"It's not that cars have more brake force through the mechanism that they use but that they physically can't rotate around the center of gravity. The center of gravity is too low and too far back for the vehicle to lift the rear end off the ground and rotate around the center of mass over the front axle. Hollywood likes to show cars doing endos but they have to do it with a massive cannon mounted under the car to force the rear of the car into the air. Mythbusters has done several episodes on trying to do a front flip on a car."

I think we are saying the same thing but with different words

"You've got this backwards. It's not "too much rear braking" that causes the rear wheel to lift and skid. It's too much front braking. The front brake causes the weight of the bicycle to shift forward over the front wheel which lifts the rear wheel so that it loses contact with the road. There is a rule of thumb in mountain biking that when the rear wheel skids, get off the front brake. This lets the rear wheel come back in contact with the ground and increases control of the bike."

Almost the same as I said. But the point i was trying to make is that the starting of the rear wheel's skidding is the indication of using too much front brake. I never said that one should not modulate the front brake force, in fact i suggest that getting experience with how to use the front brake is a GOOD THING. If one uses a lot of rear brake it will skid regardless of the front braking. I use the rear brake as my sensor to how the front action is going. If only a little rear braking application is causing skidding then I'll just about at the limit of front braking (before the endo phase starts).

"While I agree that there are too many riders who are afraid of the front brake, there are also too many riders who think the rear brake is useless and, in their own way, fear the rear brake. Because of a misinterpretation of the principles of braking and a fear of a skidding rear wheel, many road riders will not use the rear brake. Many of them would stop better if they learned how to dance on the edge of a skid then avoid it altogether."

I my 40+ years of retail shop work and local club education sessions I have to admit never hearing this take. I suppose some out there do fear their rear brake. i just have never met them as yet. But i have met many (repeat MANY) who fear their front brake. That we replace FAR more rear brake pads (and remember you can't load a rear brake as much as a front, once the rim stops spinning the pad wear stops too) then front suggests the use rate of the rear is much more by most riders then the front. Although the learning how to modulate the brake force to be just on e edge of the skid is good advice. i just suggest that riders also learn this (modulation) with the front brake.

In fact the couple of "how to ride a bike" courses I've attended (Effective Cycling and now Street Smarts) have practice sessions that focus on heavy front braking because it's the lesser known skill and the one that might save one's life.

This has been interesting. Most of what we are discussing is the same but i think we're looking at things from the two different sides of the proverbial fence.

The above quotes are from cyccommute's post #13 . Andy.