Brakes - BMW R 1200 GS Adventure Manual

Dirt or mud on brakes
5
When riding on loose sur-
faces or muddy roads, the
82
brakes may fail to take effect
immediately because of dirt or
moisture on the discs or brake
pads.
Apply the brakes in good time
until the brakes have been
cleaned.
z
The brake pads will wear
more rapidly if you ride fre-
quently on unsurfaced tracks or
poor roads.
Check the thickness of the brake
pads more frequently and replace
the brake pads in good time.
Spring preload and shock-
absorber settings
The off-road settings for
spring preload and shock
absorber damping characteristic
will impair the motorcycle's hand-
ling characteristics on surfaced
roads.
If you have been off-roading, re-
member to correct spring preload
and shock-absorber damping
characteristics before you return
to surfaced roads.
Deactivatable ABS
You can deactivate the ABS
function of the BMW Motor-
rad Integral ABS for off-road-
ing ( 57). The integral braking
function remains active.

Brakes

How can stopping
distance be minimised?
Each time the brakes are applied,
a load distribution shift takes
place with the load shifting for-
ward from the rear to the front
wheel. The sharper the motor-
cycle decelerates, the more load
is shifted to the front wheel. The
higher the wheel load, the more
braking force can be transmitted
without the wheel locking.
To optimise stopping distance,
apply the front brakes rapidly and
keep on increasing the force you
apply to the brake lever. This
makes the best possible use of
OE
the dynamic increase in load at
the front wheel. Remember to
pull the clutch at the same time.
In the "panic braking situations"
that are trained so frequently
braking force is applied as rap-
idly as possible and with the
rider's full force exerted on the
brake levers; under these circum-
stances the dynamic shift in load
distribution cannot keep pace
with the increase in deceleration
and the tyres cannot transmit the
full braking force to the surface
of the road. Under these circum-
stances the front wheel can lock
up.