Originally Posted by cyccommute

Yes, it is physics. But I've not seen anyone here suggest using only the rear brake. The 0.5g deceleration number I posted is for a normal rider sitting in a normal position using both brakes or even using only the front brake. If you are using only the rear brake, the deceleration is, of course, going to be lower. You don't approach 1g of deceleration until you shift the center of gravity back and down.

I would also suggest that Andy_K work on his braking technique rather than try to add more brakes to the bike. You really don't want to skid the front wheel, Andy. A locked up front wheel is a recipe for disaster. The best place to learn braking technique...and bike handling skills in general...is on a mountain bike off-road. If you can handle a bike in the bad conditions you experience on dirt, think of how much easier good conditions will be.

Originally Posted by Sixty Fiver

Was just comparing how much braking power you can get from the rear compared to the front.

Technique is really important and something that one should be practising constantly... sometimes one might want to treat every stop as a panic stop to get a really good feel for how their bike performs. As I am pretty light it is not hard for me to max out my braking and once you can do nose wheelies and not kiss the pavement, you are probably stopping as fast as your bike will allow.

When my daughters were learning how to ride I told them they would be able to go on longer rides once they mastered panic stops which was 90% technique and 10% response to me calling for them to STOP.

Originally Posted by Andy_K

Here's a question I could pretty much only get away with on this forum, and maybe not even here.

So....I've been toying with the idea of setting my bike up with a disc brake AND a caliper brake in front (my fork supports both), hooking the left lever up to the disc and the right lever up to the caliper, then maybe hooking the rear brake up to a cross lever. My thinking is that it would give me two different choices to modulate my stopping power and when combined should maximize braking force. My fear is that it would be too much and I'd end up throwing myself over the bars the first time I tried an emergency stop.

Anyone ever try something like this?

Originally Posted by Ridefreemc

Along these lines I practice squeezing both levers very hard and when the back starts to skid/break free I actually let up on the FRONT just enough so it (the back) stops slipping. That puts the back tire back in contact for maximum grip. That is not intuitive as you want to let go of the rear, but that doesn't work well at all.

Try it both ways and you will experience it. We (me) tend to get lazy and only use one brake at a time, but it's not a bad idea to practice.

Originally Posted by mike

Wow. Far out. I never thought of this before, but I bet you are not alone with this problem. Lots of people lose strength in their hands and would face the same problem as you.

Not sure that doubling up on the braking power of the front wheel is the answer. I have tossed over my handlebars more than once via front braking.

How about a coaster brake in the rear hub?