Tips for a newbie in the rain......

[ZeroIndex]

Anyone ever hit those bits on the road where they've cut expansion joints into the tarmac and filled in with just tar?
Those are nasty, they're the same colour as the road surface and as slippery as white lines. Like hitting vinyl.

they are called 'snakes' (if i remember ixion's terms correctly) but yeah, those suck..

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

I don't mind riding in the rain... I don't mind riding in the wind... put the two together and it gives me hebby jebby's

[Skyryder]

Well eventually I'm going to have to face riding in the rain, rain itself doesn't phase me but its the unknown factor, how far is too far in a corner without taking a fall. How much traction does a bike effectively lose on the road when its raining in general?

In the wet I ride with higher reves than normal. Anywhere from 4 to 5 thou. I use my brakes as little as pos and use the engine braking instead. You will find that upping the revs the bike will track better in the wet. When you do brake see that your bike is upright and not leaning over. Just ride to the conditions and always keep an eye out for an escape route. I usually keep hard into the centre line where poss. Reduces road spray and gives an escape route for most situations.

Skyryder

[xsive-rider]

Ok, hanging off the bike queries??
I'n not talking about knee down full race mode here. If you get off the seat and hang off the bike more on wet corners or dry corners for that matter, your bike will corner faster for the same radius corner than if you weren't hanging off. This also means that if you are riding slower, you can corner harder, which also means in the wet, traction limits are not reached as quickly when you are hanging off. So, its safer to hang off the bike without the knee down to get your weight on the inside of the turn to give you more cornering traction in the wet. It doesn't actually increase traction but allows you to:
A: Go through the corner with more speed than you could otherwise.
B: Corner harder than you could otherwise, which means:
C: Gives you far more of a safety margin if you corner at the same speed but hang off your bike.

Example: Bearing mind that cornering traction limits are not a constant and change with bike, rider weight, suspension setup and tyres etc. But say a corner has a traction limit of 35 degrees in the wet while you are sitting on the bike. Thats your limit. If you go at the same speed at a 35 degree lean you have no safety margin at all. Hang off the bike and for the same corner and same speed your lean angle is now 25 degrees which means you are 10 degress off your margin of safety and thereby way safer. Hope that helps??

Painted lines are lethal: believe me. You get no warning of slippage. It's grip one second and none the next. Wet manholes aren't as dangerous as paint but pretty close do to it. Avoid them all when cornering or braking in the wet.

Example: I got a little lazy in heavy rain riding from Auckland to Napier a while back. Just before Taupo was taking a corner at around 160kmh, a lefty and inadvertantly crossed the left should line on a sweeper. Both tyres let go instantly on crosssing the white line. Life got pretty exciting from there on in. The tyres regripped as soon as they hit the seal, but by then I was sideways, crossed up. I steered into the slide and crossed up the other way. This happened about five times and must have looked bloody good. Never crossed the centre line but nearly needed to wash out the leathers.

Relaxing the grip on the bars brought her into line but I reiterate. Avoid painted markings in the wet like the plague.

well matey, it's only a matter of time at that speed in the wet!!!
i should know, been on bikes for 30 odd and still here, take it easy man.

[Roj]

Well eventually I'm going to have to face riding in the rain, rain itself doesn't phase me but its the unknown factor, how far is too far in a corner without taking a fall. How much traction does a bike effectively lose on the road when its raining in general?

One of the other problems with riding in the rain is reduced visibility, fogging inside your visor and rain on the outside, there are a range of antifog visors that can improve this, I also find that keeping the outside of the visor clean helps reduce the rain on it, I wax my visor as opposed to using fog inserts, I find that it reduces fog on the inside and helps the water run off the outside

[Hawkeye]

Tyres are going up with the fuel increases. 30-40% some reckon.

My front tyres are around $260.00 to $280.00 but that's for a 1400. Yours would probably be around $150ish??? or cheaper.

I got a pair of tyres for the CBX from Boyles in Welly about 8 month ago. Cost me $160 for the pair. Damm good tyres for the amount paid. And I commute in most conditions.

[hamie1]

Ride to the conditions. Might sound like a nana but it's that simple isn't it? If you can... do, if you can't... don't! If you think you're going to fast you most likely are! In the wet stay safe. Is it better to get there quickly or to fall off trying to get there quickly?
I'm just asking, not assuming anything...

[Biff]

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...+the+rain+biff