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| andrea |
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andrea
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Joined: 26 Feb 2006
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 Posted: 11:49 - 14 Sep 2006  Post subject: Riding in the Rain |
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The rain isn't letting up but there's no way i'm not going out for a ride today.
I know i should avoid painting in the road, like the slow signs and arrows...but what else should i do?
I normally slow down using the gears only and then come to a gentle stop on the rear brake, but the rear locks up easier in the wet so should i just use the front?
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| Whosthedaddy |
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Whosthedaddy
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| Dragonfly |
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Dragonfly
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Posted: 11:56 - 14 Sep 2006  Post subject: |
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Avoid man hole covers like the plague. break lightly earlier. And take it easy. I have to drive alot in the rain and had an accident a few months ago and learnt my lesson well.
Take care 
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He's too busy beating the everloving shit out of Lizzie to notice this thread has taken a turn down Drama Avenue and stopped off at the popcorn shop. |
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| Whosthedaddy |
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Whosthedaddy
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Posted: 11:58 - 14 Sep 2006  Post subject: |
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You could also try and let out the clutch a little slower as to prevent a rolling burnout from traffic lights. In the ice I had a nice little fish tail, fun yet scarey  
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Current : MSX 125 Past : CBR 900RR Monkeybike : c50 LAC : ZXR750 H2 : FZR600 : ZX7R P3 : YW100 : TRX850: Trophy 900 T309 : GSXR 600 L0: Monkeybike : XJ6S Whosthedaddy |
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| map |
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map
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| Method |
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Method
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| Posted: 12:10 - 14 Sep 2006 Post subject: |
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Riding in the rain isnt as difficult as it appears.
Just remember the 4 second rule in wet conditions compared to the normal 2 second rule. This applies for everything, basically just double everything you do (almost).
So instead of braking where you normally do, start braking twice as early, and lightly. Keep the speeds down until your used to it.
Basically just take it easy and youll be fine!
____________________
CBT Aug '03 ... Gilera GSM 50 ... Honda NSR 125 Aug '04 ...
Full Test Dec 04... Suzuki GS500 Jan 05... Suzuki SV650 Mar 07... Gixxer 6 K5 May 08... Oh and my 'Rado 
My Bikepics.com - No Brakes, No Gears... No Fear. |
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| angryjonny |
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angryjonny
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| Wafer_Thin_Ham |
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Wafer_Thin_Ham
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| Posted: 12:16 - 14 Sep 2006 Post subject: |
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Just ride smooooottthhhhlllyy and you won't have any problems.
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| SoulRider |
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SoulRider
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| Posted: 12:22 - 14 Sep 2006 Post subject: |
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i rode alot in the rain and wet conditions, just be carefull, take it easy and go nice and slow and you will be fine, steer clear of paint marking and man hole covers etc.
But basically as long as your sensible when riding in the rain you should be fine, i had a couple of close calls where i could feel the back wheel slide out. Oh and watch for other cars going to fast as their breaking will not be great.
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| andrea |
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andrea
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| Posted: 12:22 - 14 Sep 2006 Post subject: |
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I only ride slow anyway  so if i went twice as slow i might as well walk
It'll be fine i'm sure, cheers guys and gals  |
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| andrea |
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andrea
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| Posted: 12:29 - 14 Sep 2006 Post subject: |
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Oh and Map have looked at those sites, brilliant! Thank you |
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| 8316 |
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8316
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| Posted: 12:33 - 14 Sep 2006 Post subject: |
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Just ride slowly and smoother than normal and you'll be fine.
Riding in the wet is fun anyway! You can practise sliding it up to a set of traffic lights, i always do. Approach the lights a bit faster than normal pace, and whip in the clutch and go down a couple of cogs.lean the bike over slightly and let go of the clutch!  the rear doesn't lock completely, but slows down enough for it to slide sideways a fair bit. you need high revs-or a bike with lots of engine braking (gs125 is vicious in 1st gear!)
I think it actually helps when the rear breaks traction on a bit of oil or a white line-you get used to the feeling and don't panic. its saved me from chucking it down the road a couple of times!
