81–90 of 95 posts
Source: I have a bike with one coaster brake and one normal one. Have never intentionally used the coaster brake, have used it unintentionally many times.
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What he names "fishtailing" is what is known as "highside" in motorbike circles. When the rear wheel loses grip, it and the entire frame except the front fork moves sideways. When the rear wheel inevitably retains grip, the resulting force violently flips the whole. On a bicycle this is rare and survivable, on a 200+kg mc not very much so. In a turn you either apply energy if that is at all possible (usually), or jus…
I would separate cycling from riding motorbikes entirely. They are different enough in terms of mass, speed, and especially acceleration. As an example, pedaling while turning is often a bad idea because of the risk of pedal strikes, so acceleration inside a curve is often out of the question. And braking obviously reduces the grip available for turning, so braking while turning is only done in an emergency situation…
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> edit: and on a decent motorbike/scooter you learn to not use brakes except in emergency, 95% of all deceleration is handled by just dropping the throttle. There are 2 benefits of actually using brakes (smartly as comments say) - leaving deceleration to the motor wears it down much faster, and repairs are more complex/expensive than changing pads/disc of brakes. Second reason is more important - folks behind you kno…
> leaving deceleration to the motor wears it down much faster Not in the slightest, and I have no idea where this idea even came from. Whatever amount of stress the engine and rest of the drivetrain is under even at maximum engine braking, it experiences significantly more under any hard acceleration. Even semi truck jake brakes that actually reconfigure the engine's air flow to generate even more deceleration forces…
It's motorcycling basics really.
> The coaster brake also can be prone to locking up the wheels and causing the tire to skid. For kids this is an advantage, since they enjoy putting bikes into a sideways skid. Damn well it was! I remember we used to play tag on bikes. But when we switched to hand brakes, it became impossible, as you need a free hand and speed control at the same time.
> But when we switched to hand brakes, it became impossible, as you need a free hand and speed control at the same Did y'all have only one hand?
Maybe because with tag you always either full accelerate or full brake with turning at the same time. And if your opponent is on the right, you are left with only front wheel brake that works very bad in turns. Maybe some pro could pull that off, but we sadly abandoned tag.
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I would separate cycling from riding motorbikes entirely. They are different enough in terms of mass, speed, and especially acceleration. As an example, pedaling while turning is often a bad idea because of the risk of pedal strikes, so acceleration inside a curve is often out of the question. And braking obviously reduces the grip available for turning, so braking while turning is only done in an emergency situation…
And you don't normally need to consciously countersteer on a push bike because of some combination of 1) lower speed and 2) much higher body mass relative to the bike, but countersteering is absolutely essential on a motorbike
Coasters are great if you have good cycle infra, don't go very fast and don't have to go up or down hills. Which explains why they're so popular in NL.
Urban cycling in the US is a whole nother beast. It's dangerous enough without effective brakes.
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What makes the front wheel brake a bad idea? I almost exclusively use the front brake, because that's the one that'll actually stop me. (Source: when I used rim brakes I had to replace the front brake pad three times for every time I replaced the rear brake pad.) I know some people use the rear wheel locking up as a way to sense when they have applied enough front brake, but that's not necessary. It's also possible t…
When going at a high speed, breaking hard with the front wheel alone can force the bike to rotate around it and the rider might enjoy a very short but very thrilling flight. Which I learned the hard way many years ago
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Braking while turning is a risky business indeed. You typically want to use both brakes at once to reduce the chance of skidding, but if you do lose grip on either wheel nonetheless, you better have quick reflexes and release both brakes. Sheldon Brown talked about this [0]: > Skilled cyclists use the front brake alone probably 95% of the time, but there are instances when the rear brake is preferred: slippery surfac…
What he names "fishtailing" is what is known as "highside" in motorbike circles. When the rear wheel loses grip, it and the entire frame except the front fork moves sideways. When the rear wheel inevitably retains grip, the resulting force violently flips the whole. On a bicycle this is rare and survivable, on a 200+kg mc not very much so. In a turn you either apply energy if that is at all possible (usually), or jus…
It doesn’t feel as good as decelerating before, and is most definitely not as safe as you clearly explained.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What he names "fishtailing" is what is known as "highside" in motorbike circles. When the rear wheel loses grip, it and the entire frame except the front fork moves sideways. When the rear wheel inevitably retains grip, the resulting force violently flips the whole. On a bicycle this is rare and survivable, on a 200+kg mc not very much so. In a turn you either apply energy if that is at all possible (usually), or jus…
On a bicycle if you can modulate the brakes so it never loses grip and you adjust your balance you can use both brakes in corners - I’ve been doing it most of my life, sometimes at speed and have done it on extremely steep slopes to avoid trees and obstacles. It’s possible without the rear wheel being on the ground at all, just never lock up or lose traction on the front wheel but that takes (sometimes painful) pract…