Hi everyone! I have set my goal for this year and that is to learn how to properly trail brake. I have watched countless videos and even went through the online Ride University courses to try and get a better understanding of trail braking and the techniques to do it safely. I ride mid pack intermediate and I have "forced" myself to trail brake before but on a regular basis I do not trail brake. So I am just looking for some tips and tricks to ease my self into this and to learn how to trail brake properly and ultimately safely. If any of you will be at Gingerman in a couple weeks I will be there all weekend!! Thanks in advance!
Find a place where you can practice and start by picking a point (stop sign or any marker on the road) that you want to stop at. Get up to speed and then apply your brakes, the goal being that you will let off the brake lever at your stopping point without the front of your bike popping up when you come to the stopping point. You probably do this every day you drive without thinking about it. Trail braking is all about feathering off of the brakes until you apex.
I just finished Level 3/4 of the CSS at Barber yesterday. My last three sessions were, at the suggestion of my coach, geared towards trail breaking. The first drill to that end was much like described by the first response here. Break release...find a point you want to be at a certain speed, and then a breaking start point ahead of that, and work up scrubbing off the speed to hit your target speed at that point with a hard breaking followed by smooth even break release...can be as much as a 2 second timed release. Start straight up, then work in to it with lean. The words that made the most sense to me were "trading breaking load for cornering load". Code talks about trail breaking in Twist 1, though he doesn't call it that. Though I use trail breaking on the street to an extent, I'm usually off the break well before full lean. In my sessions I worked up to it all the way to apex, including a hot entry, for my skill and confidence level, in to turn 5, where my coach lead me passing slower traffic between 4 and 5, and then a more inside approach than I'd taken in to 5 and greater speed. I committed to following his line and not giving up on the corner, and was very surprised at the breaking load I could carry in to the corner and full lean. To truly get T5 at Barber, you must, IMO and that of my coach and consultant, use trail breaking. Some turns simply require it for maximum performance. All 2 days long in 5 (and other corners) I was finding my speed, and by the end of day 1 I was most often shocked that in a lot of corners when I reached apex, I was finding that I could have carried more speed in. In corners like T5 that solved that because the speed is so precise, and difficult to hit due to the turn characteristics. JMO, and concurring with FZ1guy...I'd try to attend CSS if you can...if not buy a copy of Twist II, book and or DVD. The DVD is kinda corny, but it's got great info. FWIW, I was faster than most in my class, but MUCH slower than a few. I think I'd run mid pack or top of lower 3rd of intermediate.