It seems counterintuitive but learning how to brake properly can go a long way towards making you go faster on your mountain bike. Read on to find out how to step up your braking performance and learn proper braking technique that will take your mountain biking to new heights.
Body position
As you brake, your body will tend to move forward. This can cause your rear wheel to become de-weighted, which can cause you to lose traction in your rear wheel and subsequently lose control of your bike.
To offset the natural reaction of your body moving forward while you brake, you should keep your weight back slightly, with your hips just a bit behind where your saddle is located.
While braking, you’ll want to maintain a strong body position without being tense. To help keep you loose, keep your arms slightly bent. You’ll also want to keep your shoulders and hips in a neutral, aligned position, not leaning one way or another (unless you’re turning, of course).
Practicing for control
As with learning most MTB skills, there really is no substitute for experience, repetitions and practice in order to learn how to brake well.
An awesome way to work on your braking is to practice on one familiar section of trail over and over. You’ll need to find a section of trail that requires braking, ideally a descending section followed by a turn you need to navigate.
By working on your braking through the same trail section repeatedly, you’ll have a great chance to figure out what works best for you. You can try braking earlier, braking later, varying your line choice, your turn entrance and exit speed.
Braking with the right amount of force, at the right time, and on the right line, will allow you to increase your exit speed from turns, and as a result, make your overall lap times faster.
Read the ground and trail surfaces
Reading the surface of the trail is important to understand how much braking you need, and how smooth you need to be while braking.
If the trail you’re riding is wet or loose, the traction you have will be reduced. This means that aggressively applying your brakes will be more likely to cause your wheels to lock up, lose traction, and slip.
If you’ve got any speed or are on a steep, slippery trail and your wheels lock up on you and cause you to lose control, it will be difficult for you to regain it.
The less traction there is on a trail you are riding, the more smooth you’ll need to be in applying your brakes. This means you’ll need a soft touch and gradually apply the brakes, not slam them on.
One finger braking
A mistake you’ll often see beginner mountain bikers make is how they position their fingers on their handlebars and brake levers. Beginners will often have two, three or even four fingers on the brake lever.
This causes two main problems. One, having more fingers on the brakes reduces the grip and control you have over your handlebars.
Two, having more than one finger on your brakes reduces the sensitivity, touch and control you have over the amount of braking force you apply.
Instead, you should only have your index finger on your brake levers, and each index finger should be positioned toward the end of each lever to give you more leverage and control over it.
By doing this, you’ll be more capable of braking smoothly and gradually, especially in those situations that require it like when there is reduced traction.
Consider the steepness of the trail
On steeper trails you descend on your mountain bike, you need to understand that your wheels will tend to lock up more easily.
Trying to slow down a lot with only your rear brake will in all likelihood cause your rear wheel to lock up, and make it hard to keep control as you’re descending.
You’ll want to use your front brake more to allow you to slow down, and rear brake more as a control mechanism to avoid gaining too much speed.
Front brake vs rear brake
Your front and rear brake are not created equal, each provide different levels of stopping power and they shouldn’t be used in exactly the same way.
Your front brake will always have the most stopping power. This is because as you’re riding downhill, there is much more weight behind and on the front brake as compared to the rear brake.
If you need to stop or slow down in a hurry, you’ll need use of your front brake to accomplish this. If you’re needing to slow down quickly and use only the rear brake, your rear wheel will likely start skidding, reducing your control over the bike.
The rear brake is better used to control and maintain your speed rather than slowing you down a lot. If you’re descending a trail at a good speed, but don’t want to go any faster, smoothly applying your rear brake as needed will help you maintain control over your speed.
Using both brakes together
Of course, neither your front or rear brake operate in a silo, and the most effective mountain bikers know how to use them together.
When you need to come to a stop quickly, using both brakes at the same time will give you the highest level of stopping power.
How much pressure to apply to each brake in a given situation can be as much art as science, and you’ll get better and better at understanding this with experience.
You can also get a bit creative with how you use your brakes, like when coming around a tight corner. Use your front brake to scrub some speed, and your rear brake to both scrub speed, and to break traction on your rear wheel, allowing you to drift around the corner. This takes some practice, but is loads of fun, can help get you through the trail faster, and looks really cool.
Avoid hard, sudden braking
Squeezing the brakes hard suddenly is generally a recipe for bad things to happen.
It will cause your weight to be thrown forward and often times cause a loss of balance over your bike. It will make it more likely you’ll de-weight your rear wheel and lose traction as a result.
Sudden, hard braking can also cause you to slow down more than you needed or intended for a particular section of trail, which will slow down your overall speed and lap time for that trail.
Instead, your focus should be on braking smoothly and gradually wherever possible, and only brake hard and suddenly when you have no choice but to come to a quick stop. Hard braking should be a measure of last resort.
Frequently asked questions
Ideally you should brake using both your front brake and rear brake together. If you really need to slow down in a hurry, your front brake provides you with more stopping power. Your rear brake is better suited for maintaining and controlling your speed to avoid going faster than you’d like.
You should only have one finger on your brake levers, your index finger. This allows you to have better touch and control over your brakes as compared to using multiple fingers on your brake levers.
Yes, you should tailor how you are braking to the trail conditions you’re riding. On trails with less traction, whether as a result of them being wet or loose, you should be extra careful to brake as smoothly and gradually as possible. It’s much easier to lock your wheels up and lose control on slipperier trails – especially when you try to brake hard suddenly.
On dry, firm trails, you can get away with braking a bit more aggressively with less chance of locking up your wheels.
Conclusion
Braking well will greatly benefit your riding and make your rides faster, safer and more fun. Precise braking will give you the control you need to improve your rides on your current trails and to conquer new trails. It will make your ride smoother and take your MTB experience to the next level.