hope someone likes this: The Fine Art of Braking By Keith Code By survey 100% of over 10,000 riders agree on this point: they know that if they possessed the ability and skill to get their turn entry speeds consistently right, their confidence would soar; they would feel more in control; they would be faster and they would be smoother. Here is some information on why you might want to master that ability. Coasting Races In the mid '70's I was introduced to an amazing form of "racing". Four or five of us would get together at the top of one of our favorite southern California canyon descents; turn off the engines; line up across the road; heckle each other; count to three; pick up our feet without pushing off any more than was necessary to get moving and laugh and yell out insults to one another all the way down to the bottom. Most of the runs were a couple of miles long with lots of turns. That's a coasting race. The rider who coasted the farthest and fastest (they were usually the same rider) "won". There weren't any tricks, equipment mattered little, it was all you. Well, I did have one little trick -- pushing the pads back into my front caliper to eliminate the pad drag. The camaraderie was elevated enormously by the fact that, unlike our usual canyon rides we could, for the most part, communicate throughout the descent. It was such a delight. Even when it went wrong and someone crashed (like me) I still have fond memories and get a warm sensation when recalling it. Strategy of Coasting Races On the technical side of things: I was immediately impressed with several aspects of this form of entertainment and a couple of those points were indelibly printed in my memory and became a part of the California Superbike School over 20 years ago. The simple trick to winning a coasting race is the obvious, the rider who could maintain his momentum by using his brakes the least generally would prevail. Doing an entire run down some of the steeper roads with little or no braking took as much or more mental grip than doing it with them, this becoming immediately apparent in the first semi-tight corner you came to. Unwilling to give up the momentum yet afraid of the speed which had accumulated, your focus and interest became laser sharp. Sure your hand would be poised over the lever and sure it took some supreme acts of willpower to keep from using brakes and sure you would make errors and have to use the brakes but you also paid closer attention to the speeds than you normally would. The reduction of distractions like engine noise and gear changes and throttle and charging the corners with hard braking were all eliminated and it allowed you to make much finer estimates of your corner entry speeds and maintain that precious momentum. Low Noise, High Speeds After my first coasting race I realized I never would have gone through those turns with the power on as fast as I had done with no engine running, no charging and, for the most part, no brakes. It made me realize just how distracting those things really were and just how much of my attention they absorbed. One of the things I have noticed when I watch students is how erratic their turn entry speeds often are. That comes from the idea they have to charge the corners and brake hard but they can tend to over-brake and foul up their entry and corner speed momentum. Low Speeds, Quick Times One day, as I was driving up to the Laguna Seca track in northern California to do a school, I realized that if anyone was going to overcome this self generated confusion from over-braking, the quickest route to that was riding no brakes. Once I got to the track I tried it out and rediscovered what I'd already figured out before from the coasting races. I went faster into the turns, my speed sense and judgement became sharper, I worried less about my entry speed and found that getting back to the throttle earlier was significantly easier. I thought it would be worthwhile to have the students try it out. While it is true that some tracks lend themselves to this form of sharpening your riding skills better than others, I did begin to notice a trend at different tracks. The riders who stuck with the no brakes, even after we officially switched back to using them, made more improvement in their speed and confidence than those who were "testing" our brake pad material by charging the turns. Ignore the Instincts It's almost as if riders feel obligated to charge turns. It's the idea that you will go faster because of it and seems such a simple and direct route to that end but rarely works. The instinct to brake late and hard is like clubbing a female to then take her for a wife. That plan isn't going to work. I have observed many truly diligent riders who ignored the instinct and stayed with the No Brakes format knocking off seconds from their lap times. To top it off they were achieving their quicker times with only one or two gears instead of the usual thrashing through