Needing help with gravel driveway riding on sports bikes

[5ive]

Time to move?

[MarkW]

Where to start…….
Roading gravel is relatively cheap so my starting point would be to find some nice friendly Kiwibikers with access to a trailer, a decent tow vehicle and some spades. Forget the landlord for the moment and purchase enough gap 65 or gap 100 to not overload the trailer. Talk nicely to your workmates and your boss as to the best size and source of this.
Using the spades, fix the drainage so that water flows through the drain(s) or in the worst case scenario across the drive at right angles to the direction of travel. Water flowing down the wheel tracks is the last thing you want as it takes the metal away and carves trenches. Crossing a water path at right angles is just a bump.
It may be appropriate to make a sensible R6 sized metalled area to one side or other of the driveway. A bit that is flat enough and wide enough for you to use. A wider arc is easier to ride around so the R6 track is best on the outside of any corners that you have. If you need a staging area to take a pause, another deep breath etc. then make one.
You may need more than one trailer load of metal. But 4 guys should be able to shift half a metre of metal in less than 20 minutes. Whilst the driver and trailer are away getting refilled the friends are readying the next bit. Feed the guys and say thank you when they have finished.
Here in the extreme far north, 6 cubic metres of roading rock, delivered from the quarry 24km away and spread up my driveway works out at less than $400. And as my driveway is 700 metres long way more than one truck load is needed.

Having made the driveway more rideable the advice given in other replies is all helpful. Different methods of riding will be needed when going up to those when going down.

So I’ll start with up first.

Yes the bike will move around, but power and a certain amount of speed are your friends. Idle speed in first will be too slow but 4,000 rpm in second may well be too fast. So plan the ride in sections. Make the turn in off the road as easy as possible which means getting the speed right BEFORE you start to turn. So when turning you are not accelerating or decelerating. You are aiming at a smooth steady turn that ends up with the R6 where you want it to be in terms of the driveway, in the right gear and at the right speed. Then, without stopping, look for your next staging point and ride there, relaxed on the bike, and looking well ahead. A light throttle application to maintain your speed and balance. The bike will work better with the little bit of power. Any corners, speed correct in a straight line before you get to them. Then ride around the corner using as wide an arc as possible. It sounds silly, but walk the improved driveway first, working out which bits are easy and then how you want to actually ride the more tricky bits. Try and break the tricky bits into short individual bits. And don’t think about the tricky bit 3 up the driveway. Handle the first one, relax a little on the easier bit, handle the second one and then relax again. Repeat as needed. And remember to stop at the top.

So, onto the down bit.

You may well follow a completely different path when going down to that which you use going up. And this is fine. But again you need to do the walk and the planning. Warm the bike up properly before you start. And you are going to ride down the drive not roll or coast so the clutch lever needs to be out. When riding down you want both wheels to be turning at all times as a locked wheel has far less traction and will simply slide down a slope. Your bike has sufficient engine braking on its own to handle slowing the back wheel down so use of the rear brake may well be minimal. You need to maintain enough speed to make your balancing easy. Again we are looking for smooth and constant speed, wide corner arcs and control. So again, relaxed, eyes looking up and where you want to go and learn to feather the front brake. The engine braking on the rear wheel will keep a lot of the speed in check, the rest needs to come from light and very smooth applications of the front brake. Use a constant speed if you can so that the brain doesn’t have to recalculate for speed differences.

In a tar sealed carpark you can practice a lot of these skills. The tighter cornering at a constant speed; the smooth application of throttle at low speeds; the front brake feathering and so on. If you can find a carpark with a slope then AFTER getting it good on the flat then move onto the slope. Don’t try and practice for an hour – you’ll end up getting tired and frustrated. 10 minutes at a time (and you could go for a 20 minute ride, 10 minutes practice, 20 minute ride, 10 minutes practice etc. if you want) and you’ll get better pretty quickly.

Enjoy.

[willytheekid]

grab a smaller bike and do it again and again till you gain confidence, then once you've mastered it push the limits, and try things that may occur on your big bike so when they do occur you've got the answer.

+1

Experiance is the best teacher

[Katiepie]

Some excellent advice in your posts, thank you. I really appreciate the genuine replies as this is something that I am now really struggling with - despite living in the same place for 4.5 year, having a steep gravel driveway in my previous home where I learned to ride, and managing to stay upright at the cold Kiwi entrance for the past years.

Nope - still haven't got the hang of it, but unfortunately my driveway gets worse each winter and with my creepy neighbour with the castle "maintaining" it and it constantly changing once I finally get used to my tyre placement and line.

I have a lot to work on, and you are right - getting comfortable on something smaller and more suitable than the R6 is something I'm very keen to do. I want to master this fear this winter as the bike really is my only affordable option for commuting and I don't w3ant to have to rely on summer and a drier driveway.

A follow-on question relates to what I mentioned about going down the drive (yes, I take the other side and this is much for settled for the decent) but coming across a car coming up. How on earth do I stop the bike on the steeper part with gravel below me that sits on top of the hard clay? Is this even possible? I touch the rear break with the engine engaged anyway heading down to try and stabilize the bike - but what kind of mix of breaks would be best to come to a stop should I need to again? I was so close to coming off last time trying to stop with an oncoming car as the bike seemed to just keep sliding from under me. Pretty sure I was too heavy on the rear break anyway and was loosing the back quickly.

