Originally Posted by
terrymorse
And here you come out saying "braking while cornering is a bad idea and should be avoided if at all possible".
You are incorrect.
Every skilled descender brakes into curves. It is not only fast, it is safe. Simple physics shows this. I literally brake into every fast turn.
Stop fear mongering.
Going through corners so fast you need to brake while cornering is safe? I'll have to disagree with that. Safe is when you have enough margin to maneuver corrections if something goes wrong or something unexpected happens. This is very easy to achieve if you plan the corner in advance and brake well in advance. If you attack a corner at at the limit of traction so fast you actually need to brake to get into it (which I still posit is slower than braking before and then using all traction for cornering), you don't have much margin of error to maneuver. Not the epitome of safety in my mind.
I'll assume that next you'll argue that you don't need to go through corners at limit of available traction, but why then would you brake while cornering if you don't have to? If the aim is to go through corners safely, why risk it with dividing traction between braking and cornering?
As to using the skilled rider argument, prove it.
Also, a quote straight from wikipedia:
"There is risk with trail braking because excessive use of the front brake can result in a loss of grip as the tire's adhesion is split between braking and cornering forces.[6] Effective trail braking requires finesse from the rider, which can be difficult to learn.[6]"
Originally Posted by
Spoonrobot
So here you've found an article which deals with mountain biking, downhill to be specific. However the funny thing about downhill and descending with a mountain bike in general is that sometimes you actually want to lose traction with the rear tire and so you brake with the rear brake only to achieve a tighter turn. However in general said techinque is considered bad trail etiquette as it damages trails. Sometimes it also happens by accident.
There's also something to be said about the differences of loose surface and tarmac riding, which are in fact pretty significant. Said differences affect almost all aspects of riding and so mountain descents and road descents are two very, VERY different things.
Good effort but it's not really relevant for the discussion at hand.
It goes without saying that losing traction on either tire whilst doing a road descent is the last thing one wants. Hence braking with the rear tire whilst cornering is a bad idea.