Why not to use front brakes on the corners?

[Yarri]

Yeah i know it's a noobish question but i just want to know exacly why and how dangerous it is

I am now quite used to use it all the times, my back brake is useless so i don't really have a choice

[cagiva gezzer]

Go play on a roundabout. Depends on what bike / brakes / tyres you're running.

Mines happy about jamming the front on, just stands up a bit and fails to corner....
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"because one stroke isnt enough and four strokes waste two"

[Polarbear]

Id rather use a front than a back as long as it isn't raining/slippery.

Remember Yarri, all you hear in forums is 'best average answer' not laid in stone. You have to find your own ideal braking methods and these change with evey bike you have!
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[dabigginger]

AFAIK, if you are going around a corner, it is more likely to lock up, the front wheel will slide out and you will say hello to the ground.

[Louise]

Ive heard lots of stories to people - front break on a corner.
So ive tryed to stop myself from useing it.
Back break brings me back in if I go a bit wide, I have use the front a lil but that is just the tinyest ammount of pressure. Dont really fancy seeing the ground

[G]

Your tyres have only so much grip.

There is a fairly linear correlation between that available to cornering and braking.
So brake hard and you don't have much left if you want to turn.
Be turning hard and you can only use a bit of brake before you run out of grip.

In the wet, the amount of grip is massively reduced, so it's advisable not to combine the two as you probably will overload the tyre.

Not only does the front tyre have less contact with the road, but you're much less likely to recover from a front wheel slide - so using the rear makes more sense.

[stinkwheel]

What you'll also find is if you apply the front brake while cornering, most bikes will sit themselves up and head for the verge on the outside of the corner.

Most of the times you would think about braking mid corner, it is because you went in too fast and are running wide. The bike sitting up and running even wider is not helpful.

What you'll find on bikes with a long suspension travel is the opposite. Pulling on the front brake a SMALL amount compresses the front suspension, shortens the effective wheelbase of the bike and tightens your line. Brake harder and it will sit-up like other bikes.

So, what do I do? In most cases, you are best to try to stay with it and make it round the corner by leaning further, the bike can lean over a lot further than you think if you keep it steady and smooth. You will get away with trailing the rear brake a bit. If you need to stop for some unforseen hazard, it may well be best to sit the bike up straight THEN brake as hard as you can for as long as you can before you have to come off them and lean it back over again.

If you are on a dirt bike/supermoto, you'll get away with a certain amount of dragging on the front to tighten your line.

That's the reality for me anyway.

Of course, the best and correct thing is to get all your braking done before you turn-in so you don't hit the corner too fast in the first place. In slow, out fast.

[Speedy3]

What Stinkwheel said, You should aim to enter the corner at the speed you wish to exit, and accelerate as you pull away.

[Jenks]

Went camping in jan.
We went on a long rideout, and a took a corner slightly too fast - and without thinking i used the front brake, as i was straying out of my lane. this made me stand up, and go towards a car.
luckily nothing happened! but oh my god. dont use it
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1978 MZ TS 250 1 Supa 5
1992 yamaha fzr1000 exup
1998 aprilia af1 sintesi

[BanditBitch]

Check out this article, useful for cornering and road postioning.

https://www.motorcycle-training.f2s.com/position.html

[G]

A bit complicated the way I’ve displayed it, but I see it as something like this….


At any point, a vertical line will show how much grip you have on the graph.
Of course there are many factors that will change things, which I’ve rationalised down to good, average and poor conditions.

So, in good conditions, you may well find that you can still start to turn while braking at the maximum possible, while in poor conditions, not only is it not possible to use the same amount of braking, but if you try to turn when you’re using the maximum possible for the conditions available, you will go past the amount of grip you have.

Given ok conditions, it is possible to use a reasonable amount of braking while turning in.

Edit - oops, messed up, meant to be the upper section for braking.

On the comments about the bike sitting up, it is usually possible to ‘fight’ this with counter steering to keep your line, but you do have to make a conscious effort to do so.
The comments about using the brakes to narrow the steering geometry can be applied to road bikes as well, though less so as mentioned. This also initially ensures that you have good grip at the front – providing of course the conditions means you have a deficit of grip to use.

[trainerphil]

hi im bike trainer and using the front brake whilst the bike isnt upright and in a straight line can be fatal. on bit of diesel on a roundabout or spillage on a bend and you've just lost the front end and your steering. assure me its the fastest way to dismount from a bike... Can be VERY expensive too....
Safe riding
Phil

[sandino]

[Ariel Badger]

You should approach a corner slowly and accelerate through it rather than braking . Brakes should be used in conjunction with each other but most modern riders never seem to use the rear. Rudge used a linkage that applied both brakes when the front was pulled in but only the rear when you hit the peddle.
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[G]

[lumphammer]

Perhaps this is not the best time to use the front brake too hard as well.

[Ariel Badger]

[G]

[Paivi]