Trail braking.

[northwind]

I just sort of do whatever feels right in each corner. I used to be a terrible comfort braker, now I'm not as bad as I was but that's sort of evolved into trail braking for a lot of corners, which I can't help but think isn't a very good habit on the road. I'm not especially fast while I'm doing it, mind, I just stay not especially fast for slightly longer than I might otherwise Other times, I set it up at the start, there's no real pattern to it I don't think- I even do it differently on the same corners on my commute.

I panic, grab a handful of front, crawl round at walking pace then give it the guns on the way out........!

[yorkie_chris]

Hmmmm. Don't take this as advice as it's just howI've muddled my way through, and I'm not that quick either.

Normally I mostly use the gears to scrub off speed all the way in to when I'm gonna turn in, but my lines are more observation than classic "racing line". If it's clear to pick whatever line, and I'm feeling like it, then it's brakes all the way up to apex, but this is rare. What's really wierd I seem to find myself using more front brake in the wet as the rear slips more easily under harsh engine braking.

I do my absolute utmost to disregard anything the IAM teach, because those IAM riders I know tend to fall off more than the non-IAM riders I know.

I do trail-brake into corners, all depending on what corner it is. I've been experimenting with backing it in on the rear brake too, but think I'll save that for the track.

I've been experimenting with sliding the rear as well, but I feel much, much more comfortable trailing the front into corners as I can get my body positioning sorted then I tend to brake about 1/3rd to 1/2 way round the corner, then neutral throttle then out. I definitely do it to a lesser extent in the wet but I am more wary of crap on the road so try not to do it so much. It's definitely a natural thing to brake deep into a corner though, I try and brake up to a metre or so before the apex depending on the corner.

However, if I'm feeling like good road positioning, I go for a typical slow-in fast-out line and I'm mainly braking in a straight line and turning it in quick. I prefer the typical out-in-out way as it's a great feeling trailing the brakes, makes me feel very accomplished.

Originally Posted by etuna

I panic, grab a handful of front, crawl round at walking pace then give it the guns on the way out........!

Pmsl! snap

Originally Posted by Lozzo

I do my absolute utmost to disregard anything the IAM teach, because those IAM riders I know tend to fall off more than the non-IAM riders I know.

The accident statistics paint a different picture,

"Statistics indicate your chance of having an accident is cut by two-thirds if you pass the Advanced Test. " http://www.morayiam.org.uk/advancedmotoring/

When you factor in that the experienced non-IAM riders who do high miles regularly (perhaps the lads you were talking about) tend not to have accidents very often it suggests that to end up with the "33% as likely to have an accident" figure, there must be a lot of inexperienced non-IAM riders out there crashing more than 3 times as frequently as comparatively inexperienced IAM riders. The stat I've seen cropping up (although I can't find it at the moment) is that for less experienced riders, they are 25% less likely to have an accident after passing an IAM test.

Of course, you get idiots in any club and the people who pass their IAM test and think this somehow confers them automatic right of way and makes them invincible to boot are a nightmare, but thankfully they are in the minority.

Originally Posted by Ceri JC

The accident statistics paint a different picture,

"Statistics indicate your chance of having an accident is cut by two-thirds if you pass the Advanced Test. " http://www.morayiam.org.uk/advancedmotoring/

Ever though that the sort of people that put themselves forward for advanced training might simply have a different mentality/attitude to riding to those that don’t - hence ‘safer’ anyway? And it is therefore maybe is not really directly down to the training itself?!?

Originally Posted by Blue_SV650S

Ever though that the sort of people that put themselves forward for advanced training might simply have a different mentality/attitude to riding to those that don’t - hence ‘safer’ anyway? And it is therefore maybe is not really directly down to the training itself?!?

Yes, that's definately at least a part of it. I use the same argument re: hi vis. I believe it's less effective than the stats suggest (despite conceeding it's handy in an off) and that it makes only a slight real difference to cagers' ability to see you (you can still disappear behind pillars/blindspots, if they miss your headlights, they'll miss anything, they can still pull out without looking in your direction at all, etc.) and that it's more that people who are prepared to wear a ghastly* fluoro bib as opposed to the proper motorcycling colour (black) are likely to make other concessions to safety.

I think IAM has more of an effect on your riding than wearing high vis, although at least part of it is the mentality of the people that IAM appeals to. One of the (slightly odd) arguments against offering significantly lower insurance premiums for IAM riders to reflect this reduced risk is that if they did, the hooligans would start joining IAM and throw this balance out, but of course they could adjust this as and when it happened as they do with other things (like fully comp sometimes being cheaper than TPFT as people who insure fully comp are generally safer).

I also think that IAM/ROSPA is considerably useful less to someone with half a million miles under their belt than to a comparative newbie and that using the former as an argument against the latter doing it doesn't make sense. It's the newly passed weekend warriors, with less than 20,000 miles experience on SS600s in full leathers on sunny sunday afternoons who are most likely to kill themselves and for them IAM would be invaluable. I really believe IAM should go after those people in their marketing rather than people who have already been riding 10 years, ride a beemer or pan and use the bike mainly for commuting and long distance touring as even if they're not the fastest, they tend to lunch themselves less.

*only jesting, I've nothing against people wearing it if they want to.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Ceri JC

it's more that people who are prepared to wear a ghastly* fluoro bib as opposed to the proper motorcycling colour (black) are likely to make other concessions to safety.

I reckon it can also go the other way, with people thinking that because they're dressed like a canary and have their lights on, that they can forgo defensive riding.