And today's commuting highlight is...

[sjtscott]

supercommuter said:

SteelerSE said:

Bikesalot said:

It's the finger tips! Just can't stop them getting a bit cold.

-1 this morning. Downward spiral from here.

Really need to pull my finger out and wash the GS and give it a liberal coating in ACF50. It's not been washed in 5000 miles...

Heated grips and handlebar muffs. It genuinely works. Otherwise heated gloves but I have no experience of those. In the years that I've commuted I haven't found anything that works better as no normal glove is going to beat the wind chill.

Couple hundred thousand under my belt now and i have to agree with this. No way you will keep your fingers warm in anything other than muffs and heated grips for longer rides. I will be putting mine on next weekend I think

Heated Gloves, they really do just work - first time I experienced warm finger tips ever with winter riding - rode with heated grips for the 8 previous years to last winter. Round london I always cover leavers which means frozen finger tips even at slow speed with standard heated grips.
My only regret not using them this morning But then I thought I'd chance it and of course I'd forgotten to thread the wiring harness lead into my jacket overnight - I'll be doing so tonight probably just in time for it to warm up again

[julian64]

Cbull said:

Had my closest shave on the 600 this morning, shat myself.

On a dual carriageway traffic had just stopped on the right and I'd just filtered past a truck, gave him a wave for moving over and positioned myself to continue filtering after the gap. A car had cut across a van to squeeze through put for him to see me he had to come out quite a bit. The back brake went on (too hard probably) with a little on the front (it was wet) and I started to snake/weave whilst skidding. The bike was well and truly unstable, I could feel it was about to topple over.

Luckily I'd let go of the brake at the right time and just missed the car on the right and then just missed the car on the left. Proper poo’d myself. No ones fault really, just one of them things and luckily I was half aware of the potential danger and wasn't going too quick.

Despite the slow'ish speed, I couldn't believe how uncontrollable the bike was. Any slight variation in speed, angle or brake pressure the bike would have gone for sure. Count myself very lucky indeed. Be safe people.

wet/dry, sunshine or rain, I only ever use the front brake. But that's a sportsbike. I think any bike where you are leaning over the front wheel doesn't need a rear brake even with standing water.

I used to occasional try to balance with an R1 but to be honest never improved the situation by touching the rear brake.

[black-k1]

julian64 said:

wet/dry, sunshine or rain, I only ever use the front brake. But that's a sportsbike. I think any bike where you are leaning over the front wheel doesn't need a rear brake even with standing water.

I used to occasional try to balance with an R1 but to be honest never improved the situation by touching the rear brake.

Cobblers! Unless your rear wheel is off the ground then there is braking capability at the wheel. In an emergency, it may just be the difference between having an accident and not having an accident. It just takes a little practice to get to use it efficiently.

As all proper bikes now have ABS there is no reason to not use the rear brake

[julian64]

black-k1 said:

julian64 said:

wet/dry, sunshine or rain, I only ever use the front brake. But that's a sportsbike. I think any bike where you are leaning over the front wheel doesn't need a rear brake even with standing water.

I used to occasional try to balance with an R1 but to be honest never improved the situation by touching the rear brake.

Cobblers! Unless your rear wheel is off the ground then there is braking capability at the wheel. In an emergency, it may just be the difference between having an accident and not having an accident. It just takes a little practice to get to use it efficiently.

As all proper bikes now have ABS there is no reason to not use the rear brake

You seem to have strong views on the subject. However I really don't understand them, I don't think its a practice issue as I'd ridden bikes from the eighties onward. I used to use the rear brake in old bikes where there was a more even distribution between the front and rear wheel. But not on any sportsbike from the last ten years or so.

I suspect if you are in an emergency the use of a rear brake is even less on a sportsbike.

The reason I say this is that leaning over the front wheel .on a sportsbike puts the majority of weight at the front. The only thing that puts weight in the rear wheel is accelerating, or leaning back.
leant over the front makes the bike very front heavy. Braking shifts the weight to the front. In an emergency brake within milliseconds therefore there is no weight at the rear at all and the only thing touching your rear brake will do it destabilize the rear and therefore make you have to let off at th efront.. You do not have the speed to balance the front and rear in an emergency brake situation so you shouldn't touch the rear cos it would do nothing anyway

Possibly the rear brake has a use while accelerating, and possibly it has a use on cornering to balance the bike if you were good enough to use it, but on braking I would still stick with the idea you are wasting your time.
Quite happy for you to go on using it though .

