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Which Brake Do You Use Most?

  • Front Brake

    Votes: 29 50%

  • Rear Brake

    Votes: 11 19%

  • Both Evenly

    Votes: 18 31%
  • Total voters
    58

Front vs Rear Brake... Which Do You Use Most?

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33K views 93 replies 35 participants last post by  tabl10s  
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#1 ·
In reading Sheldon Brown's article on "Braking and Turning Your Bicycle", he pretty much states that if you're not using your front brake for 90% of your braking, you must be a "newb".

I've been road and mountain biking for ~30 years (yikes) and was into BMX freestyle before that, so I think I know how to handle a bike pretty well... yet I rarely ever just use the front brake as suggested in the article. Am I a "braking newb"!?!?

While the suggestions in the article make sense, I wonder if they still apply in the age of disc brakes. I have two bikes with disc brakes and if I have my weight over the rear wheel when braking, it's pretty hard to lock-up the rear wheel. Hence I don't see why I wouldn't apply both the front and rear brakes most of the time.

In addition, I know what it's like to apply the front brake and have the front tire slip out from underneath me. (It sucks.) As such, unless I'm riding in a straight line in perfect conditions, using the front brake solely seems like a recipe for disaster... even a little bit of sand or unseen gravel could land you on your doompa.

Thoughts? Am I the only one on the planet who is still a "braking newb" after 30 years of riding?
 
#2 · (Edited)
There is only one correct answer if you take the question literally. In certain situations you'll use more rear brake or use them evenly but on the whole the front brake should be used more. All you have to do is look at car and moto brake systems. It will become instantly obvious which brake should be used more.


ETA: 3...2...1 til @waspinator shows up asking why anyone would ever use the front brake.
 
#3 ·
cxwrench said:
There is only one correct answer if you take the question literally. In certain situations you'll use more rear brake or use them evenly but on the whole the front brake should be used more. All you have to do is look at car and moto brake systems. It will become instantly obvious which brake should be used more.

ETA: 3...2...1 til @waspinator shows up asking why anyone would ever use the front brake.
Click to expand...
Agreed.
 
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#4 ·
Pretty much as the others have said. It's not that you wouldn't use the rear brake, just that you don't ONLY use the rear brake line many people do. The front brake is what stops you, the rear brake is used for control.

Road biking, I use the brakes pretty evenly most of the time. Mountain biking, I use a whole lot more front brake.
 
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#5 ·
First, It's hard to impossible to evenly distribute your weight on steep downhills and just hard to do so in nearly any braking situation since simple physics moves much of the load to the front wheel (all else remaining the same).

You can mitigate some of this by moving your ass as far behind the seat as possible but even on flat ground you'll be hard pressed to match the load on the front wheel on a road bike while braking hard.

If you could build a bike with very large wheels so you could keep you body mass centered below the front axle your theory would be mostly correct.
 
#6 ·
Well said, Swift! :thumbsup:

Braking the front wheel stops the bike very efficiently. So in hard braking, as you say, move way back, pressing the rear tire on the tarmac. The inertial mass of the bike and rider wants to flip over the handlebars. The rear tire lightens up considerably and loses its grip! This could happen at any time. Gotta be ready!

Sure, use the front brake 90% of the time and the rear mainly to keep the rear wheel on the tarmac and the bike on track. If I brake at the rear stronger than the front, the front wheel gets wishy-washy.
 
#7 ·
PoorInRichfield said:
While the suggestions in the article make sense, I wonder if they still apply in the age of disc brakes.
Click to expand...
Of course it still applies. Physics hasn't changed in the last 30yrs... or 30 million.



Thoughts? Am I the only one on the planet who is still a "braking newb" after 30 years of riding?
Click to expand...
Nope. I got a buddy riding longer than that and I can't get him to comprehend most of your braking comes from the front wheel.
 
#10 ·
Some beginner riders are inherently afraid to use the front brake for fear of flipping over the handlebars. And sure, if you use only the front brake and don't re-distribute your body weight to compensate, you can do this for sure.

But your rear brake in some situations will not have enough braking power to stop without skidding your rear tire. While doing an endo is no fun, neither is hitting a large object because you couldn't brake in time.

One of the advantages to hydraulic disc brakes is better predictability and even modulation. It is much more difficult to lock up your brakes by accident. Note that is is much easier to overheat your rear brake on a disc bike as you need more pressure to apply the same amount of braking than you do on your front.

I would say that generally, I apply my front and rear brakes almost equally and slightly favor the front brake.
 
