We hear it all the time in our sport.
Always do this, never do that, the only way is this way.
So I was having a conversation with my buddy Scott where we asked what are the always,
onlys and nevers of riding.
We’d try to come up with an absolute and the other would poke holes in it.
Here’s what we came up with.
Always do all your braking before the corner, or Never touch the front brake in a corner.
Fear mongering is big here.
The fear of sliding out.
The fear of hitting gravel.
The fear of the what-ifs have made this one of the most long lasting “nevers” in modern
motorcycles.
Honestly, I go to the brakes mid corner all the time.
I’ll bet you have too.
And then you kicked yourself for making such a grave mistake, right?
Indeed, grabbing the front brake mid corner isn’t a very good idea.
But what if we sneak the front brake on to gently bring our speed down.
Radius equals miles per hour, slowing down makes the motorcycle turn a tighter radius.
So why is this still considered to be so dangerous?
Why do "they” say if we are in a corner going faster than we want, that our only option
is to stay on the gas and just lean more?
How does that make any sense?
It doesn’t.
If we feel like we’re going too fast in a corner, staying on the gas won't solve the
problem.
It’ll just end the anticipation.
So, yes, we can use the front brake in a corner.
The key here is to go to the brake with finesse.
Sneak the front brake on, don’t drop anchor.
Be ever mindful of our 100-points of grip.
If there is a rule here, that rule would be simply, go to the brakes when we’re nervous
and slow until we are comfortable with our speed and direction.
Seriously, how easy is that?
Never add lean angle and throttle at the same time.
This is one of those situations that's a rule – with exceptions.
Ordinarily, it's not a good idea to add throttle to lean angle.
Especially when grip is down or the pace is up.
Remember when we accelerate we're asking the bike to run wider.
But when we add lean angle, we're trying to make the radius tighten.
So why would we push two competing inputs against each other?
Turns out, there are a few very specific times to bend this rule a little.
Let’s say we want to accelerate through a chicane.
Adding lean and throttle becomes a calculated risk.
"just how much throttle can I sneak in here, and how do I cheat lean angle just enough?"
We also need to think about weight transfer.
If we're asking the front tire to turn, we should load the front.
But when accelerating, all that weight goes to the back tire.
So is an unloaded front tire, while we’re trying to turn, sending the bike conflicting
signals, a good practice for everyday riding?
Probably not.
Can we play with this in the right situation?
Sure, so long as we do so smoothly and understand the consequences of overcoming that 100th
point of grip.
The only way to turn is with counter steering.
With counter steering, we are managing the gyroscope.
If we are on the gas, actively accelerating, to stay on-line we need to add more lean.
We can affect lean by pushing down on the pegs.
When we move our upper bodies off the inside of the bike's centerline it helps the bike
lean, but naturally adds pressure to the bars.
Enough to counter steer subtly.
If we need to change direction quickly, subtlety isn’t a great way to get that tire deflected.
So yeah, the most efficient way of steering, especially quickly, is consciously counter
steering at the bars.
The fun part; once that tire is deflected, we can control that rate of lean with how
we move our bodies and with how much weight we put on that inside footpeg.
So the truth here is, there are lots of things we can do to affect direction change on the
bike, the best riders understand this and use a combination of all these techniques.
Not just one of them.
Never Apex on a Public Road.
First, let’s be sure we’re all on the same page: An apex is simply the point at
which we are closest to the inside of the turn.
On public roads we need to think about the risks of a tight apex on the center line.
Is that where we want to put our motorcycle, with our head in the oncoming lane?
Also, apexes on the road can be hard to identify, so why obsess about the "apex" on the street?
Look, the reality is we will all be closer to the inside of a corner at some point, so
like it or not, we are all “apexing” on the street.
But, putting ourselves in a position to see the exit is considerably more important.
This is what Champ School would call the decision point.
Everything we do on a bike is to get into the corner, to the decision point, get the
bike turned or pointed, to see what is happening or to see the corner exit.
The apex is just a thing we can use to help us do all of that.
You’ll Never run out of clearance on a sport bike – you can lean it as far as you want.
Apparently, according to many, we only need to worry about limited corning clearance on
a cruiser, and thus, we should be riding these two styles of bikes in two very different
ways.
I’m sorry, but every bike has a lean angle limit, on some bikes it might be the floorboards,
on others it might be the edge of the tire.
What’s more, lean equals risk, right.
The more we lean the more risk we are taking.
So leaning, especially counter-leaning, with the assumption that we’ll never run out
of clearance may have limited value based on how fast we might be going and how much
grip we have.
It’s probably better to find ways to reduce lean, reduce risk, instead of just hucking
the bike over on it’s side and trusting we’ll never run out of clearance and never
run out of grip.
Never stab the brakes.
For sure, this is a habit that we do not want to form, but when we're going slow and the
grip is good, nothing matters.
Sure, when I'm straight up and down, trundling along in a parking lot on a warm day, I can
get away with stabbing the brakes, but why would I want to?
This one probably has a bit of value, yeah?
Never push the throttle against the front brake.
If we're using the front brake we're telling the bike we want to slow down and turn.
When we're using the throttle, we're telling the bike that we want to speed up and go straight.
This one is valid, and if you don’t believe me, here’s Sylvan Guintoli telling us to
never push the throttle against the front brake.
- This is going to sound obvious.
Never, ever use them together.
We want to use one or the other.
- And here’s what the guys over at Champ School had to say about it.
- We're never going to overlap the throttle against the front brake.
- How do "mixed messages" work in other parts of your life?
Pushing the throttle against the front brake is giving the motorcycle conflicting instructions.
Mixed Messages.
Now that might work in a parking lot, but likely to go catastrophically wrong out in
the real world.
So lets try not to overlap those two controls.
Cool?
Now look, the point of all of this isn’t to make excuses for using poor techniques.
The point we are trying to make here is that we need to be cautious of absolutes.
If you’ve taken ChampU, they say one of the seven reasons riders crash is not adjusting
to change.
Not being adaptable, right?
We need to set ourselves up to be able to
adapt, to adjust to constantly changing conditions.
Not riding by rote or a pre-defined set of unbreakable rules.
The idea of being "efficient;" using the right control at the right time, has a place here.
If we're efficient with controls, we have more mental bandwidth to deal with and adjust
to the unexpected.
There is a big difference between "is this possible" and "is this a good idea" or even
"is this the best way to accomplish this task?"
Here’s the thing.
We should try not to think in terms of rules
or absolutes, instead think in terms of objectives.
The Umbrella of Direction, the Decision Point.
Getting the motorcycle slowed down, getting the motorcycle turned, stopping, reducing
lean, reducing risk, staying within our 100-points of grip, maintaining focus.
So, instead of thinking about “Hey, I need to be in second gear here, and tip in there,
or I’m at the corner, I must get back on the gas right now!”
we should be thinking about understanding what each of our controls do, using the right
control, and what we can do with our bodies, and our eyes, to affect the motorcycle, to
put the bike where we want it.
Guys, thanks so much for watching. Ride on and ride well.