sweeks

I beg to disagree.
Street rider for 64 years here ("experienced"). I use my rear brake all the time; just never enough to skid the rear tire.
20 years of daily commuting (25,000 miles) in Chicago. I use my rear brake almost every time I use the front brake. I've learned how much to use each brake to get optimal stopping.
The rear brake certainly doesn't provide as much stopping power as the front. But it contributes some stopping power, and will not make your rear wheel slide if you learn how to use it.

Here are a couple graphs from the book, Bicycling Science, 4th Edition, by David Wilson and Theodor Schmidt (MIT Press; Cambridge, MA 2020). These are from a study by J. Lieh published in Human Power eJournal in 2013 using a computer model.

Briefly, for an upright bicycle, maximal braking is achieved using both front and rear brakes optimally; however, the advantage over the front brake only is small. The book indicates the rear brake contributes only about 10% of the braking force. For a recumbent bike, the difference is quite large, with both front and rear brakes used together providing the shortest stopping time.

This is the graph for an upright bike. A small advantage accrues from use of both brakes together.



Quite a difference on a recumbent.

maddog34

which is less expensive.. a tire or a hospital bill? and that tire looks like a piece of garbage.... Meanwhile, the charts and dictionaries are getting dragged out..RUN! HIDE!

Guys..the OP has responded ONCE to Defend himself.. let it drop, ok?

Yan 

It says in the graph that when using both brakes instead of front brake only, the stopping time from 50km/h to zero is improved from 1.95 to 1.9 seconds.

That supports my view of using the front brake only, no? With that kind of microscopic difference what's the point?

Stopping from 50 km/h to zero is less than two seconds is some kind of balls to the wall braking...

DiabloScott

What twaddle. There are lots of circumstances where rear braking is better - for example descending winding mountain roads - braking with the front screws up the bike handling around the switchbacks. Experienced cyclists know this.

Not every braking move is an emergency stop, that's the difference.

Yan 

You shouldn't be braking around switchbacks. Brake before the turn and then accelerate through the turn. The rear brake is for heat management in long descents, for low traction scenarios, and for backup in case your front brake fails. It's not there to be used on a daily basis. Most people do not do mountain pass descents when commuting. If you do you are in the extreme minority.

About you second point: if it works for emergency braking then it works even better for regular braking. Why work your right hand when it is making such little contribution to stopping power? Just relax and let that hand rest, be kind to your body parts.

sweeks

To be fair, it was a computer simulation, and that graph was for a specific frame/mass bike (specs at the top of the graph). Yes, the reduction wasn't much.
Feel free to not use the rear brake!

DiabloScott

1. Braking around switchbacks is sometimes necessary and all riders should know how to do it. Your response is twaddle.
2. This thread is not exclusively about commuting. Your response is irrelevant.
3. Your advice about non-emergency braking is pabulum.

I apologize for being blunt - I've had a lot of robo-calling telemarketers trying to sell me all manner of baloney today and my otherwise genial nature has soured somewhat.

Yan 

No problem, no offense taken.

You clearly have a lot of opinions. You think I'm wrong, I think you're wrong, simple as that. No doubt both of us are experienced cyclists and our experiences have led us to different conclusions. I have no problem with that and how you operate your bike is not my concern.

We have both presented our respective views and the OP is now able to read and make up his own mind. Ultimately using one vs both brakes makes basically no difference to stopping distance, so the entire topic is simply trivial. The end.

For anyone else who wishes to read more about one vs both wheel braking: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

Bill Kapaun

After 3 childish posts from "them", it was ignore list.
Their ignorance is deafening or they are a inept troll.

smd4

LOL! Bill Kapaun and his almost-famous “ignore” button strikes again! He’s gonna ignore himself right out of the forum!

cyccommute 

Careful there. You’re going to be asked to leave a very exclusive club and forced to join the rest of us

smd4

The only time you get off the list is when Bill sees you quoted by someone not on his list. Then curiosity gets the best of him, and he unignores you to see what you said. There are so many people on his ignore list the chances of that happening are slim.

A day without Bill K. shouting to the world that he’s adding someone to his ignore list is like a day without sunshine!

cxwrench

The huge, vast, massive majority of drivers have no idea what threshold braking is nor can they get anywhere near it with a passenger car on public road much less a track car on a closed circuit. While your post is true, 99.99999999999% of the people on the road will be able to stop faster and more in control with ABS.