Initiated by Mick Doohan after his accident at Assen in 1992, the rear thumb brake designed by Brembo offers many advantages.
Among these, greater sensitivity of a gloved hand compared to a booted foot, and no difficulty in operating the control when the motorcycle is tilted to the maximum angle to the right.
Also, little by little, the MotoGP riders are slowly coming there, Andrea Dovizioso having been the first to use it regularly, now followed by Danilo Petrucci, Jorge Lorenzo, Maverick Vinales et Valentino Rossi.
However, would it be possible and advantageous to use it on your road motorcycle?
From the outset, the regulations prohibit it, like any major modification to the characteristics of your vehicle.
Brembo, which markets several master cylinders for this purpose, explicitly points out that this is necessarily intended for competition use. You have been warned…
And it's a shame, because the thumb control allows you to use the rear brake with great finesse to exploit its advantages demonstrated in competition, namely to close a slightly wide trajectory (safety element) and counter the tendency to wheeling (performance element).
Brembo therefore markets three models cut from the mass (pistons of 11, 13 mm or 14 mm in diameter) which are supplied without the adapters necessary for their assembly on the fork of your motorcycle. Mass machining session in perspective…
Once the best location has been determined and the parts have been machined accordingly, you will also need to choose whether you only want to replace the foot control with the thumb control, or keep both. In this case, a rear master cylinder is also available in the Italian manufacturer's range, in two piston diameters (11 and 13 mm).
After that, you can enjoy the pleasures of the finesse of MotoGP riding.
For this, you will first have to count around 1850 euros just for the thumb master cylinder plus around 500 euros if you also keep the foot brake.
Beringer offers a much less expensive formula (around 500 euros) which, if it does not have the aura and technicality of MotoGP, is much more affordable for stunt enthusiasts who also appreciate the range of anodizing colors .
Mounting can be done directly on the handlebars or on the clutch control of the same brand. Here again, a special rear master cylinder maintains foot control.
Is the game worth it? It's up to everyone to see, and each brand has its advantages and disadvantages.
In fact, in theory, the ideal would be for the assembly to be original at least on hyper sports cars because, even on the road, it represents an important safety element in the event of a somewhat optimistic arrival in a bend... on the circuit, of course!
