GPTECHMAN
06-02-2004, 05:32 PM
Found this on Bill's board....
by, Robert Redmond
I have been riding motorcycles for most of my life. From the time I was on my first Yamaha 175, to my sporty Honda MB5, to now I have always been one to use all of the available features on a bike. Which brings me to the topic of this article.
Having always used the rear brake in conjunction with the front of course, I just assumed everybody used both. It seemed natural to me. In 1995 my opinion started to change - I took the MSF Basic Rider class with my girlfriend of that era. Since I had already been riding for more than 10 years, I assumed I would get nothing out of it skills-wise than just my normal practice drills I did on my own. Since I know all of you reading this have taken the MSF course, I don't need to go over it right? Well I know a few of you that haven't done it so bear with me if you have. First, you should go do it even if you think you're a hot shot - you will learn. I digress.
As our classroom sessions ended our riding sessions began. MSF covers a number of survival skills and drills designed to keep you alive. One of the most interesting of these drills are the braking drills. Mounted up on 125cc Honda's with a blistering 40MPH top speed we worked on the braking drills. It was during these drills I took notice of my classmates. Most were new riders and a few seasoned like myself mostly there to avoid having to take the lame DMV skills test.
Many students were genuinely scared to use FRONT brake. Relying heavily on the rear and coming to the understanding that the bike would fish tail nicely under heavy rear-brake only action. As class wore on and skills from my fellow students improved we finally made it to the actual "rear-brake" drill. This involved getting the bike to speed (30mph) and using only the rear brake to the point of lock up and skid! I thought this was a fun idea. When my turn came I realized that I couldn't lock up the rear. My braking instincts / habits were wired that lock-up is baaaddd. Front brake goooooood. Holy crap why couldn't I do this? I have been using the rear brake in my daily riding for years. On my third attempt I finally completed the drill successfully. I parked and noticed my fellow students talking about the experience and saying things like " I never want that to happen to me when I'm riding". Some of these people were shook up about what just happened. The drill was intended to help you cope with a locked rear and not end up on your head after from a high-side. Most students said the best way to cope with a locked rear is to not use it at all - no chance of a lock-up.
Well fast-forward to 2000 and I'm at my first open track day at Sears Point... err Infineon. The weather was overcast and cool but I'm only thinking about how I'm going to crap my pants on the track because I'm not worthy. Well I managed some sighting laps and felt okay. The track was open and I ventured out. As many newbie track riders I rode a street pace around the track and tried to stay out of everyone's way. I began to pick-up speed as the day wore on and I found myself going deeper and deeper into corners. As I came down from 100MPH into turn 11 ( last corner before the front straight and a hairpin too) I found myself using the brakes harder and harder. Using both front and rear as I always have. Several laps into the afternoon session I found myself running into T11 too hot and exiting way to wide... then it happened - No I didn't crash. As I was beginning to apex T11 I added a tiny bit of rear brake to try to slow down just a tick. What happened next was very interesting... I didn't really slow much if at all but my line tightened up dramatically. I practiced this technique for the remainder of the day. I was happy to have learned something new and not ended up on my head.
After the day was done I chatted with some of my fellow riders on the experiences of the day. When I shared what I was doing, it took the conversation in a whole different direction. "Dude - I never touch that thing", "I'm scared of the rear brake" and " it doesn't do that much" were some of the responses I got. Curious, were some of these riders refugees of the MSF course? Did they scare themselves into not using the rear brake?
Now that I have done dozens of track days and talked with hundreds of riders my informal poll and obsession with the rear brake is coming to a head. It seems in my non-scientific anecdotal polls that 95% of track riders don't use the rear brake. Of those riders maybe 10% say they use it on the street. So that leaves 5% of the riders that do use the rear brake on the track (and street). It seems that RB (rear brake) use even by racers is an advanced technique.
