3X World Champ Says STOP DOING THIS: "That's Insane!" 

Right on. Case closed.

The best line "it doesn't matter what your uncle did @ 35mph in a 55mph corner". Paraphrasing of course.👍

This just sad, to actually have to reply to this type of stuff, sheesh. Fast Freddie will always be my first and foremost idolized rider. The whole reason I got my first streetbike, a silver 1980 Honda CB400T, was seeing pictures and articles in the Motorcycle magazines at that time, of the CB750F Superbike and Freddie racing it. It was undying love from then on, rain or shine lol.

What's most concerning to me is that once it is in print, that misquote will have a life if it's own. It would be excellent to have the quote removed!!! Keep teaching us the right way. We appreciate it!

Seriously, it's legitimately worrying that you have to actually explain why this wouldn't work and shouldn't be done 😳

When I first misunderstood trail braking, this is what I believed. As I watched more videos by you and others I realized that I was wrong to do both at the same time. I also don't ride fast enough in corners to trail brake most of the time. Thanks for the great video.

I accidentally cracked the throttle while hard braking for T1 at Chuckwalla recently, and it was an unpleasant experience. I'd never do it intentionally, that's for sure.

I experimented with front break and throttle thinking I was smart. I wasn't.

Looking good Mr. Spencer. last time I saw you was at Laguna Seca back in the very early 80's.

Hold the front brake on the gas and you do donuts. I can see how the 2 cycle power band would need some smoothing out, especially out of a corner or on a slick track. I had a 3 cyl. Kawi that when the power band came on it wanted to go down. 3 times on a frosty October morning. Subscribed!

A lifetime of experience. Two lives. Saw thousands of riders. A fella can get a real education at night, and practice in the day. Wish I’d had this as a kid, but glad I have it now. Thanks and mad respect.

I love how Freddie's right hand is just always in the throttle screwdriver orientation, even just gesturing in conversation. It's like it's been permanently embedded in his DNA.

Amazing content gentlemen...priceless lessons!

I had the privilege and pleasure of spending time (Edinburgh) with this kind, nice and enthusiastic man. Strangely, Ron Haslam, Troy Bayliss say the same, consistency is King.

I heard that Hailwood bet a couple of guys he could hold the throttle wide open through a TT corner that everyone that was human had to shut the throttle. He later went through the corner with it pinned but still used the brakes and went to collect his winnings directly.:)

Use the front brake with the throttle: To do a burn-out! OR To practice your balance and front braking on the dirt at slow speeds with both tires slipping. I tell my fiends who want to ride on the street that they must be able to do this.

I think Freddy missed to say that the rear brake was used to stop the rear wheel from just spinning or a method to control the spin. When a 2-stroke goes "on the pipe" or better to say when the exhaust chambers come into resonance the power might increase from 100 to 200 horses in the blink of an eye because those things are in resonance or they are not, it's like a switch and completely unknown to a 4-sroke.

Still a little confused. It almost sounds like "never touch the front brake while the throttle is open at all". But then, at the end, it seems like there could (maybe should?) be some overlap as you're _closing_ the throttle (which initiates engine braking, even before it's completely closed). I'm also under the impression that it's recommended to rev match on downshifts while braking - which would mean opening the throttle while braking. Hoping someone can clear this up for me. I haven't ridden for 9+ years, got another bike recently and am trying to figure this stuff out again. Thanks.

Champ school only school

WOW is that Freddie that makes me feel very old..

what about whilst decelerating before the throttle is 100% close , but u already start to add front brake pressure ?

Two strokes sound good

well, of course it's ridiculous to use throttle and breaks at the same time, on paved roads in a fast corner.

those sayin Freddie used this ridiculous habit are just talking bullshit, theyre probably gettin confused with trailing the front brake into corners i think

Cheers

Rear brakes are for chumps. 😇

nick talks way too fast sometimes i have no idea what he's saying and the cc button also cannot pick up what he's saying. they need to wear mics too. the audio is very hard to hear

Pee Wee Herman just died and I immediately went back in my memory how Freddie Spencer looked so much like PeeWee ar certain times ....Sure hope Freddie lasts a lot longer than his dopplegnger! 70 is too young to die these days,,,,although maybe Pee Wee had it coming as I just read after his arrest they raided his home and found child porno which I never recall hearing before BTW had PeeWee ridden a motorcycle he probably couldnt use the brake or the throttle ....assuming he was right handed ewww that was bad

You can tell Freddie had the problems with his hands

Thank you for including the shot of that 500 with the pipes exposed. Holy shit! Just look at that thing! Pardon my ignorance, where's the fuel tank?

Genius. I've been watching motorcycle racing for 55 years. and Freddie is up there with the best of 'em

Go to the school in person! Check out the site for tracks and times...YOU WONT REGRET IT!

Idk boys…there’s a gentleman on RU-vid touring the US & Uk who claims it’s a great idea to use both front brake AND throttle simultaneously….how many GPs have you won? ….oh….wait

Always awesome hearing it from the pros. One of my scariest riding moments was going on the brakes into turn 11 of Circuit of the Americas and accidentally keeping some throttle open. Luckily, there's plenty of runoff in that area, I definitely had to use a lot of it.

Rear brake and throttle Maybe. If you need to tighten up your corners and you don't want to waste the time of shutting down the throttle and turning it back to maintenance or just finding that spot again and you need to tighten up the corner rear brake but their front brake I mean that's just asking for your front tire to slide the geometry that gives a traction wouldn't work That in the rear brake is quicker to respond than the throttle

Old school traction control. In motocross especially in the 125 days, I’d use the rear brake and clutch as a control in corners.

the only time you want to use the throttle and brake at the same time... doing a burnout 😄

We shorten and lengthen the motorcycle with the front brake not just stop it. Love the geometry changes when you can do it at the right times.

Thanks for the clarification on braking technique. This is the best way to correct misinformation.

Use to watch these guys as a kid in the 80's racing their 2t's to the max. Next week, we'll be out on the dirt track and think we riding GP bikes ha ha ha ha. Anybody that use a front brake under throttle obviously havent ridden an mx bike on loose dirt...you'll do it once and once only.

Finally!! I find out how to pronounce Nick's last name!! lol... Great confirming advice from Fast Freddy! Thanks. And same with Nick re using rr brake in street "normal" riding as front won't load up enough. :-)

"This is not a 'majority rules' sport.." I love that comment. Way too many armchair experts who think that in this day and age you must be right if you have more 'likes'. There are times when you need to put your preconceived notions away and listen to the people who have the experience, expertise and unbiased knowledge who are trying to pass that along to the new riders. This is one of those times.

This is really a thing people do? and tell others to do? Wow. This shots of the old NSR. Damn...

Well said..... I have gone through the ChampU online course a few times and plan to go through many more times. The information you both just shared and all the information in the ChampU course has been a huge help! I am just beginning to learn how to properly ride a motorcycle and never cease to be amazed at how well my bike performs/handles when I use "proper" technique. I am experiencing tiny little glimpses of what I see the SBK, MotoGP, and Moto America on the track when I do get the technique correct. Thank you Nick, Freddie and the whole YCRS crew for all the great information you are giving out to us "mere mortals" on motorcycles. Keep yourselves safe! 😃👍❤🏍 Randy

Old school here, Spencer is the real deal, if he gives you any advice!!! Don't just listen, write it down.

Awesume Let's bust that myth! No one fast has survived that technic.. no one lol..

The only reason to use the front break while on the throttle is if you are stunting and doing a rolling burnout. Only reason.

As fast as your street bike is, or think it is. Its nothing compared to a multi cylinder high rpm two stroke, with a narrow rpm peck torque range. Back in the 70's, I had large bore 2 stroke motocross bikes, with the same problem. When it hits the pipe you better have control and have it in the general direction you wanted to go. Keeping it up there and riding was challenging, fun and dangerous. I remember reading about Freddie and Kenny Roberts. Want to read a good story. Read about Kenny shoehorning a TZ750 multi cylinder 2 stroke from his GP bike, into his flat track bike. I still have that bike magazine with that article in it. As skilled as he was. He said they dont pay him enough to ride that thing. One race he had a bad start and ended up last, and came back to win the race. Having twice the HP as everybody else, It was nothing but trying to control the wheel spin. The bike was later banned.

I'm sure someone will always find a way to twist and misunderstand things! Like a serious bad case of "I Can Explain It To You But I Can't Understand It For You" 😅 And how time flies, we are at the tail end of 2022, how long has braking misinformation floating around!?

Im sending this to my friends dad. Case closed. Mic drop!

Thank you for this. Maybe we can finally put this "Brottle" BS to rest. Now to take on the garbage "counter-lean" that's taken off recently.

I remember reading that in what seemed to be a widely respected book. Sounded weird to me. I tried it but quickly abandoned it when I heard Nick say the opposite. I greatly appreciate this clarification!

Super advice, and so interesting :)

I am not in the US so I cant attend the YCRS. But years ago I watched nicks videos and bought his book, there is a very good chance his videos saved my life.

I’ve never heard of this BROTTLE ridiculousness, but as I’ve been riding all my life starting on dirt bikes at a young age, it is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, counterproductive and frankly dangerous! You never use the front brake whilst accelerating hard. What’s next? Is someone gonna try and claim that Freddie says whisky throttle is a good technique 🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤣🤣

but, but how do I do burnouts !!!! ??? :o Just jesting

I wonder if the guy who miss quoted Freddie uses this "technique ". Lol. Not for long im sure!

