Always wear kevlar jeans with armour, but for past two years have also worn steel toecap Karrimor work boots.

I've seen several posts saying the idea of crushed toes is a fallacy - may have been Ged commenting IIRC.

I have seen some nasty injuries over the years and as I say its a nightmare trying to get them off

If the poor chap did his CBT at a riding school it was most likely on a 125 motorbike hence his reaction to brake on the front wheel. It does occur to me that on a scoot linked braking could be a safety feature worth having but how many have it?

spaceprobe wrote:I have seen some nasty injuries over the years and as I say its a nightmare trying to get them off

OK, but I have to ask if they didn't have the boots on wouldn't the toes have been crushed completely anyway?

I have several "proper" bike boots including ageing but expensive pair of Daytona, their toe protection wouldn't seem as robust as a steel toe-cap. It's mainly for added comfort and ability to walk around and appear normal in an office that I wear the work boots and only on the scooter, not my bike.

boxer wrote:If the poor chap did his CBT at a riding school it was most likely on a 125 motorbike hence his reaction to brake on the front wheel. It does occur to me that on a scoot linked braking could be a safety feature worth having but how many have it?

all linked braking i know of work with the rear brake lever, which activates first , then depending on pressure applied puts the opposing front disk on as well, like my nexus.. so you would still have to be using the rear first... i tend to use my rear first all the time and if needed apply the front as well if braking more heavily, it allows me to have my throttle hand free to do adjustments mid corner etc

Almost all linked brakes work on the rear lever only. The idea is to limit the force applied to the rear under certain conditions to prevent it locking up and redirect the left-over force to the front where it can do some good. Some say its a poor mans ABS

I can only think of 3 exceptions and they are all on big very expensive bikes such as the CBR1100XX Super Blackbird where the linked system is combined with intelligent ABS. Any lever will then operate all brakes and the electronics sort it out if things get hairy.

The more common system is based on a delay/proportion valve. Think of it as a valve that moves depending on how hard you pull the brake, as it moves it widens or narrows the bit that lets fluid through to the front (might be lots>none>more>all or whatever)

Unfortunately the safety aspect of linked brakes gets misinterpreted so the whole idea backfires. Both levers should be used together for strong braking. The safety feature is mainly in reducing the chance of the rear braking away under panic braking.
Smooth progressive application is the key as far as I'm concerned - novices sometimes jab at the brakes.

I'm not trying to tell anybody how to ride, just outlining the way the systems work