Tips on Emergency Braking

[pjm]

Locking the rear wheel can do much harm - aside from the obvious tyre damage it stops the rear of the bike tracking properly and can cause it to slide out in an extreme case.

OK sure, but relatively speaking the rear losing traction isn't such a big deal as the front losing it. If you were to say lock the front wheel in the wet, the bike can slide away from underneath you and you'll be on the floor in an instant, whereas the same thing happens on the rear and its most likely not to be a big deal. Having both tyres on the cusp of losing grip is optimal, but if I had to focus my concentration on one, it would be the front.

 

[purpleR]

I know that stretch of road really well - grew up in the area. It's quite nasty with lots of blind summits combined with sharp bends.

I'm learning to drive at the moment and have had a few frights along there - overtaking on bends (with, of course, a car coming around the bend at us Eeek) and I got tailgated really closely going through Scotlandwell & Kinesswood in the thick fog last week. Maybe there are just a lot of idiot drivers around there??

No wisdom from me on braking techniques - having crashed my bike a couple of weeks ago I reckon it's time for me to learn some emergency techniques too...

 

[Fab Foodie]

Whether wise or not, I have my Giant set up with Koolstop Salmon (soft and grippy) blocks on the front and the slightly harder black compound on the rear. The idea being that the when grabbing handfulls of brake I hope not to lock-up the rear wheel as I probably would with soft compound blocks back and front.

...mind you, after standard Ultegra pads anythings got to be better...

 

[Joe24]

I tend to pull the back break hard, and the front one not as hard. If it back wheel locks then i release the break, then pull it on again quick.
I dont pull the front one as hard, because i'm sure i read something about you can keep the bike under controlle is the back wheel skids, and it is much harder with the front wheel. Although leaning forward slightly helps not to lock the front wheel up because of the extra weight, but also moving your arse back helps to keep the back wheel from lifting.

 

[Jacomus-rides-Gen]

Joe24 I sincerely hope you never have to do an emergency stop if you use that technique!

A little over 70% of a bikes total braking force is supplied by the front wheel. If you are primarily using you rear brake to stop, you are seriously underusing your available braking capacity.

I hold the opinion that people become worried about the front locking up or being thrown over the bars if the front brake is pulled too hard because of either a childhood incident where they grabbed a handful of front brake and went flying, or that they have been essentially 'scared off' by other inexperienced cyclists.

It is nigh on impossible to lock the front wheel of a bike in the dry, excessive braking on the front will cause the rear wheel to rise, but that still requires massive braking force (or a ridiculously powerful brake as is fitted to my mtb)

Even if the rear wheel does rise into the air, the rider should be in enough control to modulate the braking force and either keep the rear wheel in the air i.e. pulling a stoppie, or to modulate the force just enough to get it to settle back down onto the black stuff.

Braking until a wheel locks then releasing and trying again is a rather sketchy technique, it is much more effective to slightly release pressure until the wheel is rotating again than to jam the brake back on again.

As with all aspects of riding - the smoother you are, the more in control you are and the faster you can perform whatever operation you are trying to do, be that cornering, braking, climbing etc.

Check out what Sir Sheldon has to say about braking http://sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

 

[BentMikey]

Good post there Jacomus! Practice is key, I like to do a hard stop at least once a week when there's no-one near me and it's safe to practice.

One bit I like about riding fixed is that you can use the rear brake + pedals to "measure" how hard you're braking and how much traction you have.

The 'bent is awesome for stopping power in the dry. I can stop maybe twice as quickly as anyone on an upright bike because my centre of gravity is so low. Literally cheek-elongating deceleration.

 

[Joe24]

Joe24 I sincerely hope you never have to do an emergency stop if you use that technique!

A little over 70% of a bikes total braking force is supplied by the front wheel. If you are primarily using you rear brake to stop, you are seriously underusing your available braking capacity.

I hold the opinion that people become worried about the front locking up or being thrown over the bars if the front brake is pulled too hard because of either a childhood incident where they grabbed a handful of front brake and went flying, or that they have been essentially 'scared off' by other inexperienced cyclists.

It is nigh on impossible to lock the front wheel of a bike in the dry, excessive braking on the front will cause the rear wheel to rise, but that still requires massive braking force (or a ridiculously powerful brake as is fitted to my mtb)

Even if the rear wheel does rise into the air, the rider should be in enough control to modulate the braking force and either keep the rear wheel in the air i.e. pulling a stoppie, or to modulate the force just enough to get it to settle back down onto the black stuff.

Braking until a wheel locks then releasing and trying again is a rather sketchy technique, it is much more effective to slightly release pressure until the wheel is rotating again than to jam the brake back on again.

As with all aspects of riding - the smoother you are, the more in control you are and the faster you can perform whatever operation you are trying to do, be that cornering, braking, climbing etc.

