Trying to stop engine breaking to see if my Metzler lasts longer. I know its not my throttle hand wearing out my backtire.LOL

 

I agree, that's what I do. Just remember the guy behind you can't see a break light when you engine break.

Jim

 

Both...............

 

Smooth combo of both. Especially in the mountains. Brakes alone will smoke a set of pads in one trip coming down from 11k feet.

 

I live where life is a little slower, I use gears most of the time, a little help from the brakes. If I chirp the rear tire on downshift, no big deal. I have rode in big cities before, and in those instances, you want to be on your toes at all times. As a matter of fact, I like try to chirp the tire when riding thru downtown in the cities just to freak folks out. I know, that's not cool. But it sounds cool as hell to hear that squeal 2 or 3 times when you come to a light. guess I never grew up!!

 

thats what I do for the same reason.

 

Engine for going, brakes for stopping.

 

Not wanting to nitpic, but unneccesary wear and tear?, what happens when you get on it? In my mind you're putting the same stresses on the motor, maybe less so, cause you don't have the compression stroke exerting strain on the drive components. Any time you slow down do you pull in the clutch and use the brakes to slow you down , or let the motors compression slow your speed? Been riding for too long to agree with the idea that engine braking is bad. my .02. Anyone's who's ever driven a stick shift cage will tell you they downshift to save the brakes.

 

Both here also. I make sure and give just enough blip to get the engine caught up to the rpm's of everything so that the clutch pack isn't treated to harsh catching. My brake pads look almost as thick as they did when new, 27,000 miles ago and the clutch pack isn't showing any wear that I could see either (knock on wood).

 

Proper rev matching on the down shift will pretty much eliminate locking the rear wheel unless you're trying to downshift to 2nd gear from 90 or so!

Stress? Respectfully, slowing down at reduced throttle or closed throttle settings in any gear appropriate for the speed your moving isn't putting any significant stress on anything in the drive train. Certainly, nothing close to what the system is going through transmitting the power required to accelerate or maintain freeway speeds. Engine or compression (whichever way you like to think of it) braking is perfectly normal and totally appropriate in just about any circumstance but especially during long down hill runs in mountain riding and the amount of added wear or stress imparted to the drive train is nothing compared to what you just did to it while climbing that hill your now descending down from!

+1 Exactly!

Ride Safe All,
Steve R.

PS: Needless to say, I use both, "all" the time!