rain riding...!

I was thinking about this last week when I was on my way home one evening. I'd decided to drive my truck because it had been sitting for a bit. It was right around the time of day when the sun is going down, light is reduced and of course-- rush hour traffic. Initially I'd decided to take the freeway in order to try to shave a few minutes off of my commute home. The reduced light, the pouring rain and the spray from the cars/trucks made it hard as shit to even see other cars. Made me glad I'd decided to not ride the bike because fuck that, I'd of completely vanished in the high level of reduced visibility. Hell, even though I was in the truck I made the decision to get off of the freeway and take a back road home. Visibility was still shit but it wasn't the cluster fuck the freeway was. Had I been on the bike, I'm sure the whole trip home would have been about as white knuckle as it gets.


As for wet weather riding... It sure tells you when your 8 year old gore-tex boots are leaking around the soles. Got home yesterday and my feet were making the "squish squish" sound. Time for new boots!

If you are ever relying on other people to see you for your safety it's just a matter of time until your on your ass.

Speaking for myself, I don't rely on other people to see me when I ride. I don't rely on other people to see me when I'm driving the cage, and I didn't rely on other people to see me when I drove commercially.... Hell, on Monday TWO people almost hit my pickup in the span of about 45 minutes. One of them pulled out of a side street and almost T-boned me. Classic case of someone looking in your direction, not "seeing" you and pulling out. Since I always try to keep an "out" around me when I'm on the road, and I'd somewhat anticipated that dipshit's move, I got out of the way before the twit could dent my door. The other was on the wrong side of the road in a fairly blind curve in a residential area. :huh

All the same I don't see the reason to up the ante any by going out on the road on the bike when it's wet and dark. Goes beyond my personal comfort level and the risk vs reward ratio goes waaaay down.

I know this has very little to do with the subject at hand but holy shit. Reminds me of watching Senna drive right at the edge of catastrophe.

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I love fog. I grew up in it, learned to drive and ride in it, and feel like it gives me privacy in public (as weird as that sounds :huh). A bit like the "Briar Rabbit", I suppose.

The amount that rain changes traction has a lot to do with the tires on the bike. My dual sport with Kenda K761 tires had about 50% traction in rain, and felt very slippery. My Aprilia has Pirelli Scorpion Trail tires, and rain traction is at about 75-80%. I don't try to corner too hard, but still ride a bit faster than auto traffic. For me, visibility is a bigger issue when the shield fogs over (this kind of fog I don't care for). I may try one of the new shield designs that prevent fog on my next helmet.

Hes got some awesome skills... if i can remember correctly the fastest guy in rain in Moto Gp vas Chris Vermeulen...he has amazing skills on wet race track....

Minor rider injuries, major motorcycle injuries. The "wrong" thing was the gas that someone else spilled. Ride Aware!

It took me a track day in the wet to figure out that rain riding wasn't as scary as I imagined it to be. Trust your tires and ride smooth.

Proper gear cannot be emphasized enough. Also, having the gear with you is important too. Nothing is more frustrating that running into rain and realizing that you left some or all of your rain kit at home. Check the weather report in advance and be prepared (or stuff it all in your bags and have it at hand).

Jeff

Slow down.

Increase the gap between your bike and other road vehicles.

Anticipate well in advance.

Be gentle with the inputs; avoid sudden changes of direction and braking.

When cornering, lean less; shift your weight toward the direction of the turn.

Keep warm; carry appropriate gear when is rain is possible........ Keep an umbrella handy!

It is not the rain that I worry most about -- it is rain and sand, leaves or grass. Turns things slick as snot very quickly, regardless of how good your tires are supposed to be in the rain.

