When coming into a corner (no matter how tight) I lean in, put weight on the footpeg and always use my back brake to glide me into the appex. Not too sure if thats the thing to do though and if ive got myself a nasty habbit?.. as I raced Motocross for years and using back brake entry into a corner was the thing to do… My bike is a brand new YZFR125, brought in May and now has recently developed the nasty “sqwill” noise to the rear brake when applied, which im guessing is due to the amount of ware im putting on it from back braking into corners.
I’m no expert, but I would say that’s a bad habit yes. If the back wheel was to hit something slippy like gravel or a drain cover then it would lock up easily.All braking should be done before you tip into the corner. Ideally you’ll brake, and then give the suspension time to balance as well. Accelerate out of course.I would only use the back brake if I really needed to scrub off some speed mid-corner. Or slow speed manouevring. You’d be better off developing a countersteering ‘habit’.
Cheers Tom, yeah im working on the counter steering… I thought my rear braking was getting to be a bad habbit, especially with winter and slippery roads well on the way!!
Hi, that’s another bad habit you need to brake (pun). Try and stay wide of the apex so that you can see further round the bends and other road users can see you sooner. It is ok on the race track but not recommended on the public roads as you are putting yourself in danger.
In left hands you are leaning over the pavement and could get caught out by road furniture, pedestrians, pushchairs, etc… and in right handers you could get caught by someone coming too wide in the other direction. Happened to me the other day on a wide open right hander and if I had glided into the apex of my lane I would have been wiped out by the cager coming in the opposite direction who crossed over the white line because he was going to fast.
It’s easy to develop these habits Sir Yam, but like the others have said and as you suspected I think they are not the best habits to have.
I try to get all my braking done before I turn and maximise my view around every bend by using the entire road (my side thereof). If only I got that right every time I’d be a genius!
Just to endorse and underscore Crom 's advice, road riding is almost the reverse of track riding. You should be against the kerb at the apex of right handers and at the crown of the road on left handers.
Ity’s not about fastest line, it’s about best forward line of sight and survival.
And, no, you should not be using brakes into corners. All that stuff should be out of the way before the corner starts. You should be entering the corner with the bike suspension settled and balanced.
All excellent advice, especially about the apex on and off road!
During advanced driving training, I had a few simple things drilled into me on a daily basis until I was doing it naturally. Mainly, “All vehicles use traction (grip) for steering or braking, but not both at the same time!” Simple physics shows that you cannot use traction for both at the same time, and get the same results as if you had used it for one or the other!
I still set myself up before I go into a corner, and brake as early or late as needed. But if needed you can apply a small amount of braking whilst turning into a corner, as long as it’s just a bit of back brake rubbing. Apparrently, Rossi and a few other riders use the technique, but they don’t have manhole covers on the racetrack! Also you’l find the bike will want to sit up straight and not go round the corner as easily, which is potentially lethal on the road!
So, to summarise, TRACTION CAN BE ONLY USED FOR BRAKING OR STEERING, NOT BOTH AT THE SAME TIME! (Unless you’ve got the abilities of Rossi on a racetrack!) :w00t:
sorry mate but thats utter toss. you do not have to be rossi to trail brake (which is using brakes into the corner)you tyres have a given contact patch, which has a certain amount of grip. when the bike is straight up, it has the most available for braking, when cornering on the sheer edge of the tyre knee down etc it near to no braking available. you can trade off braking and lean together for all the degrees between, and blend off your braking pressure as you lean more. it just takes practice and everyone does it to a degree on every ride they dofor normal road riding its not necessary to trail brake into corners, but if it tightens up unexpectedly or you misjudge your speed going in its a useful skill to have. you have the most grip when cornering (ala keith code) when you’ve got 60/40 rear/front weight distribution which means being on the gass slightly
why you saying gas, you aint a yank… anyway a bit of throttle in the corner can have the same effect as using the rear as you are transferring weight to the rear, which will help you steer into the turn and tighten up your line.
It sounds like you are going in too fast. Getting good drive out the exit is better then over cooking the brakes.
No one has mentioned the reason you don’t use the rear. If you look at bikes they have a small rear disk and one or two disks on the front that are double the size. You’ll see the same thing on cars, bigger on the front, smaller on the rear. If you lock the rear it starts to skid, then it will be travelling faster then the front wheel. Basically as the wheel has lost traction it will not be stopping the bike as fast as the front wheel is. The momentum from the weight of your vehicle tries to overtake your front wheel as this is scrubbing speed faster then the potential energy of the motorcycle. This can be controlled and used to your advantage, as per Super motard riders, to help you rear wheel steer into a corner and open up the exit, but for most mortals should be avoided.
he said ‘gas’ because its just how folk use a wider vocab…
rear brake and getting on the ‘gas’ do not tighten up your line. They make your line widen…trail braking the front brake as JB has said tightens your line and scrubs speed going into a turn. With increased preload/compression dampning on your shock (this is a very very crude way of describing setup…lots of things to consider and your bike needs to be setup completely not just turn a few knobs) your bike will hold a better line on the power but still a wider line that when the forks are compressed as the wheelbase extends when the weight is off the front…of course you know this…as you know everything right?..no wait…you just got it totally wrong
I’m not sure what it is about the way you post, or it may be what you post, but it indifferently gets on my tit$.
Hmm… not sure about the lines being the opposite of those on track - just use a bit more room.
You just need to judge your visibility round a bend and pick a line to suit .Try not to apex too early, or you’ll run out of room coming out of the bend.
Tbh siryamalot I’d grab a copy of A Twist of the Wrist 2 and maybe check out some of the articles in the ride section of sportrider.com which are pretty good.
English born and bred (Kent actually) I think strewth is a good word, especially said with an Aussie accent, or strewth alive, strewth boy, strewth girl . . . etc ;) Probably picked it up from when I was in Sydney a few years ago, they do really use it quite a lot
I need to finish reading the Keith Code Book.
Probably picked it up from when I was in Sydney a few years ago, they do really use it quite a lot 