Drain Cover tactics

[Ric]

it may have been covered but i just wanted to know

do you avoid drains and man hole covers??

had a little sharp shock as my rear slid on a right hand major to minor turn

i went over the drain slowly acelerating and it gave a medium-ish twitch didnt feel too safe

but would it be more dangerous to avoid!?

[mchaggis]

I avoid them like the plaque if I see them coming and it's wet. And that's both going straight and leant over. That little twitch when you can feel the back just hop to the left several inches is even more disconcerting on the front.

When they're dry, they're not so much of a problem to me, just they're usually annoyingly harsh on bump.
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[Jrod]

As long as I'm not going top fast and I'm not on a stupidly harsh lean then I just go over them.

[Ant]

on the rare occasion i'm caught out in the wet i avoid them (i think i remember korn comming off and breaking his leg because of a drain cover, which lead to the police leaving his bike at the side of the road and... some lovely person/people taking it!).
In the dry i tend to stay cleer to but that was because i read something in a magazine about how aware you are and seeing drain covers in plenty of time was on of the things mentioned.
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[Sparks!]

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[headlamp]

Wherever possible I avoid them - only last week, in the wet, my back wheel slid out several inches going round a corner with minimal lean and speed. The other thing is avoid braking on them - particualrly the front brake!
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[JonB]

well sometimes the Highways agency just chuck them anywhere and they tend to be in the middle of the road, which is completely ridiculous considering a biker usually takes this line and we only have 2 wheels, why not put it on the side of the road for the cars instead, they have 3 more wheels to handle with!

It's also funny that they put them to inside of the road on a corner so if you take a good cornering approach you are gonna hit one anyway!

But I do try to avoid them!
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[Josh]

There is one corner in my village that has about 5 or so miscellaneous metal covers on it and they are on a sharp corner at the "pit" of a hill. On the other side the corner is lovely for powering out of and passing the school kids at the bus stop revving like a maniac, and that is great but on the way home there are these unnavoidable drain covers so in the rain I have to slow right down to about 5-10mph and try to avoid/ride straight over them while the cars just carry on at a normal speed and make me feel inadequate.
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[Dan 4RR]

I always try to aviod them even when dry. But there so annoying.

[stinkwheel]

Top Tip

When you see a drain cover in the road that you wish to avoid, force yourself to look along the route you want to go rather than at the drain cover. Decide which side of it you want to go and watch that line.

If you look at an object, your brain will make you steer towards it. This means the one certain way to ride over a drain cover is to look at it.

Tricky to do but something to practice.
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[Villers]

as all have said, theyre a death trap. theres a couple of belters on the one corner coming out of my town. I like them in summer though as if your going quick your forced onto an awesome racing line around the bend!

I read a while ago about police training and a section they call 'paint jobs'. They go out riding and basically they arent allowed to touch any white lines/arrows/writing or drains etc. This trains alertness and causes you to look further down the road for hazards. try it, its actually quite difficult!

[Claud 14.7 to 1]

In the wet, avoid them like the plague. If the bike is going straight it won't matter too much, but round corners you do not want to be going over them.

Ric there is a lovely roundabout near our Uni which has a big drain cover on it. Once wet day I was riding round, and there was the big drain cover taking up half the road, and in almost all of the remaining space there was a huuuuge diesel spill going all the way round.

Use Stinkwheel's tip. Good for avoiding cars as well.

[NSR125-Kid-UK]

[Lone-Wolf]

[synaptyx]

I've seen a few that look similar to this, obviously with tramac inset to match the road surface:

https://nikki.sundark.com/photos/yokohama03-04/hippo.jpg

Couldn't these minimise the problem?

Metal ones are a pain in the arse though, there are a few in the town I automatically weave around now. Gets you strange looks off people.

[mchaggis]