Originally Posted by
davidad
You got it right. It's a crack pot idea. The old side pull brakes would lock up the front wheel, but with a lot of hand strength.
To practice good technique get going fast and apply both brakes. When the rear begings to slide ease off off the front until the back gets traction. The rear skids because the front has caused a weight shift. Slide your butt back off the saddle and keep your arms stiff.
No, learn to feel for the point of maximum traction in the front wheel. On a good day, I can stop with the rear wheel off the ground. How can the rear wheel do anything in that situation? You can delay that point, ( rear wheel lift off ) by moving back, but the physics of the thing, means for most bikes, the front wheel makes the most deceleration.