[del mar]

julian64 said:

black-k1 said:

julian64 said:

wet/dry, sunshine or rain, I only ever use the front brake. But that's a sportsbike. I think any bike where you are leaning over the front wheel doesn't need a rear brake even with standing water.

I used to occasional try to balance with an R1 but to be honest never improved the situation by touching the rear brake.

Cobblers! Unless your rear wheel is off the ground then there is braking capability at the wheel. In an emergency, it may just be the difference between having an accident and not having an accident. It just takes a little practice to get to use it efficiently.

As all proper bikes now have ABS there is no reason to not use the rear brake

You seem to have strong views on the subject. However I really don't understand them, I don't think its a practice issue as I'd ridden bikes from the eighties onward. I used to use the rear brake in old bikes where there was a more even distribution between the front and rear wheel. But not on any sportsbike from the last ten years or so.

I suspect if you are in an emergency the use of a rear brake is even less on a sportsbike.

The reason I say this is that leaning over the front wheel .on a sportsbike puts the majority of weight at the front. The only thing that puts weight in the rear wheel is accelerating, or leaning back.
leant over the front makes the bike very front heavy. Braking shifts the weight to the front. In an emergency brake within milliseconds therefore there is no weight at the rear at all and the only thing touching your rear brake will do it destabilize the rear and therefore make you have to let off at th efront.. You do not have the speed to balance the front and rear in an emergency brake situation so you shouldn't touch the rear cos it would do nothing anyway

Possibly the rear brake has a use while accelerating, and possibly it has a use on cornering to balance the bike if you were good enough to use it, but on braking I would still stick with the idea you are wasting your time.
Quite happy for you to go on using it though .

My MOT Tester said he fails quite a lot of Sportsbike for non working rear brake, lack of use causes it to seize up !

[del mar]

My Commuting high light.

Coming down Commercial Road I saw three ladies in short skirts and gold heels trying to get into a property.

Now either they were returning from "work" or just starting their shift.....

Makes a change from black sheets walking around

[black-k1]

julian64 said:

black-k1 said:

julian64 said:

wet/dry, sunshine or rain, I only ever use the front brake. But that's a sportsbike. I think any bike where you are leaning over the front wheel doesn't need a rear brake even with standing water.

I used to occasional try to balance with an R1 but to be honest never improved the situation by touching the rear brake.

Cobblers! Unless your rear wheel is off the ground then there is braking capability at the wheel. In an emergency, it may just be the difference between having an accident and not having an accident. It just takes a little practice to get to use it efficiently.

As all proper bikes now have ABS there is no reason to not use the rear brake

You seem to have strong views on the subject. However I really don't understand them, I don't think its a practice issue as I'd ridden bikes from the eighties onward. I used to use the rear brake in old bikes where there was a more even distribution between the front and rear wheel. But not on any sportsbike from the last ten years or so.

I suspect if you are in an emergency the use of a rear brake is even less on a sportsbike.

The reason I say this is that leaning over the front wheel .on a sportsbike puts the majority of weight at the front. The only thing that puts weight in the rear wheel is accelerating, or leaning back.
leant over the front makes the bike very front heavy. Braking shifts the weight to the front. In an emergency brake within milliseconds therefore there is no weight at the rear at all and the only thing touching your rear brake will do it destabilize the rear and therefore make you have to let off at th efront.. You do not have the speed to balance the front and rear in an emergency brake situation so you shouldn't touch the rear cos it would do nothing anyway

Possibly the rear brake has a use while accelerating, and possibly it has a use on cornering to balance the bike if you were good enough to use it, but on braking I would still stick with the idea you are wasting your time.
Quite happy for you to go on using it though .

This subject has come up before and every time I issue the same brake test challenge. (2/3 of the way down the page in this thread https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... )

Try the brake challenge and report back on here what happens.

Someone on here did try it (on a Firebalde as I remember) and was man enough to report his findings on this thread https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... (poster dern,just over half way down.)

[Desiato]

black-k1 said:

Unless your rear wheel is off the ground then there is braking capability at the wheel. In an emergency, it may just be the difference between having an accident and not having an accident. It just takes a little practice to get to use it efficiently.

