I’m hearing it every day. First I see 99.9% of my students braking, and their performance is actually shockingly bad. Straight up… ‘BRAKING’ IS THE PRIOR SKILL TO STAY ALIVE. Then I ask them who taught them and what was the message, and their answers are even more shocking…
In fact, ANY curriculum of motorcycle drivers license giving institutions are telling new riders to “Stay away from the front brake when turning/leaning!” I believe that this is already a CRIME to say, because I would say that you gotta be be able to make a use of your brakes AT ALL FREAKING TIMES! But there is much more coming with this message- mental blockades which I as a Coach who is teaching the total opposite- have to remove manifested habits and overly produced fears!
Now how is that?!… well, if you tell a new rider stuff like that- you automatically manifest a certain hold back towards the front brake, which is actually our primary weapon against scary situations. The blockade is so deep in their heads, that most of the riders are not even using 50% of their front brake potential- which is another guarantee to get hurt or even to die. Besides this, it also leads them to an over-usage of rear brake which causes even more confusion and extends their learning curve… which is time they might don’t have.
You think a street rider don’t need this?… You’re dead wrong! Superbike-Coach teaches ‘Trail Braking’, a MotoGP riding technique since 10 years in Cornering School Day 3, and that is the key to lots of good things the top racers of this planet take advantage of. Priority for them… to lower lap times- and for the street rider to gain the chance to SURVIVE dramatically. Why and how?… find out in the class and learn it, because reading and learning won’t work here.
Is this a guarantee to get out of everything?… no it’s not, because there is always a ‘point of no return’, but it gains you chance to make it exponentially. Are there other schools teaching to trail brake?… probably- are they doing it right?… I don’t know. I do know that Superbike-Coach does it right- and that we have the environment and drills to do this even better. The curriculum and their message in this regard of license giving institutions has to change, because it is wrong and dangerous.
Headcoach Can Akkaya, Superbike-Coach Corp
