Advice for beginners

[Captain Morgan]

Originally Posted by OTB

What's the worst piece of advice or riding lore you were given?

Mine was; "Don't use the front brake; it'll throw you over the handlebars". this was in the days of transition from drum fronts to single solid disks; about 30% of the braking power of today's stuff. Sillyness.

I rode with a newbie once. He skidded through a stop light because he only used his rear brake (and he was going WAY too fast for the road). He was lucky nobody was coming or he'd have been done. I asked why he wasn't able to stop, because I was (yes, I was going too fast too). I discovered he wasn't using his front brake because he was afraid it would flip him. I showed him I could stop using ONLY my front brake, without lifting the rear tire off the ground. He tried it and was amazed.

What's the best advice I can give newbies? Don't panic. Look where you want to go, trust your tires and your brakes. If you are looking at the object you are afraid of, you will hit said object. If you look where you actually want to go (which is to the side of said object), you will miss the object you fear. Your tires will do more than you can imagine. Obviously, don't just grab a handful of front brake, but you must use it as it provides most of the stopping power of your bike.