With Brembo at Assen it’s as easy as 1-2-3 for the Superbikes

7/20/2021

The Dutch turn/braking ratio. And once again, the radial master cylinders pro for racing and street bikes

After a one-year absence, the World Superbike Championship is back at the TT Circuit Assen, which already hosted MotoGP a month ago. According to Brembo technicians, who work closely with 17 World Superbike riders, this circuit is not very demanding on the brakes.

On a scale of 1 to 5, it earned a difficulty index of 1, the lowest of the season, thanks to its layout with no straights longer than 500 meters (1640 feet) and, therefore, only one demanding braking section, as well as the temperatures which favor optimum cooling of the steel discs.

No friction or locking with the Brembo radial master cylinder for Superbikes

A good portion of the Superbike riders uses the Brembo radial brake master cylinder. Both the strength of the fingers on the brake lever and the strength of the lever itself move in the same direction, i.e. radially, with regard to the point where the cylinder is fastened to the handlebar without generating friction or locking. This ensures that no energy is wasted.

When the World Superbike Championship was born in 1988, the bikes of those days still used axial master cylinders, actually made using casting and rather bulky. Just a few months later, billet radial master cylinders with shaped levers appeared, already successfully tested in World Championship GP Motorcycle racing in the late eighties.

Technology for street-legal motorcycles, too

Drawing inspiration from its extensive experience in MotoGP and Superbike, Brembo created the R19RCS Corsa Corta radial master cylinder, perfect for leisure riding, both on the road and on the track. One of its particular characteristics is the rider’s ability to adjust the free play (i.e. bite point) to three different levels.

In other words, the rider can adjust the stage during which braking is not active, determining the point when the braking system starts to apply pressure according to their own riding style, the conditions of the asphalt or the weather.

Would you like to know more? Discover the benefits and uses of the Brembo 19RCS Corsa Corta.

Braking is as easy as one, two, three

Like the MotoGP bikes, the Superbikes also use their brakes on 10 of the track’s 18 turns. Only Jerez and Villicum have more braking sections per lap. The riders use the brakes for just over 26 seconds per lap, which works out to 28 percent of the race duration, compared to 29 seconds (31 percent) for the MotoGP bikes.

As demonstration of how seldom the system is used, on 7 braking sections, the Superbikes do not even drop 90 km/h (56 mph) and even on the most demanding sections, the brakes are never used for 4 or more seconds. Even the brake fluid pressure never reaches 11 bar (159.5 psi), a value which, on the other hand, was exceeded on 5 turns during the Donington Park race at the beginning of the month.

10 km/h (6.2 mph) less than MotoGP bikes

Of the 10 braking sections at the TT Circuit Assen, only one is classified as highly demanding on the brakes, whereas 5 are medium difficulty and 4 are light.

The most difficult by far is the first after the start (Haarbocht turn) because the Superbikes reach 271 km/h (168 mph) and drop 164 km/h (102 mph) – 10 km/h (6.2 mph) less than the MotoGP bikes – after a braking distance of 190 meters (623 feet) so it takes 3.7 seconds. Riders apply 4.6 kg (10.14 lbs) of pressure to the brake lever and are subjected to deceleration of 1.5 G.