PSA - Practice your panic stops!

[J-Boat]

Next time I have a panic situation I'll be sure to practice stopping...

I just upgraded my front end with R1 forks, radial calipers and master cylinder, stainless lines, and HH pads so I definitely need the practice...

 

[iamrob]

one good thing about my current job.. i get to ride home at night on a slick road (el camino) when nobody else is out there. i practice emergency stops all the time WEEEEE

 

[rritterson]

SLOWING down(braking) is a transitional movement.. it's something you do and then you do something else.. like add throttle, swerving, or a combination of all the things.

You are much more likely to crash/slide out/etc on a emergency stop if you haven't practiced than you are on a swerve. And, in a way, as you corner on the backroads, you are practicing the muscle movements that are involved with high-speed swerving anyway.

There are situations, like the one described in the OP, where emergency stopping is your best, and maybe even only, option, and you'd damn well know what you are doing.

Your point is well taken, but that doesn't mean you can go along without practicing ALL of the skills you may need.

 

[monkeythumpa]

Anyone got a recipe for "practicing panic stops"

I can tell you how, but you will need a cliff, a blindfold, and a passenger who can remove blindfolds.

Braking, swerving, accelerating, and above all awareness are all tools which help you treat your motorcycle as if it were an extension of your body.

I agree. Hit the turbo button and jump the hazard.

 

[silenthavoc]

+2

ps; buy a lottery ticket

And change your underwear.

 

[crick]

practice panic stops in a parking lot. the point is to practice gradual pressure on the brake, not a handful of brake.

enough pressure to bring the rear brakelight on is all u need tho.

also, with panic stops, u stop a lot faster and shorter distance than the car behind u... so a rearing can just as easily happen...

to OP: thumbsup on avoiding a tragic situation.

 

[slowblood]

C'mon man, we talkin' 'bout PRACTICE?

 

[louemc]

I have to agree with all of this. Emergency stopping isn't a separate thing in itself. It's an extreme form of something much more useful: braking.

Braking, swerving, accelerating, and above all awareness are all tools which help you treat your motorcycle as if it were an extension of your body.

I never practice emergency stops (well, maybe a little at low speed when I first put on a new tire, just to test it out), but the very few times I have had to resort to a full on power stop I found my reflexes and my ability to balance front and rear grip was right where it should be. That's because I feel attuned to all aspects of the bike and it's hold on the road at all times. If I don't, I don't ride.

I'm relating to (or agreeing to) this, more than any other single post, here.

Things can be (Must Be) practiced, to have the skills and finesse of them.
But..when they are called on...You can just bet your bippy, the conditions will be different, than what you practiced on.

Just about every post was truth...and those truths must be combined.

This event, that this thread is about, should prompt some brake interest.

Stock brakes tend to be OK for "usual" needs...but... I've yet to have stock brakes that were as good as they could be...And when the shit is hitting the fan, Your life depends on everything going as awesome as it gets...it's too late to be thinking..."those after market brake pads, sure would be nice now". (Or whatever was needed)

I don't "Panic" anything, Just do what has to be done, Panic doesn't improve anything.

 

[Alphonsis]

How is practicing emergency stopping helping you adjust to situations as they evolve on the road?

Is stopping as fast as possible your only option? Why? What else can you do?

I never, and I mean never, stop on the highway if I can help it. Stopping is my last resort, right up there with bailing off a moving bike. I freaking hate emergency braking. It's a crap shoot..

SLOWING down(braking) is a transitional movement.. it's something you do and then you do something else.. like add throttle, swerving, or a combination of all the things.

Here's my advise to all you new riders.. Don't let your mind 'stop' on the stopping.. keep your mental thought process moving along, give yourself more options. Slow, then gas? Then swerve? Then shift? Then slow some more? Shift again? What? Do something, ANYTHING but stop.

Thanks for explaining your point. ^_^

 

[serazin]

I practice about twice a week. Usually at about 3-3:30 AM.

 

[MCSFTGUY]

Wow.... the BARF never ceases to amaze me! The one thing that just about every author and safety person routinely refered to here on the BARF all say is practice your braking.... yet people say no....

