Surprise gravel, mid corner: what now?

[skinman]

I think in the situation the OP is talking about you have no time, just hope that you are well enough setup & have the right line to ride through it. ie not loading the front to much, some throttle on. In much the same situation due to loss of grip in corner have had much the same experiance, now make effort to always take corners setup so that if traction reduces mid corner dont have the frantic flaying around to stay on. brake before, power through. If no traction rear will slide a bit but front will not washout. more chance of riding out.

[R-Soul]

I see what you are trying to say, but its wrong, firstly there is friction on gravel dirt etc, its obtained by driving the knoblies down into the soil.

But I understood that the soil itself moves , so you need to chuck as much of it back as possible with the rotating knobblies to get to the more solid ground underneath? (again I defer to your experience here- I have only had a few days experience on an MX bike, and got a feel fo rit from that, and I am just trying to establish the mechanisms at play here)

Secondly, the rear of the tyre would counteract such effects (front knoblies go down, rear ones go up), and for those effects there must be friction in the first place. Though I suppose on very high lean angles the slip generated would help the knobblies dig into the ground a bit more, but then so does sideways slide under normal conditions.

Not sure what effects you mean, or what you mean by "go up/down" ?
Can you explain?

[PirateJafa]

Or you could just slow down while you have reduced visibility to a speed where you can still stop safely within the visible distance ahead.

Although this might be a bit too "simple" and "logical" and "unmanly". And "legal". And "considerate to other roadusers".

[Squiggles]

Dont forget to wave.

[bogan]

But I understood that the soil itself moves , so you need to chuck as much of it back as possible with the rotating knobblies to get to the more solid ground underneath? (again I defer to your experience here- I have only had a few days experience on an MX bike, and got a feel fo rit from that, and I am just trying to establish the mechanisms at play here)

yeh thats correct, but you don't need to lean the bike over to spin the rear and start digging.

Not sure what effects you mean, or what you mean by "go up/down" ?
Can you explain?

tyre providing lateral forces directly, as the front knobblies (ones at front of rear tyre) go down, they also go outwards from center of corner theoretically creating an inwards force, (think thats what you were meaning by lean over to create lateral force), but once knobblies get to rear of tyre they go up, and laterally inwards creating an opposing force.

[bogan]

Or you could just slow down while you have reduced visibility to a speed where you can still stop safely within the visible distance ahead.

Although this might be a bit too "simple" and "logical" and "unmanly". And "legal". And "considerate to other roadusers".

gravel is a bit of a cunt though, you can see the road is clear of bigger obstacles, but can't see gravel till you are a lot closer, it is also amusing to go through at above moderate speeds and feel the tyres moving round a bit, though my bros has too much shiny to be doing such things, also crap suspension.