I feel ohiomoto may be correct. Despite it's tendency to lock up, the rear brake is 30 or so per cent important.

Armen, you can do JOG's mod while it's all disassembled.

jcstokes wrote on 12/23/16 at 10:39:29:


Sometimes using the rear brake for a bit of oversteer can be beneficial.

Hotrod,
Do you remember a guy named David Goldstein racing an SR500 in AHRMA? Won the SOS Senior championship in '93.
-Armen

Armen; No, I raced AAMRR, in the late 70's ,  then WERA, and AMA up until 1994. When I found out I didn't bounce anymore, but broke like cheap glass, it was time to go. The only thing I'm fast with now is beer.

Ruttly :  You're right, and explained it well.  Was just joking a bit. The track and the street are two different worlds.  Two different reasons for using the rear brake.

Although  I would not have worked on the rear brake as Armen did, I do admire the craftsmanship and time involved  in such a project.

The rear brake topic is one that could potentially be as controversial as "countersteering" or choosing the "best" motor oil!

Beginning riders are often intimidated by the front brake, and can rely on the rear brake to do all the work (and some custom bikes remove the front brake entirely).

As you become a better rider and learn how to modulate the front and rear brakes to work in unison - your ability to control the bike is far improved and you can stop much faster than you could when you only used the front brake.  Most likley you have had an incident or two with using too much front or rear brake, and have learned how to identify areas with gravel, wet pavement, leaves, manholes, and traffic markers that can affect your traction and braking ability.

When you move to advance riding/braking situations.....you discover that you can brake really hard and slow down so quickly that there is almost no weight on the rear wheel....and the rear brake can lock up easily.  You also learn that some braking can be done while entering or setting up for a corner - but a sliding tire in that situation is never a good thing, and most often it is the rear brake that creates the "Oh Crap" scenario when panic braking or entering a corner.

In very aggressive riding/racing...the front brake does all the work and advanced riders use little or no rear brake.  I have several friends who are have been road racers and they claim that they seldom use the rear brake on the track.  As my riding has progressed I find that when riding aggressively I have started to use the rear brake less and less, and if I use a bit too much.....it can get scary really fast when the rear tires slides - what was a controlled situation suddenly turns into a "survival" scenario.  I have read a book written about riding quickly.....and the author discusses the techniques for using the rear brake, and he does support that not using the rear brake is an advanced riding style to be used when riding "quickly".

The rear brake on my stock Savage was very touchy....it was hard to modulate (the ST1100 was similar), and it locked up very easily.  The Savage now that it is converted to a Cafe' bike is far less sensitive and much easier to apply smoothly.