What Is Trail Braking On A Motorcycle?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 พ.ค. 2024
- How to trail brake on a motorcycle and why you might want to do it on your next ride.
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I always used trail braking even before I knew what trail braking was. The bike is much more stable entering corners while trail braking ✌🏻 great video as always 😊
Same here, kind of just felt right and came about naturally
Trail braking is not "entering corners" it's braking **IN** corners. If the bend is a constant radius (and let's be honest, most are) why do want to slow down while you are in the the bend? If you can safely take the first third at a certain speed why are you slowing down for the middle of the bend?
U brake for the first half, u don't have to use it all the time. I usually pare it with a revmatch since my bike has no engine brake.
@@goon_eg1089 WHY are you braking for the 1st half? If you managed to safely ride the 1st 10% of the bend at speed 'x' why don't you continue to ride the next 40% at the same speed?
@@MotorSportsFan46 well if it's down Hill, I have no engine brake, u can't see through the corner In the pitch black. It's a tool in ur belt. I can't just chop the throttle cus it's two stroke, for the last 2 years, one finger on the brake 247, half the time I'm not even conscious of my braking cos I don't think about it
In my country a lot of people only use the rear break. Some habit that came from bicycles and 50cc motorcycles. You can’t explain them otherwise 😅
I think in general it is the irrational psychological fear of 'if' you put too much pressure on the front brake the bike will spontaneously do a stoppie or flip you over. Same thing with bicycle riders, I've seen more than a few delivery guys just lock up and slide the rear and proceed to smash into a car or pedestrian without using the front.
Get well soon my dude. That was a nasty landing. Get plenty of rest for recovery. Much love. 😗
Man, nothing feels better than trail braking on a heavy tourer and doing fast-ish corners
Ppl give you a weird look doing that but its so much fun
The view on the gas and front suspension. It gives a new insight of how much of coordination is need for trail brake. Thank you 🎉
You mentioned one critical aspect of trail braking that I hope ever ridder who is new to it will take very seriously: The need to first practice in a controlled and safe environment. Trail braking is a very useful technique but mistakes while learning can lead to accidents. The risks are much smaller if the ridder respects the initial rule (practice a lot in a controlled environment before using it in open roads).
I have learned it on the road, simply by slowly going from engine & before-corner-breaking-only to trailbraking, gradualy advancing to more speed And harder breaking. If you are not a coplete idiot, you can learn IT safely on the road too.
Finally a proper video which explains exactly how it works. Thank u
I hope you recover fast and well, man!
Great video.
Good to see you up and about on riding again. Thanks for doing this.
This is the best explanation of trail braking I've watched so far. The visuals really help
I've watched other videos on trail braking. I understood this one. Thank you!!!
Trail braking should be taught from Day One of motorcycle riding rather than Slow, Look, Crash, and Burn...oops, I mean Slow, Look, Press, and Roll. SLPR is fine for speeds under 25 MPH, but it's a dangerous practice in my opinion at road and highway speeds. Trail braking is a game changer for safer riding! Thanks for the great video.
have a good recovery bro
It’s great that we can now use the changes in geometry as a positive. For many years manufacturers were trying to develop alternative solutions to traditional forks🍴🍷🏍️
At 1:35 where you tell the story of entering a corner too fast and panic braking, you recall that upon braking, the bike immediately stood up - but that's not how a bike reacts to braking. What might have happened is that you stood the bike up because you had been trained to fear the loss of traction when braking while leaning. At least that's what happened to me before learning to trail brake. Keep safe!
Glad to see you covered this technique, it's something EVERY intermediate rider needs to learn and perfect, I don't think pure beginners should try it until they are comfortable on a motorcycle. Once you "get it" the technique keeps you safe and in control on all corners. I practice trail-braking every day on my commutes.
A new rider needs to learn 2 finger braking before thinking about trail braking.
This here might be the main reason trail braking isn't taught at licensing riding-schools (those that give you the permit). They don't want to take on the responsibility of accidents during their courses.
Doing all braking before entering a corner thou leaves you with no options when something unforeseen happens. Which is almost always the case.
