How To Brake On A Mountain Bike Video

Braking is sometimes a lifesaver in mountain biking. Learn how to brake properly and keep yourself safe in this free video clip.

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Balance of weight is key
Keep elbows and knees bent
Listen to your wheels, do not skid

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Pancho Herrera is passionate about cycling. Pancho races for the SLO Nexus Club on road and mountain bikes. Pancho also has 25 years cycling experience as a competitor and pro shop mechanic.

PANCHO HERRERA: This is Pancho Herrera. Let me offer you a couple of tips on braking when you're mountain biking. Like all aspects of mountain biking, your center of gravity and balance are really important. If you're slowing the bicycle down rapidly, you need to shift your weight back, it's a key factor. So, as you see a kink in the trail or an obstacle in the trail, you need to slow down from a rapid rate. Make sure and shift your weight back, and again, bend those elbows, bend those knees, let's get that center of gravity back and low, also your balanced between your two brake levers. A lot of people struggle with this one, so it's a good one to work on. Remember, you've got two brakes and you gotta use them both to slow the bike down. The front brake actually carries more power than the rear and you'll need to use it to slow the bike down quickly. Try to find that balanced point, maybe 60% in the front, 40% in the back to get the bike to slow down quickly. Also, listen to your tires. They're talking to you all the time. If you hear them beginning to skid, you'd got too much brake going. A skidding wheel, it doesn't offer you much traction. Your best deceleration occurs when you're just at the limit of traction just at the start of a slide. So practice that technique, keep the wheels spinning, but slowing down quickly and balance that front and rear brake. When I slow the bicycle down, I'm balancing the brake forces and I'm leaning back. We don't want to flip over the bars.

How to Brake on a Mountain Bike Video

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