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ORIGINAL: Jaybird180

Forgot to add:  when the weight transfers to the front, the suspension compresses but also so does the tire, which increases it's footprint.  Think over that.

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ORIGINAL: woot

The nature of my character and internet communication... :) Personally I'd love spend my life talking about the details of how a bike works and how one could improve ones technique... but given my size, ability and budget I'm not going to be a professional racer... I'll take my seat as a desktop typer.

I think the intent of my post can be distilled to practice. The "always" part is what I do... and I do overly communicate that at times... I do think that a beginner rider should work on making most of this type of stuff muscle memory. Take the thinking out of the actions. I guess that's my always ;)

quote:

ORIGINAL: woot

Am I supposed to be thinking about the foot print?

Front tire:
Weight transfer and increased footprint = more traction, so more and more can be spent on braking.

Rear tire:
Less weight due to transfer, smaller contact patch = less friction, so less and less can be spent on braking.

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For the beginner rider I can understand why one would suggest to only use front. The problem there is that if you train them to do that, then you have to later retrain them to do that when you want to get them to use the rear brake.

The first thing a person does when caught in a panic stop is what the body feels is right - you can train the body to do the "right thing" (what ever that is) or let it do the natural human thing (the death squeeze - resulting in lock-up).