Gravel roads

[Jackrat]

How do you go fast and safe,smooth,on gravel Rds.
Riding a duel purposse that is.XR,WR,TT,ect,ect.
Techniqe Folks??

[RiderInBlack]

The last 1Km to home is Metal. The CBR is better with it than the VFR was (think it is due to the greater weight of the CBR), but nether are made for this kind of road (back tyres are to wide). If the Metal is fresh I have to put it into the right gear before hitting the metal and keep the pace steady. Don't do any more than 60KPM down this side road (Plastic is a pain to repair)! Wish I had a motorcross bike for this piece of road<_<

[merv]

I ride faster than most on gravel on my dirt bikes. Technique is something like this: sliding it into the corners on brakes (good balance between front and rear brakes) and generally because on gravel roads you are travelling reasonably fast I tend to keep my feet on the pegs except perhaps at the sharpest corners. On exit from the corners to get drive I get the bike as upright as possible and powerslide it like that using my weight to do the balancing. Foot out sideways sliding won't get you going fast if you are already doing about 80+ as you want as much forward momentum as possible. Get it too sideways and you are losing forward drive. Being a short arse I do this sitting quite well forward on the bike and in fact have my bars set a little bit more forward than average because of my lack of height. On long fast straight ease back a bit on the seat and if the bike tends to fishtail (my DR did this badly on thick loose gravel) move as far back on the seat as you can putting more weight on the rear and keep the front light. On the Pukemanu ride we had oodles of kms of gravel roads to ride and though I was still running my WR engine in it was a delight to ride that bike on gravel cruising easily at 120.

The other thing is ride to your vision too and get down the gears early going into the corners, wide in tight out, so you aren't likely to hit anyone coming the other way on a blind bend by running wide and watch for dust clouds in the distance as an indicator someone is coming.

[Firefight]

Hey Jack,

When I ride on metal roads, I am pretty much on the pegs the whole time, I have used the same style(method) as I have for offroad (Cross country racing) seems to work good for me, Obviously this lowers the center of gravity on the bike, and also makes it eaiser to body steer the bike,(pretty much everyone who rides at woodhill rides like that on the sand) I guess guys like Merv and motu would be old hands at this, as for speed, I am not aware of going much faster than 80-90 kms, mind you most of that these days would be on closed forest roads, (Am reqiured to carry radio to log postion and listen out for loggers) so in this case other traffic is not a problem, a bit different to adventure bikes on the corramndel or back roads to ragaln, and from Port Waikato I guess.

Firefight. edit, looks like Merv beat me to it..

[Motu]

Merv has good tips,but what he said last I'll say first - safety...you don't need much schooling on that one Jack,but what's going on around you is most important.Look ahead as far as possible,all the tricks - dust,wheels tracks,cow poo,all the clues so you won't get a suprise.I never nail it out of a corner until I'm sure I'm safe to do so...OK,so I miss a chance on doing a nice corner,but being splattered on the front of a Hi Lux is not on my to do list.But the more you do the better you get and my average speed would be pretty good.

Technique? stay loose,let the bike find it's way,it knows more about how to stay upright than you do,just give it a chance.Slow in,fast out,use the wheel tracks,use all the road,cut right handers into the apex,exit over the hump get sideways and snatch traction in the opposite wheel track.

The big worry everyone has on gravel is the front wheel,they feel it's going to slide and dump them - so it does.The way to stop the front wheel sliding is to keep the rear wheel sliding,under power so long as the rear is spinning you won't have to worry about the front,under braking if the rear is loose,the front won't be.That means keeping a high pace,which anyone leaning won't be doing - but when you get there,coming into the corner with the rear just fighting for traction,then power out with rear spinning - you won't even notice the front.

[denill]

Yep Jackrat, what has been written is to my mind, pretty good advice.

It is all about gaining confidence and as Motu wrote: (Quote) Stay loose, let the bike find it's way,it knows more about how to stay upright than you do,just give it a chance.

The worst thing novice gravel road riders can do is - travel too slow. As that does not allow the steering geometry to take effect and you will always be (scarily) wobbling down the gravel road. It is a bit like showing who is boss.
But I suggest you don,t scream up to the next shingle corner and just biff it sideways !! That may come with time.

I have heard riders say that they can't ride shingle roads and then they avoid them like the plague. Good God. Motorcyclists just a few generations ago only had gravel roads. I reckon that you can't call your self a competent rider till you can confidently handle gravel roads. Let's face it Jackrat, gravel is a fact of life as there will always be road works at the very least. Good on you for thinking about it as when you do get stuck with gravel you are less likely to wobble off the road.