a friend of mine told me not to use my back brake at the track to avoid locking up my rear wheel. is this good advice?

 

When was the last time you saw a race bike, w/o a rear break? Tell him your keep'n it on to" look dangerous."Learn how to use the rear properly, and smoke his *** !!!!!!!!!!
Back in the day... people used to say, don't use the front brake, you'll crash, if you do, espc. in the dirt. this was a stopgap(lack of) technique for limited skills. Some racers don't use the rear, it's true... but I don't think cause it's the bcause it's "dangerous' but has more to do w/ personal ability and or choice. Take a look at Nicky Haden's BIG *** rear disk... In PB (performance bike) magazine, pg. 52... 3 disks, will stop shorter than 2, "DONT over rear brake, healed over obviously" !!!!!! 60+% of your brake'n, takes place up front. Practice, don't tell him... he'll find out !!!!!!!!
Clean and free, Ripp'n

 

as a noob and running track hard, it's true, stay off the rear...but as rippn says...you gots to learn to use that rear mang!!!
sooner or later you will need it! like in late braking situations where you need every ounce of stopping power, etc...

 

+1 on judicious use of rear brake.

All riders should get comfortable with using the back brake. If you are not, then perhaps on your first day use it sparingly. Otherwise, time to practice... it's like trying to fight with only one arm.

I use the back brake alot - and being comfortable with it will help you out in many many situations... if you don't use it you'll loose it

 

trying to fight with 1 arm? hahahhah...i love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

but since front rear is like 70/30 braking power...or whatever number they think up of...it's more like that dude in scary movie 2's hand!

 

LOL - I agree...

The funny thing with 30% of braking coming from the rear - we all argue about how to get the last 1%-10% hp out of the bike and don't spend as much time trying to get 30% more braking power...

I think what it means is that anyone using the rear brake will come flying past you late braking and will not need to use the extra hp to get back out of the turn as they're ahead anyhow

 

I dissagree with the back brake. Yup, they say the both are better, and to a certain extent they are. However from the 4 years I've been doing track days, Ive found the bike easier to control if Im trying to make serious time with out the back brake. If you're braking as hard as a new sportbike can with good tires, we all know the back tire is BARELY on the ground if at all and that any back brake will get it to lock or skip. That makes for cool pics......backing it in, but does nothing to effectively reduce my lap times. I quit using mine unless the camera man is in that corner and Im just goofing around, and I no longer get the back end loose feel. Just my .02. Do what you want.....try both. Nickey backs his in all the time and it is quite obvious that isnt the fastest way around a track. Ask the Dr. or Pedrosa.

 

Everything you do uses some of your available traction....accelerat turn or brake.....if you want to brake do it straight up and lightly maybe it let you brake a lil deeper but reality says not enough to make a diff unless your pretty good.