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| Method |
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Method
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| Posted: 13:46 - 14 Sep 2006 Post subject: |
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Book yourself into a motox day or onto this: [url="https://www.norfolkarena.co.uk/power.htm"]Powerslide Speedway Days![/url]
That way you learn to ride with the back end sliding out so far round its almost touching your elbows, on the slickest surfaces you can get realy, and once youve done that - a bit of rain on tarmac is nothing
Actually, as stupid as it may sound, it realy does help! Speedway days are the new track days
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CBT Aug '03 ... Gilera GSM 50 ... Honda NSR 125 Aug '04 ...
Full Test Dec 04... Suzuki GS500 Jan 05... Suzuki SV650 Mar 07... Gixxer 6 K5 May 08... Oh and my 'Rado
My Bikepics.com - No Brakes, No Gears... No Fear. |
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| Itchy |
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Itchy
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| Posted: 14:09 - 14 Sep 2006 Post subject: |
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As said previously just keep your distance and don't crank the bike over too far , and look out for oil spills though straight and level is fine to go over them.
distance = more reaction time = more time to brake gently = less chance of a front wheel wash out that said you have two discs on the front such that you can't tell which way you'll come off from a front wash out.
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Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching. |
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| extreme3d |
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extreme3d
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| Posted: 14:24 - 14 Sep 2006 Post subject: |
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Try to relax your grip on the handle bars when riding in the wet. Almost hold them between finger an thumb. It will save you panicking at every single slide or movement your front tyre makes. Modern tyres have bags of grip and won't slip out from under you so relax and enjoy it.
Next point is look as far ahead as normal. You can't see 'grip', it's impossible, so don't even bother trying Looking down at the road rushing past just in front of your wheel just overloads your brain. You will become stressed as it tries to cope with all the information it's receiving and passing all to quickly. Look up and you will find you are a lot more relaxed as information is slowly taken in and you give yourself that all important time to judge and decide on the action needed.
Lastly buy a rubber finger wipe. These slide over your finger and allow you to wipe the dirt and rain off your visor without smearing and soaking your glove. |
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| kawakid |
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kawakid
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| mr.z |
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mr.z
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Posted: 15:12 - 14 Sep 2006  Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Riding in the rain
The big problem for many riders when riding in the rain is that they have no idea of the limits of the tyres or how hard they can use the brakes. As a result, they are often excessively cautious. Many reduce their speed unnecessarily - on a deserted straight road with a good surface and a good view, it's usually safe to maintain a decent rate of progress even in the wet. Perhaps not quite as quick as in the dry, but not that far off. In traffic, you may well have to go with the flow to avoid being harrassed by other drivers - but remember to compensate by opening up your braking gap and planning ahead. There is nothing wrong with taking care in the wet, but too much caution and we start holding up other drivers. If you understand the limitations and dangers of riding in the rain, a wet ride can be a lot of fun!
Searching for Grip
Think about how grip will be affected by rain. Use common sense - look at the road surface, has it been raining long? Wet surfaces clearly have less grip than dry, and you will have to reduce your lean angles and increase your braking distances accordingly. However, on a wet surface that is otherwise clean and in good repair, a bike on modern tyres has surprisingly good grip.
Problems arise when the surface isn't good or clean. There is nothing that you can do about the road surface. You have to take it as it comes. The quality of the surface has been steadily deteriorating for the last twenty years or so, and finding a perfect surface is now the exception rather than the rule.
Look ahead up the road. Note changes of surface early and try to spot whether it gets better or worse - a line across the road often warns of a change. Note changes of colour or discoloured patches - they may be wet patches, potholes or polished patches at a distance.
You have probably found that the bike will slide more on some surfaces than others, some surfaces which are fine in the dry are barely ridable in the wet, others give near race track levels of grip. Some surfaces offer average grip wet or dry. It helps to know which is which, before you find out the hard way...
Think about which surfaces are slippery when wet:
* metal manhole covers
* catseyes
* white lines and road markings
* tar seams
* polished and worn road surfaces
* leaves
* oily surfaces
They are all shiny when wet! A good general rule is to treat any shiny patch on the road as slippery and to avoid it if possible.