Oh man - I have so much to learn, and this bloody block I have about coming off again really is proving to be my biggest challenge.

[AllanB]

It's not you it's the drive. Clay is shit to ride on with street tyres.

Smaller bike is a fair suggestion BUT if you bin that in practice you'll fair shit yourself next time on the R6.


Some KBer must be able to deliver you a load of shingle or similar if you pay for the product. Free delivery for a fellow biker of course.


I loaded up some base course mixed with some sandy shit (good for drive bases he said) compacted it with the weight of the car and sprinkled a top coating of more visually pleasing stones. NOTE if the stones are too deep you can get your wiggle on on two wheels!

[Tazz]

Sometimes, unhelpfully, the only way to stop on clay is to fall over, and even that isn't guaranteed to work

Post a pic of the drive. There might be a better line someone can point out.

[jellywrestler]

have you thought about fitting a sidecar?

[swtfa]

Thanks for putting this thread up Katiepie. I too have the same problem with my driveway and also lost confidence along the way. Some good advice - thank you all

[Gremlin]

Mix of brakes:
Your R6 likely doesn't have ABS, so you have to modulate them yourself. Essentially, maximum braking is the same as on the road, but your threshold for locking the brakes is lower, and very dependent on the surface (which can change from metre to metre). Even adventure bikes will have problems coming to a complete stop quickly on steep stuff as the stones will roll and move and the forward momentum of the bike keeps it moving forward. In contrast, hard pack/compressed gravel is almost like a sealed road, easy to stop on, fast etc. It's the loose stones that are tricky.

Only experience/practise/confidence will give you the information you need. If you can sense the wheel locking, then you ease off, and you're always leaving room for error as you simply can't just stop like you could on a sealed road. Often the last metre or two on rough gravel is the hardest as your wheels can be stopped but the bike is still sliding (and the steeper the section is, the more likely you're going to slide).

Your only other tactic is to increase your forward vision as much as possible to give both you maximum warning and any oncoming vehicles. So on a right hand curve you're as far to the left as possible and vice versa on a left hand curve. Being a single lane, plus driveway, speed should be slow and all users should be able to stop in half the visible distance. On a left, if you see an oncoming vehicle you can straight line to the left side from the right side (hoping the surface allows this) and it's easier to brake in a straight line than leant over (even more true on gravel).

[caseye]

Hey there KP, well the lads have pretty much outlined all that you can do, practically.
Up isn't so bad as with speed controlled by your right hand "powered" forward motion is easily controlled.Stopping on clay on road tyres, is never an easy thing if it's wet, so speed must be matched to visible distance ahead.
Going down, now there's the thing.The best will in the world doesn't stop a 4-500lb bike continuing to slide, skid downwards towards exactly what you don't want to hit.
So, there is no optimal speed for travelling downhill on clay, best advice is keep both front and rear brakes slightly on, maintaining forward motion with just enough throttle control to keep you "moving under power" forwards.Same thing as up, be able to stop on the surface you are on in half the distance you can see ahead.
As always you have the right idea, go ride up and down that sucker of a driveway in the dry then in a bit of wet, then in pouring rain, you'll get it, I know you will.
I reckon the posse of Kb'ers and a few hours on a shovel looks like a damn good reason for a bit of a knees up at your house.Invite the driveway neighbour he might turn around.
Great seeing you about, don't worry about asking questions, you don't ask you don't get.
Pity is the bandit doesn't carry a lot of metal, but she'd love a trip down thataways to help out, so keep us posted.
Little steps KP, you're still here, you're still riding, proud of ya.

[merv]

How cheap is this rent to make it worthwhile to not look for a nice place with flat drive on access with a concrete or asphalt driveway?

[FJRider]

How cheap is this rent to make it worthwhile to not look for a nice place with flat drive on access with a concrete or asphalt driveway?

0r how difficult finding a safe place to park it (friend/neighbour) ... hopefully not far from home .. ??

[Katiepie]

How cheap is this rent to make it worthwhile to not look for a nice place with flat drive on access with a concrete or asphalt driveway?

My crash has left me in a challenging financial situation and thanks to our buddies at ACC I am many years away from being able to afford to live anywhere else on the income that I now earn post accident.

So no, not an option. I am lucky to live where I do for what I pay, and house my two dogs while renting. You can't even get a tiny unit in the suburbs for what I pay and to be honest this house is one of the only things that pulled me through a messy few years.

Here for at least another 4 years plus again so it's about time I got over this fear of my driveway and tackled it head on!

[BMWST?]

wet clay is slippery even for knobby tyres,i reckon you need some gravel on the bald bits

[mossy1200]

My crash has left me in a challenging financial situation and thanks to our buddies at ACC I am many years away from being able to afford to live anywhere else on the income that I now earn post accident.

So no, not an option. I am lucky to live where I do for what I pay, and house my two dogs while renting. You can't even get a tiny unit in the suburbs for what I pay and to be honest this house is one of the only things that pulled me through a messy few years.

Here for at least another 4 years plus again so it's about time I got over this fear of my driveway and tackled it head on!

Any area down the bottom for a bike shed? No nearby friends with garage space?
Don't blame you for the reluctance with drive. Its not the kind of thing I would enjoy unless on an adventure or motard bike.