what is your emergency brake procedure?

[Val]

Hello,

Its ok to use any techniques that works for you. I think its more important regularly to practice it, then just to read about it and the practice only in real emergency. What are chances this to end well?

The question I am asking is what do you have learned, do practice and use?

I have learn to ride about 35 years ago in Europe. The procedure recommended for emergency brake is to disengage the clutch in the beginning of the brake process and not to use the back brake at all.

Here are the reasons:

In split seconds situation you do whatever you do usually. You cannot have 2 procedures one for daily ride and when comes emergency to change your habit suddenly. In operating motorcycle you use muscle memory. Hence European recommendation is:

Pull the clutch and use the front brake.

For a real emergency stop, you can better leave the rear brake for what it is, and only use the front brake. On top of that, you pull the clutch.

Why no rear brake?

It is very difficult not to slam the rear brake in an emergency situation, and especially to let the rear brake go in time. If your muscles get tense in such a situation, the tendency is to push the rear brake hard with your foot. Roadcraft recommends 20% rear brake. I dare you to measure the % during panic time

That's the reason for the advice not to touch the rear brake in an emergency stop.

As a bonus, the bike will stay upright, because the rear wheel will keep turning. A turning wheel has resistance to move sideways.

I have read somewhere the most track riders also do not use back brake at all in order to keep more stability.

Why pull the clutch?

You would think that it is not wise to pull the clutch, because you would profit from the engine brake.

The engine is capable of braking the motorcycle a bit when you stay off the throttle, but it also resists more deceleration. And because you should brake much harder than the engine brake, you pull the clutch.

Finally this is the best procedure for braking on bends too. Means you learn only one procedure for all situations and its easier to make it muscle memory and learn it.

The procedure in Europe is still the same:

https://www.lazymotorbike.eu/tips/braking/

There are two more procedures used in US and UK (Roadcraft) explained here:

https://www.bikesafer.com/emergency_braking.html

Which one do you use?

cheers
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Yamaha Fazer FZS 600, MT09, XSR 900

[Pol Anorl]

Look for escape route>

Yes> go that way
no> Prey, grab clutch slam the brakes on and prepare to prolapse.
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[MCN.]

You are over thinking things, which means you'll probably crash.

[c_dug]

Based on past form my procedure is something like this.

1) Car does something ridiculous.
2) I slam on the brakes.
3) Front wheel locks up.
4) I come off.

I can stop perfectly fine when I'm practicing, and in fact I probably practice far more than anybody else purely because of how many times it has gone wrong for me. Still, it's three times now in 8 years that I've managed to do it. Most recently less than six months ago.
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[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

I've only got single disc bikes - but did have to chuck the anchor overboard the other week. Came round a blind corner at 60 on a back lane and there was a vast john deere harvester touching the hedges on either side, doing about no miles an hour. A sphincter puckering incident, to be sure, be sure. Just gave it the ol' graduated pull on the front and a press of back (probably about 70-30) and the bike didn't blink, just pulled up nicely. Couldn't quite believe it, tbh! Been ages since I'd used the brakes in anger so it was a gratifying - and brow mopping - moment. Dunno what it'd've been like on a twin disc thing though - my mates er6 was a total revelation when I had a little go of that. If I'd been on that it would have resulted in a spectacular endo.
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Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[MC]

Firstly it depends on the bike, my last one had rear drum brakes, so I could use a lot of rear brake.

On the MT-03 I used a lot less rear brake as it's disc, and with a twin disc front you have to be more careful. Also with the aggressive engine braking I used that to my advantage, banging down the gears when I thought I was going to have trouble stopping in time, which greatly helped reduce the stopping distance.

However speaking generally, you brake and don't go near the clutch. When doing the training for my test(s) earlier this year we were told not to bring the clutch in too early during the emergency stop. On my test I did just that (just through being tired) and my stopping distance was rubbish.

Main thing I'd say in any emergency situation is don't panic. If you grab the front brake and lock up you're going down, quite often when you wouldn't have had a crash in the first place.
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Yamaha MT-03 '08 (crashed)
Honda XR-125L '04

[Wonko The Sane]

I go for the front brake, bringing the rear in to assist.

I'm able to sense the rear is locking, ease off and re-apply (did this instinctively in training for my mod1 even though I'd never skidded before)

I put this down to mountain biking, learning to tell if the rear is slipping, even though I'm using my foot for the brake, not my hand. I have had a car licence for over 10 years now so used to using my foot for the brake.

I grab the clutch as I hear the revs drop, so engine braking is happening until the engine is trying to go quicker now than the bike.
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[iooi]

Brakes on. DO NOT touch clutch.

Reason is that it works for me.

Last time I had to do one. The rear was locking up due to engine stalling, but it was on/off and it really made a difference to the stopping distance.
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[G]

If you're braking as hard as possible with a reasonable bike in ok conditions, as hard as possible braking will be at the point the rear is just about to lift off the ground.

