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Originally Posted by Water Warrior
Quote:
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Originally Posted by twigginton
Well, after putting 1400 miles on my GZ I managed to drop it at the end of downhill paved driveway. Stopped to enter the highway, and the driveway had some accumulated gravel at the end of it next to the highway. My front wheel must have locked up in the gravel and down she went. I never saw it coming. Luckily I had no damage to anything other than my pride. I did a quick look around to see if anyone saw me fall, picked it up and got out of there. My footpeg, saddlebag and windshield took all the fall, along with my ankle...
Just wanted to let others know to watch out for that gravel. :??:
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Glad to hear you didn't get bit too hard. Don't use the front brake for your final few feet of coming to a stop. Use the rear brake and only put your left foot down. This is the proper and safest way to stop. Practice this and soon it will be automatic at every stop. It also allows the smoothest stops with no front end bounce or wobble. I always enjoyed the power of a front brake and relied on it almost exclusively. 50 years after my first ride on a bike I finally got it right. |
I'm a novice rider, but this was a key point for me to learn. I read on a website (listed below), that you basically should not use the front brake under 5-10 mph.
Here's a snippet of the article: "
AVOID using the front brake at all costs when riding at parking lot speeds, as applying the front brake at 5 or 10mph with the handle bars turned even slightly, will pull you to the ground like a magnet."
Believe me, I learned this the hard way, and, thus, have a few scratches on my front brake lever, exhaust pipe, and front fender.
website:
http://www.ridemyown.com/articles/ridin ... peed.shtml
To give proper credit, the guy who wrote that article is Jerry Paladino and I heard about him from either this forum, or the yahoo GZ250 group, I believe. I learned a lot just by reading his articles, but he offers books and videos as well. Here is his website:
http://www.ridelikeapro.com/