That rear brake is absolutely essential for tight maneuvers. You can do anything with the rear brake on. It makes me feel like I’m riding in slow motion through peanut butter. It’s great! You’ll find it not only helps when making tight right turns, but also when parking, pulling U-turns, and negotiating slow-moving traffic. Nothing makes me happier than not having to put my feet down.
Your line through a turn is really important, so definitely brush up on those fundamentals. Going from outside to inside (apex) to outside is also really helpful, as it allows you to increase the radius of the turn (i.e. reduce the “sharpness”) while also making you more visible to oncoming traffic. You might want to look into late apexing, a technique that’s particularly effective in preventing surprises when riding unknown roads. Also, make sure to look before the roll. What you’re looking at could be the most important aspect of your riding.
It is incredible how much wind drag dissipates when you get into a tuck isn’t it! Back in the day when I was braking in my 250R and dealing with that insufferable 4000rpm rev limit, I found that I could get the bike up to 39-40 mph without going over 4K rpm by getting into the “bubble.” Normally the bike would hit the rev limit at 34-35 mph.
Once you start getting up to highway speeds, you’ll feel this even more. At 75mph the force of wind against you is pretty damn strong. If you don’t have one of the top-end race helmets (Arai RX-7, Shoei X-11, etc.), you’ll find that if you turn your head away from straight, the poor side-ways aerodynamics suddenly make you feel like somebody’s trying to twist your head off. Now imagine what it’s like to pop up from a tuck at the end of a 200mph straight