That rear brake

I

Insolentsquid_imp

Running like a top
Thread starter
Okay, much has been said about how effective or not the rear brake is on our mistress.

Really, how much do we use it, and for what?

The front brake on my 2014 is really assertive, and combined with the ABS, really inspires confidence.

The mild and meek rear brake however, lends itself really well to adding stability by trailing the brake in slow speed manoeuvres.

Have we now got to the stage where, for most of us mortals on the road, the front brake is king for scrubbing the mph off, and the rear just for fancy stuff?

Enlighten me!
 
I would rather have one that's a bit weak than too grabby, but this one is swimming in the weaksauce. My V-strom was similarly lacking, so no adjustment was needed when I got the CB. The front brakes are stellar and quite a surprise when I test rode the bike.
 
:rofl: swimming in weaksauce ... Classic
 
BRAKE!? We don't need no stinking brakes! :D

My 2014 CB1100 Deluxe (ABS) has some of the best brakes of any bike I've ever owned... I don't understand this weak rear brake dialog. :huh:

This is not your Schwinn Stingray; you do not need to be able to lock up the rear brake and "lay a patch" to impress your friends, :cool:
 
No but they really should aid in slowing you down, rather just being good for holding the bike still at a stop light.
 
I find it really odd that all of you have such issues with the rear brake. I can effectively haul myself to a stop with only the rear brake. I wouldn't wan't to do it too often because it wouldn't last too long, but I could do it in an emergency situation where I lost my fronts and feel confident about stopping safely.
 
I never really use the rear brake, other than for keeping the bike still at a stop light. The only time I will have used a rear brake other than that has been at the race track when going really hard, and wanting to stabilize the bike in a corner, but then that is also very rare. So, on the CB11 I have not noticed if it is any good or not, other than it does brake more than the one on my brother's Tuono (but that is really not saying much!).
 
Brakes on my CB are stellar and better than the very good Brembo's that were on the Guzzi Breva. I rarely use the rear brake other than to hold the bike when stopped or when riding on dirt.
 
Here is the deal on the rear brake. (only on non ABS) bikes. They are to be used to only slow you down not to stop you! On the newer bikes, lots of the rear brakes are only fair. Lots of that have to do with losing it in the rain. Some riders use too much of the rear brake. On Crusiers the rear brake is strong. But, we have a sport type bike. Front brakes are to be the most. I called Honda about my rear brake being so weak and they said that's the way they are now a days on a lot of bikes. But, he was talking about Honda's. He said I should think about trading up to a 2014 with ABS !!!!! Mine is a non ABS 2013. I even took in 2 times to the dealer and Honda told them that they have not had any complants yet !! It all comes down to someone trying to tell me how I want to ride a motorcycle. I have been riding much longer than most people have been alive !! If I wanted to take my front brakes off, and just use my rear brake it would be my darn business !!! Hang in there. Bring up your brake lever some. It will help. God Bless...

Jayimpalaman
 
I don't have a problem with the rear brake on my 2013 CB1100 non ABS. It is better than the bike I traded in on it a Honda Shadow Phantom. But to be fair, the Phantom had a drum rear brake.
 
OK here's the deal ..."from my perspective". A lot of us have been riding a long time. For me personally I am coming up in May on my 50th year of riding on the street.. not on mini bikes in the neighborhood, although I did that too (I just don't count riding on minis in the dirt pre puberty as years riding YMMV, we just had to make the mini bikes using old lawn mower engines). But on the street with traffic on manufacture built dedicated street motorcycles. We grew up riding where the brakes on both ends were not that good, and we NEEDED both brakes to function and aid in the stopping process. The better the front brake, the faster we could stop, the better the rear brake, the even faster we could stop. Muscle memory and habit....and instructions from the manufacturers, said USE BOTH BRAKES AT ALL TIMES WHEN STOPPING.I believe if you open your owners manual and the little riding instruction manual that comes with your CB 1100, you will also find this printed, even today.

