Covering the front brake is a big no-no at most police motor schools across the country. By this, I mean resting any number of your fingers on the front brake lever when not actuating the front brake. Instead, instructors teach riders to keep all fingers on the throttle until you need the brakes, then all fingers on the brake lever. Having been exposed to lots of motorcycle riding disciplines over the last 40 years, I was always curious where this idea originated, as it seems odd not to have all my tools at the ready while riding.

I’ve heard different reasons from motor instructors over the years as to why covering the front brake leads students to eternal damnation. Here are a few:

• Heavy police motorcycles require the strength of all four fingers to effectively slow down during an emergency stop.
• Motor officers will panic and tense up in an emergency, inadvertently jerking the fingers covering the brake lever and causing a crash.
• If you don’t have all four fingers squeezing the brake lever during a collision, the remaining fingers around the throttle could get pinned between the lever and the throttle, causing them to get crushed or severed.

To find a definitive answer, I decided to confer with my old pal Russell Groover out in Florida. A former motor officer and longtime instructor, Russell was instrumental in the creation of the first Basic Motor School used by the Tampa Police Department and later adopted by most agencies in the Southeast in the 1950s. As a youth, Russell grew up racing scrambles and competing in regional hillclimbs, and he was considered a sand specialist in his day, racing enduros down Daytona Beach on his military surplus 1942 Harley-Davidson 45ci. Yep, Russell is a genuine American bad-ass, and if I’m honest, it surprises me that he still takes my calls. But I digress. What did the Oracle tell me? 

“Well, Quinn, keep in mind bikes back then had clutches on the floor, shifters on the tank, and front brakes on the left side of the bars, so we were busy just getting through a work shift. All these bikes had basic cable drum brakes, and at best, they were lousy if you had them set up perfectly and the roads were dry. It wasn’t unusual to snap a brake lever pulling so damn hard trying to get the bike to slow down.” 

When I brought up the idea of covering the front brake with a few fingers in preparation for emergency braking, Russell just laughed and explained that it wasn’t even a consideration in anybody’s mind back then because even four fingers weren’t enough.

My takeaway is this: A poor braking system demanded far more work (and more fingers) from the rider back then, so they instructed motor officers to access every bit of braking power they could muster, and the training manual reflected it. It makes sense given the antiquated systems they had at the time, but that was 1955. Unfortunately, even with the adoption of hydraulic disc brakes and riders no longer experiencing white-knuckle pulls trying to stop, motor programs have yet to update curriculums, as if we’re still living in the past.

Let’s pretend we’re in the future…say, 2023. You have a motorcycle with big brake rotors, powerful hydraulic calipers, and ABS. We’ll call this system “Brembo.” I know it’s crazy, but we’re talking about the future, so just go with me here. Let’s also assume that you always cover the front brake while riding your motorcycle.

Are these futuristic brakes strong enough to stop you with less than four fingers? Check.

By covering the front brake, are you minimizing your reaction time in an emergency due to your finger(s) being staged for rapid deployment? Check.

Will this enable you to perform smooth trail braking, creating a far more stable chassis during cornering? Check.

Will you now be able to smoothly overlap your controls transitioning from throttle to brakes, further stabilizing the motorcycle and generating better overall traction? Again, check.

Wow, I can’t wait for the future! 

Related: Quinn Redeker | Ep. 64 Rider Magazine Insider Podcast

If I haven’t been clear, let me come out and say it: I am a huge proponent of covering the front brake in all riding situations, on pavement and in the dirt. And dammit, if it were up to me, I would allow anybody in your riding group to smack your hand with a heavy ruler every time you failed to do it. 

I cover the front brake with my index finger alone and have all-day comfort, dexterity, leverage, and enough force to handle any situation, from gentle slowing to threshold braking. And if you’re wondering, my one finger provides enough pulling power on the lever to brake hard enough for my BMW 1250 RT-P’s ABS to kick in, rain or shine. 

