SlowPoke

I think it's really just more of a habit that I bring from the road to the track than anything else. Following a coach around helps me more than anything. Once I see, and do, that, then I'm a lot more plugged in. However, I do revert to being easier on the brakes than I should be, I believe. I don't ride like a hooligan on the roads too much, so I just settle into a pattern of being on the side of caution and not needing a handful of brakes at every turn. Then I have to remember at the school days that I need to ramp it up and be comfortable with some hard braking. I suppose I'm riding closer to my limits on the track and not nearly as close on the street, giving myself that big buffer in skill, should I need it for an emergency. I'm also riding a 650lb bike on the street, vs. the S1000RR's on the track so stopping on them is slightly different Got any good drills to work on at the track for brake usage?

Thanks for the reply, great information there. Thinking back to our last track session, he said he would catch me as we approached a turn, then I'd start to slowly put distance between us, then on the straight aways, I'd take off, but again, he'd catch me as we approached the corner. I think his words to me were something along the lines of "If you ever learn to use the brakes, you'll be checked out" 🤣 I'm working on it. I haven't quite had the internal switch click that allows me to trust the brakes to that level yet! Heading to Barber in the spring so I guess that's about as good a place as any to practice my braking?

That's a good question. He doesn't pull away from me, we are right with each other, but I do know a bad habit I have, especially on the street is engine braking. If I could say one main difference in our riding is I engine brake considerably more than he does. I'm working to change that, so I'm using my brakes more now, but overall, that would be the only difference I am aware of between our riding styles. No one is really putting any distance on the other one, regardless of who's leading the ride at the time.

Greetings all, first post here. I've been to 3 or 4 Level 4 days of School, ride a heavier Sport Touring bike on the street, Yamaha FJR1300. The guy I ride with has the same bike, we've been to Superbike School together, every time. Our track lap times are very close and on the street we ride extremely similar. At no point does either of us really leave the other one behind. We ride flat roads to get to the mountains but spend most of our riding on mountain and twisty roads. We were both running the same tires, Pirelli Angel GT's and have been for 50,000 miles for me. Back in August, I replaced mine because the sides of the rear tire were worn out. The front tire was rounded in the wear profile and it looked like a new tire, just with less tread. Nice even wear, no issues, probably had 2,000 miles left on it. The other guy changed his tires this week because his front was worn out. It had a trapezoid shape on the front tire. I know they are dual compound tires and I've seen them wear like that before. It was pretty severe. We weigh about the same and our suspensions are setup the same and I'm just curious why our tires wear so different riding the same roads on the same bike. My question, is that riding technique differences or something more along the lines of tire pressure. He's been running about 3-4 lbs less on the front than I do. We're doing a couple more days of level 4 in the spring so if it's technique related, it would be nice to know so we can work on correcting it (whichever one of us it is) at those level 4 days. I wonder if he's carrying more speed into the corners than I am, or perhaps he's braking harder than I am? It has to be a small detail because we are always so closely matched on the road. Thanks in advance!