I have always enjoyed a bike with good brakes on both wheels, and consider them an asset to my safety when riding on the street.

Somewhere, sometime, and unbeknownst to me, someone decided rear brakes are not important. Not sure when that happened, but it is very disconcerting to me. When I complained to Honda about the rear brakes on my 13, the 30 year old service rep for Honda told me I needed to learn how to ride. Well, ok then!

Old Dog I suppose, but I still use both brakes when stopping and I suppose I always will. Can't get used to these new tricks.

and PS I know about weight transfer and all that ..depending on which report 90/10..80/20..70/30..60/40 whatever, but why give up ANY of your rear braking ability by using only the front brake?
 
The ferret_imp said:
OK here's the deal ..."from my perspective". A lot of us have been riding a long time. For me personally I am coming up in May on my 50th year of riding on the street.. not on mini bikes in the neighborhood, although I did that too (I just don't count riding on minis in the dirt pre puberty as years riding YMMV, we just had to make the mini bikes using old lawn mower engines). But on the street with traffic on manufacture built dedicated street motorcycles. We grew up riding where the brakes on both ends were not that good, and we NEEDED both brakes to function and aid in the stopping process. The better the front brake, the faster we could stop, the better the rear brake, the even faster we could stop. Muscle memory and habit....and instructions from the manufacturers, said USE BOTH BRAKES AT ALL TIMES WHEN STOPPING.I believe if you open your owners manual and the little riding instruction manual that comes with your CB 1100, you will also find this printed, even today.

I have always enjoyed a bike with good brakes on both wheels, and consider them an asset to my safety when riding on the street.

Somewhere, sometime, and unbeknownst to me, someone decided rear brakes are not important. Not sure when that happened, but it is very disconcerting to me. When I complained to Honda about the rear brakes on my 13, the 30 year old service rep for Honda told me I needed to learn how to ride. Well, ok then!

Old Dog I suppose, but I still use both brakes when stopping and I suppose I always will. Can't get used to these new tricks.

and PS I know about weight transfer and all that ..depending on which report 90/10..80/20..70/30..60/40 whatever, but why give up ANY of your rear braking ability by using only the front brake?
Click to expand...
Like you, I am at 50 years of riding, or more. A little over a year ago, I started doing track days (different bike!) with some buddies. I was amazed at the fact that we were being taught that we should NEVER use our rear brakes. It is not that rear brakes don't have a place on the track, but that would come with trail braking and such at the higher level classes. Down in the lower level classes, the focus was on ZERO rear brake in order to get folks to learn exactly how much power they had in modern, dual disc, setups. In fact, so much power, that you can lift the rear wheel off the ground!

So, here was the point... If (when) you use your front brake "correctly" you will have made your rear tire so light that there is no longer a strong enough contact with the track that your rear brake can do anything. Or worse, the contact patch is so light, that you can't modulate the rear brake well, and are at a high chance of sending it into a skid. So, their message was much like your young service rep. Learn to use your front brake "correctly" (learn how to ride) and forget all that futzing around with the rear brake.

With all that said, I would never pretend that I don't use my rear brake, on the street. But, I have to admit that after those track days I use it much less, and in an entirely different way than I used to.

I firmly believe that the vast majority of riders are scared of their front brake, fearful of using "too much" and thus losing the front end. It is a self preservation instinct which must be overcome through practice. I think you see this surface in other threads, such as the "ABS Saved Me Today" elsewhere on this forum. The idea that I can slam on the brakes as hard as I can, and ABS will kick in and prevent that from being "too much" is a palatable, and arguably safer, alternative to practicing until that skill becomes an automatic rider reaction. That tends to get verbalized with statements such as "skilled riders don't need ABS".
 
