The NT has great brakes

[Bear]

Last Saturday at 0630 I crested a blind hill at about 60 MPH. As soon as I crested, there were two kids on their BMX bicycles in the middle of the road. I hit the brakes and stopped about six feet away from the kids. The bike maintained a straight line and the tires did not skid (PR-3s). If I had been in my car, those kids would have been dead. The NT--even though it is a non-ABS, has fantastic brakes. I did bottom out my fork.

 

[Phil Tarman]

The fact that you had good reactions and made a rapid commitment to getting stopped helped, too, Alex!

 

[junglejim]

Glad to hear you missed a tragedy. Another accident averted. Good riding.

I agree with you on the brakes. The NT stops better than any other motorcylce I've had. Mine is the ABS model. I was very sceptical about ABS on a motorcylce but now I like it. I had to go play with it when I got it and try to lock up on various surfaces just to see what it did. I can only say it did well. I'm happy with for street riding. If I was to go off-roading I'd have an ABS that could be switched off. But I'm all done with that stuff now.

Also I had my rear wheel off today to get a new tire (PR3) mounted replacing the OEM tire. The brake pads were in great shape. It has mostly highway miles so there aren't a lot of stops on it, but I was impressed with the minimal ware.

 

[banjoboy]

A+ Alex. I occasionally practice 60 mph quick stops on back roads where I live. It is a skill to be practiced and you were great.

Terry

 

[Herb]

Good work and agree about the brakes especially in the faster and quicker stopping Red.

 

[Lorien]

Nice save-nice skills. As noted if you are ready for a problem good things can come out of a bad situation.

 

[seagrass]

GREAT work Alex.

I too think the NT has great brakes, probably the best of any bike I have owned.

 

[vzshadow]

Alex,
Good work. We need to get together for a ride. Perhaps I'll venture to Belfast one of these days to see what you're up to. You still haven't seen the Bonnie in person have you?

 

[karl]

The brakes are awesome. ABS releases the brake up to 5 times a second to prevent wheel lockup. It makes threshold braking a no brainer. The percentage of riders that can "beat the system" are less than 1%. Are you that good?

 

[Warren]

For a modern motorcycle the NT is about average in stopping distance. In the MCN road test it stopped in 125.5 ft from 60-0 mph. In the same issue an Z1000 stopped in 110 ft and a FZ1 stopped in 114 ft. Both of these bikes weigh less than the NT which helps. I do agree that the brakes on the NT are very good and will probably out perform most cars.

 

[Rob]

Good job Alex. Continuing to ride is keeping your reflexes in good working order!

 

[Rmcapozzi]

For a modern motorcycle the NT is about average in stopping distance. In the MCN road test it stopped in 125.5 ft from 60-0 mph. In the same issue an Z1000 stopped in 110 ft and a FZ1 stopped in 114 ft. Both of these bikes weigh less than the NT which helps. I do agree that the brakes on the NT are very good and will probably out perform most cars.

That's impressive! At 125.5 ft from 60 is approximately .95g. I wonder what type of surface they ran their tests on? I'd venture to guess that the surface is in excellent shape and the results are the best possible outcome under ideal conditions.

If the same level of efficiency was applied to a bike traveling just 5 mph slower, the stopping distance would be just 106 ft. Amazing how just 5 mph can make such a huge difference in stopping distance. It doesn't take much scrubbing of speed to increase that safety margin.

 

[skiper]

Thank you for the story Alex, and all comments. This stuff can sharpen and teach riders to become better. Analyzing what technology can do for us and what experience and strategic riding does for everyone on the road can only be helpful. The numbers about stopping show that easing off the speed in unpredictable scenarios will have a significant gain in safety - wow. I'm a new rider and very cautious in around town stuff - recently keeping two fingers over front brake in certain situations. Anybody got comments on fingers over front brake ? This NT sure is nicely appointed...

 

[Warren]

As a commuter I do not usually cover the front brake. I am more focused on anticipating car movements and looking for escape routes. As noted above with the stopping performance of the NT the car following you is likely to rear end you if you go for maximum braking to avoid a frontal collision. Sometimes you have no choice but to grap a hand full and the NT is certainly capable of hauling you down pretty fast. With poor road conditions ABS brakes also add to safer braking. There are several demonstrations on youtube of motorcyles stopping in wet conditions with ABS and without and the results are pretty interesting.

 

[Rmcapozzi]

Thank you for the story Alex, and all comments. This stuff can sharpen and teach riders to become better. Analyzing what technology can do for us and what experience and strategic riding does for everyone on the road can only be helpful. The numbers about stopping show that easing off the speed in unpredictable scenarios will have a significant gain in safety - wow. I'm a new rider and very cautious in around town stuff - recently keeping two fingers over front brake in certain situations. Anybody got comments on fingers over front brake ? This NT sure is nicely appointed...

James has a very nice article on braking. In it he discusses the virtue of covering your brakes as it reduces you reaction time. Have a read: http://www.msgroup.org/Tip.aspx?Num=031&Set=

 

[Phil Tarman]

I typically cover the front brake unless I'm on an open highway. Reduces reaction time I think.

 

[Bear]

The brakes are awesome. ABS releases the brake up to 5 times a second to prevent wheel lockup. It makes threshold braking a no brainer. The percentage of riders that can "beat the system" are less than 1%. Are you that good?

No. I think that I was very lucky. My very strong coffee was probably also a big help. It's funny--all I could think of was Lawrence of Arabia. A couple of kids in the road did him in. I wish I had ABS, but Merlot came without. I wonder if anybody retrofitted a non ABS with ABS--probably would be wicked expensive.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Alex, I'll bet it would be $3-5,000 just to buy the parts. I remember the old thing about how if you built a car from parts bought individually it would be 20-30 times more expensive than it is.

Since the factory assembly-line premium for ABS was $1,000, it would probably be prohibitive.

 

[junglejim]

Why not just buy a new ABS model and sell the old one after stripping all your farkles. Or, better yet, get all new farkles too.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Jim, that would be way cheaper.