Poll: How many are having problems with rear Brakes?

[the Ferret]

For a guy that is used to 100% front brake for stopping on two wheels I think the rear is too good. The weight of my toes lock up the rear, and works great for coming to a dive free stop from 10-0mph.
VIN # 1001

P.S. Rear brakes aren't designed for high speed stopping. It is more for fine tuning handling properties.

When you are approaching a 40 mph curve at 50 mph, and want to scrub a little speed before entering the turn without upsetting the chassis, a push on the rer brake pedal should slow you down some...mine won't. At 50 mph, you'd be better off dragging your foot.

 

[retroman_imp]

#615 non ABS. Rear brakes are ineffective. Have tried break-in procedure few times with no improvement.

 

[AzBob_imp]

For a guy that is used to 100% front brake for stopping on two wheels I think the rear is too good. The weight of my toes lock up the rear, and works great for coming to a dive free stop from 10-0mph.
VIN # 1001

P.S. Rear brakes aren't designed for high speed stopping. It is more for fine tuning handling properties.

When you are approaching a 40 mph curve at 50 mph, and want to scrub a little speed before entering the turn without upsetting the chassis, a push on the rer brake pedal should slow you down some...mine won't. At 50 mph, you'd be better off dragging your foot.

As far as I can tell, you've been riding forever, so far be it from me to say how you should ride. However (you knew that was coming), at around this time you'd have to be downshifting anyhow, so front brake application would be the norm. Unless you're coasting into the turn, in which case "you're doing it wrong."*


*see my first sentence

 

[dBuster_imp]

For a guy that is used to 100% front brake for stopping on two wheels I think the rear is too good. The weight of my toes lock up the rear, and works great for coming to a dive free stop from 10-0mph.
VIN # 1001

P.S. Rear brakes aren't designed for high speed stopping. It is more for fine tuning handling properties.

When you are approaching a 40 mph curve at 50 mph, and want to scrub a little speed before entering the turn without upsetting the chassis, a push on the rer brake pedal should slow you down some...mine won't. At 50 mph, you'd be better off dragging your foot.

When you are approaching a 40 mph curve at 50 mph, and want to scrub a little speed before entering the turn without upsetting the chassis, a push on the rer brake pedal should slow you down some...mine won't. At 50 mph, you'd be better off dragging your foot.
with this bit of information my brakes are just perfect then.

 

[Inline4_imp]

Mine are pretty much worthless too. My 11 is non-ABS; my Blackbird has linked brakes so just using the rear alone will also exert some pressure on the front pads.
My 83 1100F had a rear disc and it worked just like its supposed too.
The rear brake on my new CB is just for show I guess.
Hopefully a new set of pads will give it at least something noticeable.
If Honda intended for the rear brakes to be this ineffective why did they put a brake pedal on the bike?

 

[Deanohh_imp]

Why don't you take the rear brake off and save all that extra weight, since it does nothing anyway?

 

[the Ferret]

As far as I can tell, you've been riding forever, so far be it from me to say how you should ride. However (you knew that was coming), at around this time you'd have to be downshifting anyhow, so front brake application would be the norm. Unless you're coasting into the turn, in which case "you're doing it wrong."*

Yea been riding awhile, since 1965 on the street. We were taught brake rear to front ie: hit rear brake first, front brake second. I may have been doing it wrong for 46 years now. I don't always downshift for a turn, sometimes I want to be in a certain gear, but just want to be going a little slower in that gear.
Hit the front brake alone entering a turn and several things may happen, (1) front end may dive, upsetting chassis,(2) it may even cause it to slide out, causing a low side or (3) bike may stand up straight ruining your line.

For what it's worth, the You and your motorcycle riding tips from Honda that came with your motorcycle says, and I think I can quote this verbatim, .."always apply both brakes at the same time"

I know some aficionados these days say they never touch the rear brake, on a disc brake equipped bike, but that's not going to happen with me, other than setting up for a turn where I tail brake (use the rear brake only) to scrub speed, I always use both brakes when slowing down or stopping.

I don't use my motors compression to slow down considerably, that's what brakes are for...

Also front brakes only, will only provide up to 70% of your bikes ability to stop. Why would you give up nearly 1/3 of your braking power by foregoing use of the rear brake? I've never understood that philosophy.

