OK braking. There's a reason that many bikes have twin disks on the front while only having a single smaller one (or even a drum) at the rear. The front brakes are your MAIN brakes and at anything above walking speed they should be doing 70-90% of the work. At riding speeds the rear brake is more of a "stabiliser" for the rear too keep things in balance. At SLOW speeds (ie: walking speed, maybe up to 15mph/20kph) things change and your rear brake becomes more important than the front, but ONLY at those speeds. Relying on the rear at speed is a death wish, because as soon as the brakes start slowing the bike the centre of gravity moves way forward and you lose most of the traction on the rear wheel.
Brakes are also good for more than slowing the bike, they can help you control the bike in corners. While turning, gentle pressure on the rear brake (combined with easing the throttle off a little) will pull the bike further down into the corner. Conversely gently using the front brake (possibly with a slight increase in throttle) while cornering while stand the bike up. Note the emphasised words, this technique requires proper brake skills. Simply grabbing a handfull of lever will result in a very bad day. The correct technique is to move the lever (hand or foot) till you start to feel pressure then smoothly increase the pressure rather than applying it all at once.
Road position can save your life. Many newbie riders find themselves watching the road a few feet ahead of their front wheel - try to keep your vision 2-3 car lengths ahead of the bike, far enough ahead that you can anticipate things like pot holes, spilt diesel etc. If the road condition is clear and you're riding alone try to stay near the centre of the lane to keep the most distance between you and the traffic. If you're riding in a group, ride in the car wheel-tracks, with riders staggered left to right. This doubles the amount of space available to stop suddenly, and might help keep cars from pushing in front of you.
When pulling up at an intersection pay close attention to the road surface, and move from the centre of the lane to the car wheel tracks. You'll often seen "grease strips" at intersections where cars & trucks have spilt oil, diesel, coolant etc while waiting at the lights, and sitting to one side or the other will help avoid this. This is especially important in the wet.
Look "through" corners. If you focus on what's immediately in front of you on the twisties then what comes after will always be a surprise. If you look as far ahead as you can on corners you'll have ample time to set up your road position & speed to enter & exit the corner smoothly, and set yourself up for the next one. Your aim should be to enter the corner at the right speed to move through the entire corner, accelerating gently as you leave the corner to increase rear wheel traction and help straighten the bike up. Trying to change speed mid-corner will result in an unstable bike.
Use your gears! The single best way of losing traction is with your brakes. In general riding (ignoring very low speed maneuvers) you should generally only need your brakes when coming to a complete stop. If you're looking far enough ahead that you can anticipate what's coming, change down a gear or two to slow down rather than grabbing handfulls of brake. Using the gears to decelerate keeps the bike under power so you're ready to throttle up again to stand the bike up, or reduce throttle (perhaps feathering the rear brake) to corner harder. Relying on the brakes removes your control from the wheels, and takes them a lot closer to breaking traction & skidding. I'll say it again: In general riding you should almost never need brakes unless coming to a complete stop. If you don't believe me, watch the professional racers driving & riding - they rely mainly on the engine & gearbox to control the vehicle's speed than the brakes. Even when they do brake heavily, they still use the gears to assist in slowing the vehicle.
