Review: Life Savers Traction Control Braking (TCB)
And a special rebate offer for readers of Twist the Grip. Details at the end of this article.

Life Savers Traction Control Braking (TCB)
When brakes are applied, a pressure spike occurs that causes the brake pads to grab onto the high and low spots of the brake rotor. In panic or sudden braking situations where both the front and rear brakes are applied, the weight load of the motorcycle is shifted to the front of the bike. This causes a reduction of the rear wheel contact weight, such that up to 70% of the vehicle weight is shifted to the front. Effectively this “lightens” the back-end and that means the likelihood of rear wheel lock-up increases.

The TCB is a control valve that replaces the brake caliper banjo bolt and is designed to turn the pressure spike into a pressure wave, thus allowing the brake pad to apply an equal amount of pressure to the entire rotor. This has the benefit of more efficient use of the pads and rotors, as well as decreasing the ease with which rear-wheel can lock-up can occur.

Having experienced a rear wheel lock-up… at speed… several times…  I know firsthand that it’s a dangerous situation and regaining control of the bike is completely dependent on the rider’s skill , the capability of the bike, and the presence of mind not to panic. And in those situations, while my brain was yelling at me to “get off the brake!” my foot remained firmly planted.  Needless to say, this solution seems exactly what I need.  So my good friend Donivan and I each got one and tested them on our bikes. The following documents the installation, road testing, and overall impression of the device.

Test bikes:
We installed the device on two separate motorcycles.

• Bike 1, Mine: 2008 Triumph Rocket III Standard.
  • Roughly 25K existing miles on the bike with the last 10K miles on the current brakes.
  • Drive train including brakes and suspension are completely stock.
  • You can read about this bike here
• Bike 2, Donivan’s: 2008 Triumph Rocket III Touring model
  • Roughly 15K miles on the bike with about 5K miles on the current brakes.
  • Brakes and suspension are stock

Installation:
The lifesavers website has installation instructions that you can print out. It’s a fairly simple installation and from start to finish it took about 15 minutes per bike. This included bleeding the brakes. Keep one thing in mind, you’ll need to get replacement crush washers, brake fluid, and if your bike needs one, you’ll need to supply your own bleeding kit.

 

Locating the Banjo bolt on the brake caliper was easy, but I’d suggest checking your bike to be sure it’s located as easily as mine. An alternative would be that you can install the device at the master cylinder end.

Removing it was a fairly simple process, but be sure to put down some paper-towel because you will drip some fluid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When installing the new TCB, we added a little teflon tape just to give it an added seal. Note: be sure to use new crush

washers when you do this to ensure there’s a good seal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The final step is bleeding the brakes. We used a bleeding kit that you can get from just about any auto-shop retailer. But you can use any bleeding technique that you are used to using.

 

 

 

 

 

Road test considerations:
We approached this with the mindset that testing of the device should include controlled scenarios that emulate sudden or panic stops, as well as real-world riding. And with that, the specific considerations were:

• Baseline information must be recorded prior to installation so we have something to compare it to once the device is installed.
• Braking from a variety of road speeds.
• Weight and load on the bike (single and two-up riding).
• Application of rear only or of both brakes simultaneously.
• Affect on stopping distance.

Note: Because this test and report were done in a single afternoon, what this eval doesn’t cover is if there are any long-tem implications with respect to the wear on brake pads, rotors, or any other part of the braking system.

Test results:
My initial results (with both bike 1 and bike 2) in all honestly were not all that favorable and I was concerned about the efficacy of the device enough to contact the CEO of Lifesaver to share my findings. Donivan did as well and he was able to return his for a refund and opted to return to his stock set-up. After some back and forth between myself and the CEO, with him conveying some tips and ideas, we settled on removing the originally installed valve and getting the next size up instead. And after installing that one I am happy to report… I am officially impressed! Read on!

Bike 1:

Straight line hard braking – rear brake only:

• 30 MPH.
  • Trying hard, I was not able to lock up the rear wheel.
  • Stable braking with zero impact on control.
  • This is expected behavior.
• 60 MPH.
  • Trying hard, I was not able to lock up the rear wheel.
  • Stable braking with zero impact on control.
  • This is expected behavior.

Straight line hard braking both front and rear brakes applied:

• 30 MPH.
  • Resulted in a roughly a 15 to 20% reduction in stopping distance.
  • No rear wheel lock up
  • This is the expected behavior
• 60 MPH
  • Resulted in a roughly a 15 to 20% reduction in stopping distance
  • No rear wheel lock up
  • This is the expected behavior

Summary of testing:
With the originally installed device: On Bike number 1, the ability to lock the rear wheel actually increased in situations where the rear brakes only were applied. However when both front and rear were applied there was no locking except in one particular instance during a real-world ”panic-braking” situation from about 60 MPH. This occurred on a freeway ride where I got tangled up in traffic and a sudden slow-down. I hit the brakes hard and the rear wheel locked causing the bike to slide.

I elected to (a) keep the device on and (b) bleed the brakes a second time. The plan was to extend the amount of time and miles for testing, while at the same time being in contact with the Lifesaver CEO, who in the end opted to send me the next size up on the device. This, as noted above produced much more favorable results. I will note however that all tests with the new valve were under controlled situations and I have not yet had a real-world experience.

On bike number 2, Donivan’s overall impression was that the device did not perform as expected, produced the high-pitched whine, and allowed for rear wheel lock up. He took the device off and requested a refund. Which was granted.

Responsiveness from the Manufacturer:
Both Donivan and I were in constant email contact with Steve Chicilo, CEO of Lifesaver. In our communications we conveyed our testing results and initial impressions. Steve was responsive, gave some instruction, suggested a prolonged test and over-all stood behind his product indicating that after selling several hundred monthly, has had no requests for return/refund. Nevertheless, Donivan, as mentioned above, has returned his and a refund (not counting shipping costs) was granted. With the continued effort from Steve and the installation of the next size up I am happy with the level of attention and responsiveness from the company.

Overall assessment:
After settling with the appropriately rated valve, my overall impression is that the device has performed, under controlled testing, as advertised and I am happy with it such that I will be keeping it on the bike.

Take control of your breaking and get $10.00 for it!
My good friend Steve Chicilo, CEO of Lifesavers has kindly offered a $10.00 rebate for orders placed as a result of reading this article.
Here’s what to do:

• Visit the Lifesavers website and place your order.
• Payment is made via PayPal
• Use the discount code, “Karl” (no quotes) and proceed with your checkout.
• You will receive your $10.00 rebate with delivery of the TCB Valve.
• Offer expires July 15, 2010

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