I've not got a lot of experience to go on but do you think it's got a lot to do with the bike as well ? It's really difficult to trail brake the older bikes I have been on anywhere near as deep as the new bikes. My old 2003 R1 I had for a few months would not turn on the brakes at all, you were forced to do a 'crafer style' corner entry letting off the brake to drop it in. Presumable it would have been better if I'd done like the older Ducatis and used a wider more flowing approach, but I didn't know any better at the time.
Mike Dickenson swears that you risk a low side if you don't have the front on most (if not all) way to the apex.
All bikes can be made to run in well on the brakes (well, sports bikes anyway) but some mean lots of money, where others naturally turn with brakes on (panigale seems like that)
Hi Guy's. I have just had a look at what MCN (Michael Nevies) is saying and I agree with him and its probably how I try to ride the bends... i.e I try to go from full throttle and onto the brakes - brake as hard and as late as I approach a bend, (Good tyres, Good Brakes and a slipper clutch certainly help) as I start to tip in, I start easing off the brakes all the way to the apex where I would normally be at full lean with no throttle. As I start to pick the bike up I gently start winding it on.. The sooner I get towards the fat part of the tyre I give it full gas. There are some exceptions to this theory though depending on the type of bend I'm approaching. For example some very fast bends such as "Lakeside" at Oulton Park, where you can carry seriously high corner speed only require gentle breaking and sometimes a down shift before tipping in. Given the high speed.. (in my opinion) its much more important to have the bike settled and obviously on the right line, I enter the bend on neutral throttle right to the apex, from there I start giving it more gas as I pick the bike up.. that is providing I am happy I won't run wide. Its then full throttle for a second or two before very late heavy braking into Shell Oils. To close. I think you will soon learn how your cornering is doing by watching and if possible following the fast boys. Then hard thing is then doing it lap after lap.
Think Neeves is saying (by earlier description) that you are off the brakes and coasting quite a way before the apex, heavy hard braking with more entry speed, whereas you are describing apex braking with lower entry speed. Certainly thats what Crafar does (coasting) IIRC. And this isn't neutral throttle, its closed. Neutral would be more like Keith Code, i.e. it a progressive roll on
