Practise trail braking in a car park: stop at a marker

What trail braking means

In their video, Nick and Coop from ChampSchool give two definitions. You keep brake pressure on past the turn-in point, and you release that pressure as you add lean angle. Either brake can be used. They correct two versions: rear brake only, and something you only do in a race. Drivers do it every time they turn into a side road with the brake light still on.

Drill one: stop at a marker in a straight line

Find an empty car park or a quiet road. Put down a marker you can't move by accident. They use a jack stand, but a line or a shadow works.

Ride towards it, brake, and come to a stop next to it. At the end of the stop, release the lever so the fork extends smoothly as the bike stops. Let go too quickly and the front springs up while the bike keeps rolling. Hold on too long and the front stops and then rebounds.

Start slowly with early, light braking, which makes the timing easy. Then arrive faster and brake harder. The harder the stop, the more precisely you have to time the release.

Drill two: move the marker into a turn

Next, place the marker after a 90-degree turn and stop at it. Keep some brake on through the turn-in and give it away as you lean. Nick calls the marker the slowest point and says the aim is to come off the lever at about that point.

In the video he also tries to finish all his braking before turning. He can't make the stop, and on the dirty surface the only option left is more lean angle.

Too fast into the turn

On one run Nick arrived too fast and the ABS activated. He stayed on the brake into the turn. The speed came down and the line tightened because, in his words, "radius equals miles per hour".

The coaches say the most common way riders die is running wide in a corner on their own, and that trail braking is how you correct an entry speed that turned out too high. Their last step is to take the feel from the car park to real corners, such as an off-ramp or a sweeper on an industrial estate.