You are wrong about beginners. It is a proven fact in training that learning something one way initially then having ti learn a new and different way is much more difficult than just learning the better way in the beginning. I teach high performance driving and overcoming drivers' bad learned habits is always more difficult than teaching a new driver the correct way from the start. This is especially true when teaching trail braking in a car.
@@goon_eg1089 Trailbraking can be done with 1 finger or 4 fingers. There are no absolutes when learning which fingers to use for the front brake. Dexterity is what must be learned. Some people do that better with 1 finger, some do it better with 3 or 4 fingers, it all depends upon the individual person.
@@briangc1972 a brand new rider is more likely to lowside using four, riding dirt requires 1 or 2. You can see that the majority of lowside wrecks involve panicking while grabbing the front with all 4.
Thanks. This was the best explanation I have seen.
Happy recovery
Great video well explained thanks for sharing.
Note that bikes with antidive such as BMW telelever and BMW duolever do not shorten their wheel base when braking, though the contact patch does still expand. Great video, thanks.
men que explicación tan sencilla y tan importante para un mejor manejo en curvas . Muy importante
i startet doing it in my first saison and always thought it was wrong because everyone kept saying don´t break in the corners but in the end it was right and made me faster
EXTREMELY USEFUL IDEAS FOR RIDERS ..ITS WONDERFULLY DEMONSTRATED AND EXPLAINED LUCIDLY THANK SIR
I've been doing this technique for a long time without even knowing it. It's intuitive, they should teach this to beginners.
You ride with one finger covering the brake? Rolling on and off with lean?
"Twist of the Wrist" a book by Keith Code says, get all your braking done before you reach the corner and get on the gas (throttle) as soon as possible through the corner to load up the rear wheel.
Two very different approaches.
Really good informational video. Hope you are doing great man
Take care dude , and have a save recovery
Thanks man!
When you're watching bike racing it's often difficult to understand exactly what they're doing - but watching a video of a guy called Rideezy on the Nurburgring, riding a road bike and taken from the car behind, really helped me to understand how long a good rider stays on the brakes through a corner. You can see his brake lights on until he accelerates away. And geez - he is quick. Makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up!
Just watched all of his videos with Nurburgring in the title, and they're all from FPOV. Looking at his speedometer, I only saw him obviously "trail brake" in a few corners, and in most of them it was because there was a slower car ahead him.
Racers know that you should always be braking or under power (accelerating) in a corner. No coasting, no engine idling through, either brake or accelerate.
@@briangc1972 I would be more careful how you say that. I would change your last word from "accelerate" to "throttle," so it includes maintenance throttle.
@@mildyproductive9726 Maintenance throttle in real life is slightly accelerating. I know no racer who truly maintains zero velocity change at any point on the track. The data from our dashes would clearly show it and I've never seen it.
@@briangc1972 There are a variety of reasons it is should be easy to hold maintenance throttle on level road, keeping a slightly positive drive on the chain in a corner, without accelerating.
There are a variety of losses. Air resistance. Mechanical friction from the engine and transmission. Tire resistance from deforming every revolution to form the contact patch. And while leaning/turning, there are 2 more. You have losses from slip angle. And you have decrease in radius of the tires as you lean and the contact patch moves closer to the rim, which allows for some actual increase in rpms without any increase in speed.
When going uphill, it's even more easy. When going uphill, you should be decelerating while in maintenance throttle. If you are really concerned with losing grip, you'll lose speed while keeping slight positive drive on the chain.
Downhill is slightly different. You don't want to continually accelerate. So you have to use front brake to maintain speed. It's easiest to minimize engine braking by staying in a relatively high gear. And that's usually ok, because you don't need as much power on the exit, when going downhill.
Great explanation!
I have about 40 years of braking before the corner, but will try to change starting tomorrow.
got to learn something new, thanks.
Great video man. Just have one question. When do you implement inward leaning body position? Before or after the initial brake into the corner ?
Great video
Thanks for all your videos!
outstanding!
Wow . I am practicing also in non ABS bike but gently and it works
I'm so confused if it applies to non abs bikes or not
Insightful video!! 👍
But imho engine braking is equal if not better in this scenario.
It also make corner faster 👍
are we giving an amount of throttle when braking?