I use the gas and front brake in the morning just to warm my brakes up; much better feel with warm brakes on my FZ1.

Next year is 40 year anniversary 🦾🏍️🏁👊🏼

A few years back I bought a beautiful, but wrecked, K6 GSXR1000 from a squid who admitted that he had grabbed the front brake while accelerating. I repaired the damage, all cosmetic, and rode if for a few years and sold it. I regret selling it now!

Great information from the best. Isn’t that who we should be paying attention to? The best in the business. Well said guys. Thanks again for sharing this wonderful information with us all. 😎

Great information as always....now all we need is for the right people to see this. Thanks for the world class information....good to see Freddie he looks great.

My friends dad was saying the same thing and was adamant about using the front brake on the gas out of a turn. He maybe friends with the other guy.

I went through a very special private three day clinic with you both and Nick and Freddie and David Aldana ( real bad ass)i have you as my Willow Springs new rider school teach with Freddies skill and Nicks ability to articulate it into a curriculum was amazing . Freddie taught and was very specific, trail braking technique and he finalized the lesson wit you on the back of his 800,so hes jabber jawing flying into a corner knee on pavement showing you how to increase lean and lean tighten your line with the front brake insane it was like doing a weekend football clinic with Tom Brady

Just realised i do that on the street. Break and drive at the same time. Never done a track day and have only been riding for a year. I really should pay more attention to my inputs cause i want to be riding for as long as i can.

Nick, love the old Freddie School jacket..... Great discussion. Man that 500 GP 2 stroke just sounds evil.

It's so hard to believe this actually is something that needs to be talked about 😂😂😂

Freddie and Nick, why are these new kids sticking their legs out right before the turn? Never remember seeing you guys do this!!

Breaking while throttle is open ? Good way to end up on the pavement.

Similar to what Freddie said at the GP level, unique problems to extract the final few tenths of lap time require unique techniques. Casey Stoner while on the Ducati 800, has said there was a point in some corners where he would have throttle open partially with the front and rear brake on some percentage, both tires sliding and spinning. But this was an instant within certain corners to overcome the Ducati's problems. Not to mention he has so much more talent than most riders. GP level riders see bikes differently than mortals

Great video... I used to ride and race 250cc and 350cc 2 strokes and although they were not 500cc brutal both bikes needed to be ridden differently.. The 250cc was on proper race tyres and the 350cc LC was a glorified production bike (TTF2 spec engine with about 75bhp so similar power to the 250, but not how they produced power or how the chassis needed to work). The 250 was all about corner speed and using the grip from the front tyre. The 350 had less grip so it was more about squaring the corner off and keeping it upright. The thing you quickly learn is if you are on the throttle at all when braking the fork is extended much more and it makes the front become very stiff and the bike will understeer. I learned this very quickly going from the 1/4 turn throttle on the 250 to the production bike throttle with much more travel and did hit the brake while the throttle was closing but not closed. That was one of the things that made going from one bike to the next horrible if you entered both bikes at a meeting. Trail braking into a corner is an odd one for me as it all seems to be based on feel and the actual corner as one corner is different to another. I will carry the brake deeper into a slower corner to load the front to help it turn in better and faster ones you still carry the brake into the corner but not so hard to make the bike unstable or want to tuck into the corner more. So faster corners do seem to use a little more rear brake in the way in as it keeps the bike stable and the front rebounds a little slower as you come off the front brake too. This may be imaginary but it was the only way I could feel the bike was in control fully. The rear brake thing... Now I keep hearing people talk about never using the rear brake.. The 250cc bike pretty much never used it, on corner exit, on a dry track as the bike had so much more grip and my level of riding was not world class. The 350cc bike was very different, it had more torque and over 2000rpm less rev range it hit hard enough to break traction at the rear in the lower, first 3 gears, and needed a different way of riding it. I had to brake late but turn in later and harder to make the corner but the bike was on its side for less of the time and you would be on the fatter part of the tyre for longer. In slow corners it would lose grip and slide so you had two choices, One was use the rear brake as soon as you open the throttle which was fine for 3rd gear and up or know it was going to slide and then try to control the wheel spin with the rear brake. I spent a lot of time on an old Kawasaki KX100 at the local sand track learning to slide and that has still stuck with me today 30+ years later. My R1 runs a small ISR rear brake caliper which is not powerful but has a lot of feel and the only time I miss a bit more power is over crests (Cadwell Park Mountain for one) or on the road when the front wheel will float for longer before coming down again. The extra torque of the R1 does benefit from rear brake control more than most think.

This is very important. The faster you can go, the more people will love and admire you. Do it right and you might never pay for another meal. Unless you want to. And then you can pay for everybody. It's a win/win really. That's why you'll see some of the better racers chunk up in their golden years. It's an undeniable mark of excellence.

