(21-10-15, 12:38 AM)His Dudeness link Wrote: Nobody's mentioned engine braking. I probably use it as much as I use the brakes.
The advice these days is "Gears to go, brakes to slow", not least because in the IPSGA system (Information, Position, Speed, Gears, Acceleration), Speed comes before Gears, ie you slow down *then* change down.
This is, of course, situation dependent, but I was recommended that for changes in speed of more than about 10mph, use the brakes first as brake pads are cheaper to replace than gear boxes!
As for using the rear brake whilst cornering, the reason is that there's a trade off between grip and braking effect, if you brake too hard you are going to run out of grip and it's easier to recover from a rear wheel slide than a front wheel slide...