Trail braking is a riding technique where you keep a small amount of front brake pressure applied as you lean the motorcycle into a corner. Instead of finishing all your braking before the turn, you gradually “trail off” or ease the brake lever as you increase your lean angle, reaching zero brake by the apex..
What It Does
- Compresses forks: Shifts weight forward and shortens the steering geometry (rake and trail), making the bike turn faster.
- Improves grip: Puts a bigger contact patch on the front tire.
- Adds safety: Gives you an instant safety margin if a corner tightens up or you need to slow down mid-turn.
How It Is Done
- Brake straight up: Do your hard braking while the motorcycle is completely upright and straight.
- Initiate turn-in: Begin leaning the bike into the corner while still holding a light squeeze (5% to 10% pressure) on the front brake.
- Ease off smoothly: As your lean angle gets deeper, slowly relax your fingers on the brake lever.
- Release at the apex: Completely let go of the brake by the time you reach the turning apex, then transition smoothly onto the throttle to pull out of the turn.
This is an example of how good AI can be. Trail braking used to be a technique used only by professional riders or highly skilled riders, who all used it. It was normally not explained to ordinary riders because it can be dangerous when first learning it and also, it was a sort of trade secret, which made those who knew the technique better riders than those who did not know the technique. Once mastered trail braking makes riders both faster and safer. At some point around maybe fifteen years ago or more, videos started appearing on YouTube showing riders how to trail brake. The videos were often confusing and many of them described the technique differently. Today, there are even more videos, but still trail braking is typically not that well explained on most YT videos. This morning to test Google AI, I asked it to explain trail braking and within two seconds I got the reply above. This illustrates how wonderful some uses of AI can be. The Google robot explanation is concise and right on the money. That’s how you do it and why you do it. If you are just learning, be careful because you will be retraining your right hand to instinctively work differently than before, so it can be dangerous until it is fully mastered. As with all new skills on a bike, start slow and practice on roads you know very well. A not so subtle subtlety not in the above is you keep the throttle on, continue giving the bike gas, as you enter and do the turn. This requires practice but is a much safer way to turn a motorcycle. ABN
American Buddhist Net 