Engine Braking

[Ancient Iron]

I do it. Been doing it forever. Guess it's just 2nd nature.

Ran across this interesting little warning on an interesting little page about tire wear.

"* Engine braking is the exercise of downshifting and releasing the clutch through all the gears when coming to a stop. On most modern bikes equipped with disc brakes this old timer's use of the engine to aid in braking is totally unnecessary. Doing so will loose you thousands of serviceable miles on your rear tire, will double the stress on your drive train and could cause your rear wheel to lock (even on a bike with ABS) causing a crash. When coming to a normal stop (red light etc) downshifting commensurate with your speed is still essential to bike safety (in case you need to power out of a jam), but releasing the clutch when doing so is not necessary and adds greatly rear tire flat band center wear. Keep that clutch pulled."

I guess I'm an old timer, and I don't know if I buy into, "thousands of serviceable miles lost". Anyway, it made me wonder if I'm one of a dying breed of engine brakers'. Do you guys still do it?

Oh, the link to the page is: http://www.rattlebars.com/valkfaq/tirewear/

[stoney]

Always have, always will.

[Johnny B Good]

Besides counter steering, it was one of the first lessons learned about riding. Still do it and always will.

[Diehard]

Originally Posted by stoney61

Always have, always will.

Same here.

I guess I'm an old timer, and I don't know if I buy into, "thousands of serviceable miles lost"

Same here.

[thrasher]

I've used engine braking ever since I was 15 riding dirt bikes. Those old drum brakes wouldn't do it by themselves. You had to engine brake to keep from slamming into something.

No need to stop doing it now....

[MegaGlide]

Yep.
When doing it going into a corner, I'll match engine speed as I let out the clutch, though, so I don't get any skiddage.
I also blip ever so slightly during downshifts, even though I know the tranny is synchronized...

[MegaGlide]

Originally Posted by thrasher

I've used engine braking ever since I was 15 riding dirt bikes. Those old drum brakes wouldn't do it by themselves. You had to engine brake to keep from slamming into something.

No need to stop doing it now....

Did you use a compression release on your 2-strokes, too?
Great for downhills in loose stuff.
I had a hard time wrapping my head around what they did on 4-stroke streetbikes there for awhile...

[PeaceKeeper]

Brakes?

[thrasher]

Originally Posted by MegaGlide

Did you use a compression release on your 2-strokes, too?
Great for downhills in loose stuff.
I had a hard time wrapping my head around what they did on 4-stroke streetbikes there for awhile...

I never did have a compression release on the 2-stroke, although it probably would've helped me slam into fewer things. A few of the guys that had really big bore (400+ cc) bikes did, though.

The 4-stroke dirtbike thing is still very new to me, even though its been around for quite a while now. I'm still having a hard time with it and thinking of all the fun I had on my 2-stroke.

[bennynomad]

Benn doing it for 25 years, I see no reason to stop.

[Ancient Iron]

Originally Posted by MegaGlide

Yep.
When doing it going into a corner, I'll match engine speed as I let out the clutch, though, so I don't get any skiddage.
I also blip ever so slightly during downshifts, even though I know the tranny is synchronized...

Funny, I do too. I guess some things are never unlearned.

[Highmiles]

I've done since before bikes had working brakes.

[MegaGlide]

Originally Posted by Highmiles

I've done since before bikes had working brakes.

British twins, then?

[y2k king]

i used to do it, but i don't now...not sure when i quit.

[Kfengler]

Aways done it on the bike and cars when had 3, 4, or 5 speeds and I always will.


I don't understand the part about, "thousands of serviceable miles lost" when engine braking!!! If you use Brakes only does the braking power some how magically by pass the tires to get to the road surface?