Posts
536
Joined
9/15/2009
Location
Olive Branch, MS
US
Edited Date/Time
1/27/2012 3:53pm
I have been noticing lately that even though I am a good bit faster than ever, I no longer burn up the brakes like I did as a kid.
On 80s it was normal for me to lift the rear wheel when braking, for certain corners of course.
Now I seem to brake as little as possible. So if looking for quicker laps, is braking later and harder one of the answers?
Literally later and harder, as in, instead of a smooth 1.5 second ride of the brakes, would overall average speed through a corner be higher by staying on the gas half a second longer and then braking as hard as possible for half a second?
On 80s it was normal for me to lift the rear wheel when braking, for certain corners of course.
Now I seem to brake as little as possible. So if looking for quicker laps, is braking later and harder one of the answers?
Literally later and harder, as in, instead of a smooth 1.5 second ride of the brakes, would overall average speed through a corner be higher by staying on the gas half a second longer and then braking as hard as possible for half a second?
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Fast riders are either accelerating or braking, both into corners and the faces of jumps. If your discs aren't really hot at the end of your track time you aren't going fast enough. And YES, it IS tireing, which is why MX is such a phyically demanding sport.
Assuming that my entrance and corner and exit speeds are the same, is it better to use a longer yet smoother braking style that (for example) slows the bike from 25mph to 12 mph in two seconds,
or
a more aggressive braking style that slows the bike from 25 to 12 in half a second?
The LB quote is interesting, because I was started thinking about this by a RC quote that the only reason he couldnt go faster was because his brakes were not strong enough, or something like that.
Gosselaar says RC has his program so refined, that having a better front brake is his key to going faster. For that reason Suzuki has spared no expense to get RC the trickest Nissin works caliper and hardware on the front. As far as brakes, the only thing stock on RC's front end is the brake line.
According to Gosselaar, RC always says "'If I had a front brake that worked better than what I have I can go faster.'"
"His front brake is the key," continues Goose. "He's like a road race guy now. He says 'I can only go as fast as my front brake will let me.'"
http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/295/1387/Motorcycle-Article/Behind-Ricky-…
Most of us are spodes and our technique sucks. We can go fast and brake really hard and late, but we end up over braking and thus not carrying the max speed through the turn. Basically, we accelerate, stop, turn, accelerate. Speed comes when you can go fast to the last possible second, brake late and only as much as necessary to make the turn, thus carrying the maximum momentum.
If you are braking more smoothly now and for longer time, then you were obviously doing point and shoot turns in the past and they were slower.
Pit Row
Esentialy what you are asking is....."Is it faster to start braking 70 feet from the turn or 10 feet from the turn, all else being equal"
You either need .....
1...to start racing more
2...go back and re-take basic math
....sorry, not trying to be an A-hole....it's just the answer is so obvious it makes the question
ludicrous............................................................................................"unless, of course it was rhetorical then my answer is yes."(Name the movie)
I ride open A in regional off road races and finishe fourth overall in my last HS. I do not race much MX but I ride much more mx than woods because it is better training.
Mathematically yes it is a stupid question. But I think were I misspoke, or maybe you misunderstood is the "all else being equal" part.
What I meant was not all else being equal, but more like including all variables and possibilities.
So what I am asking is with the infinite number of variables is it more often better to brake earlier and smoother, or is the obvious later and harder most often fastest.
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