Trouble locking up front wheel?

[Gosling1]

....I'd rather find out in my sidestreets than at 110km/h when a cager changes lanes on top of me.

Mate, at 110kmh, if you lock up the front end you are history.......and probably under the cager that changed lanes on top of you.....

locking up at 20-40kmh is one thing, but what you really need to practice is emergency braking at realistic speeds (like 110kmh), which means no locking up under any circumstances, and remaining in total control of your bike.

This type of practice will serve you far better in every situation....

[hoffy]

I'm trying at around 20-40kmh but all the bike wants to do is endo, even with me sitting as far back as I can.

This is good dude, endo's are an indication everything is working as it is supposed too.

[Neka79]

ok heres how u do it...u get the sucka up to abt 346kph +/- 3kph and u grab a farkin big hanful of front brake...no..better still, cable tie ur front brake to the throtle before u start out...then u simply rev to 17,000rpm dump the clutch & if u dont flip it, u end up riding the wheelie thru the gearbox, them a gentle...REALLY gentle touch of the rear brake (not too hard or ull come down in a tank slapper) and hey presto, front wheel simply pushes along....

ok so im not serious..but where u??

[7THSIN]

I dont know about you lot, but I've seen plenty of front wheel lockups on video that havent ended in disaster. I'm sure alot of them have, but that doesnt necessarily mean it's going to happen to me.
Even if the front wheel locks for a second, the bike still has the forces of the spinning rear wheel.
Alot of you seem to have a 'bogeyman' mindset about doing risky things on bikes? Eh maybe it's a Kawasaki thing

neka79, fly me to Catalunya and give me a Desmosedici and I'll go to 347kmh

Anyway I've accomplished what I set out to do, stay tuned for my next thread

[gearbox]

Go do a Hart course{I think it is advanced} they do front wheel lock ups in gravel and or grass,it,s not nice, but you will learn!

[idh959]

I'm all for it. Try it on a patch of oil, that will deinfitely get the front while loose. Do it in front of your mates, its a good way o impress them and make sure they have a video camera handy. It's better if your only wearing thongs, shorts, singlet and no helmet. That way you can really get a feel for the road and what the bike is doing.

You say you only slid for a second? Try going faster that should give you a longer slide.

All the best and let us know if you get any better.

[zxsixr03]

Was this for real??? or am i reading im my imagination???

Some people learn the hard on something they don't need to lean wtf???

[7THSIN]

Some people learn the hard on something they don't need to lean wtf???

Want to try that again with a little thing I like to call 'comprehension'?

idh959 - I slid for a second, because I held the brake lever for a second.

[z900/zx9]

When you perfect this front wheel slide try something different find a brick wall get a run up and see how the bike reacts Dont forget the video camera Or you can do what i did get a front wheel blow out at 120ks 2 up and see how that feels

[7THSIN]

Ahh I love the happy-go-lucky nature of KSRC members

Front wheel blowout? Sucked to be you eh? Hope you didn't scratch your can

[stevew_zzr]

7thsin - why do you want to slide the front ? I did this on my traily a bit going about 10-15 km/h and it was damn unstable! Dunno whether it'd be better or worse on a heavier road bike, but I'm not massively keen to find out either

Still - as for not doing risky things on a bike, yeah i can't say i'm very nuts, i was trying to do a bit of low-speed gravel action (little quarter-donut type things) the other day on the ZZR and it was kinda fun

As Ari Vatanen said - if you never go over your limit, how do you know what it is ?

[Gosling1]

A couple of years ago, I was chasing a young'un on a late-model 6, I was on the old Z. He had beat me to the roundabout by a couple of car-lengths, but my brakes are a *bit* older than his ......

He managed to stop OK, I was on the limit, and bounced the front wheel across all the minor corrugations in the road surface, basically *locked* up, it was chirping and squealing like buggery......but I beat him through the roundabout OK, and sailed off into the distance .......for 100m until he sailed past again .......commuting here is *so* much fun

anyway, the whole point is that sometimes you can only learn through mistakes.....I was *lucky*, I didn't fall off, didn't really expect to, but nevertheless locking up the front end at speed is not something you would do by choice......if you fall off in your local street at 40kmh, no worries, but this *will not* help you control the situation at high speeds......

[7THSIN]

At speeds a little higher you've got the gyroscopic forces from the spinning rear wheel still helping to keep you upright.
I said on page one I managed to slide the front end the other day, if only for a second.

I wanted to do it so I knew how my bike reacted to a straight-line front wheel lock, simple. I've had the front slide in turns quite a few times, and It doesnt shock or surprise me anymore when it happens.
I've never locked the front while braking, and I didnt want the first time to be while in the hills, or if a car changes lanes on top of me, I'd rather be prepared for it.