RIDLEY Bicycle Use And Maintenance Booklet page 25

Make sure that your hands can reach and
squeeze the brake levers comfortably. If
your hands are too small to operate the
levers comfortably, consult your dealer
before riding the bike. The lever reach
may be adjustable, or you may need a
different brake lever design.
Most brakes have some form of quick
release mechanism to allow the brake
shoes to clear the tire when a wheel is
removed or reinstalled. When the brake
quick release is in the open position, the
brakes are inoperative. Ask your dealer to
make sure that you understand the way
the brake quick release works on your bike
(see Fig. 16A, B,C &D) and check each
time to make sure both brakes work
correctly before you get on the bike.
Brakes are designed to control your
speed, not just to stop the bike. Maximum
braking force for each wheel occurs at the
point just before the wheel "locks up"
(stops rotating) and starts to skid. Once
the tire skids, you actually lose most of
your stopping force and all directional
control. You need to practice slowing and
stopping smoothly without locking a wheel.
The technique is called progressive brake
modulation. Instead of jerking the brake
lever to the position where you think you'll
generate appropriate braking
squeeze the lever,
force,
progressively
increasing the braking force. If you feel the wheel begin to lock up,
release pressure just a little to keep the wheel rotating just short of
lockup. It's important to develop a feel for the amount of brake lever
pressure required for each wheel of different speeds and on different
surfaces, to better understand this, experiment a little by walking
your bike and applying different amounts of pressure to each brake
lever, until the wheel locks.
WARNING: Some bicycle brakes, such as linear-pull and disc
brakes, are extremely powerful. You should take extra care in
becoming familiar with these brakes and exercise particular care
when using them. Applying these brakes too hard or too suddenly
can lock up a wheel, which could cause you to lose control and fall.
When you apply one or both brakes, the bike begins to slow, but your
body wants to continue at the speed at which if was going. This
causes a transfer of weight to the front wheel (or, under heavy
braking, around the front wheel hub, which could send you flying
over the handlebars). A wheel with more weight on it will accept
greater brake pressure before lockup; a wheel with less weight will
lock up with less brake pressure. So, as you apply brakes and your
weight shifts forward, you need to transfer your body toward the rear
of the bike, to transfer weight back on to the rear wheel; and at the
same time, you need to both decrease rear braking and increase
front braking force. This is even more important on steep descents,
because descents shift weight forward.
The keys to effective speed control and safe stopping are controlling
wheel lockup and weight transfer. Practice braking and weight
transfer techniques where there is no traffic or other hazards and
distractions.
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