Subject: Re: [HUKRC] Brakes
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 23:05:21 +0000
From: Mac
Reply-To: hukrc@egroups.com
Organization: Home
To: hukrc@egroups.com

Chris piggott wrote:
>
> mac
>
> you promised an update on how you feel about linked brakes (as in
> vfr) and regular brakes (as in blade) when you had a bit of miles
> behind you.

Hmmm I did, didn't I.

Well serves me right for not keeping my mouth shut ...

OK.
First, this is not necessarily linked vs regular. It's linked on a VFR vs regular on a 'blade. Maybe that's the same thing - beats me - and someone who knows better will probably be along :-)

First - on the 'blade you have to brake in a straight line. On the VFR you can start the bike turning while you're still on the brakes but not on the 'blade - it just *really* doesn't want to turn, and when you do let off the brakes in that situation the bike leans in like somebody cut an elastic band.
(Now I would never recommend that someone tries to corner under braking but ... sometime ... I don't judge corners perfectly - and I could get away with it on the VFR. And as I get more used to the faster speeds that the blade can corner at, it is happening very rarely now anyway). I guess that's coz so much more weight has been transferred to the front wheel.

It also means that on the VFR you can brake in a corner without unsettling the bike too much (without it sitting straight up !), where as with the blade, the most I would do is close the throttle & change the lean angle.

Second - Normal hard braking. Slowing for a 30 limit say - where you a) aren't stopping and b) where it is not *vital* that you hit the correct speed.
Much of a muchness really.
There is a certain satisfaction as the 'blade bars dip and the back feels like it's starting to rise :-) Distinctly less civilized than the VFR but it's a different style of riding on a different style of bike. Riding the 'blade hard, the hard acceleration and hard braking are part of the whole experience where as, at the end of a long day the VFR braking, while slowing you just as quickly, doesn't throw as much body weight on the wrists. The brakes seem to match the styles of riding as well as the style of the bikes.

Third - Emergency stop. Not a test. The real, tanks sideways across the road at a Salisbury Plain tank crossing, buttock clenching, nuts into the tank kinda thing.
I've yet to have to do this on the 'blade. The idiot pulling out that requires a swerve to avoid isn't the same, and I'm not sure what would happen on the 'blade. The VFR will squat down and the back wheel will wave from side to side a bit as you slam down the gears, but with even less weight on the back ....
I'm really NOT looking forward to it. Having said that, on the 'blade the concentration is that bit sharper as I tend to push that bit harder and seem to be better at anticipating these kind of things - it's the one that I don't anticipate that will sort out this question :-)

Fourth - the 'shit the next corner is sharper than I thought' braking as you approach continuously assessing bike, speed, corner, road surface until you have to go for it and, usually, finding as you come out the far end that you could have taken it quicker.
Tricky one this.
On the 'blade, I'm probably arriving faster at corners and it can corner faster but I feel that I know more about how the VFR front wheel feels under fast cornering, so I'm giving myself more leeway on the 'blade (slowing more than I have to) so the braking feels more frantic. But, because of the weight transfer you get a better feeling of how hard you are braking / leaning forwards and more information about how close to the edge you are.

So - my verdict.
(What was the question again - "an update on how you feel about linked brakes")
Apart from the emergency stop question, the style seems to fit the bike. I can understand how someone who is used to how a bike reacts with one feels uncomfortable with the other. It could feel like the brakes are not working properly as the bike either hurls you forwards or fails to.

Well you did ask 'how I felt' not 'which is better' which is just as well as I'm not sure I could have answered that one :-)
If I was touring - especially with serious luggage and / or pillion on a touring bike where you're not always pulling loads of positive or negative acceleration, I'll take the linked brakes.
On a light weight sports bike, playing on the twisty B roads, I'll take the unlinked. The change in the attitude of the bike under breaking gives you more information about how hard you are braking, but is that really a) the brakes, b) the blade or c) the concentration levels.

Beats me.

I hope that that helps.
It's certainly helped me by forcing me to thing about it.

As as aside :-
I was out on the VFR for the first time in a month or so last Sunday. It felt so heavy and unwieldy - and I know that it's neither. The front wheel slid out a bit on a 5 mph corner in town (Further than it's slipped before and how it didn't go down I really have no idea - I saw the rainbow effect of oil / diesel as I approached the corner but thought I'd gone outside it ...) I had some trouble convincing myself to really trust the front wheel for the rest of the day which really spoiled the run.

I'm finding it more and more difficult to justify having the two bikes - probably because I'm skint at the moment.

--

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