Riding Gravel on a Sprotsbike

[Jantar]

My thoughts so far of the little bit of gravel riding I've done, is grip the tank hard with your legs, and switch the frong 70% / rear 30% braking to front 40% / rear 60%

...just my 2 cents

I would strongly recommend that you use more front brake than rear. There is less grip on gravel, and that rear wheel will lock up real quick if you try to apply 60% braking force at the rear. Once it does lock up your rate of decelleration is reduced, and you will have minimal directional control. Its a good way to find yourself over a bank, or even worse, heading head first for on oncoming vehicle.

[ZeroIndex]

I would strongly recommend that you use more front brake than rear. There is less grip on gravel, and that rear wheel will lock up real quick if you try to apply 60% braking force at the rear. Once it does lock up your rate of decelleration is reduced, and you will have minimal directional control. Its a good way to find yourself over a bank, or even worse, heading head first for on oncoming vehicle.

I blame my poor braking skills on my friend who attempted to teach my on his farm bike in Te Kauwhata... he reckons "stay off the front brakes as much as possible" hence why I lost the back of my bike twice when it rained on Tuesday. But I have learnt to brake properly now...

[Ixion]

I blame my poor braking skills on my friend who attempted to teach my on his farm bike in Te Kauwhata... he reckons "stay off the front brakes as much as possible" hence why I lost the back of my bike twice when it rained on Tuesday. But I have learnt to brake properly now...

This is ture in soft sand. Do not use front brake in soft sand.

[Motu]

Your smooth rear tyre will ride up on top of the stones under braking,reducing their effectivness.A knob will scoop the stones before it,and also dig down to dirt.My rear disc smokes and turns blue in gravel.

[Ixion]

In loose gravel with road tyres it is a good idea to deliberately lock the rear wheel at the start of braking. This causes the wheel to "snow plow" and dig down through the gravel to something solid, instead of (as Mr Motu says) skipping along on top of the stones. Then ease off a bit and brake normally

[Bonez]

My rear disc smokes and turns blue in gravel.

May I suggest your disc take some sort of therapy for it's smoking addiction. Next it'll be taking harder stuff........................

[pritch]

DON"T STAND UP!!!! because of your shit for purpose tyres u want the centre of gravity as low as posible...

Odd as it may seem standing on the pegs does lower your c of g and steadies the bike.

On the one lap commentary Shaun Harris did for the 2003 IoM TT he mentions more than once that he does the rougher bits with his bum off the seat for that very reason.

[kickingzebra]

I blame my poor braking skills on my friend who attempted to teach my on his farm bike in Te Kauwhata... he reckons "stay off the front brakes as much as possible" hence why I lost the back of my bike twice when it rained on Tuesday. But I have learnt to brake properly now...

Are you still dropping that jolly thing?? Have a heart!!

[thehollowmen]

Odd as it may seem standing on the pegs does lower your c of g and steadies the bike.

No it doesn't. It makes you a sprung mass.

[SwanTiger]

In loose gravel with road tyres it is a good idea to deliberately lock the rear wheel at the start of braking. This causes the wheel to "snow plow" and dig down through the gravel to something solid, instead of (as Mr Motu says) skipping along on top of the stones. Then ease off a bit and brake normally

What Mr. Ixion said is absoloutely true.

I learnt to ride on gravel roads with a bike that only had a rear drum brake. With it being an old fucked drum brake it was either fully engaged or not at all. This meant that I got use to sliding the arse end around corners.

Think about what you do when you counter-steer with the handle bars on bitumen, effectively you are dragging the arse end around. Because there is a lack of traction (i.e. Gravel) you cannot do this with the front wheel on gravel roads.

So you need a different approach.

Motorcross bikes have larger front tyres to make this possible so that the rear will drag itself around.

On a sportsbike it is obviously completely different, so the easiest way to "gravel counter-steer" is to use the rear brake. Locking them up enough to cause loss of traction and to give you control of the arse end does the trick.

Once you have control, you can guide it around a corner, however until you get use to it and can maintain the correct speed it may fishtail more than you want.

When I come up to a corner I'll brake hard, locking up and digging down to the hard stuff. This will easily shave off 30kmp/h or more before you are actually at the corner. Once at the corner I drag the rear in a little bit and then release and throttle hard spinning the wheele slightly.

By this point I'm at the apex and begin to straighten up and nail it.

