You should always use both brakes. … Jumping on only one brake in an emergency has the potential of making the situation worse than not braking at all.
Maximum Deceleration--Emergency Stops
The fastest that you can stop any bike of normal wheelbase is to apply the front brake so hard that the rear wheel is just about to lift off the ground. In this situation, the rear wheel cannot contribute to stopping power, since it has no traction.
For most upright bikes on clean, dry, level pavement: The rear brake is for minor speed adjustments (and for use in the unlikely event of a front brake failure). The front brake is for stopping.
Personally, nearly all of my urban stops are "stoppies," with the rear wheel a few inches off the ground. Emergency stops should be well practiced before they are actually needed. The ability to modulate my braking while balancing on my front wheel under highly stressful conditions has saved me from several accidents over the years. I only had to go over the bar and headbutt one car before I learned that there's a difference between understanding the physics behind emergency stopping and actually being able to safely perform an emergency stop when the situation requires it and the adrenaline is pumping.
With the possible exception of route planning, there is no more important skill for urban cyclists than the stoppie.
Maximum Deceleration--Emergency Stops
The fastest that you can stop any bike of normal wheelbase is to apply the front brake so hard that the rear wheel is just about to lift off the ground. In this situation, the rear wheel cannot contribute to stopping power, since it has no traction.
For most upright bikes on clean, dry, level pavement: The rear brake is for minor speed adjustments (and for use in the unlikely event of a front brake failure). The front brake is for stopping.
Personally, nearly all of my urban stops are "stoppies," with the rear wheel a few inches off the ground. Emergency stops should be well practiced before they are actually needed. The ability to modulate my braking while balancing on my front wheel under highly stressful conditions has saved me from several accidents over the years. I only had to go over the bar and headbutt one car before I learned that there's a difference between understanding the physics behind emergency stopping and actually being able to safely perform an emergency stop when the situation requires it and the adrenaline is pumping.
With the possible exception of route planning, there is no more important skill for urban cyclists than the stoppie.
whenever I've had to brake really hard I've always used both brakes, but now I think about it, all of the stopping power did come form the front brake.
back in parents day an emergency stop was throwing the handlebars at 90 degrees, which folded the wheel, stopped the bike instantly, and threw you over the handlebars (yay conservation of momentum) and also ruined your front wheel.... not sure why they got taught that....
On a regular non-emergency stop basis, I break with the front only. This is a way to keep the front tire and rear tire at the same tread level. The rear tire loses tread due to friction with the road. In heavy situations I use both breaks at once.
Pigmode: Those pics are all stunning and also, what an amazing place to ride!
Here's my ride after a nice bath. 2012 Fuel EX8. Pretty much everything is stock other than the 1X and the stem that was changed from a 90mm to a 70mm. I still have plenty of more changes planned for the future but right now I'm working on the boat in the background and with classes having started back up my bike fund has become rather meager.
I officially have cleats, and have officially had my 0 mile an hour crash. I feel like an idiot, at least I didn't damage anything. they are nice once I''m clipped in though
I officially have cleats, and have officially had my 0 mile an hour crash. I feel like an idiot, at least I didn't damage anything. they are nice once I''m clipped in though
I personally thought I'd learn from other peoples mistakes and not fall, but apparently it does not work that way. Laughed for like 5 minutes straight after it happened
I personally thought I'd learn from other peoples mistakes and not fall, but apparently it does not work that way. Laughed for like 5 minutes straight after it happened
I fell at the end of a drive way, onto grass, but my brand new bike fell onto the brake lever, and bent it way out of place, I pulled it back in place, and it won't budge now, so I hope it's fine.... it was funny other than dinging a brand new bike...
I think that has probably happened to us all.............. I remember having new cool bike clothes on thinking I was the guy, stopped during my ride at the light and couldn't un-clip and proceeded to do the try to un-clip before I fell over right there. Caught myself with foot out of pedal at last nano second but I looked anything but cool...............
I think that has probably happened to us all.............. I remember having new cool bike clothes on thinking I was the guy, stopped during my ride at the light and couldn't un-clip and proceeded to do the try to un-clip before I fell over right there. Caught myself with foot out of pedal at last nano second but I looked anything but cool...............
Now-days with the invention of quick-release pedals it's really much safer. 30 years ago the helmets were just some thin leather pads and the cleats were really just hard bottom shoes with these leather pull straps which you could never get out of if you pulled them too tight. If the shoes ever became wet, even one time, they were permanently ruined.
