thank you for an incredibly informative response. Long, but based entirely in facts and math/physics, which I appreciate.

A quick summary, if I may: torque forces on the brakes correspond (in certain designs) to compression forces on the shock, with nothing to do with momentum/center of gravity of the rider. Do I have it?

And I guess going to "uni" as you put it is more of an accomplishment there than it is in the states...at the college I go to it'd be some stoner saying "look, man, it's not that the bike brakes...you just slow down the earth, man."