Things to remember:

• Sit hard up against the fuel tank
• Sit as upright as possible
• Put your foot down where possible (skimming it)
• Gas it up!
• Remeber: your front tyre is your lifeline

Take it with a grain of salt, I'm a newbie through and through, but that is how I navigate gravel and love riding on it.

The particular route that Miss Keystone is talking about makes for some good riding. It is quite tricky and narrow and provides you with an array of corners to digest. One of the most beautiful roads Auckland'ish has to offer in my opinion - with an equally beautiful "destination".

[Qkkid]

grit your teeth keystone

[paturoa]

Done heaps over the years and got me thinking .... its hard to know what you do unless you are doing it at the time.

Keep your weight as far forward as possible on gravel. The more planted u can keep the front the better.

Don't recommend throttle if you dont like the slide with road tyres as gives less grip if spinning.

The post above talking about rear as sea achor rang a bell for me too.

I'm sure I do more of a point squirt and brake technique rather than trying to keep up corner speeds, more fun that way too.

All (both) offs on gravel roads on my road bikes have been front wheel wash outs around right handers when I drifted out of the rut.

[cowpoos]

What Mr. Ixion said is absoloutely true.

I learnt to ride on gravel roads with a bike that only had a rear drum brake. With it being an old fucked drum brake it was either fully engaged or not at all. This meant that I got use to sliding the arse end around corners.

Think about what you do when you counter-steer with the handle bars on bitumen, effectively you are dragging the arse end around. Because there is a lack of traction (i.e. Gravel) you cannot do this with the front wheel on gravel roads.

So you need a different approach.

Motorcross bikes have larger front tyres to make this possible so that the rear will drag itself around.

On a sportsbike it is obviously completely different, so the easiest way to "gravel counter-steer" is to use the rear brake. Locking them up enough to cause loss of traction and to give you control of the arse end does the trick.

Once you have control, you can guide it around a corner, however until you get use to it and can maintain the correct speed it may fishtail more than you want.

When I come up to a corner I'll brake hard, locking up and digging down to the hard stuff. This will easily shave off 30kmp/h or more before you are actually at the corner. Once at the corner I drag the rear in a little bit and then release and throttle hard spinning the wheele slightly.

By this point I'm at the apex and begin to straighten up and nail it.

Things to remember:

• Sit hard up against the fuel tank
• Sit as upright as possible
• Put your foot down where possible (skimming it)
• Gas it up!
• Remeber: your front tyre is your lifeline

Take it with a grain of salt, I'm a newbie through and through, but that is how I navigate gravel and love riding on it.

The particular route that Miss Keystone is talking about makes for some good riding. It is quite tricky and narrow and provides you with an array of corners to digest. One of the most beautiful roads Auckland'ish has to offer in my opinion - with an equally beautiful "destination".

errr.....a lil true....but most of it...not so much me thinks....

if I go around a corner at 40kmph or more on a dirt bike or a road bike...I hav to counter steer...otherwise shit just won't work bro...larger front tyre is for hittin holes and bumps and letting the wheel ride over or through rather than providing a pivot point to end on ya head...

traction is the key to fast and safe riding...road bike or off road bike [motard boys make their own rules]...locking brakes unsettles the chassis...you loose a small amount of control at the instant you break traction...where as before you break traction you have complete control...I know what your trying to say about digging a hole in the gravel to find traction...but not so much with a road bias tyre...I ride very smooth and very much with absaloute traction on my road bike while on gravel...being smooth with inputs,body movements,throttle,etc...is the key to riding well on gravel...the biggest obsacle to over come is apprehension....thats where most people fail.

[cowboyz]

The main key thing to think about is to try not thinking about the damage to your paintwork/fairings/chain/how long its going to take to clean the bike again. Sportsbike were not designed for gravel rides. If you HAVE to go down a gravel road then all tips above are good except locking the brakes up. Dont lock your brakes up. try to stay on the hard stuff and think about who owes you a favour to clean your bike.

[Kendog]

My heart drops whenever I see roadworks signs. I don't have too much of a problem on straight level grades, but if we have to go down hill or corner I find it a little hard. I always ride into gravel in second and try to keep the revs steady, but going down a hill, momentum takes hold and I start picking up speed. So I normally just keep the back brake pretty much just on enough to keep the bike at a constant speed. Is this right, or am I an accident waiting to happen?
Mrs KD