the gear box. They might be going 20 mph slower on the straights but one should pay attention to the results (improved lap times and corner speed) not the impulse to go fast on the straights. As I have said a thousand times, the brakes become more of a crutch than a tool for most riders. Someone always whines about the no-brakes riding format at school. Well, crutches are notoriously hard to put down, aren't they? Riders claim it is difficult (of course it is), that they could go faster with them (faster down the straight away, yes); that they "had" to use them (the crutch again) and on and on. What these riders don't realize is how satisfying it is to persevere at the exercise until you really get it, so you really can judge your entry speeds and really know you can do it. Very, very satisfying. Very, very big contribution to your riding confidence. Very! The Basic Idea The logic is flawless. Using or not using the brakes is irrelevant to the intended result of getting into the corner at the exact right speed. One either knows what that right speed is and can achieve it or they are guessing. If they are guessing they are paying more attention to it than they should have to. Guessing brings about inaccurate braking and inaccurate braking brings about rough and uncertain turn entries. Trail Braking (Definition: Action of trailing off or tapering off brake lever pressure and braking force as the rider enters the corner.) Trail braking is a valid and useful tool for any rider at any level of riding. The warning is this: when used too often, or as a crutch to calm the fear brought on by the inability to sense speeds accurately, it not only doesn't solve the source of the problem it makes it worse. As the pilot you must make the decision on when to let off of the brake(s). It is a complicated little piece of work with all of the other usual distractions you encounter at the turn's entry, e.g., setting the lean, getting the line and feeling the traction. Bottom line - if you are trailing the brakes towards a well known, accurately understood speed it is a tool. Otherwise it tends to become a crutch and invites riders to "charge" the turns, low line them, leave the throttle till late and make tricky and sometimes dangerous mid-corner steering corrections all of which could be avoided with accurate turn entry speed sensing and setting. Panic Crutch In contrast to the aforementioned, I see many riders who feel compelled to stab at their brakes in the last moments before entering a corner. While watching them do it, the only conclusion one would come to is that the speed was a big surprise; all of a sudden they become aware of it and it seemed too fast. This is an obvious error. They aren?t using the brake to adjust anything except their fear. In either of the above cases, an accurate sense of speed opens the door to confidence. Results Then and Now The essence and final result of any brake release for cornering remains what I said in 1980 in my first Superbike School lecture and on page 64 of the first ?A Twist of the Wrist? book in 1982: To set the speed of the bike correctly for that place on the track (or road) so that no further changes are necessary. In other words, you get it right. Not too fast, not too slow. Braking itself is an art within the art of cornering. Your sense-of-speed is the underlying resource you have to get it right. As an exercise, no brakes riding will help improve your sense-of-speed. Do no-brakes whenever you have the opportunity and see what happens to your sense of speed and see what happens to your riding. The best part is that once you have combined a good sense of speed with the other twelve basic skills of cornering it all begins to come together. It is truly one of the skills that allows you to discover the ART OF CORNERING. All the best, Keith
ya that is funny how he made that reference, guess that is an old term from back in the 70's and 80's haha
Im guessing a reference to cave men, saying the idea is archaic. I practice no brakes drills actually VERY often, and it deffinately works on getting a bit more corner speed, but also getting the RIGHT corner speed as he says. Also, In our class, we mention one (or two) gear drills, and do it for a session, and encrouage it. But up until this weekend I have never done it much more than the few sessions in the morning when coaching. I made a conscious effort to do it ALL day, and actually push for laptimes with it. I used well worn tires, and stock gearing on a track that I normally use -1+3 on. The result was I had to be VERY smooth (tires) and pick up the gas earlier to carry as much speed as possible. Combined with minimum braking (eventually I could not do the no brakes any more really) I was amazed at teh results. By the end of the day I was only 2 seconds per lap off my best pace (which is no slouch pace). I can only imagine the dividends it would have paid if I mounted new tires the next day and ran them.
