valentines day nklr

[kdxkawboy@aol.com]

In a message dated 2/15/2005 3:49:01 AM Pacific Standard Time, dooden@... writes:

> As you can see I am very passionate about this subject, and many more > concerning how to understand a bike and how it works. I was > surprized to learn that out of all the forces a bike can produce on > our bodies as we ride, braking hard is the highest. It fires up our > survival intincts pretty quick, and practicing can make a huge > difference in sorting out, and overcoming these strong forces and > help us to become better riders. > > MrMoose > A8 (Barbie and Ken special)

Before you completely remove your rear brake and have it gold plated for your trophy room, might I suggest you take your KLR out and ride it where it will get dirty and tell me you do not need your rear brake. Dooden got you on that one Moose. As useless as the rear brake may be on the street, you can't survive in the dirt without it. Like Dooden said, you brake a rear brake pedal and you'll know right away just how much you do use the rear in the dirt. But Moose made a most excellent point about needed to work on the front brake with newbies until they understand how much braking is available. One thing might mention for folks that feel the front end nose-diving too much, make sure you are applying the rear as well. One of the side effects of using the brakes is the compression of the suspension, so by cranking in the rear brake you will pull some of the nose dive back out as the rear shock compresses. One way to get a feel for who this fits into braking is going back to practice stops. Start braking with just the rear, brake hard enough to settle the rear chock and cause a bit of extension on the front forks. When you feel the front forks extend start using the front brake. Then try a similar stop with just the front. You should notice that when using both brakes the bike didn't feel like it wanted to do a stoppie. With extensive practice you should start picking up this suspension action as part of the feedback the tells you how you are braking, and as you start getting the hang of coordinating the rear with the front you'll find your braking distances will make a noticeable improvement. The lesson of riding the dirt is just how effective the rear brake is in steering and controlling the bike. The crossover to the street is most of works in the dirt works just as good on the street. While I don't need to use the rear so much on the street, I find that I am constantly using the rear to help set the bike up to enter a turn and dragging the rear brake to help settle the bike into the apex of a turn. Once you learn how to use the rear brake in this fashion, on street or dirt it just won't feel right riding a bike without a rear brake. Pat G'ville, NV [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Keith Saltzer]

> Before you completely remove your rear brake and have it gold plated > for your trophy room, might I suggest you take your KLR out and ride > it where it will get dirty and tell me you do not need your rear

brake.

> > When I heard that dreadful *snap* with the resulting hanging lever

as

> a side, riding home without a rear brake sucked, I use both brakes > almost all the time, must be there for a reason right ? > > Off the pavement and through the woods, up and down the hills

without

> a rear brake is not fun, sure downshifting helps but not when you

are

> locking a wheel up to help balance yourself say at the crest of a

hill.

> > Dooden > A15 Green Ape

I wasn't talking about off-road riding guys. I'm not experienced enough off-road to talk much about the rear brake there. But I do know that as soon as I hit the dirt, my "back brake mind set" kicks in and I do use it a lot off road. Ron Criswell, and Paul Streeter, and I have been talking about the use of the rear on the street more in depth off line. I am giving lots of thought about the subject (again) and I'm going to look into it further to see what I might learn. MrMoose A8 (Barbie and Ken special)

[achesley@charter.net]

> Then shouldn't you be signing it "Andy in GB185, LA" or something like that? > > Mark

Yea Mark, Dang , didn't think of that. Andy in VR408 (Vermillion) Just on the border of Garden Banks and the shipping lane. You should see those Cruise Ships go by at night all lite up.