Dear Fred,

To borrow a phrase from LJH, a happy ending indeed with you coming out uninjured, and all the more so for all of us China riders as we are able to greedily soak up lessons at your expense. On behalf of all, I thank you for being so open about the details and your response, and all of your own take-away lessons. Lots of food for thought in here.

I am curious about your near-total reliance on the front brake. During my first six months of riding on a very forest-worn, 10-year-old KLR650 in California, I too relied very heavily on the front brake, which seemed to work just fine. My experience with my JH600 in China has been different. The front suspension was soft and divey, so hard front braking felt quite unstable. So I developed a different set of braking habits, adding quite a bit of rear brake into the mix, especially when slowing into corners. Having two wheels creating friction does make a difference, especially when doing hard emergency braking as you did in your getoff last week. I'm not saying that doubling up on the braking might have helped in that situation, since braking inherently increases instability. But I can say this: Since I serviced my front forks and replaced the brake oil with a heavier viscosity that better damps the diving, I've noticed that my dual braking works much better in many conditions. I'm no expert rider, but I'm using my right foot more than ever.

I'm curious what our most expert riders have to say about this.

Again, glad you came out unscathed.

cheers