2 fingers? 3 Fingers? or FOUR FINGERS!

[Lord_Bragle]

I use 2 fingers on the brake -it seems to suit me and feels natural.  But I’m lacking enough breaking effect for really hard stops, I just don’t have enough strength with only 2 fingers; I can get the bike to haul up well enough but the effort needed masks or negates any feel from the brake, my bikes an S2R and its consensus that the brakes on these are pretty dire.

I’m wondering if I need to move the -brake lever to bar- mounting position inboard a bit, and away from the twist grip to get my 2 fingers placed farther along the lever where greater leverage would be achieved, the trouble with this though is that there’s then a greater reach to the lever; as soon as the weather improves a bit I’m going to have a look at this and see if it makes any difference.

[El Matador]

I use 2 fingers on the brake -it seems to suit me and feels natural.  But I’m lacking enough breaking effect for really hard stops, I just don’t have enough strength with only 2 fingers; I can get the bike to haul up well enough but the effort needed masks or negates any feel from the brake, my bikes an S2R and its consensus that the brakes on these are pretty dire.

I’m wondering if I need to move the -brake lever to bar- mounting position inboard a bit, and away from the twist grip to get my 2 fingers placed farther along the lever where greater leverage would be achieved, the trouble with this though is that there’s then a greater reach to the lever; as soon as the weather improves a bit I’m going to have a look at this and see if it makes any difference.

By your descriptions I would venture saying that you have an S2R800. The brakes are pretty worthless on them, but some sintered can go a long way on the short term.

Really, what you should do is scout the market for an upgrade to your braking system. Some pretty good deals show up on the parts for sale board every once in a while.

[Lord_Bragle]

It is indeed the S2R 800 El Matador, I’m definitely going to swap to sintered pads sometime this spring, I already put them in the back brake and they improved things no end, and intend to stick em in the fronts as soon as I can.  I don’t want to go down the complete new front break system rout though; although I do understand that the 4 piston breaks would be a huge improvement.  But I wonder if a change to an adjustable lever plus moving the mount position might be just enough with some new pads to get me a decent 2 finger brake.

[derby]

I’m wondering if I need to move the -brake lever to bar- mounting position inboard a bit, and away from the twist grip to get my 2 fingers placed farther along the lever where greater leverage would be achieved, the trouble with this though is that there’s then a greater reach to the lever; as soon as the weather improves a bit I’m going to have a look at this and see if it makes any difference.

it's cheaper to adjust the lever in and move your hand out further on the bar. 

I don’t want to go down the complete new front break system rout though; although I do understand that the 4 piston breaks would be a huge improvement.  But I wonder if a change to an adjustable lever plus moving the mount position might be just enough with some new pads to get me a decent 2 finger brake.

a member on tob had success with putting his brother's 748 master cylinder on the bike. i can't remember what chris kelly's setup was on his 800 (maybe a different m/c), but i remember him being quite happy w/ the brakes.

[Desmostro]

I keep 2 fingers on the brake all the time.
Middle finger for power, index is finger for the feel.
SBK Brembo's are another thing.

(Editor MrI.  thanks)

[Popeye the Sailor]

I keep 2 fingers on the break all the time.
Middle finger for power, index is finger for the feel.
SBK Brembo's are another thing.

I prefer to keep fingers on the brake. 

[OstOgBajer]

Maybe I'm weird... but I use my middle and ring fingers, leaving my pointer and pinky hovering above the break. Kinda rock and roll   

That then leaves me with two extra fingers  to grab with in emergancy breaking... I guess... assuming I'm already on the brakes when I need to emergancy break... heh... I dunno

[Smokescreen]

Totally a preference thing. I brake with the middle finger/ring finger (no index/pinky)!

wark, I believe that means you do the Vulcan!  but that one's not on your diagram!?

[Holden]

wark, I believe that means you do the Vulcan!  but that one's not on your diagram!?

wouldn't Vulcan = "spocker?" I think I do the reverse of that: rock and roll headbanger / ASL "i love you"

[Smokescreen]

ahh, right you are.  I dunno if that's the "I love you" or "Sign of The Devil"...  Spose it depends on where your thumb is...  Strange coincidence that those two are soo similar? 

[Holden]

ahh, right you are.  I dunno if that's the "I love you" or "Sign of The Devil"...  Spose it depends on where your thumb is...  Strange coincidence that those two are soo similar? 

I wondered about that!

But on second thought that looks like I brake/clutch with just my index and pinky... maybe what I really do is the "Dane Cook?"

[Smokescreen]

Damn... the dane Cook huh?  You're gonna wanna fix that.

On a slightly more serious note, a while back, I put some CRG shortys on an M900 and this DB up at SBDBcati tells me I shouldn't because there's no way you can get enough force out of shorty levers.....  After putting the levers on, the bike continued to be a one finger braker....  When it inevitably went down, the right shorty took the brunt (bent bar crushed the cf tank) and survived without needing so much as a hammer blow.  just scratched up!  On my S2R1K I've got the CRGs in normal length, and I really wish I had the shortys.  I use my index, middle, and ring finger and leave my pinky sticking out ( I'm well aware of what we could call this method, but it's not even a little PC) but I still don't need a full length lever. 

And I have pretty big hands.  Thank goodness

[DLSGAP]

I usually jsut cover with my middle finger.. which is great because when i'm on the street people think im flipping them off for looking at me...

when breaking... usally just the middle... sometimes middle and ring... my pinky is too damn short to reach anything anyways.. lately though with my brake issues... it feels like i need to wrap my whole damn hand around the lever and put all my weight into pulling back on it... its an interesting feeling when you're at the track doin about 140 and you discover you have NO front brake.

[Innovatek]

I use two fingers, during MSF the instructor told me to use four during the class. But he said that was from his Harley riding perspective and how it took "a few small children to pull back the breaks on the Harley" in comparison to a sport bike.

[duc996]

On traffic i use one finger,the rest of the time it's two.