I have to disagree with Mr. Code here, and yes he is WAAAAAY faster than I am, and I doubt I will ever be as quick as he. However, let me relate this to my "canyon" riding: the Gap. I used to ride that whole road without brakes just to get smooth, and of course it's a good practice for that reason. I will even do coasting races on a rare occasion. However, I found it to be useless to increase the consistency of corner speed because a corner changes when you use the brakes. Your bike turns tighter, the tarmac changes consistency because of your increased compression in the suspension, and the turn itself is more tight on entry than it is on exit than when you weren't using the brakes. I have one turn in mind that is completely different on the brakes than not on them: turn one at Barber. Try it a few times with and without the brakes, and you'll see what I mean. Nick Ienatsch teaches that brakes (i.e.: not coasting) is the correct way to enter a corner. Heck, it's the only control you have of your speed if you're not accelerating. If your speed is wrong, you can change it. If you're coasting, how can you correct yourself? You can't! If you need to practice all the "distracting" aspects of riding, I suggest doing that before you start the motor up. Put the bike on a stand, and do all that other stuff repeatedly until you have it down. Maybe corner entry speed consistency comes with conscious seat time.
The 'no brakes' syndrome was popular among certain riders of Italian machinery, affectionately know as 'the pace'. Bad for you, certainly bad for your machinery, if left in neutral. Belongs in the 70's and best left there. Just my 2 cents anyway! :twisted:
I have taken Levels I, II and III of Keith's superbike school and he is VERY intelligent. Sometimes a little too intelligent and goes "over the top" sometimes. I completely agree with his theories and teachings on Body Positioning. We teach the same techniques with STT. As far as coasting, there should be no coasting on the racetrack. You are either on the brakes or on the gas. Period. If you are coasting, you should have stayed on the gas longer and broke harder. Sure, as a technique to develop smoothness, the "no brake" drill is beneficial. But for normal riding (and especially racing), there is no coasting. Keith is also firmly against trail braking. His theory is that getting the braking done while straight up and down is faster. That is also debateable. Jason Pridmore and Ed Bargy completely disagree. Their theory is that trail braking increases time on the throttle...which increases total speed...which lowers lap times. On the other hand, the arguement could be made that trail braking uses up available traction. So if somebody can trail brake into the curve and the remaining available traction will allow you to take the curve at 80mph...the traction freed up by not trail braking could allow you to take the curve at 83mph. We neither teach nor promote trail braking at a Novice level. It is an advanced skill that requires precision and excellent feel because you can very easily tuck the front. I do believe trail braking has a purpose is racing though. Having the ability to trail brake will allow you to pass people on corner entrances. Not only do you get in front of them, but you also disrupt thier corner entry line and speed; which will usually prevent them from re-passing you as long as you can hold a tight line. Whether trail braking is the fastest way around the track in a time trial is something that will be debated for years...but as a racing tool, trail braking can be very effective.
To brake or not to brake! As one with lots of crashing experience..It seems to me that the theory of trail-braking into a corner is based on sound physics..However it is one more thing that has to be "thought about" with some degree of precision to keep from crashing and actually making up time. I find that the number one thing that limits my laptimes is NOT my bike, tires, or set-up..It is how fast my brain can process all the information that is necessary to get around the track without crashing. The less my brain has to "work on" , such as having a slipper clutch and a well tuned suspension, the faster I can go. I think I will wait a little to see how fast I can go without having to trail brake before I start using it. Only place I do any of it now is going into 2 at Barber as I am leaning over and it scares me a little to even do that! When somebody can start selling "brain pills", that will be the best investment I can make for my riding!
Paging Mr Hubbard......... Please pick up the house phone. I find KC's "get all of the braking done straight up and down" suitable for Novice riders. However.....I find it to be downright dangerous as speeds and skills progress. WTF would anyone want to abandon the ONLY source of control you have as you approach the apex of a corner? just doesn;t make sense to me. Just like Reg Pridmores steering vs counter-steering mumbo jumbo.
Re: Paging Mr Hubbard......... Please pick up the house pho Well, to be fair, his theory is that you should be familiar and consistent enough that you dont have to change speeds approaching the apex. Is that realistic? sometimes. But not always we all know that. What is Reg Pridmores "mumbo jumbo" on counter steering you speak of. Cant say I have ever heard much of his stuff.