Here’s the thing: Motorcycle riding takes loads of coordination, skill, concentration, practice, more practice, good judgment, and maybe even a dash of psychic ability. If you think that by covering the front brake, any unexpected event will overwhelm your senses and cause you to go “condition black,” blindly grabbing a handful of brakes and crashing in a panic, I suggest you consider scrapbooking instead of motorcycling. And because I’m supportive, feel free to use the photos we took of you skipping around in the butterfly sanctuary a few weeks back. 

So yes, covering the front brake it is! Great decision. And while this article is more about wrapping your head around the idea of covering the front brake than it is a how-to guide, let’s discuss a few details if you don’t currently employ this technique and want to time warp yourself back to the future.

First, let’s decide what finger(s) we will use. As I mentioned, I use only my index finger and can achieve effective and comfortable braking results on all but my old drum-equipped racebikes, on which I use only two. I recommend you let the overall strength of your braking system be your guide. 

We want to make sure we have constant contact with the lever regardless of throttle position so that at any time during the manipulation of your controls, you can effectively apply the front brake. This means the lever needs to be close enough to reach when you twist the throttle, yet far enough to have adequate travel for maximum braking force. A great way to check if your lever is set in a good spot is to give it a firm squeeze and see if it “cages” the remaining fingers you have wrapped around the throttle. In other words, we don’t want the lever to touch your throttle fingers when you apply the brake. 

Lastly, you need to familiarize your hand with this new way of interacting with your bike. My recommendation is to sit in your garage with your bike shut off and practice keeping your finger rested on the lever while manipulating your throttle throughout its range of travel. You should be comfortable with this in about the same amount of time it would take you to eat two large chimichangas with an ice-cold beverage. Pay attention to ensure you are manipulating your front brake at all throttle positions. If you can’t apply the brake at a moment’s notice, all is lost. 

Once you feel comfortable with this technique in a static setting, ride your bike at slow speeds in your neighborhood or an empty parking lot, working this drill over and over. Keep focus on smooth throttle roll on and smooth front brake application.

Now that you’ve heard my pitch, I’ll make a few assurances should you choose to put on your spacesuit and give this a try. I promise you a greatly increased sense of security, knowing you are ready for an emergency stop at any moment. More critically, your overall braking distances will decrease because your reaction times will improve significantly. And I guarantee you will feel more confident about yourself as a rider the moment you start covering the front brake. Call it Quinn’s win-win-win. 

Find Quinn at Police Motor Training. Send feedback to rider@ridermagazine.com.

See all of Quinn Redeker’s “Motor School” articles here.

The post Motor School With Quinn Redeker: Cover Me, I’m on the Move appeared first on Rider Magazine.

I’ll assume that most of you have quite a bit of motorcycle riding experience under your belt, and I bet you’ve logged some heavy miles and had a few near misses over the years. Given your vast experience, you’ve probably learned a few things along the way. Over the years of riding as a motor officer, I have managed to learn some habits that maybe you haven’t heard about and could benefit from.

This first one came to me via a salty old motor cop addressing a room full of other salty old motor cops, and it absolutely woke up the room. He asked, “What does a green light mean?” And while your brain, like mine, probably thought it means you have legal right-of-way to go through the intersection, this guy dropped a bomb and answered, “A green light means the bulb is working.”

Think about that for a minute: The bulb is working. That’s all it means. He went on to demand that we trust no traffic signal and remain colorblind, making damn sure to clear every intersection lane-by-lane before entering it. In the end, he made believers out of every one of us old motor cops: A light bulb has no mystical power to keep you safe. 

From that day forward, I never went through an intersection without diligently assessing the cross-traffic during my approach. Had I not, on three separate occasions I would have been seriously injured or worse due to oblivious drivers blowing stale red lights. And if you are wondering, no, I didn’t let them off with warnings.