Great interview! The best thing I've done in terms of rider skill and safety was to take the online Champ School. I learned so much and it has transformed my riding completely. One of the best feelings when trail braking is feeling the front wheel bite into the pavement and the bike turning in...all it takes is 5%.

It's great to listen to these geniuses of motorcycle racing explaining things of motorcycle riding

Riding style changes over time with new tech, at least in competitive racing. That new tech also translates to new bikes on road and slowly changing riding too. But of course, better to be on safer side👍

I went to Freddie’s school in Las Vegas in 2005. Nick was there too. Brilliant teaching and storytelling. My two-up lap with Freddie remains a fantastic memory and lesson in smoothness.

I couldn't believe what I am hearing.... That is way more than misquoted.... That's happening because media has not a clue of how to ride a bike. Shame.

These guys advise against using aggressive throttle while using the front brake, which makes total sense to me. Motojitsu, who often references champ school, recommends using maintenance throttle of about 1 to 2 percent to hold speed as needed while trail braking, which also makes sense to me. I'm confused.

Kinda makes me think of Norick Abe's riding style that Kenny Roberts used to try to get him to stop doing which was he'd hold the front brake on corner exit while feeding the throttle in to get the rear spinning up. In a way.

I was extremely confused when I first read that misquote. It didn't make sense to me. Glad to have the man himself clarify!

Wow!!!! Thanks Nick to help me with my riding. I appreciate it !

That 2-stroke peak was what made the first Kawasaki 500 and 350 triples so totally "fun" to ride. For a normal road bike, the way they were tuned was just insane.

NICE to see my buddy Nick and Freddie back together again!! And listening to Freddie talking about how he controlled rear wheel spinning by applying the rear brake under acceleration reminds me of how much NICK used the rear brake to do the exact same thing during out AMA 250 GP days - it got to the point where he would go through an entire set of rear pads by the end of the race - we couldn't even run the morning warmup AND the race on the same set - I generally had to replace the rear brake rotor after every race from so much abuse- I originally thought he was just unknowingly dragging his foot on the brake petal until he finally explained why - I used to do the exact same thing on my TZ750 back in the day, although I mostly used it to keep the thing from flipping over backwards at 150 mph

Yeh, the only time you want the throttle on and front brake on, is, anyone, yeh, only, when you are doing a burn out. I'd rather trust Fast Freddie etc on how to do something proper with/on a bike, than uncle bob. Unless uncle bob is a national or world champ.

You people should listen to Greg Motojitsu. Nothing wrong with keeping 1% brake and cracking the throttle to maintain speed.... so says Greg. 🤭

Could you do an episode on the similarities (and differences) in performance riding on adventure and dirt bikes, vs street/racing bikes?

Thanks Nick, you're the Man Freddy

There still seems to be confusion on trail braking. You are still maintaining maintenance throttle just not accelerating. Because you have very light front brake pressure

Thank you. This is gold and needs to be kept for future reference, if not part of the curriculum itself.

... alright kids when fast Freddie Spencer speaks you need to listen he wasn't a world champion for nothing..

I thought I’d read Casey Stoner was using front brake and throttle to load the front tire but that’s beyond anyone watching RU-vid for pointers.

I can remember a few years ago the MCN Mostly Crap n Nonsense........ Sorry motorcycle news (UK) ran an article regarding the Prima Donna (46) would dampen out the vibrations on the Yamaha by leaving the throttle open and applying the front brake, supposedly like holding the tangs of a tuning fork..... If it's true or not, I don't know. But Innovation takes place with the riders as well as technology, they've gone from sat up right in corners, to hanging off, to knee down and elbow down. .......the only time I did all of those, I got my arse down as well...... (I fell off). It does amaze me, the amount of "real bikers" who "never touch the rear brake" ....... riding on the road!!

"Brottle" lmao. I mean, do riders not immediately feel how much the bike hates that?

Sometimes I'm not going 55 on a 55mph turn. Sometimes I'm only going 45mph and there is plenty to y of room on the turn so I just let off the brakes and roll through the turn. Is that the same as going to throttle too soon?

It is when you run 60 tooth sprocket use brake and thottle to drift .Just no brake Throttle wheelie. Faster on the street most of the time in the city because people block the cops for you when you stunt. When's the last time you rode a bike on the street Me Fast?

You can do it on a dirt bike ,on wet grass, to get the feeling for when you're just about to hit the deck from braking too hard. It's an interesting exercise. Just love hearing the masters of the 2-strokes describing their tricks and skills in tameing those vicious (and beautiful) bikes. Thanks!!

Great video Well done 👏

I know others that use the rear brake trick to smooth things out but never front brake. These types of messages have to be done, so good job guys.

Tensioning the rear brake on the way out of the corner is a motocross thing too.

perfect!