Braking practice is not about training for an emergency, it is about establishing a habit and/or muscle memory so that when the emergency happens your body reacts the right way. In an emergency your body is going to react and not think about progressive squeezing on the brakes. When your body reacts, it is going to react with the most common or strongest habit. Which for many riders involves stomping on the foot brake because they put more miles on a car than a bike and grabbing a handful of front brake because the body just does not know anythng different.

And you all are probably getting tired of me saying this, but here it goes anyway, in the last study I read only about a 1/3 of the riders were able to brake semi-effectively. The last couple of studies that had braking as part of them haved showed that 100% of the time riders hit the rear brake before they applied the front brake.... these are experienced riders who know which brake is the most effective... .now why would these riders hit the rear brake before the front brake in a reaction scenario.... maybe because the foot is use to hitting the brake in a car?? I am not saying this is the case, I am saying it was a theory that was presented.

In all seriousness, in most cases we as riders suck at braking.... practice is not a bad thing. And yes I do, I have 3 stop signs between my house and the main road, I practice every morning when I leave the house... on the bike.

 

[Lovedoc]

It's just as important to learn to modulate and release brake pressure smoothly and with finesse as to apply it without a lock or endo. I don't see it so much as practicing 60 to zero as learning your way around the brake pressure zone. I wouldn't do it at 25 mph all the time either, the bike feels much different at 70mph

Edit- agree with MCSFTGUY, average riders are discouragingly inept at braking. I would count myself and the vast majority of posters in that group. I keep thinking BARFers could chip in for some data acquisition time maybe

 

[crazybob]

The last couple of studies that had braking as part of them haved showed that 100% of the time riders hit the rear brake before they applied the front brake.... these are experienced riders who know which brake is the most effective... .now why would these riders hit the rear brake before the front brake in a reaction scenario....

Maybe because they realized that hitting the rear brake after the front isn't very effective when your wheel is in the air

 

[clutchslip]

Ugh.. I went over the front end practicing this. Bike landed on top of me and I ended up breaking my arm. I was going harder and harder on the breaks to try and find the limit and it was about my 10th stop or so. Sure enough, braked hard, rear came up and the next thing I remember was being tossed.
Speed: 20mph in my friends col-de-sac.
I had full gear on, which I'm glad I wear because the bike landed on my back.

Ever since then I've been scared to brake heavily. Even at stop signs and stuff I take a LONG time to brake. I know I need to get out there and practice again, but lordy am I fearful of it.

I am sorry to hear that you had this mistake, trying to do the right thing. Can you remember how you were braking? Were you squeezing the brake? And as the rear started coming up too much, did you ease off the brake? That part, a lot of riders never master.

 

[SlideSF]

I'm relating to (or agreeing to) this, more than any other single post, here.

Things can be (Must Be) practiced, to have the skills and finesse of them.
But..when they are called on...You can just bet your bippy, the conditions will be different, than what you practiced on.

Just about every post was truth...and those truths must be combined.

This event, that this thread is about, should prompt some brake interest.

Stock brakes tend to be OK for "usual" needs...but... I've yet to have stock brakes that were as good as they could be...And when the shit is hitting the fan, Your life depends on everything going as awesome as it gets...it's too late to be thinking..."those after market brake pads, sure would be nice now". (Or whatever was needed)

I don't "Panic" anything, Just do what has to be done, Panic doesn't improve anything.

In regards to this comment about stock brakes: You never know when you're going to reach for that brake only to find out (perhaps after it's way too late) that something might have put a leak in your brake line, there is a bubble in it, or it is otherwise compromised. Because of this relatively rare possibility, I continually check the pressure on the lines. This is especially important on a bike like the KLR, which is notorious for its spongy feel. Even with the oversized front rotor, I like to keep it pumped up so that if I do need to use it hard, it's all there. Last thing you want in an emergency situation is to have the lever pull all the way back to the grip

 

[Valgar]

Fuck yeah, panic stops!

 

[Rabbtsfoot]

Really? DON'T practice?

Interesting idea but I think I'll listen to the folks that actually teach motorcycle safety and riding proficiency.

