I have always read and have been told 3/4 front 1/4 rear. I conscientiously practice this when I ride. Today a rather large man wearing an iPod stepped off the curb (he had a red light) in to the center of a slight down hill curve. Instinctively I jammed on the back brake and started to skid and the bike started to kick out from me. I released the brake immediately, aimed for 250+ pounds of clueless hoping he would just keep on moving and was able to straighten the bike out barley missing the guy. He had no clue.

Front brake, front brake, front brake!!! Hopefully this will drive it home for me.

Yes...front brake and try to get your weight towards the back, or you risk a face-plant.

Glad you didn't go down. Since you didn't mention what speed you were moving at, another tip for high speed stopping, is to throw you butt clear off the back of the saddle and hang over the rear wheel with your abdomen on the saddle and your hands in the drops. In this position you can really slam the brakes and come to a complete stop just about as fast as is possible. The extra weight over the rear wheel gives it more grip, almost as much as the front. This technique works best at around 40mph and up. It's usually not necessary or particularly effective at lower speeds.

As for on the saddle stopping, some situations have required me to apply near maximum braking force resulting in a stoppie (rear wheel off the ground). If it happens to you, don't panic, let off the brakes a little keep your arms straight (so that the wheel doesn't turn), and shift as much of your weight back as you can. I've had my rear wheel up two feet off the ground a time or two, such as when a car pulls in front of me and slams on their brakes to make a turn, and have been able to put the bike back down safely.

Thanks for the advice all. According to my Garmin I was going 21.9 mph and slowed to 8.9 mph. More than anything Im mad at myself since I have come to the conclusion that while riding - the unexpected is to be expected and the only real way to deal with it is proper skills and paying attention. This will serve me as a painless lesson.

My friend, skidding out the rear is half the fun, and yes always be ready for a pedestrian to J-walk when you are around stopped cars. Also be ready for pedestrians who look at you and then just proceed to walk with the "Well he WILL stop for me" stride. Ultimately yes there is a reason why alot of the power goes to the front, but remember that skidding the back is much less deadly then skidding the front. If you skid your front you dont get time to correct, you go down. So yes you learned a lesson but I will tell you right now to this day I still skid out the back during hard braking, the real trick is to just understand what happens and not freak.

Do you normally only use the front brake to stop in non-emergency situations? When I first started riding I still had to think about using the front brake. I then just started leaving the rear brake alone and before I knew it it was instinct to brake harder with the front.

++1
practice to the point that front brake use is casual and you'll be much safer when having to do it in an emergency
also consider putting the front brake on your right hand, (assuming you are right handed) to get more dexterity

Squirrels......they allow you to use stopping power on a dime.
Gotta love Dura-Ace brakes for emergency stops.

Only if you budget for replacement tires.

For braking you should get into the habit of primarily using the front brake. It shouldn't be something you "practice", it should be something you do all the time. This is like cornering - it's not something you should have to "practice", it's something that should be part of your everyday life, whenever you're driving a wheeled vehicle, whether it's a car, bike, or shopping cart. If you are always aware of cornering lines, you'll have a much better chance of reacting correctly when diving into some unknown corner or curve.

Also, although I don't know the situation where the iPod-er stepped out in front of you, try and be more aware of the situation. I understand that on the PCH, for example, there's a lot of traffic etc. But in general you should know when you can swerve left (i.e. you know the next car behind you is more than 50 yards away), what sorts of red flag type things are in front of you (iPodder, jogger who looks like they didn't see you, car going to fast on cross street, etc etc etc). Try and predict what will happen and plan ahead.

google pictures of Oscar Freire in stage 4 of the 2010 tour de suisse

A lot easier said than done. I had to emergency stop for a dog the other day and flipped over the handlebars. It's difficult to remember to scoot your weight back in a situation like this.

PS. Oscarito in action




hmm, a runner without bike handling skills. why am i not surprised

Practice for a more automatic responce

I suppose with enough crashes, it eventually will become automatic.