23-06-19, 12:09 PM
(This post was last modified: 23-06-19, 12:12 PM by Millietant.)
Struggling with the links VNA, but I agree with your comments about hard braking, letting the brakes go and flinging a bike on its side (and rough riding like that is never good on the street) - again its all about context - hard braking, controlled (but quick) release of the brakes and controlled turn-ins are all about smoothness.
My first CSS class had a session where we were instructed/taught to ride the bikes round the track without any brakes at all - that drove your focus on looking ahead and choosing turn in points. The difference in our lap times after a few goes at this was phenomenal. Smoothness in every aspect of riding is key to controlling traction.
Your description of what you practice as trail-braking is something that I interpret as totally different to what was shown in Dude's video - what you describe is great, as in smoothly releasing the brakes as you turn in.
CSS does teach that proper "trail-braking" is a great tool in certain circumstances, but for road riding and under the circumstances Steve described (i.e. Running wide in corners), trail braking, which as you mentioned earlier makes the bike want to stand up and run wider, would seem to be the exact opposite of what Steve needs to be doing.
As I said, I've been taught many times to get my braking effectively done before the corner and to minimise actions that would upset the suspension and tyres whilst leaned over mid-corner. In racing terms, I suppose the mantra of "to finish first, first you have to finish" is what underpinned this and teaching something that would make bikes run wide, to novices like me, would likely have resulted in lots of crashes. However, once you've mastered the basics then maybe it's time to start exploring the limits.
From what you've described of the way you corner and ride (which I agree with), I think it also shows that "trail-braking" means different things to different people, some interpret this as braking all the way from turn-in to the apex, which it seems is different to what you and I practice, which is why I would advise Steve to get face to face professional instruction, rather than taking advice from us amateurs on forums where context is easily missed or misinterpreted. Asking questions of the instructors in person is the best way to learn in my opinion.
My first CSS class had a session where we were instructed/taught to ride the bikes round the track without any brakes at all - that drove your focus on looking ahead and choosing turn in points. The difference in our lap times after a few goes at this was phenomenal. Smoothness in every aspect of riding is key to controlling traction.
Your description of what you practice as trail-braking is something that I interpret as totally different to what was shown in Dude's video - what you describe is great, as in smoothly releasing the brakes as you turn in.
CSS does teach that proper "trail-braking" is a great tool in certain circumstances, but for road riding and under the circumstances Steve described (i.e. Running wide in corners), trail braking, which as you mentioned earlier makes the bike want to stand up and run wider, would seem to be the exact opposite of what Steve needs to be doing.
As I said, I've been taught many times to get my braking effectively done before the corner and to minimise actions that would upset the suspension and tyres whilst leaned over mid-corner. In racing terms, I suppose the mantra of "to finish first, first you have to finish" is what underpinned this and teaching something that would make bikes run wide, to novices like me, would likely have resulted in lots of crashes. However, once you've mastered the basics then maybe it's time to start exploring the limits.
From what you've described of the way you corner and ride (which I agree with), I think it also shows that "trail-braking" means different things to different people, some interpret this as braking all the way from turn-in to the apex, which it seems is different to what you and I practice, which is why I would advise Steve to get face to face professional instruction, rather than taking advice from us amateurs on forums where context is easily missed or misinterpreted. Asking questions of the instructors in person is the best way to learn in my opinion.