Video:How to Brake on a Motorcycle

Transcript:How to Brake on a Motorcycle

Hi, I'm Basem Wasef with About.com here to talk about proper braking techniques.

Basic Motorcycle Braking

Braking on a bike is very different from a car - you have more control, and everything is a lot more responsive. You can control the front brake individually from the back brake, and sometimes - when you have a linked braking situation - you can have the bike do the work for you. But most of the time you're going to be braking without ABS, on a bike that has independent front and rear controls.

Brake Smoothly

The first thing you want to make sure you're doing is being smooth on the brake. You don't want to grab it and you want to mostly use the front brake, because the front brake is where all the weight transfer goes. When the bike starts to slow down, everything goes towards the front, and the back brake can lock up very easily.

Using Back Motorcycle Brakes

Some riders like to touch the back brake just before they hit the front brake - it's more of a sport bike technique, but that can actually minimize the forks from compressing too much and keeps your bike a little more settled as you're going into a turn. The smoother you are, the easier it is to shift gears and do other things that are involved with handling and moving your bike along at a decent pace. You want to be easy on the brake in a panic situation, and you really want to get some practice in situations where you know you're going to have to brake hard.

Practice Panic Braking

You can practice panic braking situations in an abandoned parking lot or empty street to find the limits of your tires and your brakes and see when they lock up because most bikes aren't equipped with anti-lock brakes and you want to know at which point you're going to lose traction with the road, when you are indeed in a panic braking situation.

Braking in a Turn

You want to avoid braking in a turn as much as possible when you're on a motorcycle. Tires have their most traction when they're upright at 90-degree angles. And, if you scrub off speed before you enter a turn - that way you'll have the most traction and you can decelerate as safely as possible, and then go ahead an enter the turn and accelerate as necessary.

So I think the biggest advice I can tell you about braking is just practice. Practice your smoothness, practice your panic braking situations, and be aware of what your bike is doing so you keep it under control at all times.

Thanks for watching - to learn more, visit us on the Web at About.com.