Better Braking - II. Review on Twenty Best Bikes

Now let us get into the details of Engine Braking.

I shall try to put this using some figures which are just imaginary. It is basically to get an idea of the logic.

Every engine has its idling speed where it runs even without the throttle and this is just enough to keep it alive until you open up the gas. Let us imagine the engine has an idling speed of 1500rpm(revolutions per minute) and we know that the vehicle doesn't moves when the engine is only idling and will need some more gas.

Say the motor touches 25kmph at 5000rpm in first gear then you will notice that at the same rpm in the second gear it might go say at about 35kmph, 45kmph in 3rd and 55kmph in 4th. Now that brings me to believe that at the idling speed(1500rpm in our case) the speeds might be something like 5kmph, 10kmph, 15kmph and 20kmph through the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears respectively.

The better the engine is tuned, the higher the compression inside the better power it will develop which can be used to push the motor and this same power can again be used to slow it down.

If you floor the cluth as well as the brake pedal, we aren't using any of the engine power to add to the braking and as the accelerator is left for itself, the engine will be at the idling speed and we can take great advantage of it. Without any assistance from the engine, its the brake pads alone that will have to do whatever they can to bring the mass to a halt.

Imagine you are going at 60kmph in the 4th gear and need to brake. We will try this time engine braking alone. No need to brake yet, just leave the cluth and the accelerator. With reduced inflow of gas the engine will be wanting to get back to the idling speed but since the clutch is still engaged it is forced to run due to the momentum passed onto it from the wheels. The engine runs tight slowing down all the while. Say the rpm now is about 4000 and shifting one gear down you will feel a drop in speed by say 10kmph and it won't be long before you can get down to the first gear and the vechicle barely moves.

Hope this gives us some idea on how we can use the power of the engine even for braking.

Now let us look at something more interesting and I mean the braking techniques on a motorbike.

For the best braking you will have to keep the steering straight(in most cases) while taking care of the clutch with the left hand, the right hand has to take care of the front brake while making sure that the throttle is fully closed, the left leg needs to work through the gears and the right one manages the rear brake(reverse funtion of the legs on the older british models which includes the evergreen Bullet). That is four limbs taking care of six things unlike in a car where we need to control lesser number as the brakes are combined into one pedal.

In a car, the driver and a passengers combined weigh almost always less than the vehicle itself. The ratio of the driver and the driven is very less in a car when compared to that of a bike and with a pillion, the riders usually total more kilos that that of the bike itself and that makes a lot of difference. At 50kmph if it takes 20mts to come to a halt then at same speed with a pillion it will take say 23mts. Forget about meters, in critical conditions even a millimeter could turn a bad thing to a worse case. No wonder why all those car and bike racers are so slim.

When it comes to two wheelers, over here many people seem to believe the myth that the bike will overturn in you apply the front brakes and that is totally against the law of physics. No bike with good brakes, correct application and right weight distribution will overturn when on the front brake.

The same law of engine braking as that of the cars applies for the bikes too so now we will try to look into the importance of the front brakes and proper weight distribution.

CONTD.