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so i just started riding an 03 dynawide glide harley...any tips on braking, as in , when to use my back breaks and when to use my fronts....for now im heavy on the breaks and only use the fronts when im already going slow or sitting at a light. any newbie advance will be appreciated

 
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I have driven motorbikes for over 25 years and I have to say, just like a car, the front brakes are the most used. Obviously you will have to learn to use both your brakes if your a squid/newbie like we all did, not too much pressure just enough to stop the bike. Practice, practice, practice with both front and rear.

 
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do the course, the money spent will be saved in bike repairs when you learn the hard way.Also never never use your front brake on soft shoulders, dirt or sand, unless you are into body building by picking up your bike...

 
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Most all of the above answers are way too simplistic. Understand the reasons for using front vs back, and you will know when to use what.Your motorcycle meets the road only at the two small contact patches of the front and rear tire. Both are important, but the front patch is the only one with the ability to steer the bike... so remember that. You don't want to break contact on the front patch. If you aren't going in a perfectly str8 line on perfectly dry road, breaking contact with the front patch will instantly put your bike down, period. If conditions are good, and you are braking with the bike str8, then you may be able to recover a lost front patch by quickly letting off the front brake.What causes a tire to lose traction? When the force of braking overcomes the static friction between the tire and road, the contact patch breaks. The force of friction is almost exactly linear with the amount of weight on the tire. When "freewheeling," 60-70 percent of the weight of your cruiser is placed on the back tire. Combine this with the fact that losing the back contact patch is much less dangerous than losing the front contact patch, and you can see that initially you can safely apply a lot more back brake than front brake. So why does your bike have two honking big front disc brakes, and only one tiny back disk.. Well, when your bike starts to decelerate, the weight of the bike transfers to the front. Now, your back contact patch is relatively smaller and weaker. The front patch has grown in size and the total friction is higher. So now... assuming you need to stop fast... you need to use more front brake than back brake. So stopping very quickly on a motorcycle is a graduated event, until you reach max braking.... once you're at that point, you are using something like 70 percent front and 30% back brake, plus or minus, depending on your cruiser AND conditions. Obviously, when conditions are bad, you can't brake as hard, and therefore less weight will be transferred to the front... so your optimum end-point ratio will be less front-weighted. Under ideal conditions, sticky tires, and a heavily front weight-biased sport bike, your end ratio for hard braking will be 99% front and 1% back. On a cruiser, the optimum end ratio will be something like 70/30 in good road conditions, and much less when conditions are slick.Fishtailing: If you know how to fishtail a car, you will know how to recover from a slow fishtail on a bike (such as in poor conditions and low speeds). If you start fishtailing, you must steer towards the direction of the fishtail. If you do not, your bike will get out of line. Your lean angle will increase as your bike gets more out of line. If the back hooks up, again, you'll be tossed.. as essentially, your bike will now be attempting to go in a different direction from the tires. Steer the front to follow where the back goes... This allows you to recover the back faster. And when it recovers, you will be more-or-less in sync. If going in a str8 line, then as the above poster said, it's ok to continue the fishtail until you come to a stop. But around an inside corner, with a truck coming down the other lane, you better know how to recover that back tire in a hurry. Be safe.