Courtesy of Mario
Well, the answer is: DON'T BRAKE IN THE CORNER !!! Honest !
You should brake BEFORE the turn in point. I f you get too hot into a turn, don't brake, or you'll open up the trajectory and end up going wide. Force your eyes on the apex, and lean the bike (don't forget to get out of the bike, or you'll scrape all kinds of bits until you fall).
Of course, GP riders and other professional racing pilots will stay on the brakes for longer, so let's say you throw that argument at me. Well, they hang on to them further, but they are easying the pressure on the lever, not doing the braking there.
Let's see if I can explain that easily by steps (procedure for track riding/racing):
1) Full gas down a straight
2) Approaching corner, start braking gradually, but firmly (like it's usually said for triggers of guns, don't pull the lever, squeeze it!).
3) As you brake, downshift, blipping the throttle. Should the rear wheel start jumping from a harsh downshift, press HALF of the clutch, and it will go steady again.
4) As you approach the turn in point, gradually release the lever, adjusting the speed of release to how fast you want to go into the turn.
5) Go into the corner in the gear that will allow you to EXIT it around 8,000-9,000, where max torque is for our bikes. That's why we have free practices, to sort out the gearing and stuff
6) You can tell that you were going fast if you feel you came in too hot, but at the apex you could accelerate again. If you accelerate easily before the apex, you can still go in faster. If you barely made it past the apex and opened the trajectory, then get in slower, cos you're loosing out on the exit of the turn.
SOME ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- GP riders and other professional riders leave their braking so late that they are still braking after they start to lean, and a bit more. They are going to the limits of a slick tire, remember, not our cheap-o sport touring tires we buy. Of course, their machines are also professionaly adjusted to that additional strain, and those racing bikes are quite different from ours. Also, they fall a lot more than we do, don't they ? Just remember they are not doing the braking there, but are already relasing the pressure from the lever, so the front fork can regain some travel to assimilate the turn.
- Keep your eyes on the turn in point before you get there, then on the apex, then on the exit point. You'll probably miss them if you look somewhere else.
- You might get away with it, in slower paces, but braking IN a corner is not good practice. Braking should be done before the turn in point, so your bike enters the turn balanced. Your bike geometry changes when you brake, so it will change the your trajectory in the turn (if it doesn't make you fall right away).
Mawfaki #6
Nesba #819
I'm not Asian... I'm rice-enhanced