merging on to the highway/interstate

[uley]

Well I passed my MSF class awhile ago and am riding away - I am always cautious and conservative with my riding but there is one thing that bugs me above alot and its kinda dumb - when mergin onto the highway off a ramp there is always a line/gap ussually covered with tar between the ramp road and highway and whenever I come up on it I have a moment of dread like its gonna grab my front tire and flip me off - I am up to highway speed or just about at this point and I ride a 79 Honda CX 500 so a smaller bike that does get moved a little when I hit one of these so can any experienced bikers tell me I am being irrational with this or what

[olebiker]

The only time it might hurt you is in the rain they get really slippery. Normal riding just relax your grip a bit and let the bike pick its way kinda like a horse. If you fight it then it feels scary.

[MOOCH]

Well I passed my MSF class awhile ago and am riding away - I am always cautious and conservative with my riding but there is one thing that bugs me above alot and its kinda dumb - when mergin onto the highway off a ramp there is always a line/gap ussually covered with tar between the ramp road and highway and whenever I come up on it I have a moment of dread like its gonna grab my front tire and flip me off - I am up to highway speed or just about at this point and I ride a 79 Honda CX 500 so a smaller bike that does get moved a little when I hit one of these so can any experienced bikers tell me I am being irrational with this or what

Ya I know what your sayin. My turn off to work has some patch work done running in the same direction as travel. When I cross it I get a slight wobble. Not scary, but I notice it every time.

[Ivan M]

I noticed that those seams affected me a lot worse when my tires had low pressure.

[obfuscate]

+1 I notice the wobble too, worse if it's not patched. The seam on my exit has grass growing in it

[MOOCH]

I will check my air pressure.

[jstark47]

I try to cross those seams at as much of an acute angle as I can. It is possible that you can feel the seam "grabbing" your front wheel, especially on a small bike or a bike with narrow front tires. Keep your grip loose and let the bike do its little wiggle - 99.999999% of the time the bike will correct itself.

There was a repaving project on I-295 here last year. At my on ramp the DOT actually left a 3-inch step up between the ramp pavement and the travel lane - and they didn't taper the step hardly at all. I would hit that with as much angle as possible, with lots of throttle to lighten the front end. It worked - I never went down! They left it that way for about 3 weeks before they fixed it.

[ofblong]

hmm I never feel the seam. the only thing I feel is when you change from right lane to left lane. the left lane your using the "other" side of your tire because of the curvature they put in the road for water run off.