After I put the first 1000 or so miles on my 08, I decided when I drive home from work, I would practice hard stops in front of my house. Hard Stops mostly focusing on what the front brake will do. I thought better to find out now what the bike will do, than learn the hard way in bad situation.
I have been practicing for about a month, and with nicer weather currently in Virginia, I decided to "push it" this weekend. First approach was at about 20mph I braked hard, noticed some front end dive and came to a nice controlled stop, imeediately folowed by a clunk. Then clunk was the rear time coming back into contact with the ground.(My first and maybe last stoppie, guess about 6" off the ground).
My second attempt was 10-15 mph, no stoppie but got a chirp out of the front tire. The chirp was a little concerning(I may have been on the gray edge of control). But again a nice controlled stop. I have no desire to do stoppies, etc. But I was able to learn some things about the bike, all seemed positive from my perspective.
I'm not a brake expert, maybe I would notice even more positives from better brakes, but my faith and knowledge has been increased.
I have been practicing for about a month, and with nicer weather currently in Virginia, I decided to "push it" this weekend. First approach was at about 20mph I braked hard, noticed some front end dive and came to a nice controlled stop, imeediately folowed by a clunk. Then clunk was the rear time coming back into contact with the ground.(My first and maybe last stoppie, guess about 6" off the ground).
My second attempt was 10-15 mph, no stoppie but got a chirp out of the front tire. The chirp was a little concerning(I may have been on the gray edge of control). But again a nice controlled stop. I have no desire to do stoppies, etc. But I was able to learn some things about the bike, all seemed positive from my perspective.
I'm not a brake expert, maybe I would notice even more positives from better brakes, but my faith and knowledge has been increased.