From a Novice's Perspective
Hello JRA,
I am sure a lot of new guys will read this thread. So, I wanted to throw in my two cents, for what it's worth. I'm an old guy at 50 with 4 decades of dirt riding who converted 7 track days ago to .... well.... track riding.
In the dirt, the front brake is used ALL the time. While straight up and down, leaned over further than a road racer ever thought of, etc.... So, trail braking for me was a natural act that I could not stop myself from doing.
This past Monday was day 7 for me at Summit Point Main and my body positioning came into place on day 6 Summit Jefferson. I was riding realllly well and having a blast. My speeds were coming up fast and I was very comfortable and loose on the bike, brakes, throttle. I was in the grove.
I crashed Monday in T5 from the front letting go. For those of you who have not ridden Summit Main, T5 is a sharp left fishhook type of turn with a fast downhill section prior. Meaning, the brakes are on pretty tight right into the corner.
I am not sure what actually happened but I am fairly certain I was applying too much brake for my new found lean angles. There is no doubt the front let go and it could only have happened due to too much braking at too much lean, obviously.
With all this in mind........... to you new guys who are getting into trail braking. YES, do it and learn to do it well. I find the bike rides WAY better with the brakes on than not. BUT, in my case, my speed was coming up far faster than my mind was able to compensate for the trail braking I had gotten use to applying. From my very first track day I have been a real hard braker, too much actually. It's a dirt biking thing that I have broken to a certain point. But, trail braking can be applied very hard when you are slow and still stood up more than normal. As my lean angle number increased, my lighter braking didn't.
In other words, keep a balance in play while learning to recognize the signals given by the front tire as to how much brake and how much lean angle go together. I feel I am fortunate to use trail braking from the beginning as my skill sets will always include this aspect of control. BUT, if you are a fast guy with big lean numbers.......... I recommend you slow yourself WAY down while learning to trail brake and reintroduce your speed as you go. It's a delicate control requiring a lot of feel for the front tire.
Just my novice two cents for the novice trail braker.
Be Cool, Ride fast.
Pete