Exactly what he said.

As for the underlined part... I alway love when you hear someone say "man, I wasent going to stop in time, so I just had to lay her down." lol

 

Get the Ride Like A Pro V DVD and practice, practice, practice. Both front & rear brakes at the same time.

 

Just for the record, and those who don't seem to grasp this;
The 70/30 "rule" is just about physics. It is also true of cars, trucks and any other type of wheeled vehicle. When you apply all brakes equally, due to weight transfer and physics, the front brakes supply about 70% of your stopping power. There is nothing you need to do to make this happen.

 

Once you high side a scooter due to panic and stomping the rear break first you will learn to use the front brake.

However in a parking lot, dirt, or gravel use rear break easily. Oh yea look down and you'll go down too

 

Usually I hit the rear brake first (lightly) to start the weight transfer, then gradually apply increasing pressure to the front brake in proportion to the increasing forward weight transfer while maintaining light pressure on the rear brake.

At low speeds in parking lots or in stop-and-go traffic I generally use the rear brake predominantly as that leaves my right hand free to manipulate the throttle if I also need to feather the clutch a bit.

Remember, the harder you apply the brakes, the more traction the front wheel has due to forward weight transfer. Because of this, as you increase braking force you need to increase the proportion of pressure on the front brake and decrease the proportion of pressure on the rear brake. In full-on panic stops, there is very, very little traction available to the rear wheel; depending on the specific bike this will vary in degree of course (baggers will have more rear traction than Sportsters due to the overall bike weight and distribution of that weight), but the front should still be getting the lion's share of the pressure in a hard stop.

 

I use only my back brake alot....at slow speeds though. Any other time, it's both front and back.

 

I had the MSF course. On regular city stop and go traffic I use 2 fingers front and light back brake as well. On quick and panic stops I use 3 or all 4 fingers on the front lever. I had to lock up the front a few times but nothing where it dragged me down.

 

The main thing is to practice so you will instinctively know how much brake to apply in all

situations, then there is no "panic stop" only a controlled stop.

 

For me, the most important thing is to first ENGAGE BRAIN @ 100% FULL POWER before engaging brakes at WHATEVER ratio!!! The one time I have ever had an "emergency stop" I was approaching a slight curve to the left when a delivery truck ran a stop sign at the apex of the curve. Riding a ZX9R at close to 80mph, I immediately put my Keith Code inspired knowledge into effect...I grabbed the front brake. I was impressed at how effectively the bike slowed and began to think I was not going to die. All was going well until I realized that, though I might not die, I was still going too fast to avoid hitting the rear of the truck and THAT was going to hurt! I grabbed more front brake. I felt the rear of the bike lift off of the ground and immediately "lost it" intellectually (FREAKED)! Not wanting to do an endo into the truck I released the brake completely. Because I was all out of "tricks" by now and did not want to hit the truck upright, I put the bike down on my left side and slid on the face of my FF helmet and left knee until I came to rest against the lower left side of the truck. I "just HAD to lay her down" not because I thought I was going to stop quicker, but because I figured the impact might be a tad more "user friendly". I had NO illusions about stopping faster whilst sliding fiberglass to asphalt! The bottom line is that the rear wheel lifting presented me with a situation that I had never contemplated encountering and had therefore never PLANNED for, and instinct took over. Had I kept my head when I released the brake, the truck was far enough into the highway that I could have simply driven around BEHIND him!! There is simply NO SUBSTITUTE for constant planning and awareness for all eventualities! Hopefully my brain will work better next time...

 

well said