I mainly used the front brake to slow, but like to also use the rear brake to set up for a turn and for the last few feet of stopping. On my GS500 and SV650, I have no problem with using the rear brake fairly hard in a controlled manner; I have to really mess up to lock it up. On my YZF600R, it feels like if I was in just a bit of hurry to slow/stop, the rear would lock up unexpectedly. At first I thought the YZF600R’s rear brake was prone to lockup because it’s too strong/ too sensitive by design, and like a lot of sportbike riders I stopped using the rear brake for a while. But after playing with the rear brake again, now I’m beginning to think this is an ergonomics/biomechanics issue from the riding position.
– On a standard bike (like the GS and the SV), you sit fairly upright, with the lower legs fairly vertical, and the feet fairly horizontal. When you apply the rear brake, your right foot/ankle are at a natural angle to pivot on the foot peg, so you have a lot of control just how much pressure you apply to the rear brake lever.
– On a sportbike, you lean forward, with the lower legs angled forward (knees forward, feet backward), and the feet are angled downward (toes pointing toward the ground) from the rearsets (mounted farther back and higher). When you want to apply the rear brake, you need to first bend the foot/ankle up hard to reach the brake lever (I sometimes even lift my right leg up slightly), and when the foot comes down on the brake lever like that, it’s easy to put the whole weight of the right leg on the brake lever, resulting in excessive braking force (rear lockup) and poor modulation. So what’s the solution? With the existing ergonomics, I have to be “consciously light” with the right foot on the brake lever. To improve the ergonomics, I need to angle the rear brake lever down to be more in line with the foot angle; I suspect they don’t do this on sportbikes to preserve lean angle (les the brake lever scrapes when leaned over hard).
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