Beautifully explained Tenhut..!!
U made it understand it so easy man.. Thanks for that..!!

Happened to me once when I was on my airport road trips to complete the 1000kms. Took the nice sweeping curve and realized that I was too hot into the turns and was heading to the pavement. Rolled off the throttle, shifted my gaze to where I wanted to make the exit, accelerated and i was fine. Sport riding tech's explains this well.

A rider must use his peripheral vision and not focus on one object for too long. If you are headed to an obstruction in your path, look away for an exit point. If you continue to gaze at the obstruction in your path you will most likely crash into it. This is not verbatim but pretty much what the topic states in a nutshell.

How much i tried, took an oath, of not "stepping" on to the rear brake under panic situations, i end up doing it every time i find myself into one.

And i still dont know how to get rid of this habit.

Start riding with your toes on the footrest.

John Hopkins was Kieth Codes Student. Kieth advocates trail-braking (not always) in some corners. Thats braking at the entrance of the corner and gradually letting go of the lever completely when you hit the apex. Its braking when in lean. Its why 90% of the riders crash when in lean. They wash their front due to excess braking. Dont try trail braking. Its not a way to get faster...its only to be used as a tool if you think you have overcooked your corner. Tbh if you overcook the corner

1. Look at the exit (or a safe passage on the streets)
2. Maintain the throttle at whatever it is at...dont decrease..dont increase..contrary to your instincts if you let off the throttle you will go wider.
3. Counter steer harder and lean harder.
4. Pray !

Trail braking is done when you are battling on a rcae track and too much money is on stake.

Best Advice ! Balls of your feet should be on the pegs. Always..it also adds stability to the bike cause your calves and thighs are acting as another set of springs giving you extra suspension. Ofcourse in the beginning all the spring action your legs go through will make you tired and you may think its not working for you. It does..for everyone..just a matter of time before you get used to it.

Someone asked if braking will be different for a chopper. Forget chopper/scooties..it will be different when you are going uphill (more weight on the rear= rear brake can now be applied without skidding) or downhill (more weight on the front = using the rear brake is suicidal)

Its easier to ignore the rear brake alltogether. When you run out of the front brake pads..switch them with your rear ones.

On choppers/bullets/scooties where you sit upright you brake the rear. Basically whichever wheel has more weight on it you brake that more.

Thanks TenHut, yeah exactly this one. John Hopkins mentioned exactly this one but very much in Layman's way. He said he never bothered about the technical details. All he mentions to his crew is how he feel on the bike. On hard turning he keeps braking while leaning so that front have enough weight to turn in sharp angles.

I too had this habit, in slippery conditions rear wheel locks up easily. Increasing the play of rear brakes can reduce the probability of wheel locking.

Will try this one.
Thanks for the input TH.
I appreciate it.

Disconnect your rear brake. I don't even touch the rear brake pedal on mine.

It will tire someone out real fast. Lots of people tend to lock their legs using the heel against the pegs and let the thighs rest when down a straight. Balls of the feet on pegs is best when going through a corner, allows weight distribution changes, and gives you more lean angle.

But it backs the front, helps shedding some speed off while being in lean (though it gets toasted in 5 mtrs, i have RTR FI) plus i'am in habit of using both the brakes at same time, but when the the panic situation arrives (read the front car guy or bike guy decides to stop immidiately) i'am all for rear brake.

it just happens like that, even if i'am gonna do the trick TenhuT suggested, i still doubt my feet will cry for the rear brake in full force the moment someone's braking hard in front of me.

But guys , if you disconnect the rear brake , what happens when you find yourself having to brake on a dirty piece of road ?... the front wheel would lock up easily on the slightest application because it doesn't have the grip on the road ... I say this because a couple of times when i was new to my bike and riding on the whole, I found that on a dirty patch even a slight pressure on the front lead to a lock up and the front skidded ... the rear brake in this situation helped me better and the bike kept it's line on application of the rear ... I also believe that it's much easier to control a rear lock up than the front ... This is INDIA we're talkin about, so most of our roads are dirty have loose stones or gravel around , so wouldn't the rear brake be of use ?

what rossiter said is done majorly to sportbikes. You dont go offroading on sportbikes so u never need the rear.... Much of that applies to the Ninja250R too hence its discussion here.. Lack of rear use is a custom more rampant in sportsbiking world. (and roads we have in metropolitan cities really arent as bad as we make them out to be. Its the indisciplne in traffic and irregularities in vehicle sizes which is the bane of all the trouble)
Braking on Tourers/sportstourers/offroaders/harley hogs/bullets varies from being very similar to being completely different.
If you are a tourer or ride touring machines like karizma or nakeds like the FZ16, the equation changes for you a little.
Since braking differs with changes made to the motorcycle geometry (the basics remain the same) you may find yourself in need of the rear brake a little more or a little less when compared to any other random bike out there..(dont remove the rear brake on a bullet :P)
Using the rear is NOT as big a sin as pumping the brakes is. Infact it is no sin at all.

I am sooo confused now

and looking forward for advise and riding tips--

Are you using your R1 on the street or track?
Do you brake the same way as on street as on the track?(No one rides the same way)
Track levels are entirely different, aren't they?
does this mean that the front brake is enough to take care of ALL the braking required?
these guys seem to disagree,


I know sportsbike brake differently and on the track the whole scenario changes with the new technology on the horizon(slipper clutch, 4 strokes).

but on road? what if the rider needs to steer while braking?

a quote--"the rear brake has many uses but stopping quickly isn't one of them".

another --"Trail-braking with the rear in a corner can be beneficial. It can help settle the front end. It takes more finesse to do it without locking the rear, that's why you want to practice braking with both brakes."

AFAI am concerned, i use may be 20-5% of rear brake, again dictated entirely by the surface. but letting the rear brake go, entirely? not unless i get myself an ABS equipped motorcycle or i am 110% sure about the tar.
I can't completely forgo it, am i wrong?
^^May be it is time for me to shed some inhibitions and maybe build my basics again, looking forward for an earful
Few Videos--

YouTube - blue03r6's Channel


the best one by far(on road usage only)
YouTube - How to Brake on a Motorcycle

The rear brake has got nothing to do in below pic

I beg to differ. Trail braking can help you go faster through the corners which is why it is a technique which is often used by professional racers. But it is a very difficult skill to develop and should be learned only under professional guidance and at the race track as the chance of you crashing during practise sessions is high.

Yeah, now I run the R1 mostly on the track.

This no rear brake philosophy applies both on track and off it. And in most street scenarios, you can actually use the front and steer.

As for trail braking, I would suggest you to not attempt to learn this on the street with too many variables around to contend with.

Please explain a wee bit more Akhil.

Assume that I'm doing around 80kmph. A few bike lengths in front of me I see a biker pottling into my path. I'm leaning in, not much, not knee down, but yes, the bike is not straight... and i need to brake. When i touch the brakes the bike straightens up and i head for the kerb. Only thing I can think of is try and slow down, look for an escape route and accelerate into that path.

But then there is a danger of locking the front wheel. How do I control the braking to ensure there is no lock-up of the wheel (i use only 2 fingers) and steer away to safety? Consider there are a few vehicles around or behind.