Stopping in a hurry.....

I've had my WRR since June and am having a blast with the bike.  I like pretty much everything about it, except when I try and stop in a hurry.

It's only happened twice while riding down the road at a decent clip, somewhere around 45 mph, and I'll catch a quick yellow.  On these two occasions, I felt it
was more prudent to stop than to try and beat the light.  Both times, I really felt that the bike was not stopping as quickly as I would have liked and ended up having
to really crank on both the front and back, causing the back to lock up.

I stopped in time, but am a little concerned.  I have the OEM tires and only 2500 miles on the bike.  
Is this normal for this bike?  I have ridden a variety of bikes over the years, street, dirt, enduro and MX bikes and don't remember
having this particular issue before.

Its normal, the bike has the same brakes as the mx bikes but weighs a bunch more so it doesn't stop as quick.

You can install a larger front rotor kit and better brake pads to get it to stop quicker on the road.

Thanks for the info.  Good to know there is a possible remedy too!

On the contrary, the front wheel is skinny as hell. This means a lower contact patch. As an off-road biased bike, the brakes should be weaker up front to resist locking up on unstable surfaces. With a larger rotor up front, the bike will be more prone to locking up the front on the stock tire size, which tends to lead to more disastrous results than locking up the rear. If you go with an X rotor/caliper combo, just be more judicious on how hard you squeeze the front brake. Locking up the front is a pants staining experience in traffic :)

Also consider the stock Deathwings aren't exactly the best of tires for most people's liking. Worse cornering feel, horrible on wet asphalt and bad wear pattern on the front. I don't remeber if braking performance was noticeably worse than with my Heidenaus but feel from the front under braking was certainly not as confidence inspiring as some alternatives out there.

Never had problems with brakes on mine...

Stock front brakes are weak for the street.

SBS racing brake pads (RSI 694 front) made a HUGE difference on mine.

I did nothing on the rear as the stock pads could lock it up easily.

brokeagain wrote:

With a larger rotor up front, the bike will be more prone to locking up the front on the stock tire size, which tends to lead to more disastrous results than locking up the rear.

It is virtually impossible to lock the front wheel on asphalt; you will first do a rolling stoppie before you lock the front wheel.

But I agree with you, the front brake seems to have been designed with dirt roads in mind, where locking up the front wheel is relatively easy; as a consequence, the front brake is rather weak for road duties.