Check out what Sir Sheldon has to say about braking http://sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

I have done a few stops like this, and only once has the back wheel locked, and it was in the wet. It seems to work, but i will try putting more pressure on the front break when i'm stopping. Although the breaks on my folder are pretty pants, the techinique i use always works. I probably have described it wrong. I do pull the front break, but just not as much as the rear one. Should i be pulling the front one the same, or more then the rear break? On my BMX, it used to be lots of back break, and only small amounts of the front break when i wanted to do a stoppie or make the front wheel skid on grass. So this is probably why i dont use the front break as much.
I will go on a quiet road and practice my emergency breaking today on my ride, and pay more attention to what i'm doing.
My emergency breaking cant be that bad, it has stopped me quickly alot of times.
Another question, is why put so much weight over the back wheel, and not as much on the front wheel. What an equal amount of weight, help the bike to stop?

 

[Tynan]

brake

please, that repeated typo is making my eyes hurt

I usuallu yank it all on full blast, it is an emergency after all, but be quick to ease off when/if the wheel locks

and of course it's very handy to know what happens when you do go for it

I went over the handlebars twice on ten minutes one evening after having new blocks fitted, I suspect the shop had done something to the rims

 

[Jacomus-rides-Gen]

I have done a few stops like this, and only once has the back wheel locked, and it was in the wet. It seems to work, but i will try putting more pressure on the front break when i'm stopping. Although the breaks on my folder are pretty pants, the techinique i use always works. I probably have described it wrong. I do pull the front break, but just not as much as the rear one. Should i be pulling the front one the same, or more then the rear break? On my BMX, it used to be lots of back break, and only small amounts of the front break when i wanted to do a stoppie or make the front wheel skid on grass. So this is probably why i dont use the front break as much.
I will go on a quiet road and practice my emergency breaking today on my ride, and pay more attention to what i'm doing.
My emergency breaking cant be that bad, it has stopped me quickly alot of times.
Another question, is why put so much weight over the back wheel, and not as much on the front wheel. What an equal amount of weight, help the bike to stop?

I've got a pretty comprehensive document I'll pop on here tomorrow, I wrote it a little while ago but only have the paper copy D'oh! So am having to type it all out again

 

[cyclebum]

I have been reading this thread with horror (quite appropriate for halloween) as for a while now I hardly use my front break but mostly use my rear, have I got this so horribly wrong??!!!

 

[bonj2]

I hold the opinion that people become worried about the front locking up or being thrown over the bars if the front brake is pulled too hard because of either a childhood incident where they grabbed a handful of front brake and went flying, or that they have been essentially 'scared off' by other inexperienced cyclists.

my bro did that when he first got a mtb with cantis after being used to a bmx with shoot U-brakes (i think), he knocked his front teeth in half. Still remember it, was nasty.

 

[bonj2]

isn't emergency braking hard on a drop-handlebar bike if you haven't got your hands on the drops at the time?

 

[Jacomus-rides-Gen]

Yes! Which is why you should be very careful when moving your hands away from the brake levers, either to hold the tops or the bottom.

Something else to remember is that reaching for a brake lever from a closed hand position takes about 0.4s, so covering the brakes when approaching hazardous situations can be of real value.

A cyclist travelling at 20mph is covernig 30ft (9.1m) every second. Based on an average reaction time of 1 second, covering your brakes can save you 12ft (3.7m)

 

[Fab Foodie]

I have been reading this thread with horror (quite appropriate for halloween) as for a while now I hardly use my front break but mostly use my rear, have I got this so horribly wrong??!!!

Short answer I'm afraid is yes.
When it really matters the bake brake is next to useless, the front does the majority of the stopping. That's why on powered vehicles the front has the heftiest brakes, the rear only helps to keep thing in a straight line. Watch motorcycle racing, on the brakes you can see the back wheel is actually skipping along the road, the front brake is doing all the work
Emergency braking is worthy practising. As I said earlier it is quite amazing how hard you can brake on a bicycle with a bit of practice.

 

[bonj2]

Yes! Which is why you should be very careful when moving your hands away from the brake levers, either to hold the tops or the bottom.

Something else to remember is that reaching for a brake lever from a closed hand position takes about 0.4s, so covering the brakes when approaching hazardous situations can be of real value.

A cyclist travelling at 20mph is covernig 30ft (9.1m) every second. Based on an average reaction time of 1 second, covering your brakes can save you 12ft (3.7m)

Hmm...yes, I've always known since I was taught to drive that covering the brakes is a good idea, and have applied it to cycling aswell.
Just another q though, can you actually do a reasonable emergency stop when holding the 'hoods'? Is it not tricky - I would have thought you end up having to leave only your thumb on the actual top of the hoods? since you presumably need more than one finger to pull the brakes hard enough?