I was in a Home Depot parking lot when an oncoming car made a sudden left hand turn in front of me to grab an empty parking space. Now this wasnt on the bike but in my truck. The driver saw me before he got into the spot and stopped, completely blocking the road ahead of me. As I slammed on the brakes I had a sickening feeling "Im not going to stop before hitting him." Lucky for him I was only going 20 so when I hit him it was less than 5mph. Still...the dammage the T Boning did to his passenger side was considerable! The dammage to my 20 year old truck wasnt hardly anything.
But...
After the accident I said to myself "Thank God I wasnt on the bike!" And that made me think. Because of the linked brakes I always use just the hand brake lever. Had I been on bike bike thats what I would have done. So Id have had 66% of my braking capacity. What Ive been doing all these years is training myself to use 66% of my bike braking capacity in a close call braking situation!
Im going back to using both the foot AND handbrake lever 100% of the time! I cant remember the last time I did a panic stop on the bike...if I ever did. I never ride in town or to work in rush hour only on the freeway on trips or back roads. Im pissed off at the false sense of security those linked brakes gave me. Could have been real trouble!
But...
After the accident I said to myself "Thank God I wasnt on the bike!" And that made me think. Because of the linked brakes I always use just the hand brake lever. Had I been on bike bike thats what I would have done. So Id have had 66% of my braking capacity. What Ive been doing all these years is training myself to use 66% of my bike braking capacity in a close call braking situation!
Im going back to using both the foot AND handbrake lever 100% of the time! I cant remember the last time I did a panic stop on the bike...if I ever did. I never ride in town or to work in rush hour only on the freeway on trips or back roads. Im pissed off at the false sense of security those linked brakes gave me. Could have been real trouble!