Interesting discussion....I learned about brakes from my bicycling experience. Started way much earlier than motorcycles. On my single speed bike (pre "fixie" era) you pedaled in the normal fashion to go forward, quit pedalling to coast and applied rearward pressure to apply brake. rear brake...that was all there was. still easy to fall until you learn how. I learned how, got real good at applying only as much as necessary, to keep speed up, and at sliding sideways to stops, fell off a bunch but learned to ride. Got a ten speed and WOOHOO!!! Front and rear brakes!! Wow!! front brakes stop you so much faster, who needs rear brakes? first time I hit the front brake in the gravel, guess what? yup...faceplant. learned how to use front brakes anywhere, wet dry, gravel and dirt, and sometimes you just DON'T use it. Using both brakes is definitely the way to use them but experience is what teaches you when and where to use the correct combination. kinda sad to think that someone thinks the reason most people use the front brake is cuz the rear one doesn't work...if you have a brake, front or rear, that doesn't work, you should not be riding that bike. If your bike only has one brake, usually rear, you should be a lot more conservative in your riding style because, yes, you only have half the brakes. There are actually guys who ride high performance bikes with NO brakes, but they only do it on the track and they have learned how to be very effective with using the gears and motor resistance for braking purposes. If the OP's rear brake (not break) actually only has "roll" and "lock" functionality, something is wrong, needs to be taken apart and completely rebuilt. Brake shoes can and do fall apart, pulled a wheel off the other day and the (probably original) pad just fell off. Glad I didn't do my usual "just jump on and ride". The guy I bought my 750A from had a nice cx500 he bought (for like $150?) because one of the rear pads had come off and jammed between the drum and other pad, causing it to lock the rear end. PO sold it cuz "it's froze up or something, probably only good for scrap". If it locks because he's not using it proper; he needs to spend some time going half as fast as usual and learn how to use it. Learn how to lock it up and slide properly, like in a big open parking lot when no one is there, and wear your leathers if you don't want to do it in the dirt. I saw a new rider hit a tree after locking his back wheel in a straightline stop. Using pure engine braking is the first step in the process of slowing down, if you're not doing that FIRST, your doing it wrong. The very first thing you should do if you sense or see you're getting into a difficult or dangerous situation is GET OFF THE THROTTLE, and personally, I always downshift at least once before ever hitting the brakes. In fact, if you have to use your brakes to maintain a certain speed, like thru traffic, your not doing it right, most if not all minor adjustments of speed should be done with the gearbox. Unless it IS a dangerous situation, the only time you should be using your brakes is when coming to a stop.