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#11 ·
as a Harley rider would say: don't use the front brake or you'll flip!
lol that was a joke

Seriously, there is only 1 situation where you'd want to use more rear brake then front. And that 1 situation is where there is no traction on the front!! duh, makes sense right. As long as the front has more traction than the rear, then braking should be front bias.

look at the cars and motorcycles, their biggest brakes are on the front, not the rear. This should tell us that front braking is where braking takes place.

so what would be the situation that the front has less traction than the rear? Wet and muddy, gravely, snowy, icey. In these conditions, the front as little traction, the rear has more traction (because your weight is more on the rear wheel), thus you'd use more rear brakes in these situation. BUT... keep in mind that braking in these situations is still very very limited and it is no where near the same as braking in the dry on the front.

on the topic of mtb, i've seen so many mtbers who don't know jack about braking techniques. Many of them, even the experienced ones, would rather lock their rear wheel and slide around, seems like that's their go-to technique. And I don't blame them really, because worse this can happen is they slide out, and sliding out due to rear slippage is less painful than sliding out due to front slippage. But this is far from optimal. The correct braking technique in mtb is still to use the front brake more, however because mtb condition is on dirt and loose gravel, then these conditions do warrant the use of rear braking a little more then compared to braking on the road. However, this is not to say use only rear braking to the point of sliding out. The proper braking in mtb (as you come into a corner) is to brake using the front real hard when the bike is in a staightline and upright, then as you lean over and transition into the corner you still maintain the same brake pressure, then as your speed decrease as you go thru the corner you can ease up on brake pressure. All this happens really fast, within less than 1 seconds on short corner. What you don't want to do is while negotiating a corner to brake really hard (which compresses the fork) and then suddenly completely let off on the front brake, because letting off on the front drastically like that unloads the fork suspension and causes a change in front traction in a negative way, so let off slowly as you go around a corner.

Another issue that many mtbers don't get is that on full suspension bikes, using the rear brake has the effect of restricting the movement of the rear suspension, and this restriction will decrease bump absorption and thus decrease in traction at the rear. Rear suspension is more finicky than the front, so it's better to just use more braking at the front and let the fork handles the suspending.

Honestly I think learning to brake in the dirt is harder because you have to deal with suspension both at the front and rear so you'd always have to juggle between front and rear, but still the front should get more bias. But on the road bikes, where there is virtually no suspension movement to account for (except the little gives from skinny tires at 80-100 psi), the almost all braking should be done at the front unless road conditions are like those mentioned above.
 
#18 ·
aclinjury said:
Seriously, there is only 1 situation where you'd want to use more rear brake then front. And that 1 situation is where there is no traction on the front!! duh, makes sense right. As long as the front has more traction than the rear, then braking should be front bias.

look at the cars and motorcycles, their biggest brakes are on the front, not the rear. This should tell us that front braking is where braking takes place.

so what would be the situation that the front has less traction than the rear? Wet and muddy, gravely, snowy, icey. In these conditions, the front as little traction, the rear has more traction (because your weight is more on the rear wheel), thus you'd use more rear brakes in these situation. BUT... keep in mind that braking in these situations is still very very limited and it is no where near the same as braking in the dry on the front.
Click to expand...

Actually weight is still biased towards the front even in the wet. Can't change weight transfer regardless of it being wet or dry.
 
#12 ·
In spring/summer/fall I use the front brake almost exclusively.

But in the winter I use my rear brake almost exclusively because it's nearly impossible to see when there is ice under the snow. I only use the front in the winter when I can clearly see that I'm on dry pavement.
 
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#15 ·
davesupra said:
But in the winter I use my rear brake almost exclusively because it's nearly impossible to see when there is ice under the snow. I only use the front in the winter when I can clearly see that I'm on dry pavement.
Click to expand...
For this reason I typically favor a 50/50 split between front and rear braking (i.e., both at the same time). I don't want to have to think, "Hmm... is my front tire going to get proper traction on the surface I'm on?" before braking, I just default to hitting both brakes. That's not to say that front braking isn't more efficient, I just think that real-world riding makes it more difficult (and sometimes not safe) to depend so much on the front only. Unless you're traveling a straight line on fresh asphalt, there's a pretty good chance your front tire will lose traction on gravel, sand, etc., and down you go!
 