As weak as I find the rear brake to be, it still can be used to assist in slowing, regular stops, panic stops, and trail braking. I find the level of effort to be out of sync with the front brake, so it takes a little thought and familiarity to use it efficiently. You can still lock up the rear and I find, despite the higher than normal pedal effort, the rear brake is easy to modulate. I would rather it be this way than either too grabby or have high pedal effort AND difficult to modulate (resulting in sudden lock up). I've had brakes that were all of the above, so the CB is not at the bottom of my list for rear brake feel. I was just disappointed given how neutral and natural the rest of the bike is, especially the front brakes, that the rear comes up a bit short. I do wonder how a steel braided line and some different pads would make it work.
 
As the ferret said earlier in this thread, the rear brake should be capable of slowing you down. Whether or not you choose to do so (and I don't) you should be able to bring yourself to a stop in a "reasonable" amount of time using the only the rear brake. Sure, this is far less effective than using the front brakes, but a number of members have reported that their CB1100s failed this test — the rear brake wasn't even that good at scrubbing off speed. That's just not right. It has been reported by at least one of those members that having the rear brake system bled returned performance of the rear brake to the level expected.

As far as how we ride bikes today is concerned, the MSF basic rider training course still instructs people to use both front and rear brakes in conjunction with one another and definitely in a emergency stopping situation. In my recent close call that I documented elsewhere on this forum, you can bet that I applied both front and rear brakes when I had to stop in nothing flat and both assisted in hauling the bike to a stop in a very impressive manner. My reaction was simply force of habit. While the front brakes are far more effective at hauling the bike to a stop, properly using both front and back brakes together (modulating during weight transfer) certainly doesn't decrease braking power.
 
Being as the rear brake on the CBDLX, IMO, just about perfect, I've been using them both simultaneously when I've needed to stop quickly. I like that neither will lock up. Great safety net.
 
I think much of it comes down to how you are riding, and what bike you are riding. Clearly if you are on track racing to get the best lap time, with a modern race bike, the rear brake is not there to slow you down, but for stability. Just look at the stoppie Pedrosa was pulling the other day in Motegi as an example. I doubt his rear brake would have helped him there to slow down!

However, when riding on the street we tend to not enter corners quite as aggressively, and so there is certainly more weight on the rear resulting in the rear brake then becoming effective. Finally, with bikes like cruisers, weight is considerably more to the rear, and with a further relaxed riding style, rear brake becomes even more important. Oh, and when you have a pillion, the rear is also more useful.

Personally, as mentioned earlier, I really only use the front simply because that is my style of riding. I don't have 50 years of riding experience on the street like the Ferret, but a good 30. However, I know that my riding style has evolved over those thirty years as a result of bikes improving as well as the type of bike I would ride. Clearly I did not ride my Africa Twin the same way as my Ducati 749.
 
I have been riding street since 1975, and they have changed. Anything linked or ABS has a weak rear. I have mentioned my CB has one of the best rear brakes of all the bikes i have owned. Its so sensitive i have to careful not to lock it up. During normal stops i always go to the rear first and then the front. Its probably only a second or two but i do go there first. The brakes on the CB would be near the top of the list of all the bikes I've have owned.
 
CIP57_imp said:
I have been riding street since 1975, and they have changed. Anything linked or ABS has a weak rear. I have mentioned my CB has one of the best rear brakes of all the bikes i have owned. Its so sensitive i have to careful not to lock it up. During normal stops i always go to the rear first and then the front. Its probably only a second or two but i do go there first. The brakes on the CB would be near the top of the list of all the bikes I've have owned.
Click to expand...
+1 CB, Great brakes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

rdprdp01
Basic Maintenance: Brake Fluid
2
Replies
21
Views
2K
Gone in 60
Gone in 60
E11even_Hunnit
Had an unexpected 3some the other night. Urgent relationship advice needed!!
2
Replies
20
Views
470
Pete in PA
Pete in PA
specialist8
Saddlesore 1000: Mission Went South As I Traveled North
2
Replies
24
Views
2K
GoldOxide_imp
G
michael1954
 Heated Grips on the EX
2
Replies
25
Views
2K
michael1954
michael1954
J
Finally got to actually ride it.
Replies
18
Views
2K
Jambo_imp
J
Back
Top