Originally Posted by mscycler
I'm no expert here, but I remember reading somewhere that you should always get your water bottle out of the vage with your left hand. That way, you still have your right hand for rear braking. I would guess that you would need your rear brake much more than you would your front. I know on motorcycles, you use your rear brake much more than the front...for control purposes...what would make a bike any different???
mscycler
With a bicycle and one hand free, you wouldn't want to panic stop with the front brake, so use the rear brake when drinking from a bottle. With both hands on the bars, the bulk of the braking should always be on the front as that's where most of your braking "power" comes from. Plus it's far too easy to lock up the rear wheel.
I don't know what the MSF is teaching motorcyclists nowdays. Just last week, I heard "use the rear brake more" from a new rider. When I took the rider safety course and the advanced course many years ago, they taught us to use the front brake with more force than the rear.
Physics dictates that the front brake provides the bulk of the stopping power. The rear end of the bike unloads when braking making it far too easy to lock up the rear tire. Not to mention, you have more "control" of a hand brake than a foot brake.