Avoid places where accumulation of oil and grease is most common:
* between the wheel tracks at traffic lights or stop signs
* to the outside of a lane in a turn (ie the right side of the lane when turning left, the left side of a lane when turning right
* roundabouts
The biggest danger is spilled diesel. Figures published by FEMA, the european riders organisation show that 10% of all motorcycle accidents are caused by diesel. Use your nose - you will often smell diesel before you spot it, but treat dark shiny streaks or rainbow patterns with a lot of care.
In general, the roads are at their slipperiest after a short shower during the summer, immediately after a dry spell - oil dripped onto the road mixes with the worn rubber on the surface, creating a slick. Prolonged rain washes all the oil and rubber away and given a decent surface, the roads actually have quite a lot of grip.
Watch out for surface water beyond the norm! Expect flooding and the slight possibility of aquaplaning on standing surface water after a storm. Streams may burst their banks and flow into the road alongside leaving mud and gravel behind or under the surface water - don't be surprised to find a slippery surface at the bottom of a hill after heavy rain. Dips may well be filled with deep water which can cause you to lose control if you hit it too fast - look at things like fence posts or where the kerb disappears to get an indication of how deep it might be. Avoid riding through puddles as a matter of course - they may conceal a pothole or debris.
The name of the game is compromise. The key to finding grip in wet weather is to look for it and to compromise your perfect riding plan to take advantage of it. Most importantly don't pick lines that give you no options. Keeping away from extremes of position allows you to change your line should you need to. Keeping off tar seams and white lines in corners allows you to corner without worrying about a slide. Braking either side of a manhole cover or a painted arrow that you cannot avoid stops you worrying about locking the wheel as you ride over it. Not very difficult if you look ahead and think about what you are doing!
The key rule to riding in the wet is be smooth. Avoid sudden changes in speed or direction. Smoothness is all - pure minimalism. The fewer control inputs to achieve a result, the better.
Speed in the wrong places or following to close are bad ideas. Your braking distances are doubled or more, so remember to leave good gaps. When you brake, do so smoothly and progressively - you will be surprised how much grip is available if you allow the suspension to settle. If you grab the front brake you will lock it - in the wet, it will tuck under faster than you can react. Just as in the dry but even more importantly in the wet, the best way to enter a corner is with the brakes released and the weight transferred to the rear with a gentle application of throttle.
When you accelerate, do so smoothly and consider changing up early. This reduces the probability of the back end breaking loose when opening the throttle or, equally likely but often overlooked, on the overrun if the revs are high. However, you should not make the mistake of forcing the engine to run at very low revs either. Most motors are reluctant at low revs, and need more throttle than usual to keep spinning. If you hit a slick patch and the rear wheel spins, this extra throttle will spin the motor and wheel unexpectly hard, and it may not grip again on the far side. Keep the motor in its "happy zone" but towards the bottom end rather than the top.
The correct technique for corners is the same as recommended in the dry, but it is that much more important to get it all correct. Get all the braking done in a straight line, off the brakes, let the suspension settle, turn in smoothly, keeping a little power on through the turn (this obviously demands a line that allows you to accelerate gently along it, which in turn means picking a late apex through the corner), this loads the back wheel and allows the front to get on with steering.
Accelerate very gently when leant over, just enough to avoid coasting, applying throttle carefully as you chase the exit only apply more acceleration when upright. Wheelspin in a straight line is controllable, just a gentle wag from the rear of the bike - wheelspin in the wet whilst leant over leads almost instantly to a high side.
You can almost certainly lean over further than you expect, but try to avoid sudden or jerky motions - in the dry we have talked about late turn in points and quick steering to turn quickly and square off turns. You can still use this technique in the wet. It is still safer because it opens out the exit to the corner, but slow down and make the steering manoeuvre a little more gentle, open out your lines a little and make them smoother.
This does not mean turning in too early - most riders turn in far too early even in the dry which means they run out of road halfway round the turn, and touch the brakes mid corner in an attempt to lose speed - in the wet this is even more a recipe for disaster than in the dry. Err on the side of 'slow and smooth in, and faster out' - it's not that important to ride fast in the wet.
