hagus

Hi all, I'm new to these forums but I've read a lot of good discussion here and thought it would be fun to join in! One technique I have seen some riders apply, especially coming into tight corners, is a sort of one-two entry. I have seen it mostly with 2-stroke riders (I ride an RS250 and have seen some very good local 125 GP riders doing it). It's sort of related to trailing your brakes in. The riders are heavy on the brakes, and they've "teed up" the motorcycle for the turn, having started to load the bars with some countersteering input. At this point, I have observed the bike can often be in a mild slide. They make more and more countersteering input, then at some point they release the brakes. The bike collapses on its side completely, having had the braking input that makes the bike want to track upright removed. It's almost like there are two turn points. One where you start your countersteering input under full brakes, the second when you release your brakes and the bike steers again and gains more lean angle. I tried this technique coming into Turn 9 at Eastern Creek near Sydney (corner famous for that 1996 Doohan/Criville crash that handed Capirossi a victory - they weren't the first guys to engage in antics like that at T9, haven't haven't been the last!). I found that the technique allowed me to take a much later turn point and later apex into the corner, handy for passing people on the brakes. As soon as the bike falls on its side, I am on the gas with no coasting in between. It taught me a lot about the difference trail braking can make. When I release the brakes, the bike's lean angle increases substantially and as long as I start some throttle instantaneously, the bike feels smooth. It seems mostly applicable to tighter turns. I'm somewhat interested to see whether this is an acknowledged technique, or perhaps an acknowledged riding *fault* with some tech behind it explaining why it shouldn't be done. I feel like it gives me an advantage because I can take a deeper turn point, which leads to a straighter line through the corner. Thoughts? Regards, Luke (www.hagus.net)

G'day Keith, When I first learned this technique, it was in slavish imitation of what I saw my road racing friends doing. They entered the corners smoothly decelerating but with a pleasant blip-blip-blip down through the gears. I thought "that sounds nice, I'll try to do it." But it wasn't until I started road racing that I realised I had picked up a valuable technique. Like many things good racers do, it's done for a reason! It lets you get your downshifting done in a controlled manner before the real action starts: tackling the upcoming corner. On the technique itself, one thing I noticed was that on my race bike (Aprilia RS250) it was easier to compress the process down - nail the brakes and go 'bang bang bang' through the gears with quick throttle blips and little flicks of the clutch. On a 4-stroke (the ZX-6R that I ride on the street) I find myself locking the rear wheel with engine braking if I don't stretch the process out a bit. For learning this procedure, I started by rolling off the throttle and letting the engine braking slow the bike down. I then applied a small amount of pressure on the gear lever, and simultaneously blipped the throttle and the clutch. I'd work my way down the gears like this approaching intersections and the like. Once this process was smooth, I started working on doing the same thing but applying some front brake as well. As my co-ordination improved, I applied more brake each time. The culmination of all this was to apply maximum front brake during the whole process while simultaneously making the process smooth. A lot of riders may think this stresses the engine, and indeed you can sometimes shoot the revs up a little higher than you like. The answer is to not underestimate how strong the engine and gearbox are in a modern motorcycle. As long as you are smooth, you won't damage your machine. A final point: until this process is entirely automatic (in TOTW speak, takes up as few attention dollars as possible) it will take a lot of attention. I didn't try to apply it on the race track it until I could do it automatically while my attention was elsewhere (such as on the rider inside of me trying to out-brake me into the turn). Just a few observations of my own, hope this is helpful! Best regards, Luke (www.hagus.net)