To be frank...I use my rear brakes very often. Say I will be changing my 2nd or 3rd sets of rear brake pads before changing 1st pair of the front. Is this normal for street riding (in the city with frequent traffic lights) or is it that the front pads last that much longer.

I think maybe with downshift
braking + rear brake braking
always gave me enough
stopping power...I seldom need
the front. But after practice run....the front brake
really sheds speed promptly if urgently needed....overall...I would
evenly split 33% each for front
brake/ 33% rear brake/ 33%
downshift gear braking....
Problem is if you encounter a
sudden hazard like a deer jump
out in front of you and you cannot go left or right? With
only second to spare??? Front
& rear together sounds logical, (using the rear brake also help release the stress towards the front)because downshifting will take more time, say if your in 4th gear trying to go down 2 gear....

So sudden need to stop, front brake is a must because it sheds speed fast, rear brake will help stabilized your footing...in case you need to jump off the bike.

To me staying in correct gear, shifting up/down in traffic...is a way of communicating with your bike...have anyone ever forgot what gear your in riding on the highway, pull the clutch to try shift 1 more up but realized your already in 6th...? Shift gear to stay in control of road condition speed is important, because there will be situation that you must excel fast to avoid some stupid driver, not necessary braking to avoid.

Excel & braking is both very important....and rider must be ready when need to use either one.

 

Ok something needsto be said here: Look really hard at the clip. You should see something

• High engine revs
• No traffic except other riders
• Talking about shaving 1/8th a second off.

This isn't street riding. And it's not riding intended for new riders. This is track riding. What we do on the track is different from what we do on the streets (or it damn well should be). There is no reason to be attempting to shave seconds (or 1/2 sec or 1/8th sec) between coming off the brakes and rolling on the throttle on the streets. Not even in the twisties.

I won't touch that one.There are people far better qualified than me to try and help with that technique. Preferably found at the track during a track day

"
Damn near in the rear passenger window of the car that turned in front of me. And yeah, it'd have been bloody
Regular everyday riding on the street? I'd say 0% engine braking / throttle-blipping downshifts. All it's doing is making noise, over-complicating the braking process and (for someone that hasn't mastered downshifting) endangering the rider.

And there is no "%" front / rear brake ratio. The amounts of force changes as they get onto the front brake harder. As more front brake is applied, less rear brake has to be used otherwise they'll lock the rear as weight transfers to the front.

 

Ok I'm going to close this thread down after consulting with others. Too many different things of varying skill levels have been talked about. Which could be potentially confusing to a new rider.

What I'll do is start a couple stickies, one concerning proper braking techniques and another concerning downshifting techniques. Maybe one concerning braking in turns as well. And then will go through and copy relevant posts from this thread into the appropriate location.

If someone has a question concerning a specific situation feel free to post it up as well