I think if you ride bike a lot, you will starting trail braking without learning it from anywhere. It is a natural process of optimization that our brain does. Also from mistakes.
I remember my brother braked hard on turn with bit of gravels on the road, and we both fell down with some injury. It is still stuck in my brain which doesn't allow me apply brakes during cornering.
Not sure about others, but I have been doing this driving a car, foot on the brakes to shed speed, and slowly release through corners, gas on the straight. On my motorcycle, I do rear and front brakes to shed speed on the approach, slowly release the front depending on how slow I want to take the curve, only release the front brake when I am ready to go straight
"only release front brake when ready to go straight." You can hold a steady radius and lean angle while in maintenance throttle. As long as you can achieve this line with adequate leftover space to your inside, you will be fine. When you can see the exit, and that it's clear of oncoming traffic, now you can tighten your line (with a steering input) to clip the inside line. No brakes needed.
There are lots of reasons you should want to trail the brakes deeper into many corners in your car which don't apply to your motorcycle. You car has much less engine braking (power to weight ratio AND your car is automatic). The engine braking of your car is on the front tires. So as you taper off brakes, you are left with just a slight amount of front braking. All good. \
Your bike has much more engine braking, and it's on the rear tire. Your bike is also much more sensitive to too much rear braking, because of the very short wheelbase. So as you hold just very light front brake, your rear braking can be quite a bit higher just from the engine, causing you to prematurely lose rear traction while leaned over.
Also, there's less reason to do this on a motorcycle. In the car, you will upset your suspension if you turn the car too quick. You HAVE to turn in a little slower, and thus a little earlier, in your car, to avoid tilting/rolling/yaw. So you might as well taper off brakes as you do this. On your bike you can wait and turn in later and quicker to take a better, faster, safer line. And no trail braking needed.
a bit off topic, but is there any reason why you didn't swap to Protapers on the new MT? been looking into it and found your second MT with it, but no longer on ur third MT, and was just curious if there was a reason behind not going that way again.
Wish you a speedy recovery! Were you trying to FLY or something?! 🫣🫣😬😬😂😂
Hi, kindly inform while trail braking into the corner when will I change gears? Thank you
Braking mid-corner is also a useful technic.
me: uses trail breaking and revmatching on splendor😅
So trailbraking is using the brake to slow down before the turn but instead of releasing the brake completely before you enter the turn you just simply slowly release the brake while you're in the turn. This is how I ride mountain bikes too.
how to trail brake on right hand turns and also using a icecream cone grip
Wait, this is what I used to do even when I had my little 125 cc Honda, I still do it on my NS200 every day, before entering corners. I always play with brakes modulation and suspension dampening while cornering intuitively, I didn't even know there is name for it !
Same thing happened with me when I learned about rev matching, I've been doing perfect rev matching and clutch less shifting in all my 4 bikes, whithout knowing there's a name for it.
What's happening, are people oversimplyfying/over explaining things for dummies?
I watch your video all the way from Nepal 🇳🇵
Pravdu dí, chlapec ☝️👍🏍️
I think "brake before the corner" is the safe way to get a new rider safely around corners... it makes a few assumption (the big one being that the rider will be going SLOW through the corner). The miss IMO in the "learning how to ride" training regimen is that there's no "once you're at the level that upsetting the suspension with that technique causes a problem you NEED to learn how to do this" point. It's pretty much up to you to decide when to make the upgrade in your skills.
It's not necessarily faster cornering speed, though, where you should benefit from trail braking. If you can steer quick enough to take proper lines for street corners, you still shouldn't benefit from trail braking even when taking corners at 50 degree lean angles. That doesn't bother the suspension.
It's when you start to brake insanely late while taking corners fast that you might benefit from trail braking to smooth the suspension. And even then, it's only when you really messed up and nearly crashed that it would make a difference.
It's a simple physics:the closer you get to the center of gravity (earth), it becomes easier to control and more stable. That's why when you trailbraking you can turn easier and effortless because your front end dives closer to the earth.
Trailbraking becomes my 2nd nature now thankfully
Not sure that this is the entire reason, though.
When maintaining speed, the bike self-stabilizes. You know how some people say that you only start countersteering a bike above a certain speed, like 15mph or so?
You can argue the semantics of what countersteering is, but there's a change in the way the steering feels and acts once you pass this line. And to accept the popular sentiment on this, now you have to actively countersteer the bike. The bike wants to stand up on its own once above this speed.
No matter how fast you are going, once you stop giving throttle and use light brakes, you're somewhat back to the way the steering feels and acts at low speed. It's no longer self-stabilizing. The bike doesn't want to stand back up if you let go of the bars. That's a reason that it feels more effortless. There's less, maybe even no torque required on the bars to keep the bike leaned.
This might feel more controllable and predictable to you. But steering while maintaining speed is just as controllable and predictable. It's just different and has several advantages.
The best way trail breaking was ever explained. Bravo
What bike are u on?
Number one reason to use trail braking: taking advantage of the traction circle. You can use 70% of maximum braking force AND 70% of maximum lean force simultaneously. Not just 50% and 50%. There are a million explanations of the traction circle available. Top racers are all using the traction circle. Number two reason to use trail braking: the majority of turns in the United States are decreasing radius in, increasing radius out (DRIIRO). One very reasonable riding style is to lower your speed as your radius goes down. Perfect for trail braking. As stated in the video loading up the forks before corner is beneficial as it matches the centrifugal force loading in the corner. Motorcycles generally come with the compression damping set lightly for comfort. Cranking this up allows you to transfer force to the front wheel faster under braking. You can eliminate that 1 second of lag where you don't dare get smoothly and firmly on the brakes. I always keep the compression and rebound damping set the same. You want to plan your way through the corner. Plan your ride, ride your plan. Don't correct your way through the corner. Too fast, too slow, too fast, etc.. Trail braking in, accelerating out is a lot like timid in, courageous out (not a plan). Happy riding!
i started doing it after riding for a long time without thinking abouth after doing it i was like oh i am trail braking
So when coming into a corner to trail brake, you only recommend using the front brake and no rear at all?
He was over simplifying that subject. Rear brake trail braking is better at tucking the rear wheel for tighter turning. Some turns are better when front trail braking (downhill corners) and some are better taken using rear trail braking. Practice and learn how to do both.
Very cool information on trail braking! Here's a subject for a video if you're interested. Do you know the object or objective of Counter Steering on a motorcycle? If you do not I very highly recommend you learn about it and how to use it effectively. I won't go into explaining what Counter Steering is here, it would take too long. You can find information about if you research it.
Counter-steering is definitely an interesting topic! I might talk about it sometime if I can visualise it nicely
@@ChaosCauses It's hard to visualise the first part (the bike leaning in the opposite direction) - you'd probably have to record yourself going straight into the camera before turning in the last second - but the front wheel correcting itself to follow the turn can be shown on a shopping cart or an office chair.
@@cprn. Moto Control has a great video and he makes the visualization clear and easy.
Let me try this on my car 😂
Great video as always! I've had a few falls because of brakes issues and it's something I always try to improve. In my commute there are a lot of U turns so I'm getting confident and conscious about this technique and of course the counter-lean.
Pd: I almost fall today because I applied too much rear brake just before the turn. The internal-expansion brakes are a little unpredictable. I wonder why don't every new motorcycle comes with disk brakes and a simple ABS.. I mean come on! they demand thousands of security measures for cars but bikes don't even come with disk brakes
3:08
Except telelever Suspension bikes like the gs ;)
I have trouble with that since I got MT-07. The amount of engine breaking on this bike is ridiculous - if I trail break enough to load the suspension I just... stop mid corner. Am I to break and accelerate at the same time? Never had that issue on MT-03.
Yes. You can use maintenance braking and maintenance throttle at the same time to keep the forks loaded through the apex before trailing off the brakes and rolling on the throttle to stand the bike up and exit the turn. Obviously the precise amount of maintenance braking and throttling depends on the speed the turn radius the conditions and the road grade (uphill downhill or level). Uphill you might need less braking and downhill you might need less throttle. The point is to keep the forks compressed and the wheelbase shortened and the front contact patch enlarged until you're ready to come out of the lean. This requires deft and deliberate application of force to the control surface and total participation in the various stages of each turn. This approach is hard to make second nature but can't be unlearned. And it's controversial to use maintenance braking and maintenance throttle together since there's a huge lot that can go wrong.
