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When Do You Release The Brake?


stuman

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What if we got a definition of trail braking up here, I'll take a stab:

 

Action of releasing the brake gradiently.

 

Some might want to add, "after turning the bike in" but what if we used the above to start with.

If you're at max braking then you'd have to trail the brakes as you tipped in. When I first started trail braking this is how I did it and I was off the brakes when I got to max lean. But it was for a lazy lean only.

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Oh, let's not get into another trail braking discussion. We already have a thread for that.

 

What I was trying to get at is a way to release the brake while turning. Some might call that trail braking but I think it is something different.

 

To me trail braking is slowly releasing the brake after you have leaned the bike over. When trail braking, you might still be on the brake after you have reached your desired lean angle and would continue to release the brake well into the turn.

 

What I was talking about in my earlier post was releasing the brake pretty quickly when you turn the bike. The brake release is timed with how fast you turn the bike. So if you turn the bike slowly you would release the brake at that same rate. If you turn the bike quickly the brake would come off just as fast. Again the brake would be fully released when you reached your desired lean angle.

 

Some have mentioned a fear of loosing the front if you did this.

 

Can you think of any advantages it might have?

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Oh, let's not get into another trail braking discussion. We already have a thread for that.

 

What I was trying to get at is a way to release the brake while turning. Some might call that trail braking but I think it is something different.

 

To me trail braking is slowly releasing the brake after you have leaned the bike over. When trail braking, you might still be on the brake after you have reached your desired lean angle and would continue to release the brake well into the turn.

 

What I was talking about in my earlier post was releasing the brake pretty quickly when you turn the bike. The brake release is timed with how fast you turn the bike. So if you turn the bike slowly you would release the brake at that same rate. If you turn the bike quickly the brake would come off just as fast. Again the brake would be fully released when you reached your desired lean angle.

 

Some have mentioned a fear of loosing the front if you did this.

 

Can you think of any advantages it might have?

Stu;

I had responded earlier to this but to your current question I found at Sears last month that entering turns like 7A and especially 9A, I found that as I moved my brake markers closer and closer to my turn point that I would literally release the lever simultaneous with turning it in. The advantage seemed to be that with the front loaded from braking the transition to turning seemed easier. Maybe it was because the wheelbase was shortened and with the forks compressed that the trail was reduced making turning easier but the more I did it the better the bike seemed to respond to the steering input.

 

Kevin

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I'm not doubting that it works, but doesn't quickly releasing the brake change the weight too quickly. I'm going to focus on my turning specifically this weekend, and would like to have it straightened out before I hit the corners. I was going to have a slow release of the brake while going into the corner so the front stays somewhat loaded. Should I just release and lean? I'm thinking before quickly releasing the brake there should be a gradual release before getting to that point.

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I'm not doubting that it works, but doesn't quickly releasing the brake change the weight too quickly. I'm going to focus on my turning specifically this weekend, and would like to have it straightened out before I hit the corners. I was going to have a slow release of the brake while going into the corner so the front stays somewhat loaded. Should I just release and lean? I'm thinking before quickly releasing the brake there should be a gradual release before getting to that point.

Depends on how your rebound damping is setup. If you have a lot, the front will want to stay down and if you have little it will pop back up, upsetting the chassis and disturbing it's pilot.

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If you can time the brake release right the front will not rise and fall. You can replace the braking load with the cornering force and keep the front end cmpressed.

 

I think there is a series of photos in Twist 1 on this, Eddie on a Superbike. I'll have to go and look.

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