Seasonal safety reminders

[Oakie]

Especially for newbies but I fell into the trap the other day so perhaps a reminder for us older riders.

Autumn. Leaves on the ground. Dead leaves on the ground are damned slippery. I overlooked this and hit a small clump of dried leaves going around a corner the other day and lost both ends of the bike momentarily. I claim no skill in recovering the situation as the bike gripped again before I reacted (I think) ... but a little bit of poo nearly came out.

The other thing is sunstrike. To manage this, I have a strip of insulation tape on the bottom of my visor. When riding into the sun I just adjust the position of my open visor so the tape blocks the sun ... et voila. I can see again.

There are probably a few other seasonal issues if anyone else wants to contribute.

[Berries]

In winter it gets cold. When it gets very cold it can be icy. That can be slippery.

[caspernz]

Judging by the number of drivers who struggle with light rain on shiny tar...panel beaters must enjoy winter :eek5:

[scumdog]

But dead leaves look so good in the mirrors when you've blatted through them and the turbulence and twin exhausts have blown the pile all over the place!

[AllanB]

And the changing leaves are to pretty at this time of year.

But good call. Slippery bastards when moist.

[Moi]

If you have trees near or over hanging your driveway, sweep the driveway!

Dead twigs falling from trees are like little rollers under foot when manoeuvring the bike...

[Laava]

It is very close to mothers day season. This means there may also be mothers in law lurking. Be careful out there.

[Berries]

Don't eat yellow snow.

[Oakie]

there may also be mothers in law lurking.

Kudos to you for using the correct plural
> mothers in law
> warrants of fitness

etc

[tigertim20]

a sunny day during winter months can fool you into thinking there is more grip available than actually exists on the cold road

[neels]

After the recent good weather, light rain on a cold morning on oil/diesel soaked roads can be dangerous.

This was evidenced by the ninja 300 that went sliding past the front of my car at a roundabout a couple of mornings back, all looked good with the cornering, then suddenly not so much.

[skippa1]

And the changing leaves are to pretty at this time of year.

But good call. Slippery bastards when moist.
You said moist :shutup:

[fxxk]

Witnessed a ute go into a ditch facing the wrong way, north of Te rapa on a straight price of road. Have to wonder how some people manage to do it

[Ocean1]

a sunny day during winter months can fool you into thinking there is more grip available than actually exists on the cold road

Maximum lean angles on any reasonable surface at anything over 20deg coincide with the boots scraping and the sphincter snapping closed. Big difference on a cold day, and it took me a while on road bikes to sort of calibrate traction available on colder surfaces.

Had a moment out behind Masterton last weekend, couple of moments actually, on Lees Paparaka Rd, mainly due to the multitude of recent patches with well camouflaged loose chip everywhere, but once sliding the rear took longer than usual to hook up again on the cooler surface.

Which sort of reinforced previous thoughts about traction control and ABS being fuck all use if you're not on the gas or the brakes. Also prompted the thought that it was a good thing the sphincter had plenty of excercise through summer...

[James Deuce]

But dead leaves look so good in the mirrors when you've blatted through them and the turbulence and twin exhausts have blown the pile all over the place!
Ahh. Good. Someone else likes doing that.

[eldog]

Small branches and pine needles
the odd yokel from down south:whistle:

[eldog]

was a good thing the sphincter had plenty of excercise through summer...
Dunno if that information should be shared with fellow KB members.:rolleyes:
a few on here might get the wrong impression.

[caseye]

Dunno if that information should be shared with fellow KB members.:rolleyes:
a few on here might get the wrong impression.

Theyr, they'ra, they're all pretty, well educicated round ere, I feel sewer tey'd not get it worng.
Butt of corse, they could.
Cold road= fuck all grip folks, remember that and if you're riding over the Mamaku's remember you don't always see the Black ice in the shade on the inside of the corner, just where you don't expect it.

[Moise]

The green stuff growing on the road under trees can be very slippery when wet.

[ruaphu]

And cagers get even more blind to bikers from here on in till day light scrapings comes round again.

Oh and as we slide into winter, it brings with it the fabled cager winter sport of tail gatin 'cos we can' as big hit too for the canned clowns.

Stay shiny up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RGVforme]

Most softcock bikers are storing up the old steed as we type but I love riding over winter.Cold and wet=less dicks in cars and on bikes out and about.
Always struck me as funny that most chaps wont ride when cold wet and not much traffic but wait until a long weekend roads packed high noon the height of summer sweating their ring off in full cow suits saying"Yeah that's the stuff":confused:

Anyhoooo...

