Passes & Canyons Blog

When trail braking, keep a little pressure on the front brake.

I’ve written a number of times about trail braking but the last time I did I got a note from Dan with some surprising information. Dan said he was familiar with trail braking but his definition of it was totally different than mine. He sent along a link to an article by Nick Ienatsch that explained what trail braking is and how it works.

I did some quick Googling to see what showed up on a search and sure enough, the bulk of what I found fit Dan’s idea of trail braking. The best I could find about the technique I called by that name was “dragging the rear brake.”

Obviously I found this very interesting. What I have called “trail braking,” the practice of revving the engine while slipping the clutch and applying some rear brake, was brought to my attention by an instructor in a Beginning Rider Course, and that is what he called it. So that is what I have called it ever since.

What Nick Ienatsch describes is something quite different. You can read his article via that link above but basically the idea, as I understand it, is for when you go into a curve at highway speed. You always want to shed excess speed while still mostly upright, before you initiate your lean, but in trail braking you don’t fully release the front brake. You maintain slight pressure so that if the curve turns tighter than expected you can squeeze a little tighter to shed some more speed. If you have no brake pressure applied and then add a bunch you can get yourself in trouble. If you already are applying some pressure and just increase that a little, then things are likely to go more smoothly.

That’s a really interesting concept for me in more ways than one. When I first learned to ride I was told, and for years everything I read said, do not apply the front brake in a curve–you’ll high-side. And truth be told, I violated that dictum many times because from time to time I found myself in turns that were tighter than anticipated and what else was I supposed to do? Run off the road? I’ve always been extremely careful and cautious in doing so, and I’ve never had any problem.

It’s only in the last few years that I did finally read something saying that braking in the curve is a viable option, as long as executed properly, and that felt like a vindication. And now that I understand the concept I’m eager to experiment and master this technique.

So I guess I won’t call dragging the rear brake “trail braking” any more. But you can bet I’ll continue using the technique for making slow speed U-turns easy. And maybe some day the guys I ride with will finally ask me how it is that I can make these turns so much more easily than they can, and maybe then those old dogs will finally learn a new trick.

Biker Quote for Today

The only people who wear helmets are pansies, nerds, and anyone who wants to live when the idiot next to you doesn’t check his blind spot when changing lanes.

Can you ride a U-turn on this road?

Some of the OFMC took a fall ride in the hills recently and we ended up in a situation that really got me thinking.

We went up Golden Gate Canyon and there was a spot where we came to a dirt road that a friend of Bill’s lives up. Bill had said that if the road wasn’t too bad he wanted to take a quick run up there and see his friend’s place. So we turned onto the road and stopped to survey the situation.

Now, Dennis made it clear he had no intention of going up this road under any circumstances. Dennis is short and can barely get to the ground with his tip-toes on his big Harley, and he refuses to do any dirt, ever. He and whoever else would just wait for whoever did go to return.

I was on my Honda so I was game to go; would have been a different story if I had been on the Concours. That Connie hates gravel.

We checked it out, though, and right away there was a pretty good uphill. As Dennis said, if that was the worst of it, it wouldn’t be too bad. If that was the best of it, it would be terrible. Bill, on his Harley, decided not to try it.

So we needed to turn around and get back on the main road. You can see in that photo above where we were and what turning around would entail.

Now, none of these guys is a novice rider. They’ve all been riding longer than me and Dennis especially has probably logged more miles on a motorcycle than the rest of us combined. But I have one advantage over all of them: I have taken both the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Beginning Rider Course and the Experienced Rider Course (now called the Advanced Rider Course). Plus, I trained to become a rider coach, although I never ended up doing that.

So without saying anything to them, I decided I would go first and lead by example, doing a riding turnaround. You can see in the road ahead where it gets a bit wider, and I rode up there and then used trail braking to make a slow, careful U-turn and then cruised on back to where they were sitting, waiting for their turns.

And this is the thing. With all their riding experience, none of these guys knows anything about trail braking. I watched as each one rode up to the wide spot and started making a turn, then stopped, backed up a little, and then completed their Y-turns. Of course this was especially hard for Dennis with his short legs. Pushing back–on gravel–when you can barely reach the ground is not easy.

Hey guys, it might surprise you how much you could learn if you took something like the Advanced Rider Course. Did watching me not make you think at all about improving your riding skills?

So what is trail braking, some of you might ask. It’s really simple. As you go into a slow motion turn, you rev the throttle a little to keep the bike from stalling and–primarily–to generate some gyroscopic force to keep the bike upright. But of course the last thing you want to do is go fast, so you also apply gentle pressure to your rear brake. The result of all this is that you have excellent control of the bike while moving at walking speed and you just stroll right on around. It really is as simple as it sounds. And you know what? They teach trail braking in the Advanced Rider Course.

I didn’t say anything to anyone that day but at some point I will. Not that I expect any of them to take the course. These are old dogs who aren’t interested in new tricks. But maybe if I explain to them what trail braking is, they might try that on their own. Maybe.

Biker Quote for Today

“But officer, bikes fall over if they aren’t going fast.”