Moto Tips | Stop Relying On Your Rear Brake & Clutch
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INSTAGRAM | @firepowerparts
INSTAGRAM | @cadeclason
Want to shave a few seconds off of your lap time and reduce wear on your bike? Then take your hand off the clutch lever and move your foot a few inches from the rear brake pedal. We know riders that will do entire portions of their weekly practice sessions without using either, as it puts more importance on maintaining control of the motorcycle through technique, line selection, and body positioning. Cade Clason is a proponent of this theory, so we asked him to explain the basics and benefits of staying off the binders.
I think the “No Rear Brake Moto” is super beneficial, especially for your rolling speed. A lot of people don’t realize how long they drag their rear brake into a corner. When I coach kids, I see some that won’t get off their rear brakes until they’re already through the exit. In reality, you should be off the rear brake before the entrance so that your roll speed is carrying you through the beginning, and then you should transition onto the throttle around the middle.
If you watch Jeremy Martin and specifically rewind to every turn where you can see his braking foot, I guarantee that he’s off the rear brakes well before he’s at the entrance of the corner in most situations, just because of his roll speed is so incredibly fast.
A lot of people struggle in braking bumps because they’re actually braking through them, and you can’t do that. I know it sounds kind of stupid because you’d think, “That’s where I have to brake. That’s why there are braking bumps there.” But you have to slow down a little bit before the braking bumps.
I see a lot of guys that’ll be on their rear brake and applying just a little bit of throttle so that they’re not accelerating, but they’re also not slowing down. They’re just maintaining across all the bumps, which is good. It’s one of those things that kind of is dictated by the situation.
If you can get off your rear brake before the bumps and learn how to flow through them smoothly, and maybe brake just a tiny bit right before the corner, or even not at all, you can carry that speed. It’s something that practicing during your rides will help a lot and you will become more confident carrying speed into corners.
The “No Clutch” technique is because a lot of guys use the clutch like a brake. Some people call it a “crutch” because when they start to make a mistake, they pull the clutch in and it settles the bike down. But you have to learn how to control your motorcycle with your throttle and your head. If you pull the clutch in at the exit of a corner, it’s going to slow you down a little bit before you accelerate. If you pull it in, it lets you readjust. But if you take that away, you have to learn how to adjust your throttle control and your body positioning without using your clutch to do that.