Corners under trees that don't see the sun all day can still hold ice.
Those bastard tar snake road crack repairs I see they are using in NZ now are slippery when wet and almost always have been repaired off camber to the road surface.
Speaking of slippery bastards Ye olde painted lines also.
Time to RainX the brain bucket visor.
Getting left a bit more when the oncoming trucks bowl past covering you in water.
Cold Tyres stay cold longer.
Cagers with fogged up windows esp side ones don't see you when intersection checking.
Aqua planing is always fun on a motorbike NOT.
Cold hands don't work the levers as good or react as fast nor does a cold brain.

The up side.
Less Harley fergusons and power rangers on the road.(If at all)
Less Motorhomes and famdamlys Sunday driving.
No cyclists.Lycra does not strike me as very warm.
Less cops and checkpoints.

[Ulsterkiwi]

Most softcock bikers are storing up the old steed as we type but I love riding over winter.Cold and wet=less dicks in cars and on bikes out and about.
Always struck me as funny that most chaps wont ride when cold wet and not much traffic but wait until a long weekend roads packed high noon the height of summer sweating their ring off in full cow suits saying"Yeah that's the stuff":confused:

Anyhoooo...

Corners under trees that don't see the sun all day can still hold ice.
Those bastard tar snake road crack repairs I see they are using in NZ now are slippery when wet and almost always have been repaired off camber to the road surface.
Speaking of slippery bastards Ye olde painted lines also.
Time to RainX the brain bucket visor.
Getting left a bit more when the oncoming trucks bowl past covering you in water.
Cold Tyres stay cold longer.
Cagers with fogged up windows esp side ones don't see you when intersection checking.
Aqua planing is always fun on a motorbike NOT.
Cold hands don't work the levers as good or react as fast nor does a cold brain.

The up side.
Less Harley fergusons and power rangers on the road.(If at all)
Less Motorhomes and famdamlys Sunday driving.
No cyclists.Lycra does not strike me as very warm.
Less cops and checkpoints.


this, 10chars

[Moise]

Yeah. Most of NZ doesn't have a real winter though.

[pritch]

First light rain after a dry spell makes for a very slippery road. If you have to stop at the lights when the road is like this stay back a bit from the car in front, leave the bike in gear, see if you can spot an escape route, keep your ears open and your eye on the mirrors. Paranoia pays.

[eldog]

Yeah. Most of NZ doesn't have a real winter though.

AKL had 'snow' a few years back:pinch:

[Ocean1]

First light rain after a dry spell makes for a very slippery road. If you have to stop at the lights when the road is like this stay back a bit from the car in front, leave the bike in gear, see if you can spot an escape route, keep your ears open and your eye on the mirrors. Paranoia pays.

... And stay the hell away from the centre of the lane, that's where every incontinent car and truck has sat at the lights dropping a nice patch of oil and diesel.

Which leads me to my favourite rant. Can't we do something about the sheer number of vehicles dropping oil all over the roads? Fucksake, it's not even a WOF issue, nobody but bikers seem to give a fuck about it. That, and the number of trucks that dump the last few litres of diesel they just put in all over the next few miles of corners, its a fucking disgrace, why isn't McSack all over it?

It's been a problem forever, but modern tyres are so fucking good in the wet that the traction difference between normal road and road mixed with a few drips of diesel is fucking huge. In the olden days you'd have been on tippy toes anyway, chances of gathering it up again after a wee slide were better than average. Not on modern tyres.

[release_the_bees]

Fog = reduced visibility. (Do people really need huge warning messages on the motorway to make them realize that.)

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

[G4L4XY]

Go to the bathroom before you leave.

Blow on a hot pie

Don't be silly, wrap that willy.

[pritch]

... And stay the hell away from the centre of the lane, that's where every incontinent car and truck has sat at the lights dropping a nice patch of oil and diesel.


I know all the books say to do that, but in the circumstances I described I'd prefer to be in the middle to have a choice to go either side if that was possible.

My theory is that the books were mostly written overseas and they may not have the coarse gravel chip surface we have. (Or used to have since they seem to be saving on gravel?) The slippery droppings slide down between the chips but my tyres sit on top of them. Said he hopefully. :whistle:

[James Deuce]

I know all the books say to do that, but in the circumstances I described I'd prefer to be in the middle to have a choice to go either side if that was possible.

My theory is that the books were mostly written overseas and they may not have the coarse gravel chip surface we have. (Or used to have since they seem to be saving on gravel?) The slippery droppings slide down between the chips but my tyres sit on top of them. Said he hopefully. :whistle:

Actually, just to add to the concept, I've found that a significant number of corners on my side of the hill have no coarse chip left in the wheel tracks of even moderate corners. Where they attempt repairs, the outside wheel track is deep, loose gravel. There's no noticeable repair "effect" on the inside.

[Ocean1]

I know all the books say to do that, but in the circumstances I described I'd prefer to be in the middle to have a choice to go either side if that was possible.

