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Is it possible to firm up the rear brake pedal? Seems like I have to push down a little farther than I would like. Already blead the lines and checked the pads.
Firm up the rear brake?
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or just use your front brakes...?
Definitely adjust the pedal height first. Still soft pedal? Gravity bleed to get new fluid through the system. Still soft pedal? On the rear it's a lot easier to "reverse bleed". Using a large veterinary syringe pump the fluid from the caliper backwards to the reservoir. Before doing this have some way to get the fluid out of the reservoir and pack a towel around the reservoir to catch any fluid that may overflow. Note that first generation bikes have calipers with two bleed nipples. Bleed both.
Still soft pedal? Post back.
Still soft pedal? Post back.
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that's not a very wise thing to do. in an emergency situation, the quickest and safest way to come to a stop is applying lots of pressure to both. you don't want to form bad habits by "slacking."
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yeah thats the best way to slide your rear end, i've seen so many people riding in front of me through traffic get cut off and just lock up their rear and skid
but if you are answering the question the MSF course asks yeah use both...real world, steady front brake works better because it allows your engine to help slow you also
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So uninformed...
The people you see sliding their rear end haven't practiced emergency braking. It is best to use both front and rear brakes. The trick is to, initially, apply even pressure to both front and rear, then gradually decrease pressure on the rear brake as you increase pressure on the front. It take a few tries to perfect, but does help you stop in most situations.
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yeah because you're gonna have time to think all of that, when it comes down to it if you're used to applying rear brake, especially an over tensioned one, you're gonna jam it
and there's a big diff between uninformed and learned in the real world. I took the MSF course and all that, for riding to the grocery store and sitting behind cars in stopped traffic(sucks for those of you not in CA) go ahead and keep telling yourself your reaction time is good enough to think through all that
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That's why you practice. You train yourself to do it without thinking.
You aren't going to 'jam' your rear brake just because you apply it. If you give it too much pressure for the situation, sure. Again, that's why you practice - so you'll know how much pressure to apply and when.
You aren't going to 'jam' your rear brake just because you apply it. If you give it too much pressure for the situation, sure. Again, that's why you practice - so you'll know how much pressure to apply and when.
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+1
I used to practice this on my mt. bikes so if I had high speed problems I could usually handle them with proper braking. So when I got my bike I went to parking lots to practice emergency braking until I knew just how much pressure it took on both pedals. If you don't practice because you figure you'll mess it up anyway then you're dooming yourself for failure.
localgod11 - Adjust the pedal, then try bleeding it. If you're still not happy you might want to look into better pads and SS brake lines.
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My buddy is an EMT, I get them from him (w/o the needle of course). I have used them for bleeding quite a bit. They work great at getting all of the air out with out using a lot of brake fluid.
I love the "just use your front brake" crowd. Good for a laugh.
Braking is the most important technique to perfect if you want to increase your chances of long-term survival. When I learned to ride 47 years ago an old Brit mechanic helped a couple of us along. He insisted that we learn to keep the bike stable and upright after locking the rear tire. Then we learned how to modulate the rear brake properly. It isn't that hard to do, and as mentioned above, it soon becomes automatic.
Disc brakes are both much more powerful and much easier to modulate than the drum brakes of those olden days.
Braking is the most important technique to perfect if you want to increase your chances of long-term survival. When I learned to ride 47 years ago an old Brit mechanic helped a couple of us along. He insisted that we learn to keep the bike stable and upright after locking the rear tire. Then we learned how to modulate the rear brake properly. It isn't that hard to do, and as mentioned above, it soon becomes automatic.
Disc brakes are both much more powerful and much easier to modulate than the drum brakes of those olden days.
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I usually use my fronts b/c my rears wear away fast when using both. Regardless, I think its more important to have the ball of your foot on the peg so that you dont stab it out of pure reaction and though already commited to muscle memory there is still a moment of decision no matter how instantenous the reaction might be it simply allows to bypass the decision making process because you made the decision beforehand.
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You train so that you act without needing to think. If you train repeatedly to perform an action, you do it automatically.
