Ok, I will start with a question that's been bugging me for a while now.

I'm a newbie to the track, and although I feel practice can help in many of the other areas, when it comes to braking I believe I miss the principle of it.

In most cases, you have just few seconds to go down from 200+ to just about 80 or so. You need to:
1. Start braking with the front brake
2. Down shift, sometimes 2-3 gears
3. Set the engine rev to match the new gear so the rear wheel won't lock
4. Drop the front brake lever just a split of a second before you drop the bike into the corner

My biggest problem is with #3. How can you rev the engine while still squeezing the brake lever using the same hand?

I've noticed that in most bike races while they slow down they just "pump" the throttle to the max and then change gears, but to do that you would have to leave the braking lever causing the bike to shoot like a bullet.

Much confusion :roll:
Any tips will be appreciated.

Tnx,
Ronen

Okay here's the short version.

Until you're a good eniugh rider you really don't have the skills to bilp the throttle on downshifts.

Once you start to feel comfortable with what you're doing you'll feel more comfortable having less and less pressure on your brake lever. Also having the right equipment helps substantially.

I generally do all my braking with my index finger, and that's it. If I'm at a fast track that needs a lot of speed scrubbed going into a corner I might use my indew and middle finger on the brakes. The rest I keep around the barrel of the throttle. What you start to develop is the ability to maintain constant pressure on the brakes while you roll the remainder of your hand to tach up the motor a little. Keep in mind the rpms don't have to match exactly, but any closing of the difference will enable you to get the clutch out quicker with less drama of wheel hop.

Back to the set-up. I run EBC HH+ sintered pads and Galfer braided stainless lines. This makes even the most rediculous stops a one finger ordeal.

Next comes riding style. I used to blip the throttle a lot. I also used to be really afraid of locking the rear tire. As I became a more aggressive rider and started getting further and further out over the bars I started to dump downshifts sooner and sooner. The rear tire would be soo lite that it would hop it would just spin slower than the ground and slide. Then I could control where the bike was before I dropped into a turn. Now I often drag my rear tire and slide the bike around like a rudder for a good fast drive into corners.

But the main thing is that this all comes with practice and patience. And finding out what is comfortable for you.

Thanks for your answer. I read it twice to make sure I understand everything correctly, and then a new question came to mind.

As I see it, the reason we downshift and not just brake is to have a descent and powerful exit out of the corner, so you can crack the throttle up and disappear. It sounds obvious but here comes the second question, where should I aim to? I mean, what RPM should I aim for when getting out of the corner?

I find it very easy downshifting until I have the bike at 7K when entering the corner. Accelerating some more mid-way and you exit at 8K, not the best working range for an R6.

That's why I straggle to shift one more gear down, to have the bike at a higher RPM, but that's the hard part! Downshifting to 11k makes the rear wheel very "nervous".

Of course it all depends on the corner/track, but usually, what RPM do you aim for exiting the corner with?

As you said it all depends on the gear and the corner and the speed.

Basically you're looking to be in the rpm range, whatever range you need, so that when you get on the stick to exit a corner you have steady strong acceleration. If you don't downshift enough and your revs are too low the bike will struggle to build power and you won't get a strong charge out of the corner. If you downshift too many gears you'll be in too much power and run the risk of spinning the rear tire, sliding and making less speed, or high-siding. Also if you're way too high in the revs you might have to upshift before you're done with the corner. None of which are productive.

What you'll find is that if you're still running stock gears they suck. They are spaced too far apart and make it difficult to match the right gear to the right situation. Generally stokc gearing is too tall. You'll never get an r6 to develop enough power to push it to 180 mph. Remember drag is the cubed function of horsepower. So to get you bike to go 2 units faster you need 8 more units of power. So you try to find an acceptabe topend. Mine's somewhere around 163mph. That's just a little below redline in 6th. Because you don't make top power at redline, you make about 2k or so rpm before.

So by changing your gearong and making the scale more accurate to the bikes capabilities you get more usable power. Originally you had gearing set for 6 gears over a range of 185mph, now you have 6 gears over a range of 160mphs. The gaps between each gear are closer. So if you were too high in 2nd or too low in 3rd, you new 3rd gear will be higher in revs for the same speed as before.

This is great because say you were at 6k at 50 mphs in 3rd, making 45hp. Now you could be at 7500 at 50 in 3rd making 53hp. Well 53hp is going to squirt you out a lot better than 45hp was going to.

If you change your gearing you'll find that you're going faster more often because it's easier to build speed. Even though you make a small trade-off on overall topspeed.
....but how often do you ride around at 165, as opposed to 70?