Do You Hold Your Finger On The Front Brake Lever

[Greetings]

Just curious, I've noticed some of the top riders don't hold their finger on the front brake lever when tapping. My taps have certainly improved since I've started doing so although it might just be psychological - hence the poll.

[Ghetto Rider]

Have my finger on, yes.

Don't actually put it on though till on top, feels too wierd not having a brake finger on a lever...

[powerz]

i have my finger resting on the front lever all the time altough recently i have been trying not too when going for big gaps

as my theory is more of your hand on the bar = more control & grip

although it would realy be a good idea for your rear brake

Edited May 6, 2007 by powerz

[Waddy]

i dont have my finger covering the brake when i tapp, theres no need, or when i sidehop to back wheel

[Egg Fried Rice]

Yo

I don't, i use to when i first started tapping but i forced myself not to and its much better for me. i feel like i can PUSH the bike up more for some reason lol

JK

[Rossi]

Nope. gotta grip the bars as hard as u can when ur tapping big shiz... plus whats the point in braking? soon as you slam your brake on, your front wheel will wanna go downwards

Edited May 6, 2007 by Rossi

[An_toin3]

When I'm tapping, while doing th emovement, i don't hold my brake but once i'm on top, I put it on, don't know why but hey it works

[Biff...]

Noooooo unless i wanna tap frontback something.

[paolo]

I don't, I also don't have a front brake, but if I had one, I still wouldn't

[Ali C]

I aaaalllllways cover my front brake when tapping, its very useful for when you dont quite get the wheel placment right and you go over the bars, if you cover the front brake you can just stall on the front and go back down for another try, if you dont cover the brake and that happens, a face plant is innament.

[basher]

I aaaalllllways cover my front brake when tapping, its very useful for when you dont quite get the wheel placment right and you go over the bars, if you cover the front brake you can just stall on the front and go back down for another try, if you dont cover the brake and that happens, a face plant is innament.

Yep same here thats why i cover it, i think we was argueing with waddy about this in burnley.

[Si-man]

Nope, get a better grip of the bars without.

When i used to ride anyway

[Ash-Kennard]

i use a front brake. just more natural for me and i have never even considered not holding it

[eskimo]

Nah no way. I always did before but started trying it after i saw Nick M do it on a video. It feels like you can really hit the front wheel with more confidence. But from riding bmx as well covering levers just seems weird anyway.

[Deonn h]

no i dont , i used to .I could just get bigger without using it.

[Gaz M]

i do, ive always got both fingers touching the levers no matter what i do, i dont use myt front brake when i tap as i like my front wheel to be spinning when i make the tap but i stil have my fingers covering the levers..

[spode@thinkbikes]

I aaaalllllways cover my front brake when tapping, its very useful for when you dont quite get the wheel placment right and you go over the bars, if you cover the front brake you can just stall on the front and go back down for another try, if you dont cover the brake and that happens, a face plant is innament.

I'm with Ali on this one.

I certainly noticed that I used to almost pull the front brake when tapping, at one point this meant I was stalling on the lip all the time. That's quite tricky to do when trying! Then I thought, hmmm, lets try and not pull the front brake. And it just flew up. If you watch a lot of the big taps, they pretty much roll up the front wheel up the wall after they've bumped it, so it make sense.

The problem is, it's hard to grip without pulling the brake on hard (so that your hand is more around the bars). That's why if sidehopping for instance my front brake will be on despite not using it. So I can see a lot of argument for what people are suggesting. But it would feel very odd not having that lever to grab if I ever needed it. "Cover The Brakes" - first thing I was taught.

[Simpson]

I really dontm i like the feel of the bar and feel like i can pull the bike up and under through the move better with the full grip of the bars in my right hand. Ive let go of the bars before when covering the front brake as i hit the tapp too hard, so just prefer not covering it now, only takes a split second to wack on if you feel like improvising something

[FoxRacer]

Just curious, I've noticed some of the top riders don't hold their finger on the front brake lever when tapping.

Example??

I kinda feel guilty for forcing you to try not holdin your finger on FBL, but when I was changing my habit to not holding finger on FBL I also was looking for top riders doing this and couldn't find one. Think that it's because while riding natural it wouldn't be good idea.