Quote Originally Posted by STRaider View Post
So I was out riding around the neighborhood and decided to practice my braking in a parking lot. I didn't go real fast, probably up to 20-25 mph, then would hit the brakes pretty hard. First a combination of front and back, then more front, then more back. I could get the front brake to lock up and skid the tire, the back brake alone was more of a gradual slow down, albeit a rapid one. Is this normal, or should the rear tire lock up as well?

Hitting both brakes was a really quick stop, but my front tire did skid across the pavement some, which on one test, sent the handle bars to the right, then left as I corrected, I thought I was going down for a second there. The practice was helpful, as I have an Ultra Limited with ABS, and it would be easy to forget these brakes are not ABS. Practice from time to time pays off.
Totally agree with this. An underutilized safety feature is practice, something I am guilty of. Practicing threshold braking builds up muscle memory, which is what your default reaction is under a panic/high stress situation.

I do like to zip around manhole covers at slower speeds, pretending they are obstructions I am avoiding. Every now and then, on an empty road, I like to try an aggressive maneuver by performing an evasive maneuver at higher speeds (~40), such as swerving in between passing lines into the other lane, then back within the space between those lines. I always have my full gear on when doing this in case I lose it.

One time, while doing one of these maneuvers, I took myself and the make believe situation too seriously, and counter-steered hard and leaned up and in, left knee just inside the faring. I was pleasantly surprised how well the bike reacted.