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#14 ·
I used to use my rear brake more, as evidenced by the rear pads wearing down faster than the front. I may have changed my behavior because I'm trying to use the front brake more, but haven't checked the pads on my bike in a while. I usually brake lightly to control my speed. As such, it probably doesn't matter what brake I use more. I try not to brake in corners, but am pretty wary of giving too much front brake in a corner because a front wheel skid will usually result in a crash.
 
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#90 ·
I usually catch the wind to slow down as oppose to braking when possible when in a paceline. That sudden braking wreaks havoc for those behind you. I've had folks do that and had to quickly swerve out into the roadway to avoid the fool.
 
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#21 · (Edited)
As someone who does most of his riding on mtb and dirt in general, I probably approach this differently, but I often use only rear brake if I need to scrub some speed in a turn. I can't think of any scenario short of a flat rear tire where I would use only front brake. For actually slowing down in a straight line, though, yes, it's both with emphasis on the front. Because of weight transfer, the front is where the power is. That's why most MTBs have a bigger disc up front than at the rear.

The comparison to cars is only partially valid. Weight transfer to the front still occurs under braking whether it's a car or a bike, but there are still some pretty big differences.

1. Most cars are considerably heavier at the front. That's why, along with the weight transfer that occurs under braking, the front brakes are bigger and vented. "More wight at the front" doesn't apply if you're driving a 911.

2. Weight distribution and transfer in a car is fixed. You're not going to alter weight distribution by leaning forward in your seat, and you can't go back without laying it down. Even if you could move back and forth more, the effect on overall weight distribution percentage is not going to change appreciably. On a bike, this is very different - your body position can affect weight distribution immensely.

3. Brake bias in a car is fixed. Even in a racecar with adjustable brake bias, a driver isn't changing it mid-braking event. On a bike, brake bias can be changed instantly and constantly.

4. In a car (and this is a racing scenario, not something most people would use, or know how to use, on the street), the only way to change weight balance and thus traction on the front wheels vs. rear wheels is through application of the brake or throttle. On a bike, if you need more traction on the front or rear, you're going to influence that with body position or pumping - braking, not so much.

As I said, the only time I can think of that I would use only front brake is a flat rear tire. But there seem to be plenty of people who often use only front brake. May I ask why? It seems to me that 1) you are greatly reducing your stopping power by using only the front; and b) putting a lot more heat into the front brake/rim.

(Edit: I've read the Sheldon Brown article where he says the rear tire should have almost no traction because of the weight transfer. "Almost" isn't "none." I also question using the arms to brace against the handlebars under hard braking to keep the body from moving forward ... by doing so, you're putting more weight on the bars, making an OTB more likely. If you have little or no weight on the bars, you're not going OTB. The legs and core should be keeping your body from moving forward under braking, not your arms.)
 
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#23 ·
BigTex91 said:
1. Most cars are considerably heavier at the front. That's why, along with the weight transfer that occurs under braking, the front brakes are bigger and vented. "More wight at the front" doesn't apply if you're driving a 911.
Click to expand...
Being a Porsche fan, I was going to cite this exact same example. However, I deleted that portion of my post because I noticed that on the 911 GT3, the front and rear rotors are the same size, however, the front brake is a 6-piston caliper and the rear is a 4-piston caliper... hence still give more braking power to the front than the rear. :cool:

[FONT=Tahoma,Calibri,Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
380 mm internally vented and cross-drilled brake rotors front and rear with 6-piston aluminum monobloc fixed calipers front and 4-piston aluminum monobloc fixed calipers rear
​
​

No Time Toulouse said:
namely that about 20% of people are opinionated ignoramuses.......
Click to expand...
Or maybe smarty-pants like yourself aren't doing a good job of educating other riders. :eek: (I'm just kidding, of course)
 
#26 ·
On a bike, if you're not distributing your weight differently for different power and braking conditions... climbs, descents, accelerating or slowing on either, you're doing it wrong.

Before I started being a roadie during the mid 1990s, when I first started mtb'ing in the mid 1980s...

I was doing technical single track trails that included descents that I describe as controlled falling down a hill.

There I learned, with the assistance of my Hite-Rite seatpost spring, that on gnarly technical descents, laying on my seat with my butt over my rear axle or even farther back, my front brake was king.

Even now, on the road, I could live without a back brake, but not without a front brake.
 
#28 ·
SPlKE said:
Even now, on the road, I could live without a back brake, but not without a front brake.
Click to expand...
You could probably get away with just either, but you better never need to stop on a dime if you only have a rear.
 
