How should you brake if you ride a motorcycle in a mountainous area?
Show the correct answer
Correct answer
C. By using both brakes and braking with the engine.
Explanation
In the photo you can see a mountain road with a crash barrier, leading down to a village in a valley. In mountainous areas you brake on a motorcycle using both brakes and engine braking - answer C.
The Road Traffic Act requires you to ride at a speed that allows you to keep control of the vehicle, taking into account the terrain. On a long descent the brakes work all the time and heat up; an overheated brake loses effectiveness, and the fluid may boil in the brake lines, which ends in a soft lever and no braking. That is why you change down a gear and let the engine brake, and you use the brakes for shorter periods and alternately, giving them time to cool down. You use both: the front brake gives most of the braking force, the rear one stabilises the motorcycle and helps on a loose surface. Braking only with the rear wheel (answer A) is too weak and quickly locks the wheel; only with the front (answer B) - you overheat one system, and in hard braking on a steep descent the rear wheel lifts off the surface. Mountain bends also require you to finish all braking before the bend.
Legal basis: Art. 19 para. 1 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym)