I am talking releasing the brakes as soon as full lean is achieved. The apex is
hit on the gas, rather than trail braking to the apex then opening the throttle
after the apex has been passed.
Trail Braking is when
the front brake is used to hold the front end down all the way to the apex.
Holding the nose down reduces the steering head angle, supposedly making for
quicker steering. Classic trail braking is done all the way to the apex, at
which time the gentle brake release you describe
happens.
Back in the days when
drum brakes were all that was available trail braking had some validity simply
because drums never deliver the same brake performance two corners in a row.
They would fade during a single hard stop from top speed. Engine braking was
very important back then, something the big singles of the day
provided.
Tires used to break
loose suddenly before radials were developed.
Frames used to flex
strangely.
All of which makes
hard braking-> flicking it in–> gassing it hard out pretty sketchy. Much
more likely to make it all the way to the end of the race if corner entries are
gentle and drawn out affairs.
All the components
are better now, much more predictable and consistent. Which is why trail braking
is no longer relevant.
Point and Shoot extends the front end back to the middle of its travel, so it can respond to surface irregularities. It also shifts some weight to the back tire, so front end deflections have less effect on the whole machine.
I started riding a long time ago, when trail braking was still winning GPs. I used to load my front heavily going into corners. The whole idea of getting on the gas before the apex was alien to me. I argued with Keith Code about it. He finally said "You paid me hundreds of dollars to be here and hear this, how about yo go out and try it and see what happens?"
What happened was someone laid Velcro(tm) down under my front tire.
Test comment
ReplyDeleteMotorcycles can brake in turns.
ReplyDeleteI am commenting to clear up a possible miss-reading of your post.
Many rides have heard something like the phrase: "after braking, turn, then accelerate through the rest of the turn." This can be miss-understood to mean you must ONLY and ALWAYS do that. This can lead to a refusal to brake in turns, because it will "always" cause a crash. Not true. If that were the case, we would never talk about trail braking.
Some nuance here: the meaning of the phrase "trail braking" has drifted somewhat, where I've heard people use it to mean ANY braking done after turn-in. That's not what we're discussing.
What you're talking about is continuing braking while leaned over, up to or after the apex of the turn.
I think you are aiming for the the reader to be earlier on the brakes, earlier off: safer, more speed. A fine goal.
... But...
We can brake in turns.
A reader might miss-read you, as I described above, and start rolling on throttle, encounter a problem, and refuse to slow down- big problem.
For the majority of turns: early to brake, early to release is good, but not all.
For decreasing radius, double-apex, or obstacle avoidance, it may be better to keep slowing down deep into a turn, trail-braking; Keep the deceleration going until you see a clear