Part 6 – Everyday braking improvements

Bikers are sometimes the victims of crazy or careless car drivers no doubt. But don’t kid yourself – most bike prangs are things we could avoid if we mastered our brains, our brakes, and the bends. Follow our series of guides on how not to crash, and start adding the years of accident-free biking to your riding life…

In this part we give you some easy ways to improve the life-saving asset of skilful braking.

At home
• Squeeze things
We can all whack on the brakes – but to avoid locking the front wheel you need a swift-but-progressive squeeze.

And that requires a detailed ‘muscle memory’ of what it feels to give something 1/8th effort squeeze, 2/8ths and so on.

An empty plastic Coke bottle with the lid on offer the right kind of progressive resistance you need. Go up the scales from 1/8th squeeze to 8/8ths while you’re watching telly, holding at each stage for 10 seconds.

When you’ve gone up and down a few times, pick a trigger word (“leave it!” is ideal for Eastenders) and every time you hear it do a progressive emergency stop on the bottle.

In a car park
• Braking competition
There’s nothing like trying to beat a mate to bring out the best in you. Find an empty car park or back road and ride two bike lengths behind and to one side of your mate, at 20-30mph.

The moment you see his brake light come on, brake progressively as hard as you can and stop. If you both braked equally well, you should end up beside each other.

It’s not uncommon for riders to halve their emergency stopping distance with this kind of practise. Just remember to keep you eyes up on the horizon – if you stare at your mate’s brake light things can get uncomfortably close!

On the road
• Bent-arm braking
Stiffness in your arms is part of the vicious circle of panic and loss of control – and it takes weight off the seat, encouraging the back wheel to lock or lift up.

Unfortunately, heavy braking pitches your weight forward making it a natural thing to do. Try braking down from 30, 40 and 50mph keeping some bend in your arms. Grip the tank with your knees instead.

You’ll be amazed at the extra feeling of control – the front wheel doesn’t feel like it’s going to lock up any second and the extra confidence leaves more brain (and arm) power for any swerving that might be required.