Have you ever wondered how to trail brake on a motorcycle? Or have you ever been told that trail braking is so risky that it should only be done by professionals on closed courses or racetracks? In this video we explain what trail braking is, how exactly it works the way it does and we explain why we think trail braking is one of the most powerful riding tools for street riders and how you should be trail braking on every ride.
Both of these books are amazing resources to enhance your motorcycling skillset. Sport Riding Techniques is the best motorcycle riding book we’ve come across, while Motorcycle Dynamics has all the physics and maths to explain how and why motorcycles behave the way they do. Finally, there are a few riding programs that we know of that that teach modern riding techniques.
MotoGP rider Bradley Smith was asked once in an interview, “What advice would you give street riders?”. Smith’s response was to practice pushing your bike around, like, on your feet and off the bike pushing, and engage the front brake as softly as possible, learn to feel the first bite and get to know it well. He was advocating trail braking.
I have a question concerning the throttle. In the vid ive noticed that the engine keeps revving at around the same amount. So my besst guess is that you keep the throttle “locked” and adjust with the front brake or am i seeing this wrong? If this was clarified it would be very useful, cuz since ive seen the vid, ive been actively trying to sharpen this technique! this is the only question that remains 🙂
Yeah, just leave the throttle off. You basically don’t want to mix controls. Slow or accelerate. There is virtually no advantage to trying to do both at the same time. If you find that engine braking is slowing you down too much, you can try entering corners one gear higher and if you must, downshift before accelerating out of the corner.