Covering The Brake vs Not Covering The Brake
More Insight Into the Choices For many years I have been a fan of covering the front brake. Other riders rarely or never cover the brake. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the terminology, we are talking about whether or not to keep two (or three) fingers on the brake lever at all times, even when working the throttle. Numerous investigators and motorcycle journalists have done various experiments to determine whether one choice is better or safer than the other. No one has come up with an answer that seems definitive. Every summer I have something that I work on to improve my riding. In the course of looking carefully at what I do, I have begun switching between covering and not covering the brake. My choice depends in part on how much importance I am placing on throttle control at a given moment, and how detrimental use of the brakes would be. What I have discovered is that covering the front brake takes away substantially from my ability to make finer use of the throttle. In some instances, I am better able to control the bike if I have a full hand on the throttle, and my fingers aren’t getting ready to do something else. I haven’t looked at how this is impacted by the adjustment of the angle of the front brake lever relative to the wrist, which may put a fine tune on my thinking. However, I have found the same thing on different bikes, so I believe that this is a valid approach. At low speeds, like in a parking lot, front brake use can interfere with maneuvering, and locking the front brake will cause the bike to drop. In fast turns, using the front brake is also not a good idea, and should be preceded by getting the bike more upright. In either situation, there is no advantage to covering the brake, and your best throttle control is critical to success. Of course, I don’t consider myself to be the arbiter of the proper choice for every rider. Your experience may differ considerably, and you may be dealing with very different factors. However, this seemed like something worth passing on to my readers.
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Covering The Brake vs Not Covering The Brake