Panic Stop Practice Methods?

[PhotoAl]

Best thing is to keep a cool head and don't panic - so easy to say and soooooo hard to do. Have had a couple of panic stops, one when I was first riding (Ninja 250) a van moved over on me so I nailed the front brake and the horn. Locked up the front wheel and was going down, don't remember much it was a blur but the front was going side to side and the bike was leaning over. Let off the brake and it recovered, the driver of the van realized I was there and moved back into his lane. Now on the FZ I would have just hit the gas and gotten out of there as it is harder to stop while going faster than the vehicle next to you. A few weeks ago was downtown and passed someone - hit the gas and was going a little too fast coming up on an intersection when from the right there appeared a GIANT RED FIRE ENGINE WITH LIGHTS ON!!!!! Panic stop, went into the intersection a little bit but left lots of room for him. He stopped and was turning onto the street going the same direction as I was. Another scary part was didn't look in the mirror to wee who was behind me.

Major point to myself - always keep up with everyone around you and don't get distracted or upset. Thanks to everyone for the good thoughts. It's nice to stop and think about how you ride and what can be done to be better.

 

[FinalImpact]

Steer to miss and brake as needed. Choose a good path and try to keep options open.

What I find is with good tires, brakes, and suspension set right, The FZ will stop well even while leaned over. SO much that I fear being ran over from behind. Go back to the first sentence and steer to miss!

If you going to practice rear braking don't kid yourself by doing REAR brake only tests because when the nose dives from actual panic braking, the bike will rise and even gently rear brake application will lock the rear.

SO - if you're still going to do that, also practice shifting your weight to the rear to keep the back from locking WHILE using the front brake. IMO the OEM setup of the FZ rear brake lever has it too high and makes it easy to over brake the rear - Adjust the lever Down! Its easy and it will reduce the odds you locking it up and crashing. . .

Practice practice practice. . .

 

[abraxas]

A long time back when I road racing I read an interview with the one of the top dogs of the time - Eddie Lawson. They asked him about braking technique on the track, and he said he never used the rear brake.

Hey Ken
I have to stop you there, track is NOT road, and techniques really are completely different. You'd have to do it yourself, but brake with front only, back only, then both, from any given speed. I could list all sorts of evidences, but do it yourself, and feel how much sooner you stop.

This is an awesome thread, teeter, i like your way of seeing things :thumbup:

Some excellent suggestions here, but i'd like to re-enforce an idea with you. Practice makes perfect, every time. When we're riding, the operation of the bike has got to be 100% subconscious, your feet, your hands, everything has to be without thinking. So in braking, when you practice practice practice, and do it right (head up, look where you want to go, brake front then back) and your body KNOWS what stop means, in a situation like you described, your body must just take over. All that's needed is that message from your brain STOP, and you just stop, it becomes that easy.

But it's practice, practice, practice. :rockon:

 

[DefyInertia]

Skidding the front is a sign that you were too abrupt with your brake application, not that you have reached the threshold of maximum deceleration.

 

[marke14]

Yeah you're probably right Defy. Still it's good to experience the sensation, because it is so easy to apply too much lever force in a panic situation.

And if you brake very hard on anything less than ideal road surface, you can definitely skid the front tire even if you are not ham-handing it. I've done it on a sandy patch near the beach before.

 

[DefyInertia]

Agreed, which brings up back to why we should practice in the first place.

I've skidded my front most often when loaded down with camping gear and practicing braking.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

3 componets to stopping distance: Perception, Reaction, Braking. You have to develope the correct muscle memory to achieve maximum braking. Maximum braking is applying both brakes without locking either wheel.

It's our human reaction/instinct for everyone to slam on their brakes whenever a hazard suddenly appears in front of us. We all know that you cannot slam or grab a handful of brakes on a motorcycle , or you will most likely end up crashing before you even reach the hazard that appeared in front of you from the first place.

Your problem is more mental than physical. You need to develope better motorskills. Try to apply a progressive squeeze of both brakes, do not use the term panic stop, otherwise you will apply panic braking and you will crash. As the bike begins to slow down, you simply apply both brakes harder and harder. Visualize squeezing a women's breast from gentle to firmer. What would happen if you just grabbed them real hard? You get slapped. Pretty much the same result on a bike.

If you want to apply practicing in a "live" enviroment, make a point to never run a yellow or red light. We have all come across that area in time when you are in that grey area where you need to brake real hard or run the light? Make it a point to always stop. But don't lock up the brakes, and remember to apply a slow, progressive squeeze using both brakes. Be sure to check your six (behind), you don't want to get rear ended. Also place yourself in the area where the tire tracks are, the streets tend to be very greasy at intersections, so you never want to be applying maximum braking in the area where there is the greatest concentration of grease, which is the center of the lane. I just applied this "live" practice tonight, the car beside me ran the solid red, I stopped. Also keep your head and eyes up!

 

[dxh24]

OMG Vegas i may have to make that my sig:
"Visualize squeezing a women's breast from gentle to firmer. What would happen if you just grabbed them real hard? You get slapped. Pretty much the same result on a bike."

:bow::rof:
I was still chuckling a solid 5 minutes after i read that :thumbup: