Use the Brakes - Not the Engine! - To Slow Down
We sometimes ask students at the school, “What’s more expensive, replacing your valves, or replacing your brake pads?” That usually brings a chuckle from the class, but helps illustrate an important point: Don’t rely on your engine to slow down the motorcycle.
High-rpm, off-throttle deceleration is one of the toughest things to put your engine through, and simply put, is not an effective way to slow a motorcycle. This means that when approaching a corner, don’t neglect your brakes and rely solely on the engine braking to slow the motorcycle.
On a four-stroke motorcycle, a certain amount of engine braking will inevitably help when approaching a corner. However, the brakes were designed to be the main speed control, important not only for slowing the motorcycle, but also as a tool to help steer the motorcycle through weight distribution.
Your riding buddies might subscribe to the idea that “brakes are for sissies.” If that’s the case, all of us at the Freddie Spencer High Performance Riding School are the biggest sissies of them all.