I had. SMIDSY do a u-turn out a line of stationary traffic I was filtering past. I was looking for somewhere soft to land as I grabbed a handful but pulled up in plenty of time to give the driver a mouthful through his open window. No drama, just felt a juddering on the front brake lever. Invaluable. Wouldn't want to ride a bike without it. Not sure if the back brake contributed ... I was on my MTS!!!! TC also sorted out a power-induced rear-wheel slide coming off a roundabout. With 155HP on tap, however good tyres are these days, why wouldn't you want it?
I would like to learn to fully exploit the braking potential available on my bike. I feel that I'm under using the potential of my brakes but am reluctant to push it too much as I have locked up the front a few times on other bikes I've owned, and crashed on one occasion as a result. The crashing has led to me being overcautious on the brakes. I would welcome advice from riders who have more skill in this aspect of riding, how do I experiment with pushing my limits a bit further?
Experiment on a straight bit of road with a good surface and no other traffic nearby. Only later, work up to braking hard on the approach to corners, or while filtering in columns of traffic, or on loose gravel. Just a suggestion.
Thanks for your suggestions Peter. I'm reasonably confident, but now I have an 848evo I really want to exploit the potential of what are definitely the best brakes I have had on a bike. They are so much better than what I have been used to before, that I'm being cautious, as I have not yet become totally familiar with their superior stopping power. Having cut my teeth on TT 100's and drum brakes I find I'm very comfortable with how superb modern tyres are, but just feel I'm not doing the brakes justice by knowing how far I can push them. I know I would benefit from doing some professional training such as CSS, and it's only the cost that's putting me off doing something like that,in the meantime I suppose I just need to get out there and practice-harder!
Roundabouts. The main stay of rehearsing anything. A drill often used is lick the front over and over in a straight line until you know how that feels
There is another option John when we're on track on the 8th follow me into the corner I'll hit the breaks if I over shoot the corner you'll know I didn't brake hard enough so you need to brake harder
You agreed with Daffy's comment about traction control/ABS. Don't worry...it was only for comedic effect
Ahh, cool. I usually don't mention "faster" in anything I post due to the word "faster" being difficult to quantify. For my tuppence worth on ABS tho, A great tool for the road. There to save you when you snatch the brake lever in a panic situation or on a slippy surface. I now only ride on the track and I have it turned off, not brave enough to turn it back on after a few events where I was heading for the gravel ABS activated, knowing I could stop quicker. That said the bike has been remapped (S1K) since then (and it was in race mode rather than slick), but not found the need to switch it on. The Panigale has it switched on (least intrusive) and it has never activated.
Its all dependent on how the individual rides too. None of my bikes have ABS but I've locked the front on the track before without an issue....admittedly in a straight line. Ad lean and it would have been! Traction control...well thats to save us from being ham fisted and to let you explore the limits a bit more. I worry that TC is thought of as being a system that can save you in every occasion. Im sure some think you can just nail the throttle and the system will deal with it....it tend to be more cautious, winding it on more positively till the little lights start flashing. more softly softly, tip toe to the limit
Talking about TC, I find it a great aid. Wind it on progressively till the lights start flashing but before long you (me) realise that it works and you are soon looking for more.....open it faster.....open it sooner...open it further and before long the light is on constantly. Then there is the tyre wear and loss off grip that it also compensates for.....Works great. I for one wouldn't like to ride on track without it now. I have no idea how people can get all these electrics intentionally activating on the road to any great extent, I'm just getting old and slow I guess.
Yeah, I don't think I could grab a handful mid corner. I'm hard wired not to. It'd be like testing a bullet proof vest on your kids...
There are only two scenarios to this: A: It works and you say, "Oh, look. It does work!" B: it doesn't work and you say "Oh shiiiit! Fucking hell. Ow!" as you hit the deck. So basically, you want to gamble a bike that isn't yours just for curiosity's sake. Seems like high stakes for little return to me, but each to his own.
I'm up for giving anything a go Paul, but I draw the line at licking me tyres, the taste of rubber makes me gag!
And if you read my post you would have noted that I was referring to road riding in answer to the OP's comments about doing this on his commute and a demo bike, I still stand by my comments that these systems are not designed to help you ride faster (on the road), that approach will only have 1 eventual outcome.
Of course the system aids you to ride faster, you can open up more in corners or exiting roundabouts and you can brake later as you can brake harder, how does that not help you get around quicker ?
I agree with your comments regarding TC but my post was really commenting on the OP' posts where he was asking about wet roads and handfuls of brake to test ABS in a turn although in fairness I did refer to both systems. People are entitled to their opinions and we all ride differently, I personally see ABS as a safety feature and wouldn't normally expect it to operate, if it did I would probably think that I had had a near miss or the system was over sensitive, I would not use it as an aid to ride faster especially on a modern sports bike as I couldnt ride it to its full potential on the track and wouldn't ever try to do this on the road.
To be honest I am not about to risk trying the ABS out, as I said in an earlier post, if the system fails while grabbing a fistful of brake the front end is gone and so is a whole heap of bike which I really don't want to happen.
