Tonite came up at a stop light and intended on blowing thru it but there was a car coming...I hit the brakes fast and hard and the front brake kind of locked up. I reached down and moved it around and it fell back in place. It was binding against the left side of the front wheel and went back into place when I wiggled it a bit..scared the **** out of me!! I was going about 15mph when this happened. I'm no brake wizard so what happened??? Help guys?? .
One thing I learned was to make the front/rear brakes operate differently. My back brake is
"soft", I use it 90% of the time, to slow down, while the front brake is
"hard", grabs for instant stopping, or stopping at low speeds.
I can't recall a time when I had to really jolt to a stop using the front, the front being the one that causes the more perilous situations.
I'd advise never using the front brake until momentum is less than 10mph....
Since most of the action is on the right, throttle/braking and slowing down is semi-automatic. Just get it where the back doesn't "grab" you to a stop, but has about 60-75% of the pressure compared to the front.
When you adjust to the area, the busier intersections, you'll get the hang of being observant. You are still in the "looking for shortcuts" phase, even though those northern plains are basically straight shots with no alternative/parallel routes.
As you ride more, car riders will get used to seeing you too.