Riding in the wet

[stuartadair]

Hello all,

Its pissing down in Tewkesbury tonight and I found myself having to ride about 5 miles home in the rain, and I'm talking about proper rain here, not just a shower.

I took it easy and as I'm typing this you can see I made it alive.

What practical tips for riding in the rain can you more experienced riders offer to a newby like me

[woll]

Keep the throttle hand under control, no sharp movements, avoid drain covers. And i generally go slower/don't lean as far in the bends.
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Current Bike- Suzuki DRZ400 SM K6
Previous bikes - Derbi Senda Xtreme50r, Honda CBR 125, Kawasaki ZZR 250, Yamaha DT125R, Suzuki Bandit 600, Gas gas ec 250, Honda CBR600FW
Damaged spleen, damaged kindey, 2 popped lungs, 2 broken ribs, broken face, broken wrist and 5 back fractures... remember kids walls hurt

[nowhere.elysium]

[Chalky.]

Try going everywhere on your back wheel, then you don't have to worry about your front wheel sliding out

What /\ said, plus white lines too. But you actually have more grip than you'd think.

Edit - bit too slow!

[HD]

Change up sooner/keep the revs down that will stop you spinning. Just go slower and dont lean in, thats all you can do really. Oh and gentle on the brakes...
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Rusty '02 Vito Camper + CBR600F3

[cyberglass]

Mate ignore everyone here there all wrong.

The faster and harder you ride the sooner you will be home and out of the rain
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DL650 Vstrom 2004
DRZ400S 2003
Yamaha R1 2005

[stuartadair]

[chris-red]

Keeping the power on through corners really helped me, when I had crap confidence in wet. Positive throttle makes the bike feel more stable.
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[Paulington]

Be smooth with the throttle.
Use the back brake more than the front.
Brake earlier and with less force.
Lots of engine braking!
Avoid any and all painted lines.
Avoid drain covers.
Avoid tarmac 'banding's trips, where they dig up the road and put shiny tar inbetween the new and old tarmac, that stuff is lethal.
Avoid leaves on the road.

Just ride with more attention and smoother.
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[odemode]

Wear water proof clothing

[robbieguy2003]

[Nixon]

Stop pussying around!

There are no new hazards in the wet, than there are in the dry. White lines, man hole covers etc can catch you out on a sunny day.
However in the wet they are harder to recover from if you do hit them, but take no more attention to spot or avoid than any other riding conditions.

And unless your running on bald or super racy tread patterns most modern tyres will cope with a lot more than most riders dare give it in the wet.

Remember the basic fundamentals of smoothness, speed, gear and positioning and just ride

[radical]

Take care on roundabouts and sharp corners as this is usually were you will find the demon diesel spills, if in doubt ft a sidecar and enjoy the wet roads diesel or no diesel.

[calyx]

When it is pissing down I don't change my riding habits apart from avoiding white lines and flood obviously.

Drizzle is a bit scary. I ride like a little girl in light rain/drizzle.
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Boris - London

[Teflon-Mike]

Road bikes are supposed to have treaded tyres so they work in the rain..... Shouldn't be any dramatic difference to riding in the dry... Like always, ride like they are ALL out to get you, & dont ride like a loon! Bike should still grip, should still go round corners, should still stop & go etc!

BUT, braking distance does increase; remember the CBT lesson, 75/25 front before back, in the dry, 50/50 in the wet, STILL front before back.

And leave yourself more room.

First becouse of that increased stopping distance.
Second, becouse of spray from leading vehicles....

Remember on a bike you dont have windscreen-wipers...... You have to take a hand off the bars to wipe your visor. Give yourself space & time to do that when needed.

Have a GOOD visor...... I found that a 'Fog-off' insert works brilliantly, but they tend to only work at all, if fitted to a clean, brand-new visor. I bought one, and fitted fog-off, and saved it speclailly for rainy days.

Water-proofs; if you are squelchy, cold and uncomfortable, your mind wont be on the job at hand.

You DONT have to ride ANYWHERE, in ANY conditions you aren't comfortable with!

If its torrential, and visibility id down, & idiots are still tearing along at 80+ in thier BMW's in the nieve hope that ABS will compensate for thier lack of judgement.....

Find somewhere safe to pull over, & shelter, until the rain or traffic eases! Better to be delayed, than killed!
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[Mac_Black]

One thing worth noting is that proper torrential downpours are generally better than light showers...
When it rains lightly it tends to disturb all the nasty slippy stuff that gathers on the road especially silt, mud, oil etc...
Whilst this can make spotting diesel spillages a doddle it doesn't do any favors in terms of grip.
Also worth a thought is that if it's raining lightly/ sporadically then you're most likely only at the edge of the raincloud.
You could even encounter a dryer spot of the road, until you come around a corner to find lots of standing water..
So keep yer wits about you.

When it properly chucks it down most of the foreign stuff tends to get washed into the gutter,
This IMO is better as it means you can expect a consistent level of grip.
I can also vouch for holding speed through corners, just be smooth, progressive and well balanced, both on the brakes-
(I'd say more 50/50) and with your body positioning/ movements and steering etc.

It's not strictly true that extreme lean angles are unobtainable in the wet...
I'd say I had the RVF at least 45degrees over, doing 90+mph a good wile back,
Just make sure not to "crank it in" as you might do on a warm, clear day.. It's about being progressive.

Half of the offs I've had on bikes in 3 years have been during rain, non faster than 15mph and all expected because I was being a twat..
Basically I had been riding spiritedly, the heavens open (moderate rain at most) and I decide to risk it all for the glory.
Twice in 3 years on two roundabouts, each at one end of the same road, first back on the NSR and then on the CD...
Enter the roundabout and slow straight to 15ish from whatever speed I may have been doing at that time, to come back on myself, 3rd exit..
Get just pass the 1st exit, way too low at too slow a speed and the back end gives up and slides out when I realise and try to correct.

The 3rd time it happened in the wet was not too long ago, I knew it was going to happen before I had even got to the corner...
I hadn't even run in the tyres (didn't stop me from scraping pegs beforehand)
I ran into one of my favorite tight corners and decided I'd still race through it,
Even being brave enough to run over the white line to see if I'd get away with it.. I didn't Cue me and the bike spinning 560 degrees down the road.. lol

[Moo.]

An watch out for Aquaplaning in immense rain
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A2 Passed 18/6/10

[Paxovasa]

I lean less, that is all.
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Suzuki GSF600 K3 (in the fastest colour, black).

[pinkyfloyd]

[Paxovasa]

[pinkyfloyd]

https://image.superstreetbike.com/f/opinion/riding-a-motorcycle-in-the-rain/17695005/motorcycle-riding-in-the-rain.jpg
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illuminateTHEmind wrote: I am just more evolved than most of you guys... this allows me to pick of things quickly which would have normally taken the common man years to master
Hockeystorm65:.well there are childish arguments...there are very childish arguments.....there are really stupid childish arguments and now there are......Pinkfloyd arguments!
Teflon-Mike:I think I agree with just about all Pinky has said.

[Pernig]

About avoiding manhole covers. There is this bloke who I ride with who makes ridiculous swerves to avoid them even on straights when it's raining. When I'm riding behind him it makes me cringe.

If a wheel went over the manhole cover while swerving he'd most definitely lose grip. But if he just cruised over it on a neutral throttle he would probably be OK. If I spot one too late to avoid going over it without doing something evasive and i'm going in a straight line I just ride over it.
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H100 Breaking for spares

[Mr_Cynical]

Don't grab a handful of front brake while cornering...
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[chris-red]

[Mr_Cynical]