Stranger Danger!

see what?

See that your stopping distances are far longer than they need to be?

 

I am still not convinced I need my front brake....

 

yeah id prefer a front brake just because i feel far safer with it. but hey isn't there and old saying "To each their own"

 

Locking up a wheel is never good, especially the front. That's why you don't "slam on" the brakes. Gradual light to hard pressure for normal stops and pulse braking for emergency stops.
With a rear brake only bike, you have to find the sweet spot in the adjustment. Not too little and not too much.
Every style bike is dangerous if you don't know how to ride it properly. You can't ride a hard-tailed, rear brake only bobber like a sport bike. You have to know the limits of the bike your riding, and ride accordingly.

 

What he said

 

it's not about knowing your abilities and riding within them. it's about that emergency situation you didn't see coming.

no question you have to know your and your bikes abilities. what I am saying is that if you only have rear brakes, you are morel likely to end up sideways under the cage that stopped suddenly for some reason you couldn't see. good luck with that.

CN

 

No, you won't. A rear brake only will never stop as well as the front brake. And the reason for this has absolutely nothing to do with brake adjustment, it has to do with physics.

When you brake, inertia carries your mass forward. This "loads" the front wheel and "unloads" the rear. The wheel pressed to the pavement with greater force will stop best. You can apply more braking to the front before it skids, and no brake adjustment will change that.

 

Well, for a bike with most brakes missing, a 5mph parade seems appropriate. Taking a defective vehicle like that into street traffic is at the very least irresponsible. Sure, it's your life, but the guy whose bumper you will redecorate will have to live with that on his conscience. And that is a crappy thing to do to someone.

 

What I'm getting at is, People that use front and rear brakes have a light adjustment to the rear brake and believe that rear only couldn't possibly work well because of that light adjustment.
80 percent to front and 20 percent to rear, 20 percent wouldn't stop for quite a distance/time. So 100 percent to rear braking would require a great deal of adjustment and different riding skill that someone using both brakes wouldn't be familiar with. Which is why some people perceive and comment on a particular mod as being dangerous simply because they have no idea how to ride with that mod. They can be dangerous if the rider doesn't understand how to ride it.
A hard brake on the rear can cause slide out, a hard brake on the front can throw you over the handlebars or worse.
I have ridden both styles and didn't kill myself, and I'm not the best rider in the world. Might be luck!
For that emergency we didn't see coming, that's something we should all be ready for and know what to do when it happens. So many people don't, then its too late. Part of your riding abilities is always knowing what's going on around you and keeping enough distance between you and them so you have time to react. So if your riding a hard-tail, rear brake only bobber, you wouldn't be zipping through traffic unless your an idiot.

 

No amount of adjustment and skill will ever get a rear brake to stop a bike as well as a front brake. It will always take longer to stop. Because physics.

Specifically in the case of the XJ the rear is a smallish drum, and no matter how you adjust it it will never be even close to the front disc.

 

I never thought this would be so controversial. It seems irresponsible to remove a safety feature and say "adjust your riding style", of course what do I know. If I did the same on a car there is no driving style that could seet me from the unavoidable.

 

I cant believe people are seriously arguing that it is OK to ride a bike with the front brake removed. Makes you wonder if they have ever seriously rode a motorcycle .

 

What happens when say a little kid runs into the street as your passing by and you can't stop in time. It could happen to anyone. You stop faster with both of your brakes period.

 

I never implied that a rear brake would work as well as a front brake, I said it could work well enough as long as your not acting like an idiot. And yes these XJ's have small drums, a rear disc would be better.
I used both brakes on my bike when I could ride and think its better to have both in case they're needed rather than needing what you don't have.
I'm not going to assume that someones bike is unsafe because they prefer rear brakes only. I'm not going to assume that they don't know how to safely ride that way either.

 

It has nothing to do with "knowing how." It's not a matter of "preference."

It's pure simple inarguable SCIENCE. Physics. A full-size motorcycle, with ONLY a rear brake, is simply incapable of stopping in as short a distance as one equipped with both front and rear brakes. And certainly not capable of hauling down from anything remotely resembling actual speed in any sort of safe distance.

Proper, safe operation of a street motorcycle involves the use of both brakes every time you stop. The bike doesn't have two sets of brakes so that it has one in "reserve" in case it's needed. They're always needed.

 

Agreed, they're is likely nothing wrong with the bike itself.

I would. I've known numerous riders who feared flipping over the handlebars because they were told the front brakes were "strong!" And so they never used them. Some of these guys would also ride down a hill in third gear with a foot riding the rear brake, then wonder why A) they couldn't slow down toward the bottom of the hill and B) why their bike smelled so bad. So yeah, if someone tells me they don't use their front brake, I assume they are poorly educated regarding how their machine works and tend to keep my distance from them.

 

"well enough" for what? To stop eventually, after a while? Well, dragging your feet would work well enough for that, too. Certainly not for stopping the bike in the shortest amount of time in the safest way.

All bikes ever have small and weak rear brakes. This is due to exactly what I described - the fact that the rear wheel can have much less braking applied to it before it skids because it's the "light" wheel.

Two weeks ago I lost front brakes on my FJ1200 and had to get home with rear only. FJ has a sizable rear disc. It still makes for seriously subpar braking.

I am not going to assume, either. I will know it's unsafe. A bike larger than a moped without front brakes is broken. And in quite a few places not road legal, and with good reason.

Yes, there is a way to ride a broken bike somewhat safely. You go slow and figure the extra stopping distance into it. The fact that I am posting here proves it. However, deliberately riding a broken bike and claiming it to be a matter of style is silly. What next, stylish weather-checked tires? Custom figure 8 rims?

 

3 pages.....Really?
I've stayed out of the fray, because I (inaccurately) assumed anyone who argued that a rear brake only bike was anything but a dangerous death trap would lose all credibility....I was wrong
By the way, I know a guy who knows a guy who added pods and straight-pipes to his XJ Rat-Rod...never has adjusted his valves and just cranked the idle screws out...guarantees his bike'll kick yours in the 1/4 mile!
Let's see how many pages this'll get..... :twisted:

 

hahahahahah!

Well I guess I've lost this discussion sine science and physics joined in and the bike in question is now "BROKEN".

Since all the new bikes are scientifically better than your outdated XJ, I guess all of ya'll are being dangerous and unsafe. Your XJ couldn't possible stop as fast as an R1, so we will now assume that you guys are wrong according to science and physics. Oh, and all your bike are broken too.

 

Now to the OP, If you have a mod in mind, you probable don't want to post it on this site since people here want to popo any deviation from the original form. To them, you might as well be holding a pair of scissors in each hand while riding.