I tend to cover the brake when I find myself feeling uncomfortable about the intentions of the idiots around me. Given that I ride in the D.C. Metro area, this tends to be rather often. I love to ride, but I'm lucky if I have only one close call per ride. Too many people focused on everything but the task of driving. As for using two fingers or four, I made the mistake of trying to brake with just my index and middle finger one day. Pinched the hell out of my other two fingers, lesson learned.

 

I just have the simple habit of moving my right squeeze fingers onto the lever "every single time" that I sense the bike needs some speed scrubed. I do the same most of the time to the rear pedal as well. I also have "conditioned " myself to "sequentially grab lower gears" to hasten the speed scrubing abilities of this 850lb iron horse with me and the old lady aboard. I'll be damned if I gonna let some sh*t head on a cell phone ruin my day. Vigilence Brother...thats what I'm taulkin bout!

 

Only in traffic

 

Index finger only. I have big hands so my index finger is all I use to active the front brakes.
I have raced sport bikes and dirt bike when I was younger and only used the index finger for front brake control. So it works for me. Better reaction time to stop when you need to. JMO

 

No, as a general rule when riding, but if I am anticipating a problem I will then cover the brake.

 

Nope!.... rear brake and throttle-matched downshifting with supplemental front braking.....Not interested in locking up the front brakes- EVER! Unless I'm rolling down an incline- BACKWARDS!

 

Coveringyour front brake when approaching an intersection, or any other area of potential conflict is one thing. But to ALWAYS ride around with one or two fingers covering the front brake is not a good thing to do in my opinion. It leads to anticipation, or as someone posted earlier, the liklihood of braking unintentionally, and that could land you on the ground in half a heartbeat. We all know what happens when the handlebars are turned and the front brake is applied. Down to the ground you will go like you were pulled with a magnet. I have seen what happens when people apply the front brake while in a corner too. There are proper techniques for braking in a corner and curve, and like all skills they must be practiced.

Now, when you go to apply the front brake, four fingers is preferred. Four fingers always pull stronger than three or less. And in a full out braking situation, the brake lever WILL come all the way to the grip. Any remaining fingers left on the grip will get pinched. This will lead you to release prematurely, and then reapply. And that will make the biketravel further before stopping. And a finger pinched between the lever and the grip will prevent full lever travel, and you will not get full stopping power.

I taughtRide Like A Pro over the weekend, andI corrected a number of riders who used less than four fingers on the front brake. I showed them how the lever goes all the way to the grip. It's a habit I told them to work on correcting. I said thatfor MOST applications, two fingers will do the job, but two fingers will notbe enough in a full out braking situation. And if youuse two fingers all the time, you will probably use two fingers when you need to be using all four. So practice to with all four. Build that muscle memory so that when that UPS van turns in front of you, all four of your fingers will quickly wrap around the lever and you will apply a continual progressive squeeze in combination with the rear brake until your bike is stopped. If there is one exercise that MUST be practiced once a month, it is good threshold combination braking. The next time you are in the garage waxing the bike, take five mins and practice braking. Sit on the bike (If you have a center stand use it) in a riding position. Go about 1/4 throttle. Then practice rolling off the throttle, wrapping all four fingers around the lever, and progressivly squeezing it until it won't go anymore. At the same time practice keeping the heel of your right foot on the board/peg, and rotating the ball of your foot onto the brake pedal and progressivly pressing the lever until it won't travel any more. While your right foot and hand is braking, pull in the clutch,simulate tapping down to first gear,and keep the clutch pulled in. After the bike is "stopped" the left foot goes down first, then the right foot. Practice this on the street practice starting at 20mph. Do this over and over until you have built up enough muscle memory and it is instinctive. What we do in practice, is what we do on the street.

As a side note, in police motor school the instructors told us of a guy that due to some injury or birth defect, could not straighten and extend his right pinky finger on his own. So he kept getting it pinched during the braking exercise, and his stopping distances were longer than ideal. So he took his gloves, and sewedthe pinky finger tothe ring finger. That's ingenuity for you.

 

Always in traffic and always 4 fingers to brake. I don't even use the rear brake.

 

It's a harley?your not going to pull up for a mile or so anyway, so I carry an anchor on a short rope,haven't had to use it yet but it's good to know it's there

 

My style of riding keeps me very alert all the time and have never had a problem grabbing a handful of brakes.Stock brakes just do not cut it anymore.I ride hard and need to know that I can stop the same way.