@@paulvixie8668 So... I can do both but it's a high level skill. If I was to train solely trail breaking for now, should I let go of the brake quicker or try to accelerate more before entering the corner?
@@cprn. it's extremely rare to want to accel into a corner. at speed limits above 30MPH you will almost always have to slow down at a corner compared to the non-corner ("straight section") you approach from. brake with both wheels, mixing in some engine compression in the rear if you wish (i almost always do.) as you start your lean you should be at cornering speed for that corner. you can trail off the front brake at that moment ("tip-in"), or a second or so later, but you can't wait for the apex to finish front brake trail-off unless and until you have separately learned the controversial combination of maintenance braking and maintenance throttle. this sounds far more complicated than it will feel.
Every time I ride I forget that I wanted to practice this.
I can imagine trail breaking being quite useless if you're riding in the city, or are riding at legal speeds tho.
@@Daniel-dj7fhdo you cover the front brake 247? You have to learn to ride with 1 or 2 fingers covering the brake, don't start braking until that is locked in to your muscles, roll on and off with leaning technique. I don't even think about braking anymore. I'v had people dash infront coming up to a red light, doesn't phase me, being a mind reader also helps.
Make rev matching tutorial video.
Already did 😉
Are you only using your front brakes for this technique?
Yes, trail braking is done with the front brake.
How can one brake and throttle at the same time? Isn't that bad for the bike?
You are not doing both at the same time. You begin accelerating after you have finished trailing off the brakes.
I've never met a corner so fast i'd need to brake during the corner. How fast are people driving?
😂😂😂
🤟🔥🤘
i barelly use trail braking on the street.
I find it more aplicable to the track.
Thank you. I can't stand these videos, selling trail braking for the street like an infomercial.
If you find trail braking very useful on street, you're turning the bike in way too early. A good racer would almost never find trail braking useful out in the canyons, no matter how fast he wanted to take the corners.
About the only exception is if he was actually dumb enough to pass other vehicles midcorner while doing so.
Track is not just safer. It's wider. Road isn't wide enough to ever make the same racing lines where you trail brake!
@@mildyproductive9726 i do use trail braking on my motorcycle but I use it for the wrong reasons. Only when i come into a corner to hot bc i started braking to late, then i stay on the brakes partually trough the corner. (So due to rider error and trying to not crash).
If actively used on the street, you are using the street as a track...
In short, we agree with each other 😅😁
@@daandhae7718 Ahh, sorry. I agree, after reading your post more carefully and thinking about it. Deleted some nonsense.
There is always at least one good reason to trail brake briefly, when cornering fast and braking late and hard, even on a narrow dirt track like the video says at the end. To smooth out the suspension so the forks don't bounce and rock the bike. Your only mistake is to start braking too late for the corner, but you're basically cornering perfectly, otherwise. That's not really a mistake. It's just riding too close to the edge and handling it perfectly!
There could be other reasons it helps, but most of them are avoidable with sufficient skill. Like turning in too early. These mistakes are better avoided. That's where the infomercial problem comes in.
These videos suggest that riders should be doing it like this to corner better and faster. If riders try to trail brake for ALL of these Billy Mayes-esque reasons, they could be producing these scenarios more regularly or even on purpose. Seeing bad habits as good ones.
You find it useful to trail brake on the track for additional reasons to this. But even on the track you don't usually need to do it for this one. Because even when racing, you don't usually brake that hard and late except when you pushed just a little too hard!
You almost never trail brake on the street, because it makes you safer and leaves the most grip for the speed, when you take corners correctly like you. Not because you ride so well, you are still safe when not trail braking. I think that's a mistake these videos will promote.
I hope this makes sense of it for others who might read this comment. You seem to already know what you're doing!
Trail braking is a useful skill to have, but knowing what the limit point is and taking that information in correctly is a more important skill. i was watching a channel called reg local and he does a series on how to pass an advanced motorbike test (UK) and in one of the videos he explains the planning phase as you approach a corner. if you go into a corner needing to trail brake, you have entered the corner too fast in the first place, adding risk as the limit point is the furthest point you can see to be safe/clear so that is the distance you need to be able to brake in.