Many of the "fast guys" use it to "set" the bike in certain corners or maybe cresting a hill to keep the front wheel down. So what does "setting the bike" mean anyway? Well it seems that what I was doing back in 2000 at Sears Point was "setting the bike". Using the rear brake to control rear suspension compression, thereby maintaining rear ride height and allowing a more aggressive angle or attack with the chassis, which causes the motorcycle to tighten it's line in a corner or maintain front wheel contact cresting a rise in the track. An example is coming into a decreasing radius corner where a bit of rear brake will effectively make the motorcycle turn tighter. Many would argue this same result can be achieved by additional input through counter-steering but it can only help to know more than one technique.
How about "backing it in"? Well if you have watched MotoGp or Superbike racing with any regularity you have seen the likes of Val Rossi, Nicky Hayden and Ben Bostrom using this technique. Basically braking the rear tire to the point of near lock-up, sliding and thereby turning the rear of the motorcycle. This technique is done by rear braking. But not all rear braking is the same. Some of these riders use the clutch (yes the clutch) to rear brake. This is achieved by downshifting the engine far enough so the revs are much higher than road speed would allow and then feeding the clutch out as to not lock the rear wheel. I've seen Jason Pridmore demo this at STAR School, It's very impressive. As he feeds the clutch you can hear the rear tire squeal. Other riders may use the rear brake itself or even a combination of clutch and brake depending on the corner and conditions.
One of the most famous rear brakers is Mick Doohan, 5 Time GP champ and Honda rider. You see in 1992 at the famed Assen Circuit Mick injured his ankle in a high speed crash. His right ankle mangled and ultimately pretty unusable. They fused it together and Mick was back racing. In 1993 he came up with an idea that was sheer genius. Since his right foot was toast he suggested to Honda engineers that they create a thumb operated rear brake, They did and the rest is history. 5 GP500 World Championships in a row from 1994 to 1998. So the thumb brake was born.
The thumb brake has become common place on many factory race machines. Ben Bostrom and Migel DuHamel have used them this season as well as several MotoGP riders in GP1 and 250cc classes. So this begs the question: Can the everyday guy use a thumb brake and get his monies worth? We will find out in part two of this article. Wish me luck.
by, Robert Redmond
I have been riding motorcycles for most of my life. From the time I was on my first Yamaha 175, to my sporty Honda MB5, to now I have always been one to use all of the available features on a bike. Which brings me to the topic of this article.
Having always used the rear brake in conjunction with the front of course, I just assumed everybody used both. It seemed natural to me. In 1995 my opinion started to change - I took the MSF Basic Rider class with my girlfriend of that era. Since I had already been riding for more than 10 years, I assumed I would get nothing out of it skills-wise than just my normal practice drills I did on my own. Since I know all of you reading this have taken the MSF course, I don't need to go over it right? Well I know a few of you that haven't done it so bear with me if you have. First, you should go do it even if you think you're a hot shot - you will learn. I digress.
As our classroom sessions ended our riding sessions began. MSF covers a number of survival skills and drills designed to keep you alive. One of the most interesting of these drills are the braking drills. Mounted up on 125cc Honda's with a blistering 40MPH top speed we worked on the braking drills. It was during these drills I took notice of my classmates. Most were new riders and a few seasoned like myself mostly there to avoid having to take the lame DMV skills test.
Many students were genuinely scared to use FRONT brake. Relying heavily on the rear and coming to the understanding that the bike would fish tail nicely under heavy rear-brake only action. As class wore on and skills from my fellow students improved we finally made it to the actual "rear-brake" drill. This involved getting the bike to speed (30mph) and using only the rear brake to the point of lock up and skid! I thought this was a fun idea. When my turn came I realized that I couldn't lock up the rear. My braking instincts / habits were wired that lock-up is baaaddd. Front brake goooooood. Holy crap why couldn't I do this? I have been using the rear brake in my daily riding for years. On my third attempt I finally completed the drill successfully. I parked and noticed my fellow students talking about the experience and saying things like " I never want that to happen to me when I'm riding". Some of these people were shook up about what just happened. The drill was intended to help you cope with a locked rear and not end up on your head after from a high-side. Most students said the best way to cope with a locked rear is to not use it at all - no chance of a lock-up.