 

[retroman_imp]

Interesting discussion.. This link has some good information on braking Braking for Motorcyclists

 

[Jayimpalaman_imp]

New update: Had my rear brakes bled today at dealer. Still have the SDS brake pads in. Rear brake will lock-up now. (BUT) you must use it hard. But, it will slide the rear tire now!! So I thank my Dealer (Kirk's cycle) in Dalton, Ga. and took the long way back to the house. It took them about 1 and 1/2 hours because they had a rush in the service department at the time. Open on Mondays. I was told that they would have to call Honda to see if anyone had complained about their rear brakes on their CB1100. No company wants a re-call now of days. I will keep everyone informed as the weeks go by on this brake issue. For now anyways, I will just see how it will do! Keep those posts coming! You never know what may happen.. If your CB1100 is not stopping like it should in the rear, talk to your dealer. It can't hurt. God Bless....


Jayimpalaman

 

[the Ferret]

Lo yea I have no intention of riding like that..100% of weight on front end? Nope, no way, aint gonna happen

 

[Guth_imp]

I'm guessing that regardless of the way any of us choose to use our brakes, those who have been riding long enough on various bikes are certainly capable of telling when something "isn't right".

Hopefully a quick bleeding of the rear system takes care of it for those experiencing a lack of rear braking.

 

[the Ferret]

Well, in the video its clear he stopped faster using both brakes (rather than just front or just rear alone) in his controlled braking tests. Funny he said, "not much better than when using the front brake alone" after stopping with both....but it was better, and it was obvious. He also specified "on these sport bikes, over braking the front is the way to go". Wonder if thats how he would brake on a crusier? or a standard for that matter? How about in the rain, or if there is gravel, or a deer in the road?

However in his demo, thats what it looks like when I use my back brake alone, you just keep on going lol

 

[Yoyodyne_imp]

Cruisers have longer wheelbases and lower centers of gravity, which means less weight transfer to the front tire when braking compared to a sportbike (shorter wheelbase, higher COG). So Harley riders and other cruiser owners are accustomed to using the rear brake a lot, because the rear tire has more weight on it (and thus traction) and therefore is able to provide more braking power. The problem is that it's harder to modulate braking force with your foot than with your hand, and many cruiser riders just stomp on the rear brake pedal in an emergency, lock up the rear tire and crash. (Locking up the rear tire when braking is a very common cause of bike crashes.) Shortly after I bought my Hawk GT I had an older neighbor who warned me not to use the front brake because it would send me over the handlebars, it was the rear brake that was the correct one to use. He was set in his ways, there was no point in arguing with him about. Sigh...

So it's possible, given the target demographic of the CB1100 (older guys who may be coming off cruisers), that Honda deliberately made the rear brake a bit weaker than usual to make it hard for riders to accidentally lock up the rear wheel. That seems unlikely to me, but it's a possibility.

 

[CB4ME_imp]

When approaching a blind intersection or approaching a stopped car at an interection, my hand is over the front, but my right foot usually isn't over the rear.

 

[qmaven_imp]

no issues with vin 177 with ABS....2 weeks old, 900 miles...

 

[Nano Tech_imp]

Non-ABS
VIN 126
Front and Rear work Just fine for me ....

 

[cb400four_imp]

New update: Had my rear brakes bled today at dealer. Still have the SDS brake pads in. Rear brake will lock-up now. (BUT) you must use it hard. But, it will slide the rear tire now!! So I thank my Dealer (Kirk's cycle) in Dalton, Ga. and took the long way back to the house. It took them about 1 and 1/2 hours because they had a rush in the service department at the time. Open on Mondays. I was told that they would have to call Honda to see if anyone had complained about their rear brakes on their CB1100. No company wants a re-call now of days. I will keep everyone informed as the weeks go by on this brake issue. For now anyways, I will just see how it will do! Keep those posts coming! You never know what may happen.. If your CB1100 is not stopping like it should in the rear, talk to your dealer. It can't hurt. God Bless....


Jayimpalaman

Sounds like bleeding the line resolved the problem; I'm glad that your experiment indicates that you have to use the rear brake 'hard' before it locks, I wouldn't want the rear to lock if the pedal were depressed with 'medium' effort (some older rear drum brakes were unpredictable and exhibited that behavior).

