VIDEO REVIEW ON THE WAY!

Have you used your rear brake since your test? Me neither....

But, recently more and more WSB, BSB, club racers, and track riders are using the rear brake to gain "an advantage". In  Moto GP riders  have  used  the rear  brake  for  years.  But  with  320bhp+  you  would  wouldn’t  you....

So  what are the advantages? We’re told, by keeping the bike more inline on corner entry, also you can tighten your line mid corner without having to move your foot which again can upset your bike, and for the feel factor, and you get a much better idea of what the brakes doing through your thumb, rather than through rigid boots.

For us, this is a completely new experience, and it’ll be interesting to find out if your average rider that does 5-10 track days a year thinks its worth the cost  (I  used  my  own  money  to  buy  this).  I  wanted  to  try  the  HEL  option  for  3  reasons.  

1. All  HEL  items  are  of  the  highest  quality  with  all  parts  being  manufactured  in  Britain.  
2.  The  customer  service  is  second  to  none.
3. Just  look  at  it,  its  a  thing  of  beauty!

James  says the  only  riding  advantage  for  our  level  though  is  bling, do  you  agree?  

Let‘s find out....

You can fit a thumb master cylinder to work with the conventional foot brake all bikes have, but I decided to ditch the foot lever altogether and to run the brake line directly to the rear caliper. 

If  you‘re  competent on  the  spanner’s,  you’ll  definitely be  able  to  fit  this.  If  not,  get  it  booked  in at  your  local  bike  shop.

It took me about an hour to fit as I had to drop a fork leg out to get the mounting bracket on, but it wasn't a complicated job. I recommend a vacuum pump to bleed the brake line though though if your running a line directly from the clip-on to the rear caliper.

At the time of ordering, make sure you know the exactly diameter of your fork leg.

Double check that the with thumb lever fully pressed it doesn't come into contact with the clutch lever...

I'm not going to lie, it took some getting used to, but the feedback you get is perfect and gives you confidence. 

My thinking on getting through a bend was always -  aim for the right line, find the braking marker, snap the throttle shut, brake, tip in whilst trail braking, look for the exit, off the brake and drive out. There was no more thinking capacity for adding another brake!

I ended up focusing on two corners at Donington, Foggy's and Melbourne Loop, and learning how using the thumb brake affected the bikes behaviour. I spent 4 sessions doing this, and by the 5th I was using it into Redgate and Godards also without overloading my brain.

Without a doubt it has an advantage over not using it, and it's staying on the bike. Even I can tell that when you've got the front brake hard on, on the thumb brake stops the back end from wondering so much, which gave me more confidence to throw it in at higher speeds. I then found that my braking markers were moving back further, so lap times dropped.