Car Tire Might Have Saved Us

While riding at about 50 mph on a dark, back road, a moron in a pickup truck with a big roll of hay turned left in front of us. I grabbed a handful of brake and applied the rear brake hard enough to hear the rear tire start to slip. But the 1800 Wing held nice and straight and we slowed down with room to spare. I doubt that a motorcycle tire on the rear would have given me enough traction to slow to as quickly. (Vanco 195/65-16)

The Wing has brilliant headlights, amber lights on the mirrors, and super bring LED driving lights. He must have had his head up his butt.

Had it been around here you would of known his head was in his ass and he had a bottle in his free hand. Too damn many of them drinkers out there anymore.

Glad you kept it up and avoided it.

Did you follow and have a "chat" with the idiot?

See you out there
Smokey

Congrats sir!!! You aren't the first to notice how much safer you feel on the car tire!!! I won't leave home without it!! LOL Just glad you wasn't hurt or went down.



...........................bobby

while you may think/feel the CT saved ya, I'd be willing to bet it was your alertness

I haven't noticed a significant difference in maximum braking potential with a CT in back, the majority of stopping power is still on the bike tire in front

I on the other hand have noticed a big difference on the rear braking capabilities and have no problem believing it played a positive role in avoiding an accident.Glad you made it through safe.

I'd say the Comtrac after the Pirelli had about 3x the stopping power and probably more. A little less than new now, but still far better than any MT I've ever run.

are you guys using your front brake to it's maximum potential ? granted on a cruiser, less weight shifts forward, still by far, the braking potential is biased to the front tire

Of course it is. I use the front all the way down to about 10 mph, when I release it for more control. In a full on panic stop,
if you have practiced pulling the front lever before hitting the back brake, you will automatically load the front tire first, and
be more tender with the back, which is usually the cause of a slide on a bike. This gives you your maximum stopping power.
I changed up and definitely notice the difference.
I also am still trying to habituate using four fingers on the front instead of my usual two.
Whatever you practice will be what you do before that deer.
Or in your case, moose!

I was using a handful of front brake and was applying the rear brake quite hard. Of course the Gold Wing has integrated brakes, so the foot brake pedal applies the front brake too. The sound I heard was kind of a scrubbing sound, not exactly a full slide. It actually felt comforting not to hear the screech of a slipping and melting MT.

Glad you made it out of the situation safely. I agree with you and think the CT may be a factor in you being able to come through safely.....

Thanks for posting this info.

I've noted that the rear tracks straight with a ct. Not so with a mt. Up to 50 mph anyways. Much better braking in my book.

Ive gabbed a handful of front brake at 70 and thought in was going to lose it. Shook violently. Emergency stop situation. Never did that again!