At this point, using the rear brake or going down the gears isn't going to offer much.

Personally I'd still leave the clutch out.
If you are at high rpm, you may get some engine braking when the throttle is closed.
If you are in a high gear, you won't get a significant amount of resistance to your braking as you slow down.

I'd always suggest going to a quiet industrial area when it's closed and practising such braking (in good conditions, presuming you're not a twat and the bike's ok) when there's no emergency.

Best procedure for braking on a bend? Don't, if you're going to learn to do so, first learn to avoid the need for it in the first place.
When racing, however, I have done plenty of braking while cornering, I have most definitely left the clutch out - pulling the clutch in typically changes the dynamics of the suspension a bit - I've done this a hand of times and found the results very good.

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

Pull levers in a random fashion until stopping occurs.
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[Jim Mc]

I find screaming in a high pitched warbling tone helps reduce your overall braking distance.

[Polarbear]

ABS for when panic sets in
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[Nexus Icon]

Keeping calm is the most important thing. I achieve this by closing my eyes until the whole event is over.
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[RhynoCZ]

It all depends on the situation you get into. Staying on the tar is the priority number one for me because once I get off the road, there's no way I could ever be able to control the bike. Which has proved to be true, once I had a go on my mates MZ and laid down into mud.

Always look for the escape route, just like the others say. If you will have enough space before the obstacle, use the front brake only to slow down as much as you can, then release the brake lever and make the escape maneuver. Brake only if the bike is straighten up! While you're at it, always disengage the clutch and shift some gears down if needed. When you slow down too much, you're might gonna need some extra power after the escape maneuver, and having 6th gear at 20-30mph won't make your bike swift.

The clutch thing, well the idea is, that the engine's got far more power/torque than the front tyre grip. I was once going through the town, around 30 mph, and the car ahead of me had no brake lights. I was fixing my helmet, the car made full stop. When I grabbed the front brake, I accidentally twisted the throttle and I was only glad I was taught to always disengage the clutch when ''panic braking''. The revs were sky high, but I safely stopped the bike.

TL; DR
Calm down, try to stay on the tar, disengage the clutch when braking and always try to decide where are you going to go before you start all that above. If need to go off the road, find empty spaces, soft surfaces prefered (field over forest, mud over rocks and so on).
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'95 Mercedes-Benz w202 C200 CGI, '98 Mercedes-Benz w210 E200 Kompressor

[Dave70]

Having ridden round a bend and come face to face with a horses arse on more than one occasion, I tend to use a fair bit of front brake initially, in a firm but gradual manner and then bring in a bit of rear brake to assist with stopping. I have, so far, found that this works well.

Unlike the first time I had to use an emergency stop in a real life situation, were I grabbed a load of both brakes. That didn't end well and the bike was written off after being prised from the van it was wedged under, along with myself.
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2012: R125 killed by white van. 2016 R125 killed by 30,000 miles of redline. Current: 2016 Kawasaki ER6f.

[CaNsA]

Drop the anchors, check for signs of life, wipe arse.

[ScaredyCat]

[CG Sam]

Slam front on, be prepped to lowside it if it isn't going to stop in time. I'd rather hit something with just my body instead of tangled up with a bike too.
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CG125, SV650S, CBR600F, GSXR600 SRAD

[Pete.]

[dydey90]

Mine goes a bit like this.

I find that frantic whimpering and last minute deals with god also help.
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Past: CBR125,ER6f NINJA 650, ZZR600 Current: VFR750

[notbike]

For some reason every time I've had a near miss I've always locked the rear, grabbed the front brake with all my might, and braced for impact.

Somehow wired it into myself that I should leave the clutch alone until last minute too.

[chris-red]

Squeeze front break progressively harder until...

You Stop,
You lock the front,
You hit something,


Don't bother with the back brake, chances are the rear will have so little grip as the back will be trying to come off the ground if you are really emergency stopping, anything on the rear will only lock it.

Don't pull the clutch, every little breaking helps, and it certainly won't lock the rear
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[Rogue_Shadow]

I passed my mod 1 and was taught the correct way to emergency stop the bike.
Would I be able to apply that knowledge in a situation that needed it ... I'd like to think so
Until you're in it, you'll never know. I'd much rather practice riding in a way to avoid them in the first place.
The most important thing that sticks with me, is how to apply the brakes.
More, more, more, more
I actually say this as I brake sometimes

As for the clutch, the engine braking on my v-twin is vicious.
Vicious enough for me to utilise it subconsciously in a panic situation
Fortunately, to my mind, I've never had to find out.

[johnnyarctic]

IO got taught to not pull the clutch, and brake progressively on the front and feather the back, but not lock the wheel. It was OK to stall on the test.

I've had to do a couple of emergency stops in real life riding and thats what I've done and has worked for me.
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