Corner braking - should I do it or not?

[auvicua]

Being a newbie, I found myself facing a dilemma here.
On the way home this Saturday, after entering a corner, I realised I was going too fast for it. My instinct was slowing down by applying the brakes, but one thing I remember from my BHC was NEVER apply breaks in a concer! You will crash if you do! Instead, I leaned my body/the bike further to get me out of the coner. But it was a pretty close call though, I felt I was really close to get out my lane.
So my question is: should I ever break IN a corner and what should I do if I found I was going too fast after I got into the corner?
Can some experinced riders shed some light on this issue for me! People on this forum have helped me a lot and making my riding so much fun Thanks guys!
Charlie

[Taz]

I'd say just lean and look thru the corner to where you want to end up. You go where you look. You probably surprised yourself as to how far you could lean and still nothing touvhed down. Other than that I can't add much more as I just ride and don't really analyze it that much.

[2wheeldrifter]

Get Twist of the wrist book 2... and read it!

end of story

It's called trail braking what you are meaning, yes you can do it, it's knowing your limits/feel of your brakes before locking up on you... READ THE BOOK!

Maybe as Anthrax has said... maybe it wasn't as bad as you thought?? always look where you want to go and you'll go there...

[Jantar]

As anthrax says, look at where you want to go and push harder on the inside handlebar. That is generally a better option than braking mid corner. Nine times out of ten you'll find that you will get around that bend by following that advice. There are times that I go against my own advice here, although not often. The times that I tend to brake mid corner aren't those where I'm simply too hot, but rather its those times that I'm not looking where I'm going (like admiring the scenery rather than the road), and despite what others may say, it happens to everyone at some stage. In these cases it may be a matter of braking to peel off as much speed as possible, then throwing it into the corner at the last possible moment.

On a good surface, don't be scared to use your brakes while heeled over for the corner, but be prepared for the feeling that you WILL need a lot more pressure on the bars to prevent the bike from standing up. Also let up on the brakes and get onto the throttle before you get down to a speed too slow for the corner.

[R6_kid:Me]

if you're coming into corners too hot then I'd first take your overall speed down a few notches and learn to get set up for corners before entering them, it's much better to go into a corner at a slower more comfortable speed and be on the gas accelerating through the later part of the corner as this actually helps you turn. The main thing once in a corner is not upsetting the bike - strictly speaking, applying the brakes in a corner won't make you crash, unless of course you are too sudden or apply too much pressure for the amount of residual grip you have left, that is usable grip that you are not already using by cornering.

Braking mid-corner affects the geometry of the bike and therefore changes your trajectory, it also affects your speed which in turn will change the radius of turn for a given lean angle. So taking this into account you can see that if you brake, you also have to apply appropriate turning inputs to compensate - this means that you may be using up more of your grip to the point that you run out and end up taking a slide. In simple terms, applying the rear brake will settle the bike and tighten your line, using the front will tend to make the bike 'stand up' and cause you to run wide.

To get your head around this I'd suggest finding a quiet road/cul de sac/industrial area/carpark where you can play with light brake inputs mid-corner at a constant speed (as in, do it many times at the same speed) and feel the affects for yourself, this is the only way you will truly understand it. Remember that no matter what the situation is, when you are braking you need to be smooth and precise, and you can never get enough practice.

[onearmedbandit]

Putting the front brakes on will do the exact opposite of what you want to happen, in other words the bike will want to stand up and therefore run wider. As pointed out above look through the corner and lean the bike in. You can use the rear brake lightly mid-corner, this can tighten your line but unless your proficient at understanding how your bike reacts to change I would not recommend trying this, as it would be far to easy to apply too much pressure and lock the rear.

[R6_kid:Me]

Also let up on the brakes and get onto the throttle before you get down to a speed too slow for the corner.

How can you be too slow for a corner? Any speed at which you come out the other side in one piece is the right speed.

[Jantar]

.... Any speed at which you come out the other side in one piece is the right speed.

This part is true. Its how you go about getting down to this exit speed that is important. Pm sent.

[YellowDog]

Well done for not braking mid corner because you might have otherwise had you first practical lesson in the infamous mid-corner 'High side' manoeuvre

Being a noob, you may not yet understand countersteering and how to force the bike tio lean further for you.

Reading the book is excellent advice as little snippets and pointers might prove to be counter productive.

Good luck.

[OutForADuck]

Lots of good advice here for you. All of it, pretty much the right stuff to do.

Firstly plan your corners better, if you "find" yourself in a corner going to fast you probably weren't thinking about the corner before you got there.
Just apply good corner technique and go for it (always the best option unless you already have things grinding on the ground)
Leave the front brake alone, it does produce the wrong result compared to what you need and also if you lock it you'll definitely NOT get the result you wanted.
Use the back brake gently, it will wash off speed quite quickly and help tighten the corner for you.

Learn about that Vanishing point.... it might just save you all this drama in the future... not to mention, countersteering, corner sets etc etc.

Good to see you wanting to know how to do it better and also good to see you did the right thing and made it round.... Good stuff!!!

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

Two bits of advice;
1)- Don't listen to what DangerousBastard says if he posts here...
2)- Listen to Jantar...

[crazyhorse]

Lean over more - it will help the bike corner better. If you brake going around a corner, it will make the bike want to stand up and straighten up, so try leaning more and more if you think you're going in too fast. Good luck

[p.dath]

The question has been well answered already. There are free taining courses that run everything week called NASS and SASS (North/South Auckland Street Skills). Come along. They are lots of fun.

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...et-Skills-NASS

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...-Street-Skills

[CookMySock]

You've done the right thing. As has been mentioned, you need the weight off the front wheel, so look out of the corner, crack a little throttle on, and feel the fear and do it anyway.

You can either use all of your traction cornering, or all of it braking, but if you are going to use both then you only get 50/50, so you have to examine your situation and make you own call. If you use all your traction and time to brake, then you had better hope you can stop in the distance you have at hand, because once you are out of room it's way too late to initiate a turn.

Also your bikes' front suspension and steering geometry is much happier if it's not 90% loaded, hence the need to roll a trickle of throttle on to put the C of G backwards slightly.

What you should ignore on any forum, is people who believe their own opinion is the one true truth, and everyone else is wrong. Collect all opinions, understand, filter for your own truth... but you already know this.

Steve

[Katman]

You should be cornering at a speed that if braking is necessary it can be done safely.