Tocsik wrote on 08/29/19 at 15:38:10: And I do try and use the rear brakes at the same time. Maybe I need to be a little more aggressive on the rear brakes to offset wear on the fronts.
The fact that you wear your front brakes out faster might show that you are riding faster and using the brakes harder......it actually could be a "good thing".
Learning to use the brakes on a motorcycle is one of the most important riding skills - and the better you know how to use the brakes the safer you will be.
I believe there are 3 phases of learning:
Beginner: When you are first learning to ride the rear brake is your "go to".....as the front brake can be scary until you learn how to modulate the brake and only use what is required. If you just "grab" at the front brake it can put you down in a hurry. (Watch the YouTube videos of Asian Scooter accidents and you will see what happens when you panic and lock the front brake up....the front tires locks up, the handlebars twist slightly left or right, and the front end falls out from under you......this "Bad Ass" fellow grabs the front brake too hard and goes down in front of an audience).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acszGi7eNncIntermediate: As you gain experience you get more more comfortable with the front brake, you can learn to use it in combination with the rear brake - and if you do you will gain the ability to stop quicker and under more control. While riding around the parking lot or in city traffic at low speeds you may be using just the rear brake - but you must use the front brake more when the speeds increase if you want to get the most braking force. The initial application of the front brake must be smooth and not instant - you must gradually squeeze the front brake and then add more pressure and harder braking as the weight shifts forward onto the front wheel......and at the same time you may need to use less rear brake as the weight moves forward and takes weight off the rear wheel. Even in emergency stops you cannot instantly apply a lot of front brake - you need to wait just long enough for the forks to compress and put weight onto the front tire......the application of front brake needs to be progressive and match the weight shift onto the front tire. Most experienced riders will be in this class of braking and use the front and rear brake effectively and be able to balance the amount of braking in the front/rear wheels.
Advanced: This level of braking may be beyond the abilities of the stock brakes on the Savage and is not normally necessary on a cruiser style bike that has a lot of weight on the rear wheel - but very hard braking must be done with the front brake only.......as there may be little or no weight on the rear wheel and it can lock up and slide easily. Under very hard braking it is possible that all the weight of the bike and rider is on the front wheel, and the rear tire can stop rotating and slide if the rear brake is not released........an extreme example of this is folks showing off and doing a "stoppie". Folks who ride aggressively or ride at speed may not use any rear brake as it can cause them to crash in a hurry if it locks up. When the rear brake locks up and the tire begins to slide - it seldom stays behind you and the back of the bike wants to slide to the front! This is the most common reason you will hear "bikers" say they "had to lay it down"....they used too much rear brake in a panic stop and the bike slid out from under them. A lot of riders will never reach this level of braking.........it only becomes necessary if you ride aggressively and brake and corner at speeds that approach the limits of traction........if you find yourself locking up the rear tire as you brake hard - you need to learn to use less rear brake under hard braking. (Riders who have learned to ride on a modern bike with ABS may be at a big disadvantage if they ever try and ride a non-ABS bike at speed...they may not have developed the ability to modulate the brakes if they have gotten used to letting the ABS do it for them).
Look how compressed the front tire is under hard braking, and the rear tire has almost no weight and is just dancing on top of the pavement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy6cvHsb9RQ