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This is a question for the historically knowledgeable and/or someone who's been riding for a very long time. Many, if not all of the old motorcycles (let say from the teens and twenties) have no front brake and a single drum or some even more archaic stopping technology. Anyway, it has become the standard of riding modern machines to know that most of your braking power comes from the front wheel. The rear brake is only really of any use when used in conjunction with the front or when used to break out the rear of the bike as the pros do. Still, it couldn't have taken long to realize during the early days that the rear only brake was useless. Is this true? I'd think early accident rates for motorcycles must have been huge. Without good brakes I think riding would be crazy. I guess my bigger question is - on early bikes did the old braking systems work less effective, so locking was less of an issue, or did everyone just get use to sliding the rear wheel to a stop? Do these long neck "choppers" without front brakes have that problem?

I would guess that given any technology, safe riding would be riding within the constraints of the motorcycle. In 20 years, the braking and handling of today's motorcycles will seem archaic. Thirty two years ago, my 74 BMW R90S had dual discs front and drum rear. It was considered quite the rigor then. Drum rears were accepted as sufficient.

That said, I also think that some of today's disc rear brakes may be too powerful and therefore overly sensitive. Old choppers that lacked front brakes were made that way for looks (form over function).

I've never ridden a motorcycle with rear brakes only. However, in the fifties, I rode bicycles that only had a rear brake. You would pedal one direction to go forward, then reverse the pedaling direction to activate the rear brake.
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Bikes of yesteryear lived in a different world

- Many more dirt roads than today (Slower riding, and stopping)
- Terrible tire technology (street riders weren't exatly laying it down in the twisties) This would have affected stopping too, what good are effective brakes on tires that cannot grip?
- Less traffic - less idiots to look out for.
- Other traffic also had inadequate brakes and tires
- Less power. Emergency stopping is alot easier when your top speed is 45mph ...

FYI : Years some manufacturers started introducing front brakes -

1925 - BMW
1926 - Triumph
1928 - Harley-Davidson

It was "common knowledge" in the early years of automotive history that putting brakes on the front of a car would result in unstability and loss of control. That way of thinking crossed over to the motorcycle industry and nobody bothered to challenge it until the early 20's, as TechBMW has pointed out. But even today there's some people who still think that way; anyone who has ever instructed a motorcycle safety course has run into at least one newbie who had to be taught to use the front brake. I know I lost count of how many times I heard "But if I use it, it'll lock up and I'll lose control".

As TechBMW stated, those bikes had a lot less power and a lot less speed that didn't need the high performance braking needed today. I'm sure there was just a lot of downshifting going on, using the engine to brake. Definitely would of sucked in an emergency situation though.

I dont want to imagine what driving back then was like. Even drum fronts on a car with modern tires amounts to stomp and pray. On my VW I had to push with all my might on the brake pedal to lock up the tires (4 wheel drums plus modern tires). Only nice part of this was it was easy to modulate the brakes in the snow.

The worst braking car I have ever owned in the snow was the best braking one on pavement (79 caddy that had 4 wheel discs, stopped on a dime when dry), with even a little snow this thing would not stop at all due to its 4300lb curb weight.

Not sure how well my bike is gonna stop its got a single disc up front and drum out back.

The brakes on my BSA Goldie were brilliant for their time, but I'd hate to have to rely on them today, even on a bike of comparable performance. If you were a half-way decent rider you just rode with the capabilities of your brakes in mind when you were out on the road. And in the sixties and seventies that was a lot easier. Complex and hazardous situations involving multiple vehicles were just a lot rarer and I don't remember having to take avoiding action so often. This may be nostalgia, but I seem to remember that road users were also a lot more considerate of one another back then.

I got a ride on a friend's new 350 Royal Enfield recently. That's still basically 1950 technology. Damn! You need to rewire your brain and give serious thought to your future on one of those things. There's no doubting they were built for a more leisurely age. (Nice though!)