Advice: Braking and downshifting

Braking and Downshifting

Entering a corner usually involves setting the speed for the turn using the brakes. Nothing new there. In many corners you also have to select a lower gear. This means that you have to accomplish braking and downshifting at the same time. Firstly you have to understand that the purpose of downshifting gears going into a corner is to have the engine spinning at the correct revolutions for getting out of the turn. The engine is not a brake! Entering the corner, the bike wouldn't really care what gear you're in, it only matters when you get on the throttle again. But no matter how you look at it, in many cornering situations as you prepare to enter the turn, you're going to have to do these two things at once.

As you go down gears, the engine revs rise each time in an attempt to match the speed you are travelling at. If this is done by simply knocking down through the gears you may find a tendency to lurch forward every time you release the clutch. No matter how 'smooth' or gentle you are.

What the engine is being asked to do is to go from virtually idle (its natural position with the clutch in) to whatever revolutions the road speed will make it do. Bearing in mind that the gears are being changed down every time, the engine revs will often need to increase every time. This leads to an unstable motorcycle when entering a turn, which is when you most need the bike to be stable. You may also find the gears difficult to select. This is because the gearbox is constantly under load, making it reluctant to change.

So... what can you do about it? One thing you might like to try is to help the engine by matching what revolutions the engine will be spinning at when you release the clutch, by 'blipping' the throttle (opening and shutting the throttle quickly). The idea being that if the engine is already spinning to match the speed of the bike for that particular gear, it will remain stable. Obviously this is nothing new. If you were to watch the riders in world championship level competition, you'll see them doing this all the time, but then again they make everything look easy don't they? The trick is in the application.

This is a timing thing. Do you remember when we discussed what timing was? Let me quote from that article to help you "...timing is the "regulation of actions" rather than the actions themselves. In simple terms, it's not what you do, it's when you do it."

So, what timing does this involve? Firstly, let's look at what control actions we have to do to make this happen.

The actions are:

Now, we are going to put the brakes on first, and of course we have to hold them on with consistent pressure if this is going to work, otherwise we've traded our lurching into the corner from letting the clutch out, to lurching into the corner because we're jabbing the front brake on and off when we 'blip' the throttle.

The key then is to allow your fingers to slide over the brake lever as you twist your wrist back for every blip on the throttle. To hold the brake lever with constant pressure, you have to allow your fingers to move on it. You can actually practice this if you think it will help. With the engine off, grab the handlebars of your bike and pull the brake on. Now, try to twist the throttle on and off quickly without moving the brake lever. If you can do this without pulling the lever in and out (it's okay if the lever moves up and down a little, this is just free play at the mounting point), then you've got it. All you have to do now is add in the other actions of pulling in the clutch, and changing down the gear.

The other thing you can do to help you apply this is to ride along on a deserted street or car park and practice holding a steady speed (say 40kph) while riding in top gear. Then go down through the gearbox one gear at a time, trying to match the engine revs by blipping the throttle before releasing the clutch, while maintaining a constant speed. These two drills help you understand each action separately before trying to put them together. You can then start to work them in as a natural part of your preparation for a corner.

Good luck with your riding.

Steve Brouggy is the owner of the

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