Related: Quinn Redeker | Ep. 64 Rider Magazine Insider Podcast

Other Motor School Intersection Tips

In addition to assessing each intersection before going into it, it’s also good practice to avoid being the first vehicle into the intersection. Think about it: How many times have you watched vehicles run the red trying to “make the light”? You don’t want to rip out there as soon as your light turns green, only to come face-to-face with Bruce The Crossfit King, hopped up on pre-workout caffeine on his way to The Box to smash some PRs. Better to slow your roll, assess, and then proceed. Let everybody else risk the wrath of Bruce.

Another habit? When approaching a green light, I speed up or slow down a little bit to pace next to vehicles headed in the same direction as me until I clear the intersection. It just takes a few seconds, and by having a nice big car or truck on my side, I have a “blocker” to protect me. Once out of the intersection, I go on about my business until the next one presents itself.

Although this next tip is not related to intersections, it has saved my skin more times than I can count. I worked traffic in the hilly beach town of Ventura, California, which means I made lots of stops on steep slopes. I was not interested in having my bike run away without me or roll off the kickstand during a traffic stop, so I always kept my bike in 1st gear as an improvised motorcycle emergency brake. My ritual consisted of clicking down to 1st, shutting the bike off, letting the clutch out, allowing the bike to roll forward and settle, then putting the kickstand down and stepping off into the great unknown. The settle part is key because the bike typically rolls a few inches after you let the clutch out, which can be just far enough to roll it off the stand and hit the ground. Ask me how I know this… 

These are just a few ideas that might benefit you from time to time. For those of you who already know these things, thanks for listening politely as I preached to the choir. Most importantly, for all the elder statesmen out there who have, in one form or another, helped save my life, I leave you with this:

“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.” –Mark Twain

Find Quinn at Police Motor Training. Send feedback to rider@ridermagazine.com.

See all of Quinn Redeker’s “Motor School” articles here.

The post Motor School With Quinn Redeker: What Does a Green Light Mean? appeared first on Rider Magazine.

Welcome to the first day of school! If you’re like me, you probably dreaded going to school, but I plan to make this column something you’ll look forward to. The only subject on the agenda is riding motorcycles, so how bad can it be?

In the months ahead, I will bring you stories and concepts that will improve your mental and physical state while riding a motorcycle. I’m confident we can move the needle in a positive direction no matter how long you’ve been riding. Before we get into the nitty gritty, I want to share some of my background so you know where I’m coming from.

Related: Profile: Quinn Redeker, Ventura Police’s ‘Top Gun’ Rider

My motorcycle riding and competition background started on a Honda XR80 when I was 9. I won’t bore you with the long and winding road that led me from then to now, but suffice it to say, I’ve had quite a bit of seat time, from motocross to desert racing, street to track, trials to dirt track. I grew up riding every day in the mountains near Granada Hills, California, and racing on weekends. As a result, I’ve not only burned a lot of gas but can also describe, with exceedingly painful detail, the view from the bay door of a rescue helicopter headed to the ER.

In 2009, I became a police motor officer at the dangerously young age of 39 years. That move led me into the world of police motor competitions, an arena of motorcycling that takes big, heavy bikes and twists them into tight 1st-gear patterns while under the watchful eyes of judges and the countdown of a stopwatch. I loved it, and I placed on the podium in my first competition. From that point forward, I was hooked. I trained during the workweek, competed on weekends, and shoved my head deep into the rabbit hole, becoming a certified police motor instructor in the process.

Thanks to the support of the Ventura Police Department, where I was employed, I participated in well over 100 police competitions around the country, taking top honors in all but a few. What are police competitions like, you ask? Well, imagine your motorcycle is extremely angry at you for no good reason at all, and no matter how hard you wrestle with the controls and how much you sweet-talk it, you get tossed around in 1st gear, with the bike twisting itself into tighter and tighter circles until hard parts scrape, and if you don’t get it right, you get spit off and your ride comes to an end, maybe with some embarrassment and bodily injury for good measure. Woohoo!

