I taught my motorcycle recon course to a group of recons (most of whom were European) a couple weeks ago, and as I often find, they were aware of some literature, this time regarding motorcycle braking latency, that somehow escaped my awareness.

A little known book that’s nearly impossible to find

Analysis of Single-Track Vehicle Accidents, by Kasanicky, Kohút, and Priester, is a 2003, 488-page book originally published in Slovak (I think). I’ve never found an English version for sale. Fortunately I have a generous friend with a copy (Mr. Wade Bartlett). Anyway, once directed accordingly by the aforementioned scholars, I was able to piece together the following.

23 tests were performed by a single rider with seven years of experience, piloting eight different motorcycles. The development of the braking maneuver was documented with an XL Meter running at 200 Hz and the time to reach steady-state braking was reported. The average duration was 0.69 seconds and the standard deviation was 0.20 s. A summary of all the tests is included below:

 
 

This is a value that will be, in my humble opinion, dependent on the rider and motorcycle. For instance, an amateur on a bike with a high CG (vulnerable to endo) and no ABS, is going to take longer to reach steady-state decel compared to an expert rider on a low-slung, ABS-equipped machine. As such, it would be great to have more data. If you're aware of any, please let me know…otherwise, I’m planning to fire up a project with the help of my handy dandy ScenePro in the coming year.

Lou Peck
​Lightpoint | Axiom​

P.S. If you haven't seen this yet, treat yourself.