This is WRONG WRONG WRONG, right?

So I'm checking the weather online, and my cookie collection puts this link in the top bar:

http://www.weather.com/safety/autosafety/motorcycles-wet-roads-dangerous-situation-20140907

Hydroplaning? As I type this, the ADV banner photo is a guy crossing a lake on an Enfield. He better watch out!

So which part is wrong?

Yep, i). it's easier to hydroplane on a bike than in a car, and ii). I don't know whether the banner photo is photoshopped, or whether the Enfield is travelling through particularly shallow water.

i saw that segment on the weather channel on TV last night.

i think they got it pretty much right...except for 2 things:

1. they said rain is the most dangerous road riding weather for motorcyclists. nope...black ice in winter is much more dangerous. but, i guess whoever wrote that show puts their cruiser or sport bike away for winter...

2. they said to look at the weather and not ride if it is going to rain hard. pfft...that's just crazy talk!

It's the complete opposite.
On a motorcycle it's LESS likely to hydroplane because of the round shape of the tyres and the small front tyre.

This is the way I understand it as well. The OP is correct.
A car tire has a flat profile and hydroplanes much easier.

I would always rather be on my bike than in my car during hard rain. Not only is the traction better but the visibility is better as well. Just avoid painted lines metal grates, and manholes and you are good to go.

The most dangerous thing about riding in rain is the cars loose their visibility and are more likely to hit you.

This!!

As far as pure hydroplaning goes, motorcycles are far less likely to hydroplane than cars. At the same time, the very thing that makes bikes less susceptible to hydroplaning (smaller contact patch) makes them more likely to lose traction because of oil deposits on the road loosening up in a rain.

Three wrongs do not make a right.

Good reads.

Yes, wind and ice are our enimies. .



Pious ADV Riders worship Crom.

Fire and wind come from the sky, from the gods of the sky. But Crom is your god, Crom and he lives in the earth. Once, giants lived in the Earth, Conan. And in the darkness of chaos, they fooled Crom, and they took from him the enigma of steel. Crom was angered. And the Earth shook. Fire and wind struck down these giants, and they threw their bodies into the waters, but in their rage, the gods forgot the secret of steel and left it on the battlefield. We who found it are just men. Not gods. Not giants. Just men. The secret of steel has always carried with it a mystery. You must learn its riddle, Conan. You must learn its discipline. For no one - no one in this world can you trust. Not men, not women, not beasts.

(points at MIGHTY DR)

This you can trust.

Three lefts do.

Never had a bike aquaplane in all the years of riding. Motorcycle tires have surprising grip on wet roads.

Only ever had it happen in the dirt... and it was on purpose, rode my DR350 across a pond at full speed 6th gear because someone dared me. I fractured ribs when the front wheel hit the water, but I managed to clear the pond and didn't even get wet.
But I've never hydroplaned on the street.

Years ago I was on the highway on a Bonneville in traffic and it hydroplaned. First sign I had that there was a problem is when the tach started to climb without the speedometer moving. I assumed my clutch was slipping so I eased out of the throttle and tried to head for the shoulder and the front and rear started to squirm. It felt like really loose sand. I didn't touch the brakes, left the throttle neutral, and focused on staying upright and after a second or two the tires (re)made contact with the road surface and I went on my way.

from http://sheldonbrown.com/tires.html#hydroplaning :

motorcycle tires can hydroplane because we run them at high speed and low pressures. But, they have a round cross-section instead of a square one and they're substantially thinner than car tires, so they're much more efficient at shedding water regardless of tread design, and will not develop that fatal "middle-of-the-tire concavity" bulge of water.

Didn't mythbusters prove that motorcycles can hydroplane a few years ago? To be fair to the discussion, a dirt bike is much lighter than a street bike, and the speeds here are much higher than you would do on the street. But still, it's possible to create a situation where the grooves can't expel water fast enough. Maybe I am reading this whole discussion wrong.

<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/TYB7DYWI4G8" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>

But three lefts often do...

Personally, I enjoy riding in the rain. I find it very relaxing.

You guys forget that a bike only has two wheels and travels in one set of a four wheeled vehicle's tyre tracks.

Get both your tyres in one of the deep grooves caused by heavy vehicle traffic on a heavy rain day and believe me the experience is not one you want to repeat.

The mistake some are making here is the assumption that we are talking about absolutes. Motorcycles are LESS LIKELY to hydroplane than a car. No one is saying they NEVER do, just that it's less likely.

The mythbusters video doesn't prove that motorcycles are MORE likely to hydroplane, just that they can. BTW, I will add that if you took the knobbies off that bike and put regular street tires, I bet he gets half the distance before sinking. Those knobbies were acting like paddle tires. Jump to 1:50 of this video to see what a car with paddle tires will do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAubG28uODM

Yes.

I've hydroplaned twice, both times on a V-strom 1000 with a Shinko 712 rear, doing around 70mph in pouring rain.
First time the rear just lifted and felt like I was riding on snow. Second time the back just randomly started swinging around one side and then the other and back again.
Scared the absolute shit out of me - especially the second time. Although apparently not enough that I slowed down or stopped using those tires.

I've never had it happen on my Ninja 250 with the 712 - perhaps because it takes a 130 instead of 150 rear?

I've lost traction in rain twice, but I'm not sure you'd call it hydroplaning. First time, about 1990, me riding a 1976 CB750 with old, hard, and mostly bald tires. Light turns yellow, I barely begin to squeeze the front brake lever, and next moment I'm still riding the bike, but we are both horizontal, and slid through the intersection on the right side with my leg underneath the bike. The road was so slippery that the road didn't even tear my jeans and rain pants, and I got up, picked the bike up, and rode off. Thankfully it was about 3am and there was no other traffic.

Second time was about 6 years ago, I was on a KLR with Kenda 270s, girl on the back, in the rain, riding what I felt was very conservatively considering the conditions. Roll into a right sweeper and hit some tar snakes, and the SOB went straight,and I mean it was all in slo mo. No matter what input I gave, slight braking, countersteering inputs, fed in a little rear brake to stabilize, nothing made a difference,, like the front wheel was riding on a sheet of ice. Went straight off the left side (thank god there was no oncoming traffic) and through a ditch, wound up up somewhat gracefully in someone's perfectly manicured front lawn. Never went down.

All I can say based on said experiences is that you may be less likely to hydroplane on a bike, but if you do, even for a microsecond, the consequences, well, they are much more serious.