Read Quinn Redeker’s next column: What Does a Green Light Mean?

In the following series of photos, Quinn demonstrates what it looks like when everything falls into place: full lock, full lean, careful clutch and throttle, and extreme counterbalancing.

These days, I’m the North American brand ambassador for BMW Motorrad Authority Sales, having recently transitioned out of nearly 20 years in law enforcement. Now I travel around the country participating in police competitions, working with police agencies on bike setup and training questions, and facilitating test rides for agencies looking at BMW as a potential enforcement platform. It’s a great gig, and the R 1250 RT-P is tough as nails. Zero complaints there.

I’m also a certified instructor with Total Control Training and teach the Advanced Riding Clinic, Advanced Motor School, and Adventure Bike Clinic. I own PoliceMotorTraining.com, where I provide in-person training and Zoom instruction to motor officers and civilians alike. And I’ve been a guest instructor for countless advanced rider programs throughout the years and volunteered in the training of hundreds of instructors responsible for providing basic rider training throughout the state of California.

Outside of law enforcement training, I’ve absorbed lessons from many well-known books, schools, and racers, including those written or taught by Lee Parks, Gary Semics, Keith Code, Gary LaPlante, Dougie Lampkin, Danny Walker, and others.

Related: Quinn Redeker | Ep. 64 Rider Magazine Insider Podcast

This brings me to an important point: The road never ends. There is no magical skill level you will reach that provides rainbows of pure joy, ensures safe passage, or helps those riding pants fit any better. Conversely, more training can have the negative effect of making us suffer over all the things we come to realize we don’t know. Yes, I advocate rider training, but I believe that the benefit of exposure to new things is as much about the journey as it is the resultant riding ability we might acquire. The joy is in the process, not the trophy.

With that in mind, I believe we benefit by cutting ourselves some slack and recognizing that all this stuff is optional. Should we put in maximum effort? Absolutely. But you shouldn’t come home from your “Killer Street Skillz” class so dejected that you feel the need to either quit riding altogether or dedicate 19 months of intensive one-on-one training in the Arizona desert with Russian strongman Alexander Klyushev.

In fact, right now I want you to look in the mirror and say it with me: “I am okay, and people like me.” Perfect.

Of course, I want to help you become a better, safer rider. But I also want to impact the way you think about your riding. Drawing on my racing, training, instruction, and law enforcement experience, I will give you tips, suggestions, and examples of things that you can apply immediately after you set this magazine down. Some are practical, some are tactical. For example, some of the trials-riding drills I’ve learned might help with your coordination. As a police motor instructor, I might have some on-bike risk assessment insights you haven’t thought about. And if we can get you thinking about new ideas, that’s a win for both of us.

With a vast rider and instructor network to pull from, we can kick some far-reaching concepts around the room and see what sticks. Here’s the thing: It’s not about me, it’s about us. Think of this as an opportunity to share insights, experiences, and ideas to further our ability and enjoy the journey. How does that sound? I’ll make you a deal: If you read next month’s story and can’t stand it, I’ll buy your coffee next time we meet up to ride.

I welcome feedback, suggestions, and questions. Submit them here.

Quinn Redeker’s Qualifications:

• Competed in 100+ police motorcycle competitions throughout the U.S., taking top honors in most
• POST (Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training) certified Police Motor Instructor
• POST certified EVOC (Emergency Vehicle Operation Course) Instructor
• POST certified Firearms Instructor, Range Master
• SWAT sniper (10 years), Ventura Police Department
• Lead investigator on numerous fatal traffic collision investigations
• BMW Motorrad Authority Sales Brand Ambassador
• Total Control Advanced Motor School Instructor
• Total Control Advanced Riding Clinic Instructor
• Total Control Adventure Bike Clinic Instructor

The post Motor School With Quinn Redeker: Hi, My Name is Quinn appeared first on Rider Magazine.