I've been practicing my stops on my way to work and back as well and trying to get it down to a perfected science hasn't happened yet.
My practice is to come somewhat near the sign and start a clutchless downshift (at the appropriate speeds). My right hand has my thumb and index finger on throttle duty and the rest of my fingers on the front brake. I'll apply pressure to the front and rear brake while clutchless downshifting through the gears until I hit 1st, and then I'll pull in the clutch because at that point I'm mostly complete with my stop.
I've found that my braking distance has shortened considerably compared to braking without using engine braking. The part I'm trying to perfect is 1) making it second nature and 2) getting much much closer to the stop sign before I initiate this procedure, because as is I'm coasting a bit through some of the gears and I know I don't have to be.
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