Another great article on trail braking, including road riding and DS

jeckyll

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Part 4: Note that I wish he'd talked a bit about the motard style of riding, which I find the Tenere does best with on tight corners, while on longer more open corners it rides happiest like a 'street bike'
As always, YMMV ;)

 

PhilPhilippines

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On the road, I would concentrate on getting the entry speed low enough, so that you can stop comfortably, on your side of the road, in the distance you can see to be clear.

Get all your slowing finished on approach to the bend, choose an appropriate flexible gear, then as you turn in, add throttle to maintain speed and only when the limit/vanishing point starts "running away", start chasing it with the throttle to an appropriate speed for the next straight stretch.
 

jeckyll

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On the road, I would concentrate on getting the entry speed low enough, so that you can stop comfortably, on your side of the road, in the distance you can see to be clear.

Get all your slowing finished on approach to the bend, choose an appropriate flexible gear, then as you turn in, add throttle to maintain speed and only when the limit/vanishing point starts "running away", start chasing it with the throttle to an appropriate speed for the next straight stretch.
Did you read the articles?
 

PhilPhilippines

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Your comments are directly opposed to the articles
Am I meant to agree wholeheartedly with the articles when I don't?

I am all for swift, safe progress on the road. But attitude and safety are number one. Chasing tenths is not the goal imho, gathering information is.

There is certainly a lot of good information there, but there are widely varying abilities in motorcycling. Get basic techniques right that separate inputs first, such as 5 point/tapered/chauffeur braking, balance transfer, gear change timing, etc, is paramount as a foundation.

My suggestion was for all levels and, if followed, is a known safe system of vehicle control that is recognised worldwide.
 

Skytower

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Maintaining speed mid-corner unloads your front tire, which makes changing direction mid-corner for an unplanned event risky. You'd lose time slowing to reload the tire.
 

PhilPhilippines

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Maintaining speed mid-corner unloads your front tire, which makes changing direction mid-corner for an unplanned event risky. You'd lose time slowing to reload the tire.
If your speed is reduced in order that you can stop on your side comfortably within the distance you can see to be clear (double the distance on single track roads) then you have anticipated and "planned" for any "event" that can be reasonably expected to happen...ie there is someone, somewhere doing something in the world that could be considered reasonably risk intolerant - I would therefore recommend a speed that would probably therefore be slightly lower than yours, as the ''planned event'' is expected.

In the UK there is Roadcraft. It is a book/system of vehicle control that develops safe techniques to an advanced level. In doing so the system recommends: IPSGA:
a) Information (runs throughout: TUG: take/use/give)
b) Position
c) Speed
d) Gear
e) Accelerate

It goes something along these lines, with attitude to safety and information (observation links and appropriate response) taking precedence over making progress:

1) Observe the limit point of the bend and position appropriately
2) Reduce your speed so that you can comfortably stop on your side of the road within the distance you can see to be clear (before the limit point)
3) As you come off the brakes select an appropriate flexible gear for the bend
4) As you steer into the bend maintain the speed with the throttle to neither acc/decelerate
5) As the limit point starts moving away, accelerate.
This is the safest way to take a corner for all standards and encourages "information" to dictate the speed prior to entry.

There is however, the option to trail brake. That can be utilised on tight and tightening corners once your observation links have been honed to a very high standard. So high that you never make an error in entry speed*** - To ".....Reduce your speed so that you can comfortably stop on your side of the road within the distance you can see to be clear (before the limit point)...." can be compressed slightly with trail braking, however, road surface condition, micro climates, camber, etc, must all have been taken into consideration 100% or an incident can ensue.

*** Perhaps this is you Skytower, which is correct on tight bends and if your abilities are at the same level as with your attitude, observation, etc. However, you did mention ''unplanned events...''

 
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