CRF's Only Forums

Hey guys. I'm a newby ('05, 230 bought last week) with a semi-pro BMX background (but that was quite a while back). I'm adapting pretty well, but I was wondering if you guys could shed some light on when it's appropiate to use the front brakes. I enjoy motocross style trails over "trials" style riding.

Yesterday I laid it down when I accidently overbraked (front) going into a small burm and got pitched when I hit some soft stuff.

I'm used to grabbing that right brake lever from the BMX days, but the end results are quite a bit different on the CRF. When are those front brakes applied?

Thanks
Johnny G

you'll find the front brake to be absolutely indispensable as you get use to applying it correctly. you've already learned, the hard way, that the front brake has tremendous stopping power...so, the trick is applying that power appropriately. grabbing all of that power at one time is the equivalent of hitting the eject button in a figther.

when to apply it? any time you need to scrub a lot of speed quickly or you need to control your speed on a descent...oh yeah, and when you are pulling off a stoppie.

rarely would you apply the front without apply the rear brake simultaneously.

good luck...ken

Az,
aside from riding lots and finding appropriate times to brake, I've learned tons from watching a few downloadable instruction videos. I could try and share a lot of great braking points from the video, but I think you'd enjoy watching the video more. In fact, I think someone on CRF'sOnly posted the link a while back.

http://www.totalvid.com/searchResults.cfm?intProducerIdnt=229

The way it works is you choose a video which you'd like to watch, then download it. The video will play as many times as you want for a 7-day period, then expires.
Not a bad deal for 3.99 plus you get a 2nd free download on your first visit to the site.

"Video #7: all about cornering" was one which had a good bit of braking instruction in it as well.

good luck,
matt

Anyone know of a good riding technique video

crfsonly wrote:you'll find the front brake to be absolutely indispensable as you get use to applying it correctly. you've already learned, the hard way, that the front brake has tremendous stopping power...so, the trick is applying that power appropriately. grabbing all of that power at one time is the equivalent of hitting the eject button in a figther.

when to apply it? any time you need to scrub a lot of speed quickly or you need to control your speed on a descent...oh yeah, and when you are pulling off a stoppie.

rarely would you apply the front without apply the rear brake simultaneously.

good luck...ken

I agree with much of what you said, except that I frequently use the front brake without touching the rear. For tight woods riding, I'll use the front brake to scrub off speed quickly but avoid the back brake to avoid lockup. I then use the throttle to spin the rear wheel and tighten the turn.

I was glad to see that you mentioned using the front brake in a downhill. Too many people avoid this, apparently for fear of going over the bars, but careful use of the front brake is far more effective than using the rear in those cases. The only time I'll avoid the front in a descent is when the ground is extremely soft and/or I have to turn the front while descending.

Practice some hard stops using only your front brake until you get a good feel for them.

Don, Gary Semics has a whole line of videos and books, he's worked with Mcgrath, windham, lusk and the list goes on.

FRONT BRAKES- If your riding MX brakes are everything, from leveling the bike in mid air (if the front end is to high tap the back brake or front- I would recommend the back, easier landing). When riding a track with good rutted corner I started using a very small amount of front brake through the corner to keep the front wheel planted in the rutt and not X-rutting. Hope this helps, has helped me over the years.

help me, what do you mean

azgillman wrote:motocross style trails

Oh I know I have been bmxing for a while I aint good as hell or any thing but.. I gonna hit those front brakes.. sometime and flip my self over .. I wish I could some how change it....

ev It think he meant a trail with berms jumps and other mx style terrain

Joker7Icp wrote:.. I gonna hit those front brakes...

do not HIT them

put your index and middle finger on the lever
the other 2 on the bars
I hope Honda uses the same levers on all CRFs so you can
adjust your lever to hit your knuckles if you 'hit' the brake

Not a bad Idea I aint used to the back brake yet, and its kind of weird. I might just need by boots? ( waiting for them to come in ) who knows.

swapped brakes on my bicycles
to have the front brake lever on the right bar end
on all my 2-wheeled vehicles

friends made fun of it
until one of the hot shots
'walked' a special test on his girlfriend's mtb,
on a steep decline he hit what his hand 'thought' to be the rear brake
and instantly left his vehicle, head first,
jumping over the bars

With the CRF450r it is a one finger only. It is easy to do a stoppie with only the use of one finger. With that in mind 97% of braking is front brake only. I use the rear for "pannic braking" and squaring off corners. As for braking too hard in corners, try braking hard before you start to lean the bike over (brake late-brake hard) dragging the front in the corner will help the front track better. As you start to come to the apex of the corner bet back on the gas
.

1 tip that you might try for geting used to using the front brakes potential: apply the rear brake simultaneously with equal force as the front, and the bike will never endo or slip out from under you...

I find myself using the front brake by itself a lot in ultra tight trail conditions, at lower speeds...my feet are typically all over the place and not always reliably on the pegs for rear brake usage, and I can typically adjust bike speed enough without risking losing the front out from under me with just the front brake...at higher speeds, I'm all over both front and back brakes...i'll jam the back brake only when I want to adjust the angle of the bike going into turns, like skid the rear around so i'm facing the right direction faster...requires use of clutch at the same time so you don't kill it...

These are some good tips. Coming from a sportbike street back ground where you pretty much only use the front brake I am finding it hard to get used to too. Not to mention I still ride the street so it will probably take longer. I will try increasing the movement of the lever and see if that helps.