Road bike descending technique
A good descent is built before the corner: look far ahead, pick a wide line, finish braking while the bike is upright, and let it roll through with the inside pedal up. The model behind it is simple, and the numbers below show how much room each habit gives you.
About the numbers. Every angle below is a model value: the ideal lean formula from the calculator, the grip scale’s assumed μ and the pedal defaults. Your road, tyres and bike will differ. Krengo shows lean and an estimate of how much assumed grip a corner uses; it does not measure braking or grip. The field itself is not released yet.
Line: wide in, apex, wide out, eyes far ahead
Use the outside–inside–outside pattern within your own lane: enter wide, touch the inside near the apex, drift wide again on the exit.1 The reason is geometry. A wider arc has a larger radius, and a larger radius needs less lean at the same speed, from θ = atan(v² / (g · r)).
| Speed | Radius 30 m | Radius 40 m | Radius 60 m |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 km/h | ≈ 22.8° | ≈ 17.5° | ≈ 11.8° |
| 50 km/h | ≈ 33.2° | ≈ 26.2° | ≈ 18.1° |
| 60 km/h | ≈ 43.3° | ≈ 35.3° | ≈ 25.3° |
At 50 km/h, opening a 30 m arc to 40 m takes the lean from about 33.2° to about 26.2°, roughly 7° back. Speed counts twice: going from 60 to 50 km/h on the 40 m arc takes it from 35.3° to 26.2°.
Your eyes set the line. Look through the corner to the exit rather than at the front wheel, and keep looking two to three seconds ahead.2 At 50 km/h you cover 13.9 m per second, so that is 28 to 42 m of road. On a public road, keep every part of the line inside your lane and inside the stretch you can see; on a blind bend, choose the speed first and the line second.
Brake before the corner
A tyre has one grip budget for braking and turning together. The textbook friction-circle model says the sideways limit shrinks to atan(√(μ² − a²)) when you brake at a deceleration of a, in g. It is a standard model, not part of Krengo’s grip scale.
| Braking | Dry worn, μ 0.90 | Wet, μ 0.60 |
|---|---|---|
| None | ≈ 42.0° | ≈ 31.0° |
| 0.2 g, gentle | ≈ 41.3° | ≈ 29.5° |
| 0.3 g | ≈ 40.3° | ≈ 27.5° |
Braking at 0.3 g costs about 1.7° of limit on dry and 3.5° on wet. The way to keep the whole budget for the turn is to do the slowing on the straight: heavy braking in a straight line before the corner, then ease off as you turn in.2 How long that takes is just arithmetic. Slowing from 50 to 35 km/h at a steady 0.3 g takes about 17 m; 50 to 40 km/h about 12 m; 60 to 40 km/h about 26 m. Those are model distances with a constant deceleration, so leave more on a real road. Choose your speed at the braking point, not at the apex.
Body position and lean
Keep your hands in the drops close to the brake levers, your elbows soft and your torso relaxed.1 Bike lean and body lean are different things: you can tilt the frame under a more upright torso, or move the torso toward the inside and keep the frame more upright. The model is the same one used on the road bike cornering technique page. At a given speed and radius the combined bike-and-rider lean is set by θ = atan(v² / (g · r)), and moving your body shifts how that lean is shared between frame and torso; it does not make the sideways force go away. Smooth movements matter more than big ones.
A worked example
A 50 km/h descent through a corner needs about 33.2° at 30 m radius, 26.2° at 40 m and 18.1° at 60 m. With the grip scale’s 2° margin and level Settled (factor 0.70), the model compares that with the assumed grip of the surface:
| Radius | Lean needed | Dry worn, utilisation | Wet, utilisation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 m | ≈ 33.2° | ≈ 112 % | ≈ 168 % |
| 40 m | ≈ 26.2° | ≈ 85 % | ≈ 128 % |
| 60 m | ≈ 18.1° | ≈ 58 % | ≈ 87 % |
100 % is the model limit, not detected slipping. The same corner that sits at 85 % on dry worn asphalt sits above 100 % on wet in the model, which is why the radius and the speed you carry in matter so much. Look at the grip scale for what the colours mean.
Outside pedal down, inside pedal up
Coasting through the corner, put the outside pedal at the bottom and carry your weight through that foot, with the inside pedal up.1,2 The inside pedal is the one that meets the road first. With the Krengo defaults the model puts the pedal warning at about 33.2° and touch-down at about 36.2°. A 50 km/h corner on a 30 m radius needs about 33.2°, right at the warning, while the same speed on 40 m needs 26.2°, about 7° below it. Pedal up gives you clearance, and a wider arc gives you more of it. The formula and a way to measure your own limit are on the pedal touch-down angle page. Start pedalling again when the bike is upright enough and the exit is clear.
Wet roads and painted lines
In Krengo’s model the wet grip limit sits roughly 10° lower than dry (about 31° against 42°), and in the wet the tyre can reach its limit before the pedal does. Road markings, manhole covers and other ironwork are their own surface and can be slippery, also in the dry.3 On a descent, cross them upright, before the lean starts, and brake earlier and softer on wet roads. The full numbers, with the honest range for wet μ, are on cornering in the rain on a road bike.
Tyre pressure
In a test-rig measurement of wet grip on 28 mm road tyres, lower pressure gave more grip: centre grip went from 0.69 at 7.4 bar to 0.78 at 3.7 bar, about 3° of model limit.4 That is one rig and one surface, not a recommendation for your bike. What width and pressure change in a corner is on tyre pressure and grip in a corner.
A short checklist
- See it early. Eyes through the corner, two to three seconds ahead.
- Brake on the straight. Finish while the bike is upright, then roll into the turn.
- Widen the arc. A bigger radius is the cheapest way to cut lean.
- Outside pedal down, inside pedal up. Relaxed arms, hands in the drops.
- Give wet and paint extra room. Cross markings upright.
Try your own speed and radius in the lean angle calculator. Krengo shows lean and an estimate of how much of the assumed grip the corner uses. It does not sense braking or the road, so read green as information, not as permission to go faster. Learn new speeds on a closed or quiet road with permission to ride there.
Sources
- USA Cycling, Cornering clinic. Used for the outside–inside–outside line, looking where you want to go, hands in the drops, and inside foot up with outside foot down. Read on 5 October 2026.
- Roadman Cycling, How to descend faster. Used for heavy braking in a straight line before the corner, looking two to three seconds ahead and weighting the outside pedal. A coaching article, not a study. Read on 5 October 2026.
- FEMA (Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations), Road surface friction and motorcycling. Used for road markings and manhole covers as friction hazards. It is about motorcycles; the same surfaces matter for bikes. Read on 5 October 2026.
- Bicycle Rolling Resistance, Wet grip tire pressure test. Three 28 mm road tyres at 3.7, 5.0, 6.2 and 7.4 bar; centre grip fell from 0.78 to 0.69 as pressure rose. A test-rig result on one surface, not a road value. Read on 5 October 2026.
The lean formula, the friction limit tan θ = μ, the friction-circle model and the braking distances are standard textbook models and are not taken from the sources. The angles and percentages are Krengo’s own model values: the grip scale’s assumed μ, level factor and margin, and the pedal defaults on the linked pages.