Even though this thread is now mostly a jumble of theoretical page fluffing, I can't get it out of my head. The "trail braking a bicycle" notion is stuck with me. Because it's not really applicable to the average rider. I was paying attention to entry and exit speeds on my ride this morning, both on the flats and while descending. While coasting through any typical corner, regardless of initial velocity, I would lose about 1mph while on a descent, and ~2mph on flat ground; enter at 23mph, exit at 21 or 22, depending on the grade. The reason being, I never had to brake at all. I can corner while using only "my side" of a two-lane street up to around 32mph. No braking. Give me the whole street's width, and it would obviously be more.
I did brake inside a corner once this morning-- a right hander, entering ~25mph, I had hoped to cheat up a little of the middle lane for my exit, but a car was approaching to make a left turn, so I gave a little braking to stay tighter. Dropped to around 18mph. So while I can see where trail braking might be preferred or even necessary-- not for maximum speed, but to stay inside a corner-- I'm also thinking grades up past 7%, where I'm (personally) not all that concerned about carrying every little bit of speed through a corner, because at my age I will err to the side of safety. I can happily live with 2-3mph slower around the bends if it means I get to keep all of my skin.
So braking inside the corner under that umbrella, sure. As I said before, I think most of us do it unconsciously. But braking through any corner is still going to be slower than pushing the limits of grip while coasting.
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