They were working on a building addition across from where I work this spring. One day after they picked up some piece of equipment out in the street. Either it or the truck leaked oil starting right across the street and in a trail about 1.5 miles (I followed the leak on my normal route). I initially found the oil slick with the throttle leaving the parking lot (thank goodness it wasn't the brakes:eek1). I got a little sideways and luckily kept it up. It really freaked me out though. It looked just like the stripes of water that leak out of the back of a pick up or other piece of equipment that has collected rain water, but went on much further...

I called a manager and told him about it, then ate lunch. When I went back the oil was still there and the manager I talked to had left for lunch. So, i said fuck it and called the city street department. They came out and put down oil dry in about 10 minutes. At least they saw the seriousness of the situation.

I wish I would have seen the truck. I seriously hope what ever it was fucking burned to the ground due to oil starvation.

N remember boys & girls; make sure ya have plenty of tread on yer tires whilst ran ride'in.

Skills, courtesy of wet grass. ;-)

How much cornering grip I have on wet pavement with my dualsport tires is something that I don't have such a great feel for.

I have been a dirt rider since 1968 and am totally used to lack of grip and sliding. And also crashing. Crashing is par for the course in dirt riding, I've probably been down over 1,000 times. Push it 'til ya crash it, then don't push it quite so much next time lap.

But it's NOT considered normal in street riding to crash on "difficult' spots. Pavement grip is so much higher than dirt grip that many times even reduced pavement grip (like on wet roads) is much more than good grip on dry dirt. Kinda like how on dirt there isn't as much of a concern with highsides, you can routinely slide the rear and then straighten up and ride on.

I don't have all that much pavement seat time compared to some of you FFs, and I back off more than I really need to on wet roads. Compared to dirt the 'break' can be a lot more sudden. Wet asphalt has way more grip than typical woods dirt, and if ya let the bike roll over a wet manhole cover or even a wet slippery pavement marking, there is a much bigger sudden change in traction than going from, say a little muddy to a lot muddy in the dirt.

Okay, so I'm just rambling here, but bottom line having experience riding to and even past the limits of grip in one set of circumstances doesn't necessarily tell you how much grip you have in a different circumstance. Falling down on my dirtbike in wet grass isn't necessarily going to tell me how hard I can lean my big bike on asphalt.

I didn't have a car or truck for 9 years, and commuted several of those years from Monterey to Santa Clara in CA. 72 miles to work. It sucked in the rain. Sucked out loud.

Now, if it's even cloudy, I take my truck, or if I'm feeling like I want some luxury, I'll take my Escalade (or my wife's Escalade to be perfectly honest).

I vote with viverrid, as that has been my experience too. But I can say that after days on end in sub 40 degree Alaskan drizzle aboard a KTM 950 with TCK80 DOT Knobbies; you eventually find a comfort zone that is much faster than the first day. You also learn that riding over the center line in the turns can give you an unnerving little slip. Even on simple downshift! :eek1

But alas, just a small slip since it catches past the paint.

If it's easy to do, I try to avoid riding for about 15 minutes after it starts raining. When the road first gets wet I find it slick but after all the oil and dust and whatever is lifted off the pavement it seems to be a lot better. If I can't avoid it or it starts raining while I'm already out there, then I take it easy and leave lots of room in front of me. I always take corners pretty slow in the rain - never know what's hiding under even the thinnest sheet of water...

rain is no big deal as long as you have descent tires and don't do anything stupid. 75 mph no prob. i am more cautious in the corners though.biggest problem is visibility in monsoon season.

awesome experiences are shared here...i am happy to read all this and i am going to take the advice posted by more experienced riders...
I am not so worried about oil or leaves and such things...here in germany where i live they are so meticulos when it comes to roads its just amazing...every inch of the road is so clean i cannot belive it...when we moved here from Romania i was amazed by the conditions on the road...
Its interesting to see some bikers ride in wet as they would ride in dry conditions when they dont have traffic in front...wonder if the tires can grip the same or lets say to 80% of the grip offered in dry....i am not confident in the dry at all thats something that needs to be changed...cause we get allot of rainy days....

cheers sasha