I would agree with this, for years I never used the rear, then a few years back started to use it more and practiced to get used to using it efficiently. This was on a couple of GSXR plus other bikes. I found it did make a fair bit of difference. My last GSXR had ABS so even better.
I admit to not using it much on the KTM as it's just too sensitive and easy to lock the rear. Although to be fair it has so much engine braking that you can lock the rear in the lower gears by slamming the throttle shut!!

Worth persevering with though in my opinion, could make that 1metre of stopping distance you need one day.

[Tall_Paul]

sjtscott said:

supercommuter said:

SteelerSE said:

Bikesalot said:

It's the finger tips! Just can't stop them getting a bit cold.

-1 this morning. Downward spiral from here.

Really need to pull my finger out and wash the GS and give it a liberal coating in ACF50. It's not been washed in 5000 miles...

Heated grips and handlebar muffs. It genuinely works. Otherwise heated gloves but I have no experience of those. In the years that I've commuted I haven't found anything that works better as no normal glove is going to beat the wind chill.

Couple hundred thousand under my belt now and i have to agree with this. No way you will keep your fingers warm in anything other than muffs and heated grips for longer rides. I will be putting mine on next weekend I think

Heated Gloves, they really do just work - first time I experienced warm finger tips ever with winter riding - rode with heated grips for the 8 previous years to last winter. Round london I always cover leavers which means frozen finger tips even at slow speed with standard heated grips.
My only regret not using them this morning But then I thought I'd chance it and of course I'd forgotten to thread the wiring harness lead into my jacket overnight - I'll be doing so tonight probably just in time for it to warm up again

I've done the heated grips and muffs thing for a couple of years now, this winter I'll be using a set of Gerbing XR-12 heated gloves. Haven't bought them yet as it's warmer for the rest of this week, and their head office is literally 5 minutes from my work so I'll pop in at lunchtime one day and get the correct size and buy direct.

[CAPP0]

Tall_Paul said:

sjtscott said:

supercommuter said:

SteelerSE said:

Bikesalot said:

It's the finger tips! Just can't stop them getting a bit cold.

-1 this morning. Downward spiral from here.

Really need to pull my finger out and wash the GS and give it a liberal coating in ACF50. It's not been washed in 5000 miles...

Heated grips and handlebar muffs. It genuinely works. Otherwise heated gloves but I have no experience of those. In the years that I've commuted I haven't found anything that works better as no normal glove is going to beat the wind chill.

Couple hundred thousand under my belt now and i have to agree with this. No way you will keep your fingers warm in anything other than muffs and heated grips for longer rides. I will be putting mine on next weekend I think

Heated Gloves, they really do just work - first time I experienced warm finger tips ever with winter riding - rode with heated grips for the 8 previous years to last winter. Round london I always cover leavers which means frozen finger tips even at slow speed with standard heated grips.
My only regret not using them this morning But then I thought I'd chance it and of course I'd forgotten to thread the wiring harness lead into my jacket overnight - I'll be doing so tonight probably just in time for it to warm up again

I've done the heated grips and muffs thing for a couple of years now, this winter I'll be using a set of Gerbing XR-12 heated gloves. Haven't bought them yet as it's warmer for the rest of this week, and their head office is literally 5 minutes from my work so I'll pop in at lunchtime one day and get the correct size and buy direct.

Bit chilly this morning, I ended up with silk liners in my summer gloves

Ref the bar muffs, can anyone suggest a set for my RT? They need to be "tall" for all the switchgear, but I don't want a set that are the size of a wheelie bin (i.e. the ones I last bought, with which I rode about half a mile before stopping and taking them off - just couldn't get on with the ridiculous size of them).

[Davemc37]

Someone painted a little yellow snowflake on my dash this morning.
Really regretted spending four hours with my 9 year old son on hi science project rather than fitting my heated grips. It was doubly bad when my wife told me tonight that it was a voluntary exercise and not actually required. Doh!

[julian64]

black-k1 said:

This subject has come up before and every time I issue the same brake test challenge. (2/3 of the way down the page in this thread https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... )

Try the brake challenge and report back on here what happens.

Someone on here did try it (on a Firebalde as I remember) and was man enough to report his findings on this thread https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... (poster dern,just over half way down.)

Can't help wondering why you think this wouldn't have been tried before someone formed an opinion?

Anyhow, when I feel I am 'man' enough to try it again I'll have a go.

