After reading this thread....I'm not sure where to start. 1) Braking, using the front, in a corner can EASILY lead to bad things. 2) Trail braking has always meant light rear brake application; can also lead to bad things. 3) I have yet to scrape a peg on the Tenere. I've been leaned over far enough to feel the back tire start to squirm; later inspection revealed the entire elimination of the chicken strips. 4) Maybe setting more preload explains it. Which got me to wondering if the people scraping pegs, are also the ones that consider the Tenere "under sprung". 5) Maybe I just don't have enough experience to ride well.
responses:
1-Braking with the front brake in a turn is a standard part of "trail braking." It leads to bad things only if you don't balance your traction between deceleration traction and lateral/turning traction. If you can not modulate braking with a bit of skill you will overload lateral traction and go down. Using the rear brake only can lead to low side or low side then high side if they go into a turn to hot.
2-I have never seen an advanced or sport riding book, article, or class that refers to using the rear brake going into a turn as trail braking. Trail braking formally refers to braking harder at the start of a turn and as the lean angle increases fading off of the brakes. As lateral Gs increase braking Gs are decreased. The MSF advises against braking in a turn because this is an advance skill and new riders are prone to screw it up and crash. It can be a very aggressive move or a mellow maneuver with a lot of safety margin.
3-On good pavement with sticky street tires is is almost impossible to make a tire squirm even when dragging pegs if you are riding smoothly. Dirt or street/trail tires slid easily. On a good road (even with with good body position) with street tires the pegs drag easily. On a good stretch of twisty road I sometimes have to work to not touch a peg down.
4-I could touch a peg down with TKC80s and there was some tire squirm. With street tires touching the pegs down is not a big deal. I have a Traxion Dynamics suspension components, forks and shocks, that are adjusted for my weight and twisty mountain roads.
Trail braking is not the same as trailing the rear brake.