Let's see:

1988 US Navy MSF course - made us practice panic stops and advocated practicing as a habit.

1998 CA Basic MSF - made us practice in a straight line and demonstrate profiency, advocated continued practice

2001 Advanced CA MSF - made us practice in turns and in different situations, advocated continued practice

2004 CA Superbike School - they actually have a "Panic Stop Bike" that they use to train students. But hell...what does Keith Code know anyway, he only designed the damn thing himself back in the 80s because he thought it was so important to learn and practice.

This from the Motorcycle Safety Information Site: "According to the Hurt Study, in the single vehicle accidents, motorcycle rider errors were present as the accident precipitating factor in about two-thirds of the cases, with the typical error being a slide out and fall due to over braking or running wide on a curve due to excess speed or under-cornering.

Braking is probably the most important action that a rider can perform. Braking allows us to quickly slow down and come to a stop before hitting an obstacle.

Most riders do not fully understand the distance that is required to bring the bike to a full stop. Braking distance increases with speed, and unfortunately the increase is not linear."

All rubbish, right? Wrong.

If your a newbie, listen to your MSF instructors, if ONE OF THEM TELLS YOU NOT TO PRACTICE THEN BY ALL MEANS DO NOT. Otherwise do the smart thing and practice one of the most important skills you can in the motorcycling. Controlled stops, panic stops, just plain stopping!

Let the guys who don't think they need to know how to stop worry about what they are going to do when they have to stop short and don't have a swerve, jump, bunny-hop, levitate like a fucking swami option.

 

[Dianoetic]

Here's my advise to all you new riders.. Don't let your mind 'stop' on the stopping.. keep your mental thought process moving along, give yourself more options. Slow, then gas? Then swerve? Then shift? Then slow some more? Shift again? What? Do something, ANYTHING but stop.

I'm kind of torn between both sides in this thread. It sounds like the OP seems to have had only one option and executed it correctly, which couldn't have been done properly without practice. On the other hand, practicing quick stops makes it feel more acceptable in emergency situations, which doesn't allow for any error.

I practiced quick stops 2 or 3 Sundays ago, excessively in a parking lot. I hold no regret doing so since I never practiced them outside of MSF, although it did mislead me the following Tuesday. Out riding that following Tuesday, my mind wasn't in the turn since I had other things racing through my mind (a problem in and of itself) and I realized I wasn't going to make the extremely easy left hand turn. Instead of leaning more or following the slight veer to the right toward the dead end lane I didn't see, I chose to quick stop because I had enough room. Well, turns out I used too much rear brake and fishtailed onto my right side. 100% my fault, but what kills me is knowing I had a million better options and chose the only one that could and did cause me to lay my bike down.

 

[slowblood]

Really? DON'T practice?

....

All I need to practice is how to be a "BAD-ASS" every hour of everyday!!!

Yo!

Done and delivered.

 

[nbean16]

How is practicing emergency stopping helping you adjust to situations as they evolve on the road?

Is stopping as fast as possible your only option? Why? What else can you do?

I never, and I mean never, stop on the highway if I can help it. Stopping is my last resort, right up there with bailing off a moving bike. I freaking hate emergency braking. It's a crap shoot..

SLOWING down(braking) is a transitional movement.. it's something you do and then you do something else.. like add throttle, swerving, or a combination of all the things.

Here's my advise to all you new riders.. Don't let your mind 'stop' on the stopping.. keep your mental thought process moving along, give yourself more options. Slow, then gas? Then swerve? Then shift? Then slow some more? Shift again? What? Do something, ANYTHING but stop.

I actually agree with a lot of what you say here and I think hard braking should be the last option, but there are times when "panic stop" is THE ONLY option and practicing them is extremely important. Learning how much it takes to lock up a wheel is important. I'd rather maybe mess up and lay my bike down in a parking lot then lay it down on the street and end up under another vehicle. I've practiced braking enough to lock up either wheel and always recovered, if you endo and crash while practicing this your whole philosophy on how to grab the front brake is wrong and it's better to learn it in a parking lot.