gears slow you down? Which situations would all these come into play, and which situations should you never hand brake, rear brake (ect.)

I'm not fully sure on either topic....I do know that I would like to know for safety and to cure my curiosity. Any tips or cited examples would be highly appreciated!

A MSF will cover this better then I ever could but here goes.

Tipping the bike moves the center of gravity, so it you're going UP a hill, then the weight gets shifted backwards onto the rear wheel, while it comes up off the front wheel. This means that it'll be tougher to steer, and easier to pop a wheely if it's steep . You need to be a little more careful.

Coming down a hill is the opposite, it shifts the weight onto the front wheel, and your body weight forward, you need to exert more pressure to keep yourself upright, it will quicken steering somewhat, but the lack of weight on the back means that the back wheel is more likely to swing wide if you're turning under heavy acceleration (while going down a steep hill). Once again you must use caution.

Using the front (hand brake) with the front wheel turned to either side is a good way to dump your bike. The front wheel slows down along a different line then the bakc wheel, so the back wheel goes straight and the front goes slower then the back, but to the side, so the back pushes forwards, and the wheel gets turned to full lock at which point at slow speeds you tip and highspeeds you high-side. Neither is a fun prospect. Always make sure your front wheel is STRAIGHT when you use the front brake.

Rear brake is good in LOW-SPEED (parking lot) turns as it ads a little stability to what you're doing. However do not think you can safely use it to come to a complete stop while leaned over... you'll just tip. And standing on the rear and locking it up is a good way to highside. The safest way to brake is to get yourself upright and pointing straight ahead. Then smoothly apply both brakes.

The fastest way to slow down is to use both brakes together and apply them smoothly. The rear brake lacks stopping power because weight shifts forward underbraking, lessening contact and reducing stopping power. The front brake has most of the stopping power, but not all, so both combined is best as long as you're smooth.

As far as downshifting to stop, that's the preferable option. It means you can start again as soon as you have to if something comes up fast behind you. It slows you down using the rear tire instead of the front one, lessening the chance of a fall, and it teaches you clutch control. Basically the bestest option. Of course you don't always have the time to smoothly work your way down through the gears so here is my emergency stopping procedure:

1) make sure I'm straight up and down and pointed straight ahead
2) pull in the clutch - I just stopped adding forward momentum and have begun to slow down
3) at the same time I smoothly pull in the front brake, while putting pressure on the rear, don't grab you'll lock up a tire.
4) keep my chin up, and your eyes on the horizon -this keeps you pointed in the right direction and is your best bet and keeping you from falling
5) tense up my arms as I still have more forward momentum then the bike so if I don't I'll go forward onto the tank or over the handlebars
6) from the second I have pulled in the clutch my left foot is dancing up and down on the shift lever as fast as I can, this continues until a full stop
7) put down my left foot, keep the right on the brake (I am in first gear) and do a shoulder check. I stopped but the car behind me might not be
if the cars behind me are stopping/stopped then I wait for the obstruction to clear and continue, otherwise try to get out of the way

Like I said at the start, take the MSF, they will explain sooooo much more and better then I could because you can actually see it in action.

Sevulturus wrote:A MSF will cover this better then I ever could but here goes.

Tipping the bike moves the center of gravity, so it you're going UP a hill, then the weight gets shifted backwards onto the rear wheel, while it comes up off the front wheel. This means that it'll be tougher to steer, and easier to pop a wheely if it's steep . You need to be a little more careful.

Coming down a hill is the opposite, it shifts the weight onto the front wheel, and your body weight forward, you need to exert more pressure to keep yourself upright, it will quicken steering somewhat, but the lack of weight on the back means that the back wheel is more likely to swing wide if you're turning under heavy acceleration (while going down a steep hill). Once again you must use caution.

Using the front (hand brake) with the front wheel turned to either side is a good way to dump your bike. The front wheel slows down along a different line then the bakc wheel, so the back wheel goes straight and the front goes slower then the back, but to the side, so the back pushes forwards, and the wheel gets turned to full lock at which point at slow speeds you tip and highspeeds you high-side. Neither is a fun prospect. Always make sure your front wheel is STRAIGHT when you use the front brake.

Rear brake is good in LOW-SPEED (parking lot) turns as it ads a little stability to what you're doing. However do not think you can safely use it to come to a complete stop while leaned over... you'll just tip. And standing on the rear and locking it up is a good way to highside. The safest way to brake is to get yourself upright and pointing straight ahead. Then smoothly apply both brakes.

The fastest way to slow down is to use both brakes together and apply them smoothly. The rear brake lacks stopping power because weight shifts forward underbraking, lessening contact and reducing stopping power. The front brake has most of the stopping power, but not all, so both combined is best as long as you're smooth.

As far as downshifting to stop, that's the preferable option. It means you can start again as soon as you have to if something comes up fast behind you. It slows you down using the rear tire instead of the front one, lessening the chance of a fall, and it teaches you clutch control. Basically the bestest option. Of course you don't always have the time to smoothly work your way down through the gears so here is my emergency stopping procedure:

1) make sure I'm straight up and down and pointed straight ahead
2) pull in the clutch - I just stopped adding forward momentum and have begun to slow down
3) at the same time I smoothly pull in the front brake, while putting pressure on the rear, don't grab you'll lock up a tire.
4) keep my chin up, and your eyes on the horizon -this keeps you pointed in the right direction and is your best bet and keeping you from falling
5) tense up my arms as I still have more forward momentum then the bike so if I don't I'll go forward onto the tank or over the handlebars
6) from the second I have pulled in the clutch my left foot is dancing up and down on the shift lever as fast as I can, this continues until a full stop
7) put down my left foot, keep the right on the brake (I am in first gear) and do a shoulder check. I stopped but the car behind me might not be
if the cars behind me are stopping/stopped then I wait for the obstruction to clear and continue, otherwise try to get out of the way

Like I said at the start, take the MSF, they will explain sooooo much more and better then I could because you can actually see it in action.

nicely done....better than the msf

Wow...that was pretty in-depth! Thanks for the info. I bet you know it so well it just sort of happens and you don't really even have to think about it.

nike_soccer wrote:Wow...that was pretty in-depth! Thanks for the info. I bet you know it so well it just sort of happens and you don't really even have to think about it.

eventually everything that you do when riding becomes like this. The bike becomes part of you.

That's the point of parking lot practise. If you have to think about how you're going to emergency brake you probably don't have enough time to actually do it.

It looks like a lot but really, it's stand the bike up, look forward, pull in the clutch and apply the brakes. Pretty straight forward.