No, it doesn't totally lock up the swingarm and prevent it from moving up and down at all. Non-floating rear caliper mounts tend to "bind up" the rear suspension when the rear brake is applied. Why? If the swingarm and rear brake caliper are permitted to "float" independently on their own "moments" (so to speak) both may work far FAR more freely when the rear brake is applied. that is to say "separately operating" from the swingarm's up and down motion. With the shorter swingarms of the pre- "modern long swingarm" bikes the rear brake caliper needed to be floating. Today we have TC, "crossplane crankshafts" (another old but renamed concept, we used to call it "crank retiming" to create any number of funny sounding engine names like "twingle" or "screamer" or "big bang"), and anti-wheelie to control the exit drive. I mean when you have a power curve that is shaped like a friggin checkmark (abrupt power increase) and resembling nothing like any type of "curve" the rear brake was/is your only tool to tame that crappy delivery. In that hyper-sensitive area when you're at maximum lean angles and fully apexed at zero or trailing throttle, applying throttle at that time is the most surgical situation of each lap, and on some bikes that were poorly tuned or had peaky power curves the rear brake was the only thing that could provide some type of useful power delivery when attempting to tip up and begin exit. On some of the more nasty/evil bikes the rear brake was used to smooth out the horrible throttle response or bad power delivery. The rear brake also served to prevent high sides while still permitting acceleration on exit. Proper application of the rear brake at apex can also "pull the bike in" towards the curb line as well. Before digital TC, the rider would use the rear brake to hold the front wheel down on corner exit, mainly to keep it planted and prevent it from "getting light up front" and causing a front end washout. Today that responsibility falls mostly on the VCU's programmer, whether that person is the rider or someone else. this is a measurable and repeatable thing), and more bike control mid-corner.īefore the advent of self throttling motorcycles (aka "traction control" and/or "anti wheelie") the rider was responsible for keeping the bike stable while accelerating or cornering.
FLOATING CALIPER FULL
There's a skill set that goes along with the full floating rear brake caliper mount, together the two things create faster lap times, shorter/safer stops (10% to 15% more deceleration g-forces when the rear brake is used properly with the front brakes. Many top tier racers had them, many top tier builders used them. Up to roughly the mid 1990s the full floating rear caliper mount was something commonly seen on nearly any bike that dared to wear the badge "high performance". Floating Rear Caliper Mount vs Floating Disk: This is something that seems to be lost on so many people that it's nearly a lost fact.