Top BRAKING Secrets of PRO Riders

Unlike us mere mortals, professional motorbike riders can push a bike at the absolute limit, lap after lap, and part of how they do this is through their braking. For normal riders, 90% of the braking is done by the front and 10% is done by the rear. However, for the professional riders, you'll find that they use the rear brakes a lot more, and in some cases, they actually use it more than the fronts. But why is that? Well, in this video, we're going to be taking a look at the insane braking Unlike cars, motorbikes have independent brakes at the front and at the rear, and while they do serve the same purpose of slowing the bike down, they do slightly different things. Now that does seem a little bit strange to say, but bear with me. Let's look at the front brakes first. They are significantly larger than the rear brakes, and therefore provide more stopping power initially. Professional motorbike riders can be reaching upwards of 7 kilos in a big braking zone on the lever, and that needs to be sustained for multiple seconds. Couple that with the engine braking that these bikes provide, and it's a pretty efficient way to slow the bike down. The components for the brakes have remained relatively unchanged over the last few decades. You have the master cylinder, brake calipers, brake pads, and then brake discs. It's been a proven system for ages, and it's just been refined to provide maximum performance and efficiency. Some riders use more of the front brakes than others, which is why almost every top series you'll find have different options for both the disc size and also the mass of the disc. The harder the rider is on the front brakes, the more durable they need to be. The front brakes are also used in the entry phase of a corner, and the riders use a technique called trail braking, which is the process of trailing the brakes into the corner, gradually reducing the pressure as speed decreases and lean angle increases. Depending on how aggressively a rider trail brakes into a corner, they may need a more durable front brake disc. The front brakes' main role is to simply slow the bike down as quickly and efficiently as possible, and to also aid with that initial turn-in and trail braking. So the job is pretty straightforward, but when you look at the bikes on track, they're constantly moving around. The weight is constantly being shifted as the bike goes over bumps and crests, and the riders having to move around and position themselves to make sure that they can go through the corner as fast as possible, doing all of this while making small adjustments and corrections. Now to help with some of these adjustments that they may want to make, and to make sure that they carry as much speed around the track as possible, they can use the rear brakes. Think of it like this, the front brakes look after the big stuff like decelerating and entering into a corner, and the rear brakes look after the smaller bits that require some slightly finer inputs. So now let's dive into what the rear brakes do. Now in this video we are focusing on the really big series here, mainly MotoGP, but this also can be applied into World Superbikes, British Superbikes, Moto America, etc. Really we're looking at the big 1000cc super stock or prototype series. Some of the lower tiers of motorbike racing don't necessarily require these techniques, but they can also be used. It does depend on the rider's style, and different riders have different preferences. So what can the rear brakes actually be used for? Well to start off, they do help in decelerating the bike into a corner. Granted they're nowhere near as powerful as the fronts, but ultimately more braking is more braking. But they can also stop the rear of the bike from lifting up in a really heavy braking zone due to inertia. When a rider enters the turning phase of a corner, you'll find that the rear brakes are used to aid rotation as well. They'll be applied initially to help stability, then as the bike is tipped into the corner and the front brakes are gradually released, the rear brakes can then be reapplied due to the load shift back to the rear. Now this ultimately aids braking performance and allows greater control. The rear brakes can also be used as an anti-wheelie tool to help keep the front of the ground. The top level bikes have so much torque, the front wheel is always wanting to lift when they're on throttle. Now normally if the front wheel starts lifting up, you would have to release the throttle to let the front of the bike come back down. But by doing this, you're losing engine speed and forward momentum, which does take time to come back. It may not be a lot of time, but ultimately it's time that's lost. By using the rear brake, you can keep the throttle open and keep the engine speed higher, while stopping the bike from lifting up at the front. Sometimes the rear brakes are actually used before the front in some circuits. Danilo Petrucci used to use this technique a lot at the Le Mans circuit in MotoGP. Certain tracks may require this more than others. Le Mans is a prime example of one because of the elevation changes that happen in the braking zones. Now because the rear brakes are used almost everywhere in certain circumstances around the track, they can't always be operated conventionally via the right foot. So more and more riders are starting to fit what's called a thumb brake. The lever sits on the left handlebar and allows the rider to use the rear brakes in situations where they wouldn't otherwise be able to. Using the thumb brake can actually aid in greater control as well. When the bike is moving around in a braking zone, the rider's foot tends to move along with it, which can lead to the rider using more or less pressure than they actually want, which can then upset the bike's balance even more than they're actually trying to correct, ultimately making them slower. Using the thumb brake can remove some of the potential for the bike's movement to impact how the rear brakes are used by the rider. While thumb brakes are quite common in the sport today, they actually began as a solution to a pretty tricky challenge. Mick Dewan, after enduring a horrific injury that left his right leg unable to operate a rear brake, needed a way to stay competitive. A clever adaptation in the form of the first thumb brake was fitted to his left handlebar. This ingenious invention allowed him to operate the brakes just like before despite his physical limitations. We also need to mention the ABS, or rather the lack thereof, in almost every racing series. Unlike many street motorbikes equipped with anti-lock braking systems that enhance safety by preventing wheel lock-up, you'll be surprised to learn that the high-performance race bikes you see on track typically don't come with ABS. But why is that the case? ABS works on a bike the same way it does on a car. When wheel speed sensors detect a drop in rotational speed, they release the brakes slightly and pulse the brakes on and off to keep the wheel rotating. While this keeps the wheel from locking up, it reduces the braking force and in a racing scenario, it takes away control from the rider. Riders have, in most cases, better feel without ABS and can make adjustments easier. As always, there are exceptions to this rule. One of the best examples is Sylvain Gontoli, who won the 2014 World Superbike Championship without touching the rear brakes once. It just goes to show that what works for one rider may not work for another. So there we go, if you think I've missed anything, please let me know in the comments below and if you haven't already, please make sure you subscribe to the channel. Thank you as always for watching, take care and I'll see you in the next one.