how come the brakes for the rear wheel of the bike have poor traction when used to stop forwards movement but has great traction when used to stop backwards movement on a bicycle

Question

I really don’t get it. both tires of a bike have the same tread pattern that face the same way. yet, the front brakes provide good traction when used to stop forwards movement on a bike and provide horrible traction when used to stop backwards movement on a bike.

while the rear brakes provide horrible traction when used to stop forwards movement and provide good traction when used to stop backwards movement. I am confused can someone explain

In: 2

Answer 1

When you push the brakes the bike will rotate forwards due to its momentum. This puts more force down on the front wheel and lifts the rear wheel up. The friction on your tyres depends on the force pushing it into the ground. So when you brake your front wheel is pushed more into the ground getting more friction while your rear wheel gets less force pushing it into the ground and therefore lower friction and is more likely to skid. When you are going in reverse the momentum goes the other way so it becomes the opposite.