Cost Benefit Analysis of Riding in the wet.

[wkid_one]

Met him. Touched my arse to the ground shortly thereafter. He tends to have that effect.

Either that or you end up pulling over to remove the covering of the seat from 6 inches up your rectum (darn near killed 'm)

it is like the right hander not long after the stretch road where the sprints are held on the East West Access road heading towards Martinborough. There is a patch on the apex of the corner where all the chip has come of and it is dead smooth asphalt. I went over that, lent over, at what were not entirely legal speeds (I was slowing down from an indicated 299) and promptly puckered my arsehole as the bike shifted rather smartly to the outside of the corner.

Late at the Flying Fish I was talking to Mangell - who politely informed me he knew it was there - so avoided it....thanks for the warning.

The other one is cow shit. The wicked downhill left corner after the T intersection to Martinborough after leaving Featherston is a doozy for this. Two of us, both on R1's decided to see how fast we could take that corner. All was going well until we got to the bottom and saw a lovely brown residue on the road......not a nice thing to see with your knee gliding mm from it.....

[jase]

I ride in the wet , but as long as you have got good rubber and wet weather gear, and adapt to the conditions everything should be fine.

[rodgerd]

And, for those of you who do ride in the wet. How much of it is commuting necessity (bike being only transport)? How much is being obsessed with riding to the point where you have to go for a ride and weather conditions are a secondary thought?

The hassle of taking the car or bus (the number 14 runs fine on good days, but doesn't stop on bad days because it's already full by the time it gets to my stop...) exceeds the extra hassle of riding in the wet.

I rode trail bikes for a good ten years, including time working of farms, and have ridden on wet hard pack clay, which is at least as slippery as road markings, so I'm not especially bothered by the road surface. Slow down, increase folllowing distance...

[NC]

Apparently I don't ride in the rain cause I don't have a pack rack..

[scroter]

i ride in the rain more than i care to. the only things i dont like about it is the gettin wet part and the cleaning up afterwards. however ive noticed that if your tyre is getting close to needing replacement it gets buggered pretty quick in the rain. come to think of it maybe it does that in the dry, cant remember. adapting to the conditons is important, i used to find it quite hard to relax in the rain but now its easy.

[Holy Roller]

must be but if I get wet riding to work at least I have 12 hours to dry out and by then the rain may have stopped. Some guys will not wear the yellow red shed rainwear but its cheap and works. Used my oilskin duster coat for the ride to Taupo, while it looked cool the water still seeped through. Get some yellow gear 3 sizes too big if you can, I can only get them 2 sizes bigger. Room to move and extra length in the arms and legs.
So what if thay are not a fashion statement one wants to make you stay dry even in really heavy rain. Not much good for summer rain as you sweat too much in the heat but one usually dries out in a couple of minutes riding after a shower. I take wet weather gear if it is going to be heavy rain for a significant part of the journey.

[ZorsT]

if you are really lucky you will experience that zen moment when you and the bike become one - you don't even feel the bike moving - it just goes where you point it - and then you forget everything else except the moment.

It's kind of hard to describe unless its happened to you. But you never forget that moment. And once it happens - you can't go back.

At least its that way for me...

happened to me aswell, when i was learning to fly gliders... I no longer had to think about what i wanted to do, and how to do it, it just happened, and i was able to enjoy the scenery. Great feeling

[crashe]

well that is if I am out and about and it starts to rain....

I got caught once coming back from Ruakaka in pissing down heavy rain.....
Man that was so uncomfortable... my leather jackets was drenched throu.... as the wet weather jacket and pants didnt do their job....
Riding in wet pants and wet boots ... all I can say is YUK.
Trying to peel it all off when I got home was very horrible.... and to top it off I was so busting to go to the lou about 10 minutes from home....
The thought did cross my mind as that would warm the tush up.... but nope I didnt.
It took 3 solid days of sunny weather to dry my leather jacket out after that ride.

What I do thou is when I get home when its been raining and when I put the bike into the garage I have towels in there to dry her all off and then she looks all sparkling clean... helps keep the rust a bit more at bay.....

Only once did I not like riding in the wind...... that I had to stop on the motorway to get my nerves all back together.... that was the first time..... but now if its really windy I will take the longer way rather than go on the motorways....

I also carry lightweight wet weather pants attached to the back of the bike behind the pillion seat.... fits in there real snug..... just in case there is a light to medium rain. In winter my heavier wet weatherpants go with me all the time.

But like what the others say above ^^^..... go slow, dont speed and watch your braking and watch those white lines on the roads... and ride carefully in the wet. Keep your distance from the car ahead.... but also watch out for the vehicle following behind you....

[tassle]

just do it. I commute on my bike,rain ,hail ,shine ,dont like riding in the rain at night rode back from Tauranga other night way to many shiney corners, thats when super slow gran takes over.I think the most important thing is to be smooth and relax ,it will rain somewhere sometime when you are out on your bike ,so just do it. you can wear a polyprop under your wet weather gear over a t shirt and if it gets wet you wont get so cold as they insulate well even wet. I ve got good riding gear and the best thing I brought lately are waterproof riding boots man its good to have warm dry feet.anyway stop eating food turn the power off and save save save for that bike.

[zooter]

Do you know why dogs hang their heads out the window with silly grin on face? Get a bike and find out! Rain is a pain, you either suck it up and take it easy or carry on like normal and crash.