breaking on the track

was92v · 12-16-2008, 09:25 PM

I can only speak for myself, but I rarely use the rear brake even on the street unless I am in a low traction situation or have a passenger, to lessen the weight transfer and make the ride smoother. Lately I have been practicing with the rear brake and it seems to be promising, I'll have to see where that takes me. When I learned to ride (in the stone age), rear drum brakes tended to lock suddenly for no particular reason when used at all, or just didn't do anything, so I just quit using them. The rear brake on my F4i actually works pretty well.

For me, while in Hi-performance riding mode, the front brakes provides 100% of my braking. The engine provides none. while Sport riding engine braking is used some and just riding around it provides more. But, when I am really in the zone, I have very little use for the rear brake. First off, absolute control of the machine is mandatory and allowing the engine to drag the ass end around is not using my control. It takes too long to do anything, not an efficient use of time, can cause suspension agitation that you did not plan for(not your control)and can be hard on the equipment.
If you are using the engine to brake for a corner, you have lost 3-5 seconds per lap that you can't get back and it is just not precise. On the track, if you are not on the throttle
you should be on the brakes. Anything else is wasting time. Less time on the brakes+more time on the throttle=quicker lap times. Precision application of the brakes and throttle are the only way to become consistent and will give you a repeatable sequence of events. By breaking down a lap into repeatable events, you can then start drilling into each event to measure your mental performance. Actions will (or seem to)become very slow and you can try different changes to archive a kind of harmony with the bike and track that you are working your craft on. When you get it right there is no better feeling in the world. When you get it wrong, you know exactly what you did and can change it to try something else with relative safety. Oops, sorry I almost got into this too deep.

Oh, and I'm from kintucke too ya'll... But not for a while.

12-16-2008, 09:25 PM	#11
was92v Nowhere Man Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 558	I can only speak for myself, but I rarely use the rear brake even on the street unless I am in a low traction situation or have a passenger, to lessen the weight transfer and make the ride smoother. Lately I have been practicing with the rear brake and it seems to be promising, I'll have to see where that takes me. When I learned to ride (in the stone age), rear drum brakes tended to lock suddenly for no particular reason when used at all, or just didn't do anything, so I just quit using them. The rear brake on my F4i actually works pretty well. For me, while in Hi-performance riding mode, the front brakes provides 100% of my braking. The engine provides none. while Sport riding engine braking is used some and just riding around it provides more. But, when I am really in the zone, I have very little use for the rear brake. First off, absolute control of the machine is mandatory and allowing the engine to drag the ass end around is not using my control. It takes too long to do anything, not an efficient use of time, can cause suspension agitation that you did not plan for(not your control)and can be hard on the equipment. If you are using the engine to brake for a corner, you have lost 3-5 seconds per lap that you can't get back and it is just not precise. On the track, if you are not on the throttle you should be on the brakes. Anything else is wasting time. Less time on the brakes+more time on the throttle=quicker lap times. Precision application of the brakes and throttle are the only way to become consistent and will give you a repeatable sequence of events. By breaking down a lap into repeatable events, you can then start drilling into each event to measure your mental performance. Actions will (or seem to)become very slow and you can try different changes to archive a kind of harmony with the bike and track that you are working your craft on. When you get it right there is no better feeling in the world. When you get it wrong, you know exactly what you did and can change it to try something else with relative safety. Oops, sorry I almost got into this too deep. Oh, and I'm from kintucke too ya'll... But not for a while.