21/01/2026
A fantastic article by the British Superbike School. They address the rising increase in rider fatalities and discuss braking. We too are deeply concerned about the rise in deaths and injuries. The increase in distribution of 'advice' via articles and the Internet by unqualified writers or creators is a serious concern for professional trainers and the industry on a wider scale.
Our previous post on front wheel trail braking has clearly divided opinion.
This is our reply to Steve Rapa for general info.
Again, always open to discussion, or to be proven wrong with new data.
There is no established theory that we can find. No science.
Firstly the published advice for road riders from the DVSA and in Roadcraft is to complete your braking before corners.
You then corner at a constant speed, on a light throttle, with the cornering forces evenly distributed over both tyres. This maximises the cornering grip. None is lost via braking.
Grip is finite. It's mass x coefficient of friction (plus aero effect at speed as some bright spark said).
In theory, the size of the tyre contact patch makes no difference, but it may have a minor effect. I think this is a distraction.
The advice is because using the front brake affects the steering and stands the bike up, and a front wheel skid is usually unrecoverable, whereas a rear wheel skid often is.
Secondly if you have to brake in a corner, the official advice is to use the rear brake, and only use the front if you have the room to bring the bike upright first.
Using the rear brake, loads the front tyre and steepens the steering angle a bit, which also helps.
Trail braking into corners inevitably means you're going faster, so if you crash the outcome will likely be worse.
I raced for 15 years. One of my first memories was braking for Park at Cadwell, when most of the pack came straight past me. By the end of the season I was outbraking them, trailing the front into most corners, memorably outbraking 3 riders at once at the last round to finish 2nd. (The championship winner had lent me his bike with better brakes!). I'd had a few off circuit excusions when I got it wrong.
If you look at the data logs, you'll see the rear suspension is fully extended and the rear wheel is barely touching the ground. There is no stated scientific theory I can find to explain this, as you'd think the bike would just spin out.
What appears to be happening is, the bike is trying to 'yaw', that is trying to rotate in the opposite direction.
So racers look to be balancing everything on the front wheel, and modulating the front brake and steering to control the rate of turn.
The lean angle increases, the rider gradually releases the front brake, the rate of turn increases as the bike slows, and yaw diminishes.
It's a balancing act at that level of competition..
At the apex, at max lean, the brake is off, yaw has gone, the mass is now evenly distributed between the two wheels, giving maximum grip, and the rider picks the bike back up on the throttle (which they actually apply just before the apex from the data).
Does this make sense?
What riders mistake for an easier turn, I think, is that they start needing more force to get the bike to turn in with the front brake on, as this tries to keep the centre of the contact patch in line with the the point ahead where the steering head axis projects to the ground.
This is easy to show by gently applying the front brake when banked. The bike will try and stand up but will stop trying to do this as soon as you release the brake again.
This takes quite a lot of effort to initiate the turn - which is by counter steering - but as the bike starts to lean, the gyroscopic effect helps to turn the bars back into the corner, and as they let off the brake the tendency for the steering to straighten diminishes, so it becomes easier.
Nobody thinks about this. Racer learn mostly by trial and error. Data engineers struggle to connect with riders, to understand what they need, and what can be changed on the bike.
I'm not worried abour racers, or trackday riders, I'm concerned about road riders being misled and puting themselves at risk.
Some trainers, not only in the UK, encourage front wheel trail braking, using it for marketing purposes - 'look at what we know that you don't'. And it is faster. And racers do it as they are cleverer than you?
This is our major current concern. Biker deaths were up 14% in 2024, and are steadily increasing again over the years despite much safer bikes with ABS, traction control, pitch control, and now 6-axis IMU's.
Circa 50% of fatalities are on bends. It usually thought to be mainly panic, which can be helped with proper training.
Racer fall frequently, mostly braking into corners.
They repeatedly cover the same area of tarmac. Road riders don't. A bit of gravel etc is all that is needed to tip the balance, and with the front forks already compressed, coping with potholes is more difficult.
Our suggestion is don't try and be clever on the road, follow the official advice.
If you want a brilliant model for road riding then Google 'The Pace'.
We teach trail braking on our track riding courses, but advise not to use it on the road routinely as it uses up your safety margin, but it's a useful tool if you need it in an emergency.
Hope that makes sense too.
It's our opinion. Happy to discuss and to be proven wrong.
We're now working with Cardiff University, as we both try and unravel the mysteries of bike riding.