If you have to brake in the corner, use the rear lightly, and be very careful with the front. You may get a good amount of grip from it, but you if you lock it, you will probably crash. You can often catch the rear if it locks by releasing the brake and pulling in the clutch to disconnect drive from it. It may waggle but if you are quick enough you will not highside. |
https://www.survivalskills.clara.net/rskills.htm (some other really very very good articles on there too)
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| andrea |
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andrea
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| Posted: 15:47 - 14 Sep 2006 Post subject: |
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Well i did it! No wobbles, no slides...
Couldnt see shit though, so put my visor up - rain hurts!
Got home, put bike away and the bloody sun comes out 
Thank you very much for all your help...Just a shame i had no waterproofs! It had pretty much stopped when i left, got a couple of miles away and it was a torrential downpour with floods everywhere! And yet everyone else on the road seemed to think it perfectly acceptable not to slow down
I now have blue dye all over me, look a right state |
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| Psychonaut |
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Psychonaut
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| Posted: 15:50 - 14 Sep 2006 Post subject: |
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The tail sliding on man hole covers etc scares you more than upsetting the bike feels like its moved 10 inches when its prob only a cm or 2. Worst thing to do in the rain I found was to snatch at the front break. Hard on the front break in the summer = stoppies
Hard on the front in the winter = front tyre sliding sideways and the bike goes down. I saved my 125 twice last year by stamping on the floor but don't fancy relying on that on a 600
Just progressive breaking SLOWLY and if you hit something in front well you should have left more room (4 sec minumum)
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| Johnny GSX-R |
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Johnny GSX-R
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| Pete. |
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Pete.
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| EuropeanNC30R... |
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EuropeanNC30R...
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| TheShaggyDA |
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TheShaggyDA
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| Posted: 20:51 - 14 Sep 2006 Post subject: |
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| mondeokid wrote: | I woke up to the radio saying the M62 closed, major congestion everywhere.
It was torrential outside, but I had no choice the car would have taken hours, 1 piece waterproofs, leathers underneath, winter gloves. |
After yesterday's fun sitting on the M1 waiting for an overturned lorry to be cleared, I decided that sod the weather, I'm taking the bike today. So when there was a jack-knifed lorry on the M1 today, I was rather chuffed.
Although saying that, I had two close calls, which is unusual. First was a stupid blind bitch in a Saab that sailed out onto a roundabout without looking, right in front of me. Since I had clocked her and saw that she wasn't looking (nor slowing) I had already slowed and aimed for the rear. It was then she decided to look, panic and hit the brakes. Dunno how I missed her, but I did.
Second was coming home on the M1, sitting happily in the middle lane at about 65, when stupid blind bitch #2 in the outside lane in a Peugeot 607 decided she wants my bit of road, signals and just pulls over. I've got an artic to my left, and another car up my arse, so I drop a cog and head for the space I'd left in front of me.
Having hit the horn on both occasions to wake them up, I've decided an upgrade is required - doesn't quite put across one's displeasure when all that's emitting is a timid "fweeeeeeep"
Yes, airhorns are now on the shopping list.
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Current: CB500 Previous: CB100N, CB250RS, XJ900F, GT550, GPZ750R/1000RX, AJS M16, R100RT, Enfield Bullet
[i:6e3bfc7581]But still I fear and still I dare not laugh at the madman...[/i:6e3bfc7581] |
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| Swim41 |
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Swim41
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| Posted: 23:45 - 14 Sep 2006 Post subject: |
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Watch out for mud too in this weather. I was (foolishly) looking down at my engine earlier, looked up to see the bend ahead was coated in in mud where a tractor had pulled off a field. Grabbed the brake, front locked and I started to lose it. Thankfully wasn't going too fast, managed to get my boot down and amazingly had the insight to let go the brake. Just managed to stay upright. Think I've learned a lesson 
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Old Thread Alert!
The last post was made 19 years, 337 days ago. Instead of replying here, would creating a new thread be more useful? |
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