Rain && Riding

[Dirtytoes]

here is Los Angeles, it rained today, and i had to ride my bike from school to my doctor's office, then home.....i've NEVER ridden in rain before so i had no idea if it would be any different.......

i kept my speed under 30 and slowly headed home, at the turns i went really slow and dragged my feet on the ground just so if it was about to fall i could balance it.

On my way home i saw a quiznos and i CANNOT walk away from a chicken carbonara, anyway when i entered the parking lot which they had built 3 days ago.....i was going maybe 3 mph/hr and the rear wheel started going everywhere so i pulled in the clutch and put my feet on the gound.....is there something about new asphalt that causes your wheels to spin outta control, it was as if there was absolutely no traction.

but on rainy days in general, watta you guys do? do you drive or do you still ride?

[britishjoe]

If ridden it all kinds of weather, its best not to over compensate, but really apart from getting wet, With a decent set of tires riding in the rain isnt a problem, now when its snowing and minus 40 celcius, Id allways take the CAR...

[Sev]

Mmmkay, where to start. Riding in the rain on new tires is actually not a great idea, there are release agents that they use to pop the tires out of the mold cleanly. They stay on teh tire for a couple hundred miles and are CRAZY slippery. As in I've seen a guy with 100 000km on his bike pull out of the parking lot and dump in dry weather because of new tires. He put to much weight onto them. It is a common enough problem that my bike shop reminds me every time I leave. That being said, I've ridden both of my bikes home from the shop for the first time in the rain and I was okay, you just need to take it really easy.

As far as riding in the rain, it's not an issue if you're careful. You need to be smooth on the controls (it sounds like you dumped the clutch which made your back tire jump around). Keep your chin up, look where you want to go etc etc. You have to be really careful on the throttle, and feed the clutch out slowly. Braking is more important, make sure you have lots of room. Motorcycles can hydroplane, so keep your speeds down, and your bike as upright as possible.

And unless you're going slower then walking speeds, DO NOT put your feet down. Your feet will be in front of your pegs and if you catch a toe... or a heel... or anything you're going to be slamming that peg into the back of your leg. Best case - you just bruised your calf. Worst case, you snapped your shin and dumped your bike.

As for the asphault, they poor gasoline on it when it's first layed so it doesn't stick as badly, but that evaporates pretty quickly. New asphault should have a lot of grip, unless there is sand or something similarly evil on it.

If I can avoid it I will not go out into the rain. But I have relatively few qualms about riding home through the rain, or getting caught in a storm. I just prefer to be dry when I get to school or work, so I will take the bus or drive if it's raining when I need to leave. I've personally been through a storm so heavy there was actually 3 inches of water sheeting constantly off the highway. I was soaked in seconds, and had all that water constantly pushing against my bike. Dropped my speed, kept a huge following distance, and stayed totally upright through the corners. No rapid movements. I wouldn't want to do that again though.

[gsJack]

Ride. I'll take the bike unless the streets are slippery with ice or snow. Only time I avoid rain riding is when it's raining so hard you can't see your nose or anything else in front of you.

[ronboskz650sr]

I get caught in the rain quite a bit...I just continue to where I was going. I come out of church to a rainy day or night...gotta get home. Just keep the visor down, or you'll get water inside it that won't blow off. Be aware of the oily surface in the first 20 minutes or so of a typical rain. The harder it rains, the shorter this oily period is. Of course, then it's raining harder . You may have hit some srface oil in the parking lot, from cars sitting and laking while they wait for traffic...then it washes to the other side if it's on a hill.

If it's not 38 degrees out, I don't care much one way or the other, as long as I get to ride. Rain, when it's below 40 degrees is pretty miserable for me...I prefer snow then.

[Dirtytoes]

Just keep the visor down, or you'll get water inside it that won't blow off.

what's that?


also, if it's rainin,g let's assume it's after the 20 mins, can you still lean alot? or does it limit how much you can lean?

[gsJack]

Just keep the visor down, or you'll get water inside it that won't blow off.

what's that?


also, if it's rainin,g let's assume it's after the 20 mins, can you still lean alot? or does it limit how much you can lean?

As far as the helmet shield/visor goes, depends on how hard it rains. More often than not I'll push the shield up just above the eyes when it rains hard finding I can see better thru my wet eyeglasses peeking out just below the shield than I can thru the shield. If it rains even harder I'll tip my head forward and peek out over the eyeglasses thru squinting eyes, slowing down as a last resort. A closed shield usually results in fogging of the shield in cold rain if it's not cracked open at least a little. Type of windshield if any makes a difference too. I put on a smaller Spitfire size shield the past couple summers and rain riding was a bit less pleasant than with the Plexi 2 types I normally run.

After the initial slick wears off you can ride almost as fast in the wet as you do in the dry and lean almost as far if your tires and experience are up to it. Good sport touring radials are superior to most bias tires in the wet. After three years on sport touring radials, I'm trying out a pair of Metzelers new bias Lasertec tires now which they rate as good as their Z6 radials in wet performance. I'll let you know after the spring rains next year if they really are.

If your new to rain riding, take it easy for a while and feel it out slowly as you pick up the pace. A few thousand miles of rain riding experience and you'll have the feel.

[Dirtytoes]

Just keep the visor down, or you'll get water inside it that won't blow off.

what's that?


also, if it's rainin,g let's assume it's after the 20 mins, can you still lean alot? or does it limit how much you can lean?

As far as the helmet shield/visor goes, depends on how hard it rains. More often than not I'll push the shield up just above the eyes when it rains hard finding I can see better thru my wet eyeglasses peeking out just below the shield than I can thru the shield. If it rains even harder I'll tip my head forward and peek out over the eyeglasses thru squinting eyes, slowing down as a last resort. A closed shield usually results in fogging of the shield in cold rain if it's not cracked open at least a little. Type of windshield if any makes a difference too. I put on a smaller Spitfire size shield the past couple summers and rain riding was a bit less pleasant than with the Plexi 2 types I normally run.

After the initial slick wears off you can ride almost as fast in the wet as you do in the dry and lean almost as far if your tires and experience are up to it. Good sport touring radials are superior to most bias tires in the wet. After three years on sport touring radials, I'm trying out a pair of Metzelers new bias Lasertec tires now which they rate as good as their Z6 radials in wet performance. I'll let you know after the spring rains next year if they really are.

If your new to rain riding, take it easy for a while and feel it out slowly as you pick up the pace. A few thousand miles of rain riding experience and you'll have the feel.

sweet....tires are definitely up to it, not sure about the experience part