I'll stick with Keith Code's instruction.
didn't think I'd ever be the first comment, viewer and like ;-;
Honestly i feel more comfortable using back brakes for trail braking
I stopped using trail braking because on the road if you load to much the front, you will have the front to stiff and also this will make corners wide.
While you brake just remeber to downshift, this deceleration is enough to "keep" the front loaded without compressing to much the suspension and let the front copy the road. On track is ok,because you know that the track is clean and flat.
The tyre has a limit and it is proportional to the weight is carrying, you can also make a corner with the front not touching the ground, because the grip on the rear is enough to rise the bike.
If you enter a corner braking, you are taking away the grip used to make the corner. 1/3 should be dedicated to braking, 1/3 Neutral with throttle control, 1/3 acceleration.
so slow down before a turn..got it
No, you really don't get it. Try watching with an open mind this time.
what if the corner suddenly have potholes or some sand, as most mountains have sand in the corners. won't we skid off as we are braking through the corner.
Exactly. If you know how to steer, you will take correct lines. And continued braking is simply unnecessary and inefficient use of your available traction.
Racers mostly trail brake on tracks which are significantly wider than our share of the street, and almost exclusively when they purposely turn in early. This is done for a variety of reasons which don't exist in street riding. Mainly for passing on the inside or to make the corner slightly shorter (which can reduce lap time just a tiny bit, IF the rider can even accelerate hard enough on the exit to make up for the slower tighter apex this early entry line creates. So only for powerful bikes on wide track and exiting like a banshee on the verge of highsiding).
The reason there are so many riders who think trail braking is an "advanced skill" that takes their street cornering to higher levels is because they have both poor skill level at steering and corner entry, AND they frequently ride beyond their poor skill level. They turn in too early, slowly, and timidly. So they are already reaching the inside line way too early, before their turning radius is tight enough to finish the corner. This is why they have to continue braking in order to make it. But they're just gambling, and it's just a matter of time before this very stupid use of trail braking doesn't save them from their poor skill and judgement.
A proficient racer will take corners way faster than these guys without ever trail braking. Trail braking would make them slower and less safe in street riding, because they have sufficient skill at steering. They use trail braking for other reasons on the track. They don't need to use it on street, even when racing. E.g. see Isle of Man. No passing. Pretty tight track (they close the street down, so no oncoming traffic. But even "double-wide" what most street riders have, it's still narrow). And in this race, there's essentially no trail braking, either, if you want to post a competitive time.
Whats everyone talking about? Didnt see him crash or talk about him crashing 😢
Had an MX crash. Will make a video about it soon
He posted a vid on instagram few days ago, I think it look like he went a bit too fast on the dirt ramp and missed landing... by a few miles! 🫣🫣😬😬
Doesn’t anyone in the comments know the the difference between braking and breaking? Go back to school FFS!!
No because “their” smarter “then” u. “Your” dumb 😂
Every video that teaches trail braking with the front brakes should be removed from the internet. This is exactly who new riders dump their bikes and experienced riders dont need to be taught this.
What if you don't go 100 mph, if the speed is say 80 kmh, I'd lose speed mid-corner and have to go to the throttle again. Rarely do I come into a corner at such speeds that I can hold the break throughout the entire bend. I'm confused :) If I break, I break and I lose the speed momentarily, if I continue breaking I'll stall and will have to open a throttle quickly after.
This is what confuses me about trail braking too. I guess I or we are using too much engine braking into a corner? As I don’t need to keep applying the pressure of the brakes as I lean as I’ve already slowed enough… I’ve not found info on what I’m doing wrong yet, only how to do it correctly but maybe it doesn’t work so well on my R3?
@@Teocyn I've been told you're not going fast enough. That's ridiculous. So I need to go into a corner like a madman just so I can correctly apply the technique?! That can't be right.
@@kotomakosako yea that’s what I figured as well… so you really have to build up high speed just for it to be useful in corners… Hmmm…
These videos are misleading. Don't bother yourselves over it.
