Quote:
Originally Posted by Misti
Why do you want to be rolling on the gas while going downhill? What does it do for the machine?
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Because you still need to transfer weight to the back wheel.
The acceleration you experience from going downhill is one that does not cause weight shift. It is the acceleration experienced uniformly by the mass of you+machine as you both go down the hill.
Because of this, you need to use the throttle accelerate the machine IN ADDITION TO this downhill acceleration to get proper weight transfer. Without the weight transfer to the back wheel, you're loading the front wheel heavily and are asking a lot of your front tire.
Many riders only slow as much as they do on flat ground when setting up entry speed for downhill curves. If they do the proper roll-on, they end up at a much higher corner speed and exit speed than they planned... then crash. If they skip the proper roll-on, they ask too much of the front tire... then crash. If they're lucky enough to not have crashed, they've at least scared themselves a little and/or lost control of lane position.
Rule of thumb for all corners for me when riding unfamiliar roads or under unfamiliar conditions: set entry speeds a little lower than normal, keep it wide, turn in late, and rail the throttle, as applicable. This works for uphill, downhill, flat, new roads, familiar roads, bad weather, etc. It's always better in my mind to take a corner a little slow than it is to scare the poop out of myself and/or bin it.