'1 finger brakes'

[Demannu]

The only bike I have with genuine 1 finger brakes is my tredder.
I hear people say they only need 1 finger to stop on a sixpence.
Current bike has radial 4 piston brakes and a fully adjustable 19mm m/c.
Still needs 2 fingers to stop properly!
Do I just need to man up or am I missing something here?

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

You need to exercise your finger so it's stronger.

Serious answer, I always use two fingers for braking, I've never tried using one.

[KungFooBob]

It's all bollocks innit.

In the Mags/Reviews I always took it to mean you only needed the force of one finger in everyday pootling around.

It's mostly about physics and friction materials. I think the only way you'd get one finger braking is with servo assistance. Which BMW did in the 00's, but was woefully unreliable and people complained about lack of feel.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Maybe you should try using your pinky finger, so it's right out at the end of the bar and you get more leverage.

[Horse]

Maybe you should try using your pinky finger, so it's right out at the end of the bar and you get more leverage.

Which is why vintage bikes have levers which pivot at the end of the grip.

Brett Tkacs (sp?) - I think - recently posted a video about braking, asking 'why?' on four finger braking.

Well, when I started riding (and training):
1. Many bikes had awful brakes, you needed as much pull as possible!
2. Fingers trapped between lever and bar was a. painful, and b. restricted braking (see 1)

However, we did cover using thumb and forefinger for throttle while 3 finger braking. T&F provided accurate control, but see your 'pinkie' point!

[Horse]

[JackyJoll]

This could be important if you only have one finger.

[Skub]

The Brembo set up on my Zed are the best brakes I've had on a bike,braking with one finger would probably work ok,but I'm conditioned to using two.

The last bike I had which needed four fingers was the SH300i. Sometimes if I'd been using the scoot all Winter,then jump on the 10R in the Spring,the four finger thing stuck for a while,but the bike schools ya!

[dern]

I have no idea how many I use... two I think, even on track. Why would you use one... I'm why would need to leave three on the grip?

[G.P]

I use 2 fingers unless I've got winter gloves on then its 3 over the lever.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I think I tend to use three so that I can blip the throttle still - but I'm really not sure I reckon if I thought about it I'd fuck it up.

[mangocrazy]

In my experience if you have a really good (i.e. both sensitive and powerful) brake setup you can use one finger for 'normal' low to medium pressure braking. If you need to perform any kind of quick or serious stopping, it's a minimum of two fingers. Since upgrading the brakes on the LC it's gone from 3-4 fingers down to 1-2. The brakes on the Falco and Duke 690 are good enough to also only need a max of two finger pressure.

[Horse]

In my experience if you have a really good (i.e. both sensitive and powerful) brake setup you can use one finger for 'normal' low to medium pressure braking. If you need to perform any kind of quick or serious stopping, it's a minimum of two fingers.

And there's the mental hiccup: in an emergency, will you 'automatically' go for the serious braking method?

Or will you default to what you do most of the time (hopefully you don't need emergency braking too often!).

Any extra decisions needed will delay braking.

[MrLongbeard]

I think (not really it's subconscious) I use 2 for regular braking, moving up to 3 fingers if I think (sense) something could be going pear shaped.

[Yorick]

Always used 2. Racing, trackdays, road and enduro.

[mangocrazy]

In my experience if you have a really good (i.e. both sensitive and powerful) brake setup you can use one finger for 'normal' low to medium pressure braking. If you need to perform any kind of quick or serious stopping, it's a minimum of two fingers.

And there's the mental hiccup: in an emergency, will you 'automatically' go for the serious braking method?

Or will you default to what you do most of the time (hopefully you don't need emergency braking too often!).

Any extra decisions needed will delay braking.

On the first ride out with the upgraded brakes on the LC I was trying various combinations and the one that felt most comfortable was to deploy 2 fingers when brake use was likely to be needed and then use 1 or 2 fingers as the severity required became apparent. I also played about with the span adjuster until everything felt 'right'. Another benefit of the upgrade is the addition of a span adjuster - that made a big improvement. So much stuff like this is done on kind of auto-pilot, it's important to get everything set up to feel natural and automatic.

[Horse]

So much stuff like this is done on kind of auto-pilot, it's important to get everything set up to feel natural and automatic.

Automatic typically being what you practice, ie do every day, every ride, every 'normal' braking action.

To then, in an emergency, something different will need you to do something different. That thought, that decision, could delay 'emergency' braking.

[Yorick]

On track I had the palm of my hand right on the end of the bar for max leverage. No room on lever for a third finger.

[Supermofo]

I use 2 fingers on the lever but most of the time I'm mainly pulling with 1 finger over the other. Saying that I prefer a flowing style of riding to heavy braking.

My brothers mate who is a motorcycle test examiner remarked how my brother and I ride at pretty much the same speed point A to B but ride totally differently. He tends to go for max acceleration/braking squaring off the corners, whereas I tend to try and brake less and maintain corner speed. But we end up riding at the same pace pretty much.

[wull]

I start with one then when she gets nice and wet I slip a second in……….oh wait

I use two fingers all the time, road, track and racing, no matter how good the brakes are it’s always two. The majority of racers will use two fingers and sometimes use one when it’s a gentle dab of the brake between two corners that join up………more progressive and fine tuning for feel.