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Someone asked: “What is Trail-Braking and how is it done?”

Most seasoned sportbike riders probably already do it, but just don’t know it. If you’ve ever over-cooked a turn, you also probably trail-braked. Mastering trail-braking is also mastering the fine line between crashing and staying vertical.

In a perfect turn (read: as fast as possible without losing tire grip), you are either on the gas or on the brakes. NO COASTING! Its actually a helluva lot harder than it sounds. The reality is that trail-braking maximizes your corner entry and exit speed to a lesser extent.

There is a rule of thumb that is taught in driving schools: You only have 100% of available grip and that is to be shared between the cornering & braking and cornering & acceleration. Add braking and you have to reduce your cornering. Add acceleration and the same is true. Add cornering, and you again have to reduce braking or acceleration.

I went through Bondurant’s GP Race school on the company tit…well just because its required. They taught us to imagine (in a car of course) that the bottom center of the steering wheel was connected to your right foot with a string. Regardless if your foot is on the gas or the brake pedal, if you turn the wheel, the string pulls up on your foot proportional to the amount you turn. The more you turn, the more your foot gets lifted. Make sense?

This same theory applies to bikes. While you are taught to brake in a straight line (do all the braking completely vertical), a skilled rider can learn to brake later into the approach and actually carry light braking throughout the turn. The important word though is LIGHT. If you could brake heavily while leaned over, the MotoGP riders would never stand the bike up and choose an upright entry into the gravel. Too much braking leaned over will result in a low-side.

If you disect a turn, you really have only three components: entry, apex, and exit. On a normal ride all of the braking is done upright before the turn, coast through the apex leaned over, then roll on the throttle as you exit. On a perfect ‘race’ turn, you brake until the apex area (depending on the features of the turn) then immediately roll on the throttle as the brake is being released. Most mortals who ride well through the mountains tend to fall in the middle of no versus perfect trail-braking.

As to what does it take to get good at it? A track day is the best option with the wide lanes, braking markers, and room to play without oncoming traffic. If you must learn on the street, practice on a stretch of twisties that is empty as well as using baby-step increments. Note where in the turn you release the brakes and where in that same turn you roll on the throttle. All that coasting time in the middle adds up to longer lap times at the track. I wouldn’t use the rear brake at all until you are very familiar with the method and are going insanely deep into the turns. I do on occasion use the rear brake when trail-braking, but ever so slightly and only due to an operator error that I am trying to recover.

I will say that trail-braking makes the turn much smoother as you only have one suspension transition. On the track, its where you can overtake a lot of riders by going deeper into the turn. Next time you watch the races, pay attention to the clip-on camera angle and look at the time between the brake lever release and throttle roll-on…its minimal.

I will also say that planned trail-braking leaves no room for error, especially on the street. I learned it on the track (car & bike) and was able to apply it to the street. It works, but not without an associated risk.

This has been passed around before, but once again take a look at The Pace over at MicaPeak. Its a great tutorial for new riders, especially those on sportbikes.

DISCLAIMER: I assume no responsibility for anyone who wads up their bike trying to learn how to trail brake. There is risk involved similar to that of practicing wheelies of which I proudly cannot do. Go to the track and talk to people who know what they are doing. Over-cooking a turn is very hard to recover from…ask me how I know.