Well fast-forward to 2000 and I'm at my first open track day at Sears Point... err Infineon. The weather was overcast and cool but I'm only thinking about how I'm going to crap my pants on the track because I'm not worthy. Well I managed some sighting laps and felt okay. The track was open and I ventured out. As many newbie track riders I rode a street pace around the track and tried to stay out of everyone's way. I began to pick-up speed as the day wore on and I found myself going deeper and deeper into corners. As I came down from 100MPH into turn 11 ( last corner before the front straight and a hairpin too) I found myself using the brakes harder and harder. Using both front and rear as I always have. Several laps into the afternoon session I found myself running into T11 too hot and exiting way to wide... then it happened - No I didn't crash. As I was beginning to apex T11 I added a tiny bit of rear brake to try to slow down just a tick. What happened next was very interesting... I didn't really slow much if at all but my line tightened up dramatically. I practiced this technique for the remainder of the day. I was happy to have learned something new and not ended up on my head.
After the day was done I chatted with some of my fellow riders on the experiences of the day. When I shared what I was doing, it took the conversation in a whole different direction. "Dude - I never touch that thing", "I'm scared of the rear brake" and " it doesn't do that much" were some of the responses I got. Curious, were some of these riders refugees of the MSF course? Did they scare themselves into not using the rear brake?
Now that I have done dozens of track days and talked with hundreds of riders my informal poll and obsession with the rear brake is coming to a head. It seems in my non-scientific anecdotal polls that 95% of track riders don't use the rear brake. Of those riders maybe 10% say they use it on the street. So that leaves 5% of the riders that do use the rear brake on the track (and street). It seems that RB (rear brake) use even by racers is an advanced technique.
Many of the "fast guys" use it to "set" the bike in certain corners or maybe cresting a hill to keep the front wheel down. So what does "setting the bike" mean anyway? Well it seems that what I was doing back in 2000 at Sears Point was "setting the bike". Using the rear brake to control rear suspension compression, thereby maintaining rear ride height and allowing a more aggressive angle or attack with the chassis, which causes the motorcycle to tighten it's line in a corner or maintain front wheel contact cresting a rise in the track. An example is coming into a decreasing radius corner where a bit of rear brake will effectively make the motorcycle turn tighter. Many would argue this same result can be achieved by additional input through counter-steering but it can only help to know more than one technique.
How about "backing it in"? Well if you have watched MotoGp or Superbike racing with any regularity you have seen the likes of Val Rossi, Nicky Hayden and Ben Bostrom using this technique. Basically braking the rear tire to the point of near lock-up, sliding and thereby turning the rear of the motorcycle. This technique is done by rear braking. But not all rear braking is the same. Some of these riders use the clutch (yes the clutch) to rear brake. This is achieved by downshifting the engine far enough so the revs are much higher than road speed would allow and then feeding the clutch out as to not lock the rear wheel. I've seen Jason Pridmore demo this at STAR School, It's very impressive. As he feeds the clutch you can hear the rear tire squeal. Other riders may use the rear brake itself or even a combination of clutch and brake depending on the corner and conditions.
One of the most famous rear brakers is Mick Doohan, 5 Time GP champ and Honda rider. You see in 1992 at the famed Assen Circuit Mick injured his ankle in a high speed crash. His right ankle mangled and ultimately pretty unusable. They fused it together and Mick was back racing. In 1993 he came up with an idea that was sheer genius. Since his right foot was toast he suggested to Honda engineers that they create a thumb operated rear brake, They did and the rest is history. 5 GP500 World Championships in a row from 1994 to 1998. So the thumb brake was born.
The thumb brake has become common place on many factory race machines. Ben Bostrom and Migel DuHamel have used them this season as well as several MotoGP riders in GP1 and 250cc classes. So this begs the question: Can the everyday guy use a thumb brake and get his monies worth? We will find out in part two of this article. Wish me luck.