loosing it on the silver wet bits

[surfchick]

just read the posts by kawagreen on wet weather riding-
i was riding over to thames on wed and it rained the whole way there. was going 100kph on that dead straight stretch between the miranda turnoff and thames. was going dead straight no accelerating or decelerating. went over one of those bald strips on the road that look all silvery when wet and the back wheel starts sliding/oscillating 8 inches side to side. there's trucks and cars coming... it's such a horrendous feeling. i just gotta ask- is that normal. my bike's a srv 250 with the tyres red barron slapped on it, and in the rain the back wheel is always greasing around. i don't get it as when i followed led on his buell its like he stuck to the road compared to my bike even when i went practically in his tyre tracks. my bike is super fine and stuck to the road in the dry... it's happened before worse at slower speed-as in she nearly lost it altogether hardly turning-again one of those balder wet bits... are they just totally evil and have to be avoided like the plague, cause i spent my hole run home from thames driving all over the road to find the stoney bits... HEEELP i'm sort of starting to hate the rain...

[crashe]

Mate you have been off the bike for over three months...
so take it easy out there on the roads...

Summer is coming honest it is...

[Buster]

Have you checked the direction arrows are going the right way? I did that on a scooter once. it was horrible.

[surfchick]

Mate you have been off the bike for over three months...
so take it easy out there on the roads...

Summer is coming honest it is...

yeah it was wierd-i thought i'd forget how to ride-but it was sweet. but this sliding around thing is definitely a bit wierd. i wonder if me gots bungski tyres...or just a bad judge of where to put the bike...

[FROSTY:Me]

tyre pressures may be wrong.You just might not have tyres good for in the rain--my race bikes sliding all over the place on the metzlers Im running
for my tupenth worth Id toss a set of pilot powers on -yea a tadd expensive but ya aint exactly gonna chew thru em on ya little 250

[Zed]

...was going dead straight no accelerating or decelerating. went over one of those bald strips on the road that look all silvery when wet and the back wheel starts sliding/oscillating 8 inches side to side...

If you were riding in a straight line like you say then it was either the road surface, the tyres, or could be your suspension setup that would make your bike slip around like that???

If I was a betting man I'd say it's your tyres. Are you running the right pressure in them?

[Motu]

The tyres I use would make yours look like racing slicks,and I have no trouble in the wet.Check your tyre pressures,they could be too hard.

[surfchick]

The tyres I use would make yours look like racing slicks,and I have no trouble in the wet.Check your tyre pressures,they could be too hard.

kerry set them at something like 32 in the front and 36 in the rear.. my memory could be a bit foggy...
but the dead straight-slide thing happens a wee bit sort of all the time even when the tyres are a bit flatter..my guts is telling me may-be its the tyres. if it if that then me hang on with these uns (they got heaps of tread still on...), go easy, then when me not on my 250 anymore make sure nu bike has grippy ones..

[crashe]

kerry set them at something like 32 in the front and 36 in the rear.. my memory could be a bit foggy...

Was that before you went away.... or since you have come back?

[surfchick]

Was that before you went away.... or since you have come back?

that's right now. had a warrant to do the minute i got home, that and the car warrent and rego...and the bike rego... so tyres all set...

[Blackbird]

Hi Surfchick - highly likely that your bike is just fine. I overtook a car and boat trailer recently and half way past, encountered a strip of slick tar. It didn't bother me when I saw it as I wasn't accellerating all that hard and the road was only a wee bit damp. However, the rear tyre spun up, gripped, threw the bike off line, then spun again and I ended up with a massive tank-slapper which is not nice on a bike as heavy as the Blackbird. Slick patches of tar can be lethal and they can be just as bad in hot weather.

Geoff

[Lou Girardin]

I'd recommend sport/touring tyres, they're designed for wet grip from cold and, as a bonus, they last well.

[SimJen]

Not a lot of tyres will give decent grip on those slick smooth patches of seal in the wet. Theres an intersection near Matangi (by Hams) that is slick as.....heaps of cars pull out, give it gas and spin into the fence. My Accord SiR spins up easy as over it, and the bike just gets sideways if your not careful. Best I got is about 200metres of spinning up the rear on the Gixxer (Metz M1's).

[XP@]

Given the option of the slippy stuff or good surface, always avoid the slippy stuff.

This includes white lines, tar snakes, roadkill, fuel spill, mud & sh1t etc...
In the wet, even with the best tyres some of these surfaces cause brown trou moments.

[bugjuice]

if you might be talking of tar seal, that stuff is always slippy in the wet. Every bike slips on that, cos there's no grip at all. Caught me out a few times. In the dry, it's fine, but a bit of water, and it's all fun and games..