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Re:To engine brake or not?
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TOPIC: Re:To engine brake or not?
#519503
Mudball (User)
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To engine brake or not? 5 Years, 7 Months ago  
OK I'm pretty new at riding so I've got a question for you pros. Do you engine brake or not? The reason I'm asking is as I was reading on one of the forums about tires someone wrote that they only got 7000 miles out of their tires before they stopped engine braking. When they stopped engine braking they got way more miles out of their tires. Is this true?
 
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#519504
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Re:To engine brake or not? 5 Years, 7 Months ago  
I cant say if that is true or not...but I engine break in town/city driving most all the time. I havent noticed my tires wearing and faster. On long rides I usually don't engine break much...Im not sure why, it's just preferance I guess.
 
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#519505
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Re:To engine brake or not? 5 Years, 7 Months ago  
I engine brake and I just dont see how that would affect the milage on a tire unless they are not doing it correctly and are dumping their clutch and flat spotting their tires. Others will chime in I am sure but I dont see a correlation.
 
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Re:To engine brake or not? 5 Years, 7 Months ago  
I'm not sure why engine braking would have an effect on tire life unless you are downshifting hard enough to lock the rear wheel. I work my way down thru the gears as I am slowing but not really for the braking.
 
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#519513
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Re:To engine brake or not? 5 Years, 7 Months ago  
I do. Saves the brake pads. Don't see how it could affect tire wear anymore than it does on your car.
 
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#519516
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Re:To engine brake or not? 5 Years, 7 Months ago  
as a truck driver i am in the habbit of engine braking as much as possible and not using brakes. the key is matching your rpm to speed and slowly backing off on the throttle till clossed so its smooth, not all hurky jerky. like other said if your slaming it into a lower gear so you lung forward you being hard on tires just like when you slam on the brakes your being hard on the tires and brakes. my two copper coins.
 
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#519518
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Re:To engine brake or not? 5 Years, 7 Months ago  
It does not have to be done hard enough to slip the rear to accelerate wear. You can do it by abruptly chopping the throttle from high rpm, and as mentioned, giving it back to the clutch at higher ramp-up loads. I engine brake, but generally I "start stopping" quite a ways out, especially if nobody is following, and normally I let 4th or 5th gear do the slowing. Engine braking in the lower 3 gears will most definitely accelerate wear on the rear, and the harder you let the engine brake, the more friction it applies to the ground. I'm hard enough on a back tire with acceleration. That's another reason I am big on front brakes. Gotta get some money out of that front tire too!

Also, motors that are torquey are harder on the rear in acceleration and engine braking. My SV650 is kind of a notorious back tire eater too, but I've learned to engine brake it in 4th or 5th, and it helps the tire last longer.
 
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#519521
Roger7886 (User)
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Re:To engine brake or not? 5 Years, 7 Months ago  
Do it all the time. I usually click the front brake when I do it tho that way my brake lite lites up and I don't get rear ended if there's something behind me.
 
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#519522
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Re:To engine brake or not? 5 Years, 7 Months ago  
You guys are confirming what I've been thinking but I swear I read that.
 
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#519526
jeckes (User)
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Re:To engine brake or not? 5 Years, 7 Months ago  
I wonder if guys like Curt that don't use the cush on the rear have something to say about it
 
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