[black-k1]

julian64 said:

black-k1 said:

This subject has come up before and every time I issue the same brake test challenge. (2/3 of the way down the page in this thread https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... )

Try the brake challenge and report back on here what happens.

Someone on here did try it (on a Firebalde as I remember) and was man enough to report his findings on this thread https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... (poster dern,just over half way down.)

Can't help wondering why you think this wouldn't have been tried before someone formed an opinion?

Anyhow, when I feel I am 'man' enough to try it again I'll have a go.

If you have tried it before then I'm (pleasantly) surprised. What was the outcome?

The only two things to ask yourself are:

- Was the test done on good quality tarmac in dry conditions?
- Do I always only ride on good quality tarmac in dry conditions?

If the answer to either question is "no" the the test re-run should perhaps reflect some/most of the "less than perfect" conditions you normally/occasionally ride in!

[kiethton]

Well this morning was a good bit warmer!

Glad about that tbh

[Dakkon]

Warmer than yesterday but newly fitted heated grips still toasty

[supercommuter]

CAPP0 said:

Bit chilly this morning, I ended up with silk liners in my summer gloves

Ref the bar muffs, can anyone suggest a set for my RT? They need to be "tall" for all the switchgear, but I don't want a set that are the size of a wheelie bin (i.e. the ones I last bought, with which I rode about half a mile before stopping and taking them off - just couldn't get on with the ridiculous size of them).

Urbano Tucano R360 with hand guards still on

[CaptainSlow]

Bit chilly in the South this morning. Will probably put the thermal liner back in my jacket and close the vents a bit.

[sjtscott]

Tall_Paul said:

sjtscott said:

supercommuter said:

SteelerSE said:

Bikesalot said:

It's the finger tips! Just can't stop them getting a bit cold.

-1 this morning. Downward spiral from here.

Really need to pull my finger out and wash the GS and give it a liberal coating in ACF50. It's not been washed in 5000 miles...

Heated grips and handlebar muffs. It genuinely works. Otherwise heated gloves but I have no experience of those. In the years that I've commuted I haven't found anything that works better as no normal glove is going to beat the wind chill.

Couple hundred thousand under my belt now and i have to agree with this. No way you will keep your fingers warm in anything other than muffs and heated grips for longer rides. I will be putting mine on next weekend I think

Heated Gloves, they really do just work - first time I experienced warm finger tips ever with winter riding - rode with heated grips for the 8 previous years to last winter. Round london I always cover leavers which means frozen finger tips even at slow speed with standard heated grips.
My only regret not using them this morning But then I thought I'd chance it and of course I'd forgotten to thread the wiring harness lead into my jacket overnight - I'll be doing so tonight probably just in time for it to warm up again

I've done the heated grips and muffs thing for a couple of years now, this winter I'll be using a set of Gerbing XR-12 heated gloves. Haven't bought them yet as it's warmer for the rest of this week, and their head office is literally 5 minutes from my work so I'll pop in at lunchtime one day and get the correct size and buy direct.

I have the XRS-12s they are short cuff and fit perfectly under the cuff of my goretex jacket - I'd have a look at these personally. The XR-12s are large cuffs and also accomodate batteries - for me these are redundant since I'm only interested in powering mine off the bike and the cuffs really that bit too large to go underneath. For me keeping the water out of my gloves in the rain is key jacket cuffs always over the gloves!

Oh and as predicted my summer goretex were fine this morning with 10Deg at 8am i.e. double yesterday!

Edited by sjtscott on Tuesday 7th November 12:12

[2wheelsjimmy]

sjtscott said:

I'm only interested in powering mine off the bike

Edited by sjtscott on Tuesday 7th November 12:12

Surely you'd want the battery pack then

[Cbull]

sjtscott said:

For me keeping the water out of my gloves in the rain is key jacket cuffs always over the gloves!

I always tuck miine under the gloves. The wind up the sleeve drives me mad for some reason. I see your logic though as when I got soaked last, a lot of the water dripped down the sleeve into the glove.

I seen someone from our rideout put a rubber glove on first. Not sure what the benefits of that are, has anyone tried it?

On the rear brake discussion. More and more I'm using my rear brake. I'm running a non-ABS model and it definetly helps. In fact, as per my close call the other day (see above moan), if only the front brake was applied I have no doubt I'd have lost balanace and toppled over.