Still think you're right? Get into a fight with a trained fighter. She'll show you that she can kick your ass, even though she's weaker, simply because she doesn't have to think about how to respond to your clumsy actions.
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I love how no one can read properly
i said
not 'use just front brake'
i didn't say to only use the front brake, but to use it more instead of relying on your rear brake. in my previous pst i was only talking about emergency braking and from my own experiences as well as observations rear brakes get over used in emer. braking and people skid out.
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problem with your analogy is that when you go into a fight you are going into a fight knowing it, even though i always assume every car on the road is gonna try to hit me, when that one idiot on their cell phone comes at you you're likely not gonna be ready and therefore as human beings, which i thnk everyone on here is, you react quickly and most likely you aren't going to go through the steps you 'practiced'. the other problem is that when you are practicing you don't have adrenaline and fear in your thought process, therefore your 'practice' isn't being done propperly
practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.
Neve is right, the original poster was asking how he can "firm up his rear brake" which implied that he wants to be able to brake really hard with it, this is a huge mistake.
Everybody knows the old saying that "80% of the braking done is with the front and 20% is with the rear" well that’s almost always true on any bike, but it is less true on a sport bike due to the aggressive frame and suspension stance, when you hit the front brake on a sport bike (in a panic situation, or just really hard) the rear will usually levitate and hover, when this happens, and you hit the rear brake using a "firm" rear brake pedal, the chances of you locking up the rear, panicking, and crashing into something are MUCH more likely then if you just concentrated on the front brake and barely acknowledged the rear.
Many professional racers purposefully pump air bubbles into their rear brake system in order to 'soften it up' because they use it exclusively for trail braking really late into turns, and never for actual braking. In normal situations, using the rear brake is all fine and dandy, but actually quite unnecessary, it is much more important for you to make a habit out of using your front brake so that when that one panic situation arises, you won't freak out, slam on both brakes and crash yourself head on into whatever you were trying to avoid in the first place.
Point of all this, using the rear brake on a sport bike is unnecessary as long as you get extremely good at using the front brake. If anybody wants to try and prove me wrong, come to the canyons with me one of these days here in SoCal.
Everybody knows the old saying that "80% of the braking done is with the front and 20% is with the rear" well that’s almost always true on any bike, but it is less true on a sport bike due to the aggressive frame and suspension stance, when you hit the front brake on a sport bike (in a panic situation, or just really hard) the rear will usually levitate and hover, when this happens, and you hit the rear brake using a "firm" rear brake pedal, the chances of you locking up the rear, panicking, and crashing into something are MUCH more likely then if you just concentrated on the front brake and barely acknowledged the rear.
Many professional racers purposefully pump air bubbles into their rear brake system in order to 'soften it up' because they use it exclusively for trail braking really late into turns, and never for actual braking. In normal situations, using the rear brake is all fine and dandy, but actually quite unnecessary, it is much more important for you to make a habit out of using your front brake so that when that one panic situation arises, you won't freak out, slam on both brakes and crash yourself head on into whatever you were trying to avoid in the first place.
Point of all this, using the rear brake on a sport bike is unnecessary as long as you get extremely good at using the front brake. If anybody wants to try and prove me wrong, come to the canyons with me one of these days here in SoCal.
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5,615 Posts
Pads will make no diff at all in pedal feel.
SS lines will make a much smaller difference than proper bleeding.
As mentioned, there are 2 bleeders - use both and go back and forth between them. Also, the way to know that you got all the air out isn't that you stop seeing bubbles when bleeding - the way to know that you got all the air out is when the pedal or lever becomes firm. Try the syringe approach, it might work better for you.
Notice how I'm staying out of the "front brake vs. both brakes" debate.
SS lines will make a much smaller difference than proper bleeding.
As mentioned, there are 2 bleeders - use both and go back and forth between them. Also, the way to know that you got all the air out isn't that you stop seeing bubbles when bleeding - the way to know that you got all the air out is when the pedal or lever becomes firm. Try the syringe approach, it might work better for you.
Notice how I'm staying out of the "front brake vs. both brakes" debate.
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sticking on topic is no funNotice how I'm staying out of the "front brake vs. both brakes" debate.
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