Racers do it when they are making a wide corner shorter (and more dangerous) by turning in early. Or when passing on the inside. They are still braking early corner, because they know their line is going to get tighter ahead. They made it that way by turning in too early. They will finish letting off the brakes and rolling on neutral throttle as they finish leaning all the way when they get to the end of the corner that they made tighter on purpose.
If you want to see how useful trail braking can be for street riding, turn in too early on purpose. Get on the inside line before you can see the exit. You will feel the need to decelerate in this scenario. You can't see very far through the corner from here. And imagine you see the curve gets tighter ahead. You have no room to lean more and turn tighter until you get there, because you're already on the inside line way too early.
Now you see where it is useful. And since you guys don't turn in too early, you can now forget about trail braking until you go race on a track that is much wider than the road. A lot of riders have trouble leaning the bike quickly enough, so they get nervous and turn in too early. They love trail braking on the street.
Trail braking is not that useful on a weedy 4 stroke, it's much more useful on bikes with power and weight. My 2 stroke doesn't have any engine brake.
Change your fork oil once in awhile also. It will help keep that front tire planted.
I ALWAYS use 3 Brakes...!!!!
1). Front brake
2). Rear brake
3). Engine brake
Combining all three gives a Great efficient stop.
Who needs ABS afterall ..😊👍🏻
( ABS is for Beginners/ Unskilled riders )
Your explanation is a massive over simplification and ignores some really important forces that makes what you are proposing potentially dangerous. I'll start with the bits that I (mostly) agree with...
1, Trail Braking is an important skill that all riders should learn. If you are in a decreasing radius turn you will need the ability to reduce speed the further you go into the bend. This would be an appropriate use for trail braking on the road. It would also be required if you need to slow for a slower vehicle or stop for an obstacle even if it's not a decreasing radius.
2, Being on the brakes up to the turn in point does indeed shorten the wheelbase and sharpen the steering angle. The difference it makes might be important on the track where you are shaving hundredths of a second in each corner but it is utterly irrelevant for the road.
3, Being on the brakes up to the turn in point does indeed push the tyre into the road surface, which increases grip. However that is only true while the bike is upright, as soon as you start to lean some of the force is trying to push the front wheel out from under you and the further you lean the greater that shear force gets and the more likely you are to loose the front.
Now for the bits where you ignored reality, got it wrong or were deliberately misleading...
4, You showed a great clip of some halfwit stamping on the rear brake and losing it. Where was the clip that showed an equally incompetent rider grabbing a fist full of front brake? That is wilfully misleading. Applying a little bit of back brake is really useful to tighten your line if you have misjudged a bend. A situation where adding front brake tends to stand the bike up, forcing you wider still. Also if getting off the bike is the only option I'd rather lock the rear than the front, it hurts less.
5. You said that being on the front brake puts the suspension in the middle of the travel. That definitely wrong! The static sag from the weight of bike and rider will give you plenty of room to extend the forks over a depression. The act of cornering compresses the forks further due to centripetal force. Add brakes and now you are running out of travel to soak up bumps and are therefore more likely to break traction.
6. You showed clips of racers braking into the apex but didn't point out what they were doing with their line through the bend i.e. they are making a 'V' out of it. Effectively making a longer 'constant' radius bend into a shorter 'decreasing' radius bend so that they can stand the bike and get onto the fat part of the tyre to drive out. Again this is important to shave lap time on a track but stupid and dangerous on the road where you are likely to have oncoming traffic crossing the centreline on a bend.
So in conclusion, Trail Braking is an important skill to master for situations where you need to slow down in a bend e.g. a decreasing radius. However it is utterly pointless for constant or increasing radius bends on the road where SAFETY SHOULD TAKE PRIORITY. If you need to trail brake for those bends you are going too fast, save it for the track!
RANT OVER.
BTW, I really enjoy your content. I just think that in this case you got it wrong.
Sounds like he learnt from someone else and just yapped the info out. Because trail breaking is useful, but the video didnt make it clear that by using too much brake while entering the corner you are actually much closer to losing traction than you are if you let off the brakes, there is a balance between the two. This video is misleading if you dont fully understand the concept.
What an awful teacher