For ultimately smooth braking transitions, combine brake and throttle.
When taught to ride motorcycles, we learned to use the throttle and brakes as separate controls. To speed up, roll the throttle grip toward you. To slow down, roll the throttle the away from you. To slow more quickly, roll off the throttle and then apply the front and rear brakes. In that order.
After slowing, when it?s time to reapply power, we were taught to ease off the brakes and then, as a separate motion, roll on throttle. Unfortunately, those throttle/brake transitions can be jerky, tend to upset the bike?s chassis and, when riding with a passenger, can have helmets banging out Morse code.
Fortunately, the two controls don?t have to be mutually exclusive. For unmatched smoothness, think of the brake and throttle as one combined control. Let?s call it the ?brottle.? 1) Apply brakes while the throttle is steady.
2) Roll off the throttle as needed to aid slowing.
3) Begin to roll throttle back on…
4) …while slowly releasing the brakes to seamlessly resume travel speed.
Combining brake and throttle creates a push-me, pull-you tension that stabilizes the chassis while also providing the option to seamlessly add more brake or more throttle as desired without any chassis disruptions.
Try it on an open, straight section of road. Maintain a steady throttle and squeeze the brake lever (and pedal) against it. You should feel the weight of the bike smoothly transfer from rear to front.
Once a slo...