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#29 ·
Inexperienced riders are the only ones who think about this when needing to brake. IMO, braking is automatic - without thinking my butt slides back, both hands apply pressure to the brakes, modulating as necessary to keep control of the bike. Conscious thought is applied only to figuring out the direction I am steering the bike to avoid whatever is causing the need to brake.
 
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#30 ·
To be totally honest, I don't think I've ever paid attention to which brake I use more, but I suspect I use them evenly. I squeeze both levers evenly until I stop as quickly as I want. I can't think of any situation, ever, where I'd want just one brake doing all the work. It just makes sense to me to divide the energy between two brakes as evenly as possible, without causing my rear tire to skid and fishtail or without causing my rear tire to lift off the ground (or worse, send me over the handlebars). It's just physics that the front tire is able to provide more braking force than the rear, but from the rider's perspective, I think both brakes should be used to the fullest of their ability.

And no, I don't think disk vs rim brakes makes a bit of difference. In wet weather, both front and rear rim brakes will suck equally.
 
#42 ·
Waspinator said:
...
And no, I don't think disk vs rim brakes makes a bit of difference. In wet weather, both front and rear rim brakes will suck equally.
Click to expand...
I used to think the same, but now having spent some time in wet riding with disks, I can confirm that in the wet, disks are MUCH better.

Also, back to the front/rear debate raging; when I come into a turn REALLY hot, I'm generally using at least 3/4 front to 1/4 rear APPROACHING the turn, then only using a slight drag to the rear while IN the turn.

I have considerable experience in automotive rallying, and I'm quite versatile in 'controlled sliding', which is something that the MTB community does a lot, but rarely is it done on a road bike.
 
#31 ·
The poll doesn't say "only".....When I ride by myself, I obviously use both brakes, but when riding in a tight group, I use the rear brake to make minor adjustments in speed. I do that so that the person behind of me can see the calipers move. I'll do that, much more often than coming to a stop, when I'll use both brakes. The exception is if I'm in a turn when I have to adjust speed. In a turn, using the rear brake will cause the bike to "stand up", instead of continuing the lean.
 
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#36 · (Edited)
I think they are referring to full suspension mtb's where depending on the the suspension design, braking can cause the rear to squat, which is why people talk about different designs having "X" amount of anti-squat and also anti-rise (brake jack). You want good (high) anti-squat under acceleration and good (low/high? dunno one of them) anti-rise when braking.

Or something like that, not really sure how it works, I just ride. EIther way mtb suspension bikes do not work like moto's and cars
 
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#44 ·
There is one aspect of wet weather braking that most people seem to overlook. On road bikes we have a very narrow patch of rubber meeting the pavement, so both rim brakes and disc brakes will put the wheel into a skid rather quickly. Since disc brakes do grab more quickly in wet conditions than do rim brakes, they will cause the skid that much more quickly - but a skid is not the fastest method of stopping a bike.

Luckily we now have hydraulic disc brakes for road bikes so that it is easier to modulate the power being applied - even more so than with rim brakes (but those modulate better than mechanical disc brakes, IMO) - thus exacerbating the issue. However, I am of the belief that the beginning cyclist is far more likely to go down in an uncontrolled skid with a disc brake bike than with a rim brake bike. This makes me even more reticent to join large group rides on rainy days than I was in the 80s. I am not fond of being taken down because someone else can't control their bike (this is why I quit racing in the mid-80s - with the sudden influx of triathletes who were strong enough to keep up with experienced riders we had a vast increase in crashes because they didn't know how to handle their bikes).
 
#55 · (Edited)
Cars and motorcycles have shock absorbers which allow the body to shift forward and put more weight on the front wheels. That is why the front brakes are bigger. I always use both brakes because there is always some weight on the rear and I am going to stop better because of that weight on the rear wheel. It is just common sense.
 
#56 ·
siclmn said:
Cars and motorcycles have shock absorbers which allow the body to shift forward and put more weight on the front wheels. That is why the front brakes are bigger. I always use both brakes because there is always some weight on the rear and I am going to stop better because of that weight on the rear wheel. It is just common sense.
Click to expand...
You're kidding, right? Tell me you're kidding...
 
#59 ·
It's funny, you read something, you think you know what they've asked and you answer. Then you read commentary and realize your an idiot as you in no way understood what the question was.
When ever I brake i'm always using the front and rear brake. I'm alway squeezing the front more. This is the case even on my cross bike on a 20% decline single track. Thus I answered I use my front brake the most. It would appear maybe that was incorrect, but I'm sticking with it.
 
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