My theory is that the books were mostly written overseas and they may not have the coarse gravel chip surface we have. (Or used to have since they seem to be saving on gravel?) The slippery droppings slide down between the chips but my tyres sit on top of them. Said he hopefully. :whistle:

I did not know that. Wouldn't assume advice from off shore was ever that reliable here anyway. And it's probably bad to generalize when in fact you should be aware of most surface defects and local traffic before you actually get to the intersection and position yourself accordingly, except that you can't see oil most of the time, and it's always in the center.

Also, stopped at an intersection I don't feel real safe immediately behind anything. If I'm not in front of everything it's because something is blocking me, in which case my second preference is usually to be lined up with a gap I have some chance of making if some dickhead back there threatens to hump my back tyre.

Having said that, everyone's risk aversion is a different shape, based on previous pain.

[Berries]

Fog = reduced visibility. (Do people really need huge warning messages on the motorway to make them realize that.)
Do they really need a thread on the internet for the same thing?

[Akzle]

winter is cooler. a lot of you niggers are old.


try not to die from influenza.

or. do.

meh.

[Ocean1]

Actually, just to add to the concept, I've found that a significant number of corners on my side of the hill have no coarse chip left in the wheel tracks of even moderate corners. Where they attempt repairs, the outside wheel track is deep, loose gravel. There's no noticeable repair "effect" on the inside.

This is friday night rants, innit?

Only I'm not impressed with most such repairs, they're fucking appallingly badly done.

Couple of years ago a half dozen of us pulled up at a stop sign at some roadworks half an hour south of picton. They had just finished laying some bitumen and were about to put the chip down. We sat on the roadside grass on a beautiful day alternatively rummaging the packs for lunch and yelling free advice to the crew on the job. Took just maybe 10 minutes until there were signs we might about to be waved through. I'm thinking "fuck that was quick", and "bastard stones are going to fuck my lovely drive belt", (Buell 1125CR)

We all rolled off over what looked an absolutely perfect layer of chip. Perfect. They hadn't re-swept it, it was just a single layer of perfectly placed stones. And that's the way it stayed as we trundled along the 100 yards or so they'd finished just minutes ago. Not a single stone flicked up and at no point did any tyre contact any bitumen.

Now. My old uncle Dave used to more or less run the old MOW road maintenance crews down south, and he always said the north and south islands did things radically different, two completely different entities with completely different approaches to any given issue. And over the years I'd come to believe he might just have some pretty good idea about that.

Uncle Dave isn't in charge any more. But it's more than obvious that the south still has ALL the clues on how to go about such things, 'cause it's been fucking years since I've seen north island road repairs done that were anything other than complete fuckups from go to whoa.

[eldog]

winter is cooler. a lot of you niggers are old.


try not to die from influenza.

or. do.

meth.

fixed it for ya

[eldog]

This is friday night rants, innit?

Only I'm not impressed with most such repairs, they're fucking appallingly badly done.

Couple of years ago a half dozen of us pulled up at a stop sign at some roadworks half an hour south of picton. They had just finished laying some bitumen and were about to put the chip down. We sat on the roadside grass on a beautiful day alternatively rummaging the packs for lunch and yelling free advice to the crew on the job. Took just maybe 10 minutes until there were signs we might about to be waved through. I'm thinking "fuck that was quick", and "bastard stones are going to fuck my lovely drive belt", (Buell 1125CR)

We all rolled off over what looked an absolutely perfect layer of chip. Perfect. They hadn't swept it, it was just a single layer of perfectly placed stones. And that's the way it stayed as we trundled along the 100 yards or so they'd finished just minutes ago. Not a single stone flicked up and at no point did any tyre contact any bitumen.

Now. My old uncle Dave used to more or less run the old MOW road maintenance crews down south, and he always said the north and south islands did things radically different, two completely different entities with completely different approaches to any given issue. And over the years I'd come to believe he might just have some pretty good idea about that.

Uncle Dave isn't in charge any more. But it's more than obvious that the south still has ALL the clues on how to go about such things, 'cause it's been fucking years since I've seen north island road repairs done that were anything other than complete fuckups from go to whoa.

Last time I was in de Sth is the roads were notice ability better, even the number and type of corners

[Swoop]

Winter is wetter.
This means that car drivers get to their destination wetter as they have to walk from their car to their office. A gentleman or lady motorcyclist will arrive drier because of the intelligent apparel they are wearing which suits the conditions.


Which sort of reinforced previous thoughts about traction control and ABS being fuck all use if you're not on the gas or the brakes.
Rather annoying when you attempt to power out of a corner and "Computer says NO!".

Oh and as we slide into winter, it brings with it the fabled cager winter sport of tail gatin 'cos we can' as big hit too for the canned clowns.
The up-side is the low sun in the mornings and evenings. Tin-toppers are much more nervous and stay in their lane a bit more since they are: unable to use their sun visor, not wearing sun glasses, a fucking idiot.