I didn`t mean to start a debate over brakes but...
Fact 1 Front brakes are more effective at stopping . We all know that .
Fact 2 Using both front and rear brakes you will stop faster . Do we all know that ?
Fact 3 Someone who has never touched their rear brake won`t be able to use it as effectively as someone who has .
Conclusion Riders who use both brakes are better prepared for an Emergency .

Well I took off my brake pedal and master cylinder and it seemed to free it up . It seems like the piston inside was locked up .

 

1-To replace pads you shouldn't need to adjust the Master Cylinder.
2-The adjustment only affects pedal height and is done with the u-bolt at the bottom (black thingy).
3-Leverage isn't adjustable
4-There is a mechanical stop and it's adjusted by the nut at the top, but isn't very effective.

5-Although your fact about using both brakes is a "well known fact", ummmmm it doesn't apply well to sport bikes buddy. Weight distribution and weight transfer factors are different. A sportbike can stoppie, meaning that 100% of braking can be done with the front.

 

ya but stopping with both brakes will always stop you faster than a stoppie or just the front brakes only.

 

repeating the same MSF mantra doesn't make it true. Not the same for a sportbike.

I'm gonna leave this alone. Read Keith Code's Twist of the Wrist Vol 1.

 

For the most part I have quit using the rear brake all together unless I'm doing someeasy stops then sometimes I'll engage it but I want to learn the opposite. I want to avoid the rear brake like the plague when it comes to panic stops.

The following is taken from Keith Codes: "A Twist of the Wrist" and I thought it was a great read. Once I read it I decided to stop using the rear brake when I was braking heavily.

"Rear Brake Overuse"

"Overusing the rear brake is so common as to be almost a fact of life. Many riders and racers have given up using the rear brake for hard braking. It requires too much attention to use correctly, and can cause the rear end to hop or slide when used incorrectly. Both sliding and hopping render the bike out of control to some degree. You can't feel good about leaning a bike into a turn if it's basically out of control. You have only two small contact patches on the ground, and when one of them is gone it's a definite disadvantage in traction - one of your main concerns during cornering.

In a panic or race-speed braking manuever, almost any control will help you more than a locked rear brake. It'd cause you less harm to use the high-beam switch or choke lever. The front is where the weight and stopping power are - not the rear.

The use of the rear brake requires some backwards logic. It seems logical to use the brakes the hardest at the beginning of the braking action, when you're going the fastest. This is true for the front brake. In the back, however, use the lightest rear brake at the beginning of the the braking action when the forks are most compressed and the weight transfer is the greatest. As the front brake is released, some of the weight transfers back to the rear wheel and the rear brake can - if it's going to be used at all - do more of the work of stopping or slowing at this time. You have to get smart with your right foot if you want to make any use at all of the rear brake under heavy stopping.

Like Grand Prix bikes or Superbikes have such huge disc brakes and sticky tires that the rear wheel can lift off the ground under heavy braking. Lesser street and race bikes do the same thing, but for a different reason. Hard braking over rippling pavement or bumps can launch the rear end of the bike off the ground because of its unweighted condition. The shocks, which are set to operate under heavier load conditions, contribute to this by not allowing the rear wheel to follow the road. The net result is air between the tire and the road - a very poor traction situation."

Remember, at racing speeds or heavy, heavy braking on the street near 90% of the braking is done on the front tire. To me that 10% is too hard learn to control for a street rider without taking risks on crashing learning how it works at the limit. Just my opinion.