Do wet roads make a material difference to the grip of your tyres?

[actungbaby]

Hi guys

here's a question that is pretty relevant with the current weather.

Do modern bike road tyres have materially less grip in the wet than the dry ?

I'm not talking about standing water, or wet roads with water straight after dry spells that turns the oil, rubber, mud, cow muck, diesel etc into that nice slippery soup crap, but after all that stuff has washed off.

My brain tells me that modern road tyres perform pretty well if you ride smoothly and a bit slower, but my mind tells me to back right off. What are your experiences ?

Id listen to your own little voice its says back right do just that. i been riding bikes

For along time athough i had ten year break..ive was wondering what u are.. as new to

radial tires and see motogp boys going quick quick in the wet. but roads are just that.

Roads with oil that seeps to surface other road users children bikes cars.

I had oppsie other day touching white line with rear trire was only like 20 kph slid around a bit.

Just be realaxed and ride smothly and u can pick up speed but then u might stop quickly too.

Bigeest thing i learn as newbie was keep my following distance like double . dry condtions.

[rocketman1]

Better believe that wet roads are slippery. Just watch Superbikes in the rain, even the best ride slow.
Next time it rains , put on your running shoes or trainers, go and rub your foot back and forward on the tarmac, then do the same on a wet white line, not surprising when you hit one on the lean in the rain your off, especially when the white line is applied to the smooth motorway type roads. You can ride quite briskly in the rain just , don't brake too hard, stay off the white lines and don't ride on the SMOOTH tarseal bits.

[carburator]

Hi guys

here's a question that is pretty relevant with the current weather.

Do modern bike road tyres have materially less grip in the wet than the dry ?

I'm not talking about standing water, or wet roads with water straight after dry spells that turns the oil, rubber, mud, cow muck, diesel etc into that nice slippery soup crap, but after all that stuff has washed off.

My brain tells me that modern road tyres perform pretty well if you ride smoothly and a bit slower, but my mind tells me to back right off. What are your experiences ?

one the one thing that a lot of people have not touched on is suspension setup...
my road settings are hugely different to my track settings..

[oneofsix]

one the one thing that a lot of people have not touched on is suspension setup...
my road settings are hugely different to my track settings..

Unless you are changing your suspension between dry road and wet road then it has nothing to do with the question.

What about the water absorption of the tyre compound?

Heard that the road retains 80% of its dry grip when wet and it is the tread that deals to the wedge effect.

[98tls]

Better believe that wet roads are slippery. Just watch Superbikes in the rain, even the best ride slow.
Next time it rains , put on your running shoes or trainers, go and rub your foot back and forward on the tarmac, then do the same on a wet white line, not surprising when you hit one on the lean in the rain your off, especially when the white line is applied to the smooth motorway type roads. You can ride quite briskly in the rain just , don't brake too hard, stay off the white lines and don't ride on the SMOOTH tarseal bits.

Agree with that but will add that to my utter relief i found the smooth bits are not that bad,coming back from the Woostock rally on the coast years back it was pissing down when we left and still pissing down when we got over the hill and heading south,travelling pretty quick round a rough sealed sweeper i was confronted with a sudden change to very wet/shiny change,i was well over and thought "fuck this will be expensive" and seeing as there was nothing i could do to change anything just rode through it with only a big let go of the rear,i would have put money on the front going first but came out of it upright.Did though give me a fright as it was years ago and still vivid,when we stopped up the road my mate who was behind me did mention that he thought i was off

[.Llama]

The "Wedge Effect" is called hydroplaning.

[caspernz]

Wet roads simply increase the risk because the variables increase. Those tar snakes can be a nuisance with water on them, as can too many white lines. Decent tyres, a bit of caution and a bit less speed...all sweet me thinks.

Or to look at it another way, how close to the limits of the tyres do you get in the dry? Do you know how much brake to apply before you skid? In the wet and the dry? Quiet road in the wet, practise. Then try it in the dry.

But yeah, keep it smooth and you can still make decent progress...

[rocketman1]

Agree with that but will add that to my utter relief i found the smooth bits are not that bad,coming back from the Woostock rally on the coast years back it was pissing down when we left and still pissing down when we got over the hill and heading south,travelling pretty quick round a rough sealed sweeper i was confronted with a sudden change to very wet/shiny change,i was well over and thought "fuck this will be expensive" and seeing as there was nothing i could do to change anything just rode through it with only a big let go of the rear,i would have put money on the front going first but came out of it upright.Did though give me a fright as it was years ago and still vivid,when we stopped up the road my mate who was behind me did mention that he thought i was off

Yes that would give you a damn fright alright. I think that there is shiny tar and very shiny tar, I rode 50kms on Sunday morning on wet roads, not raining, struck a lot of shiny bits of road but mostly managed to wind my way through them by finding the non shiny bits, the bike felt quite confident through all this. However a couple of weeks ago coming back from a trip it started to rain and on a straight piece of road I managed to ride along one of those very shiny snakes of tar, I thought I was off , what a fright, and I was just travelling straight, not braking , turning or accelerating, plus I have grippy tyres.
I now realise how riders on those smooth wide tyred cruisers come off on straight sections of wet very shiny tarred roads.
I will contact NZTA to discuss this particular very shiny patch of road, I have done so before and they have been very prompt and helpful with repairs.
If you hit this patch of road in the rain with ANY lean angle I cannot see how you could stay on your bike.
My advise is ride in the rain but be very vigilant to pick your line through the shiny stuff

[eldog]

Yes that would give you a damn fright alright. I think that there is shiny tar and very shiny tar, I rode 50kms on Sunday morning on wet roads, not raining, struck a lot of shiny bits of road but mostly managed to wind my way through them by finding the non shiny bits, the bike felt quite confident through all this. However a couple of weeks ago coming back from a trip it started to rain and on a straight piece of road I managed to ride along one of those very shiny snakes of tar, I thought I was off , what a fright, and I was just travelling straight, not braking , turning or accelerating, plus I have grippy tyres.
I now realise how riders on those smooth wide tyred cruisers come off on straight sections of wet very shiny tarred roads.
I will contact NZTA to discuss this particular very shiny patch of road, I have done so before and they have been very prompt and helpful with repairs.
If you hit this patch of road in the rain with ANY lean angle I cannot see how you could stay on your bike.
My advise is ride in the rain but be very vigilant to pick your line through the shiny stuff

+1 also be wary of road surface changes part way through corners. Scan ahead through the corner. Been the victim of one of those nice new chip sealed parts which ended halfway through a corner in nasty large tar bleed patch. I would have better off keeping my inputs the same and ridden though it, but I didn't know any better at the time.

Go out and stop near to a tar bleed, actually get off the bike, walk on it, add some water and see how slippery it becomes - it will be an eye opener. Think how it would be when cold - worse like ice. It was for me.

[leathel]

I had a few moments with my last tire, the current set is way better but are wearing much faster!

Its a bit hard to get a tire that lasts well and is great in the wet..