Reg used to preach some jibberish about turning a bike without the need for countersteering. He and Keith had some public debates about it. I adjust my entry speed fairly often after corner entry. Sliding tires is a way to do it but letsface it.. very few of our riders are comfortable doing a two-wheel slide to scrub off speed...! Being able to threshold brake while well past the entry (and while leaned over) is an ass-saver. This should be practiced until second nature IMO.
Oh, that. Yeah. The body steering vs counter steering debate. Codes no BS bike with the clipons mounted to the frame pretty much debunked that argument for sure. I agree with ya on the braking and pushing the front to scrub speed thing. I was just saying what Codes thoughts on it were. He says you should already have it set before you turn in. And if you do so, well then unless you have to change line for another rider I guess you wouldnt need either technique. In the real world, with mere mortal riders........... yeah, doesnt quite work that way IMO
Problem with Keiths MO is that unless you have mastered trail braking you need to error on the side of caution on setting entry speed (basically you have to guess). Also letting off the brakes at tip in unloads the front tire and the front suspension "slowing" the geometry of thae bike at exactly the moment we want to actually tighten or quicken the geometry. I have no fear in blowing into a corner too fast because I know I can continue to modulate my entry speed right up to the apex if need be with trail braking... works every time except passing Mark on teh outside at Mid-XXXX!!!! Now lets take street riding... we don;t know whats around thr corner.. agressive trailbraking saved mine and Bonnies bacon at the gap when we came railing arond a corner and a SWIFT truck was blocking the entire road. It really can be a lifesaver.
No doubt :roll: Ed calls it "push-pull" steering instead of countersteering. The thing is, it really doesnt make a damn what any of them want to call it. EVERYONE does the same thing when initiating a turn on a motorcycle. It doesnt matter how you want to describe it. I think those guys don't race anymore so the only way they can compete with each other is with arguing terminology. :lol:
EXACTLY. That point is lost on him and i even brought it up during one of the Level III classroom sessions last year. He acts as if there are no variables and you can simply ride around the track, at an identical pace, on identical lines and nothing/nobody will ever interfere with that. When I was racing the ZX6R, trail braking was my bread and butter...that is how i made 90% of my passes. If i didnt do it on the brakes on entry, i would do it mid-corner. I can honestly say i have never passed anyone under power on that bike. If i lived by KC's methods, i would have just circulated around the track in last. :lol:
I think some of you (not all) have missed KC's point - this is a drill used to teach positive throttle thru the turn as well as beginers turning speed selection. I don't think he is advocating this as a technique for high performance riding to be used exclusively. And, if he was, it was back in the day when tire technology was not as good as it is today (his books are 25 yrs. old). It is a drill. A very good drill. Hmmm, I think we even use it with STT. IIRC, an example KC uses is of Eddie Lawson or Wayne Rainey where he describes coming into the turn on the brakes, forks are compressed, and at this point the rider transitions from the brakes to the throttle with little fork deflection until the throttle (accelerating) is doing most of the work. I further agree with STT Dude's comment about the advice of getting braking done while straight up as more appropriate for Novice riders. This makes sense. We want to keep them around so they become intermediates and advanced riders. One of the best explanations of trail braking I've heard is from our very own instructor, Trevor, who describes trail braking as not something you go out and learn, but a skill that you acquire as you improve your skills. Lastly, other tools for control in a corner other than the brakes are the throttle, the bars, the pegs, and most importantly, the eyes.
The thing is that his thoughts haven't changed. I did the 2-day camp in '07 and level III last year and he was still preaching/teaching the same things that were true 25 years ago. When trail braking came up, he simply said "that is not the best way around the race track. Any example you can give me where trail-braking is needed, i can counterpoint that example with how you can accomplish the same thing better and faster without trail braking".
It would be interesting to have that conversation with KC and it would be interesting to see some old footage of him racing and see if he is off the brakes before he puts any input into the bars. If he's suggesting you don't trail brake at all, I think it is a negative to his credibility and I've been a fan for years. I think a lot of his philosophies from 25 yrs ago still hold true, maybe just not all :?