How to feel more comfortable hard braking

I feel a bit dumb even asking this. I've been racing 600's since 2011, but I still have a lot to learn. I'm not strong on the brakes and I never have been. I may take the "easy in, fast out" mentality a little too far. With that said, I'm still in the upper-mid pack of the experts. After this last weekend, it hit me that hard braking is a big weak point in my riding. For some reason or another, I just cant come to grips (haha) with it. I tend to ride the brakes longer and lighter, and I'm getting overtaken a lot in the hard braking zones. When I brake later and harder, comfort just gets completely thrown out the window and I fear either tucking the front or completely blowing the corner. I've been doing this long enough to know where the limit is, but mentally, I just go back to doing what's comfortable.

What tips, tricks, or magical juju do you have to get more comfortable under hard braking and get out of my habits? Now before you answer this question, I know that next weekend I need to pick a corner and work on braking harder into it. I know that. But is there anything outside of this that I could do to get better under hard(er) braking? Techniques outside the race track? Just taking a shot in the dark a bit here, but I need to learn.

 

I got over the fear of hard braking on my street bike, FZ1. Practice lifting the back wheel on long empty straight country roads. Now I enjoy the hard braking.

 

Road Atlanta 10A riding an 03 R6 during track days. Out brake everyone but the guy on the Tz250. He will end you.

 

I've always used stoplights and signs as braking practice myself. Just aim for the first line to stop not the 3rd lol. Just locked the front wheel up a couple weeks ago, that was fun, and a learning experience.

 

Panic braking on the street helped me not die and figure there was a lot in reserve for the track.

 

im working on exactly the same thing.

lately, I've been trying to build pressure faster and notice that im over-slowing for the corner. then I push the marker a little and try to brake with the same pressure. if that kills my corner speed, ruins my comfort, or I miss the apex I move the marker back and try again. usually im focusing on 1-2 corners a session for this. repeat over and over until the marker is further up and the corner speed is just as high as it was. then switch corners and repeat. this is easiest in double apex corners, especially if you have lots of room to run-wide.

I find that if I tense up and/or over-brake when my eyes are down. when I keep them up, its easier to not feel rushed, to not freak out.

 

I'm so guilty of this. Thanks for reminding me!

 

Tar snake nearly got me already this summer. Nice pucker moment but valuable practice.

Once someone explained the harder you brake the more the tire flattens the greater your contact patch. It decreases the chances of losing grip rather than the opposite.

 

In a race it's all about who can push further. When you're side by side approaching turn 1 it gets interesting and it will test the limits. My advice is to push your boundary a little bit more on each lap.

 

Brace yourself using your outside knee on the tank BEFORE you shut the gas and keep your eyes up!

 

Yeah, I don't even bother to look at the track any more...it's too distracting and slows me way the fuck down.
Squirrels, trees, water towers, airplanes - those are the objects of my focus...good for a couple seconds a lap, too.

 

Are you moving your butt before or during your braking? I have a bad habit i'm trying to correct where I wait till just before turn in to move. It not only makes the bike move a little but wears me out.

 

Jes come find me at the August weekend

 

Try using a off full throttle marker instead of a brake marker. What i see a lot is people have a tendency to let off the gas then coast to the brake marker (myself included), it really helped me.

 

As My racing buddy said many years ago: " If you're comfortable going around the racetrack, you're not going to go faster. You have to make yourself uncomfortable in order to go faster." An example for me would be working on keeping the throttle pinned in sixth gear on my SV through the Kink at Nelson Ledges. It took me a long time to not ease of slightly just before I hit the dip in the track, but eventually I figured it out. Now it's normal and I'm used to the bike moving around going through the corner. Part of it is deciding that you're going to have fun and liking the challenge. Now I enjoy it because I know it's a part of the track where I make up time on most people.

Keep making yourself uncomfortable bit by bit. As you spend more time making yourself uncomfortable in those hard braking zones, you will get to a place where what used to be a hairy brink-of-disaster feeling to a expanded playing field where you are more comfortable exploiting the capabilities of your bike.

 

hop on a bicycle and lock the front on gravel. then on grass / dirt. then on asphalt.

then start doing that on a bike.

 

i'm terrible with brakes as well but i just need to go practice more on my supermoto since its much cheaper/easier to throw down a kart track or my neighborhood street lol

 

Being as this is the tech section and all I found that doing all of the above drills helped with part of gaining confidence, but another area that helped me personally feel more comfortable was suspension adjustment. In my case having a little more support on the front suspension helped a lot with feeling confident on the brakes later and harder. If its diving right through most of the travel at the start it didn't leave me feeling all that comfortable. But that may just be me. Everyone has preferences.

 

I have the same issue, and I've never been able to wrap my head around shifting over before braking. if I'm centered on the bike when I brake, I can pinch the tank with my knees to take some of the pressure off my arms. If I shift to the side, then hit the brakes, what's the method to keep your body from flying forward? That's one (of the many) things I've never really worked out. (thoughts are welcome!)

 

Leg dangle