i don't get this never use the front brake mentality, i think it's a harley rider thing, as they are all adamant about it. When i tell them i almost exclusively brake with the front they look at me like im insane, oh you just want to get thrown over the handlebars, bla bla. you can see their eyes glaze over when you try to explain simple physics to them. Ive seen it in others too unfortunately.
Especially with our heavy ass bikes, when you grab a handfull of front brake that's a shit ton of weight from that battery pack being pushed forward onto that tire, theres a lot of braking power there! One thing that is vitally important is to make sure your shocks are tuned properly, if it's too stiff it won't be helpful, if it's bottomed out, it's going to cause you grief.
This is another reason i love riding with full regen, yes it IS a learning experience it IS fairly different from ice riding, where you basically clutch and glide then brake, whereas regen you use just the throttle to well... 'throttle' both your acceleration and braking, down to the point where you need serious brakes and then actually have to use the brakes. it's basically one input riding, no clutch and often time no brake lever needed. its a fine line from gliding and starting to slow, to slowing more, to slowing hard, and when full on, my regen is like stomping on the rear brake and ive seen it blip the abs a few times when using both. Yes it takes a bit getting used to for that riding style, especially when you have been an ice rider for years, it's like breaking an old habit, but once you master it, i believe you will find it's a very powerful tool in your arsenal. if anything if you are not covering your brake, it's doing it for you the moment you let off the gas and are making your move towards the brake handle.
just fyi, blink right now, go ahead and blink... if you are doing 60 mph, in the time of that blink you have travelled 10 to 30 feet. Think about this, that fast, that far. Do you think 30 feet might help you evade more or slow more in an unstoppable event?
now obviously regen is essentially using the rear brake, but when on the track, front gets used a lot because you are riding in ways is hope you ain't on the street, but point is, use those brakes. and we have a gift, regen, learn to use that to it's potential too. yes i know awkward but learn it you'll love it.
ABS is absolutely your friend. The cop makes the point that many times he has seen wrecks with no skids. that's not necessarily abs causing that but the rider panicked and froze. they see 'death' coming at them and lock up. I can't promote track days enough to get you past this learning stage in your biking career. Seriously, get some track time in, it will teach you the discipline you need to see these events and work them, REACT to them in the proper ways, and not just deer in the headlights, since we are on that topic.
Goto one of the schools that many people teach, yamaha riding school is a very good one, and so many others. if you are down by me or in this part of the country, precision track days, southern track days, military track days, track time usa, so many others have coaches who will work with you for free basically when you are on the track, not just how to race better but be safer, and it's all part of the day, just ask, we love to help newer folk learn to ride better.
This knowledge comes right onto the roads with you. A car cuts you off, someone is merging into your lane, instead of panicking, locking up the bike, or slamming into someone, you learn to get used to close proximity riding... that's one of the reasons, why i have brake guards, so the other guys handle bars don't catch your brake lever if you are in a tight turn, or a mirror on the road, Point being, you are used to items right next to you, and keep your cool.
if you are in a turn, umm no hard braking don't work, you can wipe or if it's good traction, these bikes are a bit slippery, you grab good enough brake and it'll stand you right back up, lean angle, turn is over, you are going straight again on hard braking. itd be a bit hard to practice this in a parkinglot without getting yelled at unless you know of a warehouse complex or something that is closed on weekends and you can go ride about, but this is another thing you should learn, how much brake you can apply in your turns so you can slow without standing up... hint regen is awesome for this!! so would rear braking. you are stopping so you are pushing weight forward, but the stopping force is coming from your rear so it'll squat you down better and help keep you in that turn better. This is how i take a few turns at jennings, come in a bit hot go full regen, let regen pull me into the arc i need and get me pointed where i want as i am in my turn, then when im about pointing where i need, ill let off regen and start putting on throttle to push me to the outside edge where i need to be for the apex turn then just run the throttle up and go. point being regen can help you turn or evade some unexpected obstacle in a turn.
pard another thing ill do is, find a road that has sewer caps in it or i guess you could say obstracles that wont kill you, and ride right down the line of them and right before you get to them just go left, right... left ... left... right!! practice last second emergency counter steer to go around it.
pass the first on the left, next on right, it helps keep those last minute ditch skills honed. it's also kind of fun.
Pard, you didn't necessarily act too late, you had no idea what the damned thing was going to do, your subconscious knew that but you didn't. so of course you are going to naturally wait a 'lil bit' to see ok what's this fkr going to do, stay still, run, turn around... you can't really react until you see what it will do and if you did see it earlier, you were going fast enough you'd have had a hard time coming to a complete stop, and any actions if it moved differently could have put you as a flat on t bone and bad day for both of you...NO VENISON FOR YOU!! Lets not mention in situations like that, you are looking in front of you, AT the impending doom, and NOT behind you, so you have no idea of traffic behind you, jamming brakes could get you collected too, especially from the Z on the phone...just something to keep in mind that hard stop might not always be a good answer either. you kept the wheels down, the skin on, and no leaking, except maybe a bit in your undies, but you'll get a one time pass for that.
aaron