Thread: Getting power out of a harley

Hey @257weatherby what is 'trail braking'

Originally Posted by stevodog

Hey @257weatherby what is 'trail braking'

Real trail braking is a race only thing, if you do it in the real world, you better understand just what you are doing.

When you reach your braking marker, you shut the throttle, use the rear brake to begin front end compression and then go to the front brake hard, (maybe 2 tenths of a second between them) (at this point you have already transferred your body position) you tip in at your turn marker still hard on the brakes, at this point you begin progressively releasing the front brake as the lean angle increases (you don't ask a tyre to hold lean, turn and stop at the same time, you must trade the competing pressures and find the optimum balance between them or crash) - just before the apex you have nearly full released the brakes and are already actively standing the bike up and beginning to open the throttle to drive it out.

Get it wrong and you tuck the front and crash, it is a delicate balance. The job of the rear brake in this, on approach, is to preload the front so the extreme brake effort you suddenly ask of the front doesn't get you out of shape, as you have already shifted you body position, you can use the rear brake to help step the rear wheel out ( backing it in, some do, some don't) because it can help to gets you turned faster, after attaining the turn geometry you want you leave the rear alone, its job is not to help you stop, only to turn! on the way out of the corner, the rear brake is used to help keep the front down so you can get maximum acceleration, front comes up on the gas, you lose time modulating the throttle to control it, brake is faster and less clumsy, you simply keep it pinned.

Not sure I've explained it well enough, but it is what it is.

Originally Posted by 257weatherby

Real trail braking is a race only thing, if you do it in the real world, you better understand just what you are doing.

When you reach your braking marker, you shut the throttle, use the rear brake to begin front end compression and then go to the front brake hard, (maybe 2 tenths of a second between them) (at this point you have already transferred your body position) you tip in at your turn marker still hard on the brakes, at this point you begin progressively releasing the front brake as the lean angle increases (you don't ask a tyre to hold lean, turn and stop at the same time, you must trade the competing pressures and find the optimum balance between them or crash) - just before the apex you have nearly full released the brakes and are already actively standing the bike up and beginning to open the throttle to drive it out.

Get it wrong and you tuck the front and crash, it is a delicate balance. The job of the rear brake in this, on approach, is to preload the front so the extreme brake effort you suddenly ask of the front doesn't get you out of shape, as you have already shifted you body position, you can use the rear brake to help step the rear wheel out ( backing it in, some do, some don't) because it can help to gets you turned faster, after attaining the turn geometry you want you leave the rear alone, its job is not to help you stop, only to turn! on the way out of the corner, the rear brake is used to help keep the front down so you can get maximum acceleration, front comes up on the gas, you lose time modulating the throttle to control it, brake is faster and less clumsy, you simply keep it pinned.

Not sure I've explained it well enough, but it is what it is.

Um... sounds a bit like premature ejaculation control?

Originally Posted by outlander

Um... sounds a bit like premature ejaculation control?

no that would be thinking about a certain politician............