Dodgy new road surface

[stinkwheel]

They've been resurfacing the roads round my area recently. Using some kind of surface material I've not seen before. It looks like sort of damp crumbs when it comes out of the tipper, no chippings in it at all. They put 2-3" on the road, level it out with a kind of squeegee thing then run over it with a roller.

They get the stuff down bloody quick, they've done huge stretches of it and it doesn't seem at all bad (other than it does nothing for the shitty state of the road bed, it just follows all the lumps and humps). I've been very cautious running on it but it seems pretty grippy and the initial dusting of loose "crumbs" is all packed into the road within half a day of laying it.

I was running onto it on my way home tonight following a few rain showers. All going well until I got onto a bit they've layed sometime between Friday night and tonight (wasn't there when I left on Friday). I thought I had a flat tyre because the bike was squirming all over the place. Backed off the throttle nice and gentle down to about 20mph and it settled down. I put a foot down onto the road to check what the surface was like to find almost zero grip, it was like I was riding on a sheet of glass, my foot just skimmed along on top of it.

Did a quick brake test with my rear brake to have it lock almost immediately.

It would appear that this new surface material, while good and grippy once it's been down a bit, has all the friction of black ice if it's been rained on within the first 48h of being layed. The older stuff they put down on Thursday was perfectly fine, just the new bit where they hadn't put the white lines on yet.

It'll have someone off, could easily have had me off if I'd been cornering hard or tried to brake so take care if you come across a newly surfaced, smooth black road material in the wet.
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[iooi]

They have devoloped a new way of resurfacing on low usage roads round here.
They dig the top few inches off, mix it with something to bind it together and then lay it back down again.

Sound like the stuff you was on, had some oil based stuff mixed in and the rain has brought it to the surface....

Hope you reported it to the council.
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[doggone]

You should report this to the local council.
Most of them you can do it online.

[Charlie]

I think I know what kind of stuff you mean... Take a photo?

They always advise new surfaces could be slippy and if it is the stuff I am thinking of I know what you mean by being slippy for the first couple of days.
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[CarlosCBR]

They have just scraped the top off the A10 between my village and Ely, only a 2 mile stretch this time but it feels like riding on gravel even though its only gouge marks?

Had to slow to 20mph, felt really weird riding along it. They best get the top put back on for my ride home!
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[chris-red]

It could have just been oils coming out of it after the first bit of rain, it might be OK after a few more showers.
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[_Will_]

Last night on a ride I had the same thing, I thought I picked up a flat, But after getting off and checking it was fine, I don't know if it'd rained there or not as was all dry but could possibly be the same thing.
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[robbieguy2003]

I think the same stuff has just gone down directly outside my house, they're doing the entire seafront at the moment.

When it rained after putting it down, water just sat flat on the top of it and didnt seap through either. I asked one of the blokes the next day and he said it can take a few days to start breathing and takes a bit to settle.
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[The Artist]

Same round here. Cheaper way of re laying roads that aren't used much.

[paddlesat16]

Anybody else think granite chippings get slippy when wet , I always slow down on those surfaces. They seem to get polished by the amount of traffic over em.
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[IanRMartin]

Sounds like road dressing.

https://www.highwaysmaintenance.com/sdpics.htm#INTRODUCTION

It is done if the road isn't in to bad a state to make if last another few years before they have to resurface properly.

They have done it on a number of stretches my commute for the first few days it scares me but after a while its not to bad.

Ian

EDIT:
When it goes wrong and it leaves just tar its horrendous especially wet!
https://www.highwaysmaintenance.com/Srfdress/nudress7.jpg
https://www.highwaysmaintenance.com/Srfdress/nudress8.jpg
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[Seb]

One of the better stretches of road here has been ruined by this stuff, it's used as an access road by quarry trucks during the day and they just tear the stuff to shreds leaving the same slick tar as shown above. It was a perfectly good bit of tarmac before they laid this stuff down, now it's downright hazardous in places.
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[_Will_]

A government conspiracy against bikers
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[robbieguy2003]

[Lone-Wolf]

Wotcha.

Sounds like SMA - Stone Mastic Asphalt
SMA
Take a look at the disadvantage paragraph.

They've used it a lot around here, and it doesn't exactly fill you with confidence when riding on it.
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[Noxious89123]

But it always looks so smooth... I presumed it would offer good grip! Always been wary of newly laid stuff though, as it is visibly greasy, especially in the rain, water seems to almost bead on it.
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[stinkwheel]

It seems fine once it's been down a few days. The stuff that had been laid in the middle of last week was no problem, just the really fresh stuff that was very slippy when wet.

I'm wary of newly layed road surfaces anyway, I just thought I'd mention this stuff because it was pretty extreme, to the point I was just trickling along on it at 20mph with a neutral throttle. I'd have been putting my feet down if I had to corner.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.