“As far as what Mr. Hough says about sportbikes being slower to stop, I think he may be referring to anecdotal evidence seen on the road, because a GOOD sportbike rider SHOULD be able to outbreak just about anything in the dry or on clean wet pavement (let’s forget paint and debris for the moment).”
eternal, have you read Total Control by Lee Parks?
In Chapter 11 on Braking, Lee Parks states in item 6):
“Modern sport and race bikes are all limited by their wheelbase or center of gravity. Improving items like the calipers, pads, and tires will not affect the bike’s minimum distance potential.”
“In fact, if cruisers had stickier tires, they would crush sportbikes on the brakes. Right now, the best cruisers stop just as well, and more consistently, than sportbikes.” (Cruisers tend to have less sticky, longer lasting tires by choice for long distance cruising.)
Motorcycle Consumer News did a 60-0 braking comparison test on various types of bikes, including sportbikes. Most of the top-10 performers were cruisers. I think the test was done in 2006. Most of bikes listed in the test seemed to be older models, but the test results illustrated the same idea stated in books from Lee Parks and David Hough, etc.