Happened to me the other day. Luckily I didn't go down. I guess I had gotten a little lazy about paying attention so it was a huge wake up call for me to wake up and watch what I'm doing. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have locked up as quickly or easily had I been 2 up.

 

The rear brakes on my 08 Ultra will lock up in a heartbeat--and the bike will swap ends if I don't get off quickly. I've had the MS course, but I still forget now and then and in a hurry go to the rear brakes. I wish I had gotten the ABS--I think they're worth the money--just for stupid times like I've had on 2 occasions. Never down or anything, but a couple of pucker moments.

 

Sounds like inexperienced operator error to me... I've been riding 30+ years and have never locked up my rear brakes. Maybe you should take a MS course so you don't kill anyone... just a thought.

 

I wish I had the ABS too... one day it'll be standard item... I almost lost it on my 07 Ultra Calssic a few days after getting it, the back tire locked up real good... after I got some use on it, it stopped locking up on me

 

Why is this so hard to understand?

 

I can lock up the rear brakes on the King easily, but have only hadtolock them up once.When I test ride bikes after working on them, I always test both brakes separately when I am leaving the parking lot. Some bikes will lock up without much effort and another just like it (same yr/model and similar miles and brake pad/ rotor wear) will be almost impossible to get to slide. Brake fluid level, condition of brake lines, master cylinder and caliper seals, tire wear (and mfg) and a few other things will all influence how a bike will stop. Important thing is once you lock them up, stay on 'em til you stop.

 

Yea right..............


~John

 

You got that right! Go ahead.....................ask me how I know![sm=badidea.gif]

 

Folks here have given some good advice.

In an emergency stopping situation, some ridersrevert back toI call "driving the car". They do on their bike what the do in their car, which is jam on the brake pedal and forget all about the front. Their instincts become more car, than bike. This can lead to rear wheel lock up. So I tell riders they should practice threshold combination braking. The application ofboth brakesright up to the thresholdof imminent lock up. I always use both brakes because the bike has two sets of independant brakes on them. Perhaps the rear only accounts for 20-30% of stopping power, but that's thats 20-30% more than if I didn't use them. And remember, when you apply BOTH brakes, the front, (which has over 70% of the stopping power), will cause the front end to dive andthe forks to compress. And as the front end gets heavier and goes down, the rear gets lighter and comes up. Hence the rear will have a greater propensity to lock up. So you need to be able to modulate your rear pedal to avoid the lock up. Of course the only way to become proficient at this is REGULAR practice. Make practice part of your riding routine. Factor in 10 extra mins before the ride to practice braking and other skils.

And like the others said. If you lock up the rear STAY ON IT AND KEEP IT LOCKED UNTIL YOU COME TO A COMPLETE STOP.

 

Not sure why HD puts such powerful brakes on the rear. Look at Sport bikes, Sport touring etc and they all have big dual disks on the front and a much smaller disk on the rear. The Harley arrangement can be downright dangerous.

I try to remember to practice quick stops once a month and have gotten so I do not lock the rear wheel but next bike is gonna have ABS.