 

[dBuster_imp]

I tried on the way to work today, not to lock it up, but rather to stop me from doing 40mph... I was able to stop myself with just the rear brake without any problems.

It was not comfortable to brake that way seeing how I was instructed many moons ago that the front brake does most of the work stopping you... But it is nice to know that the rear has stopping power if called upon.

 

[thumper_imp]

Regarding the rear brakes, I think they do just fine. Have I locked them up? NO and I do not plan on locking them up. Like it was mentioned before, the rears are not for main stopping power on your bike.

hmm Lets see, rear brakes count for 30% of your braking power... The other 70% is supposed to come from the front...

If you are mainly using that rear brake for stopping... I removed my comment... *shaking my head though*

ABS--Never use the rear brake, so non-issue.

I just had to quote this from Thumper... why, if your not using your rear brake would you get an ABS equipped bike? The ABS applies the front when you apply the rear brakes. Not the other way around... or does it? If it is flipped around then you are using the rear... :-/

I just had to quote this from Thumper... why, if your not using your rear brake would you get an ABS equipped bike? The ABS applies the front when you apply the rear brakes. Not the other way around... or does it? If it is flipped around then you are using the rear... :-/
I bought an ABS bike so I won't accidentally lock the front brake, whether by panic, compromised surface condition, or a combination thereof.

I think you're confusing the "Combined" aspect of Honda's "Combined ABS" with the ABS aspect. On this bike, activation of the rear brake will also activate "some" front brake--that is the "combined" aspect. But, activation of the front brake only activates the front brakes. Should you brake hard enough to activate the ABS, you get ABS whether you use the front lever only, the rear pedal only, or a combination of both. You don't need to brake hard enough to activate the anti-lock, in order to get "Combined braking", should you choose to use the rear pedal.

And, I teach advanced riding on a racetrack environment, and I'm usually riding a mountain road at a spirited pace. So I'm usually in a riding position where the balls of my feet are on the pegs, for body steering of the motorcycle.

It's not for everyone, and we're all free to choose how we're going to control our own motorcycle. I'm quite adept at using the front brake only, I can trail-brake deep into a turn that way, and so that's my choice and style, based on the way I ride.

 

[AzBob_imp]

Regarding the rear brakes, I think they do just fine. Have I locked them up? NO and I do not plan on locking them up. Like it was mentioned before, the rears are not for main stopping power on your bike.

hmm Lets see, rear brakes count for 30% of your braking power... The other 70% is supposed to come from the front...

If you are mainly using that rear brake for stopping... I removed my comment... *shaking my head though*

ABS--Never use the rear brake, so non-issue.

I just had to quote this from Thumper... why, if your not using your rear brake would you get an ABS equipped bike? The ABS applies the front when you apply the rear brakes. Not the other way around... or does it? If it is flipped around then you are using the rear... :-/

I just had to quote this from Thumper... why, if your not using your rear brake would you get an ABS equipped bike? The ABS applies the front when you apply the rear brakes. Not the other way around... or does it? If it is flipped around then you are using the rear... :-/
I bought an ABS bike so I won't accidentally lock the front brake, whether by panic, compromised surface condition, or a combination thereof.

I think you're confusing the "Combined" aspect of Honda's "Combined ABS" with the ABS aspect. On this bike, activation of the rear brake will also activate "some" front brake--that is the "combined" aspect. But, activation of the front brake only activates the front brakes. Should you brake hard enough to activate the ABS, you get ABS whether you use the front lever only, the rear pedal only, or a combination of both. You don't need to brake hard enough to activate the anti-lock, in order to get "Combined braking", should you choose to use the rear pedal.

And, I teach advanced riding on a racetrack environment, and I'm usually riding a mountain road at a spirited pace. So I'm usually in a riding position where the balls of my feet are on the pegs, for body steering of the motorcycle.

It's not for everyone, and we're all free to choose how we're going to control our own motorcycle. I'm quite adept at using the front brake only, I can trail-brake deep into a turn that way, and so that's my choice and style, based on the way I ride.

I assume you ride with your hands on the bars/clip-ons. If that assumption is correct, attempting to steer with anything other than the bars/clip-ons is extremely inefficient, given the physics involved.