You had to wiggle your shoe from side to side really fast at the same time trying to pull your foot out, to avoid falling over. They had cycle shorts made out of this wool like crap ( black wool). The seats were a thick slab of leather and you had to glue your sew-up tires to the rim! It was a very cruel form of life that you really had to love to love!
The pumps never really worked back then, but the tires never held much air-pressure so all was fine. The mountain bikes could double as paper-route bikes and no-one could ever have dreamed of a millage indicator or a hart-rate monitor. You figured out your millage by using a map at the end of the day, and really only guessed. You carried change around for the pay-phones. Some times you were yelled at just for being strange and there was even an odd hamburger thrown out of a car window at a cyclist. Those days were grand!
Now-days with the invention of quick-release pedals it's really much safer. 30 years ago the helmets were just some thin leather pads and the cleats were really just hard bottom shoes with these leather pull straps which you could never get out of if you pulled them too tight. If the shoes ever became wet, even one time, they were permanently ruined.
You had to wiggle your shoe from side to side really fast at the same time trying to pull your foot out, to avoid falling over. They had cycle shorts made out of this wool like crap ( black wool). The seats were a thick slab of leather and you had to glue your sew-up tires to the rim! It was a very cruel form of life that you really had to love to love!
The pumps never really worked back then, but the tires never held much air-pressure so all was fine. The mountain bikes could double as paper-route bikes and no-one could ever have dreamed of a millage indicator or a hart-rate monitor. You figured out your millage by using a map at the end of the day, and really only guessed. You carried change around for the pay-phones. Some times you were yelled at just for being strange and there was even an odd hamburger thrown out of a car window at a cyclist. Those days were grand!
not really about cycling, but I have a friend that's going through a bit of a punk phase (huge mohawk, tunnels, patched up denim vest, docs, tartan jeans... Anyway, I live in a smallish town maybe 30,000 people. and walking around there for a few hours we heard about 6 people bellow 'FREAK' out the window at him/us. then we went up to the city, where in a similar space of time 4 different groups of tourists asked to take a photo with him, he was asked to be in a jagermeister commercial, asked to model for a photography student, and asked by a few different people how he got his mohawk up.
Strange how being in different places makes a huge difference on peoples perception of each other.
trying not to go totally off topic here, All of my friends think cyclists are a menace on the road, they don't understand that they're legitimate motorists, just like other cars, trucks, tractors etc. infact, where I live I see more tractors than bicycles (farming town) and a tractor goes along the road at a similar speed to a bike, but is much more difficult to pass, and much harder to see around, but my friends think that tractors being on the road is perfectly fine. Go up to the city and bikes are fine, I see a fair number around, but never a tractor, and if there was a tractor in the city it would cause an awful fuss.
People are so damn narrow minded sometimes. rant/
not really about cycling, but I have a friend that's going through a bit of a punk phase (huge mohawk, tunnels, patched up denim vest, docs, tartan jeans... Anyway, I live in a smallish town maybe 30,000 people. and walking around there for a few hours we heard about 6 people bellow 'FREAK' out the window at him/us. then we went up to the city, where in a similar space of time 4 different groups of tourists asked to take a photo with him, he was asked to be in a jagermeister commercial, asked to model for a photography student, and asked by a few different people how he got his mohawk up.
Strange how being in different places makes a huge difference on peoples perception of each other.
trying not to go totally off topic here, All of my friends think cyclists are a menace on the road, they don't understand that they're legitimate motorists, just like other cars, trucks, tractors etc. infact, where I live I see more tractors than bicycles (farming town) and a tractor goes along the road at a similar speed to a bike, but is much more difficult to pass, and much harder to see around, but my friends think that tractors being on the road is perfectly fine. Go up to the city and bikes are fine, I see a fair number around, but never a tractor, and if there was a tractor in the city it would cause an awful fuss.
OK, a cry for help, where do all you cyclists store your bikes?
mine is just filling up my room, leaning against my chest of drawers, which are now unusable due to the bike in the way. I need a sensible way of storing it.
My house has no garage, so I can't store it there.
I leave mine in the shed. Chained to a wall, behind locked doors.
I use my bike daily, and taking it inside is just a pain and gets dirty fast. I used to store it in my bedroom, but after the first winter I scrapped this idea. The snow I ride in isn't what I'd call clean, and bicycle have a tendency to build it up. Take this inside and it melts everywhere.
Though honestly, I think I'd have problem sleeping at night if I had to store a 5 k$ bicycle in a shed. But then I would not use such a bike to commute daily anyways, so keeping it inside probably would not be as troublesome.
I think you need to be more precise about what you mean by "storing". Will it be used daily, or do you want long-term storage?
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