Gravel road tips for a road bike

[Transalper]

My knee-jerk reaction is that you need to realise it's off camber (and blind...and shingly.. but mostly off camber) to start with and slow a lot more before entering that kind of bend. But it's hard to say with out being there and seeing it for myself.

[Transalper]

BTW I dislike the off camber ones too as does i suspect cooneyr.
I always slow more than i want to for those ones

[Crisis management]

BTW I dislike the off camber ones too as does i suspect cooneyr.
I always slow more than i want to for those ones

Soooo, I'm not the only one that hates these then!

I'm far from expert on this topic but what (sometimes, when I get it right) works for me is getting well forward on the bike and giving it heaps of throttle from the apex, or even before the apex if I time it right. The rear will controllably slide around and the front bites and steers well. This works for the DR650 and may work with your XT (marks) as it's a similar type of bike.
My other option is the nana crawl at 5km's wobbling around.....

[Motu]

Yep,downhill off camber rights are the nasty ones.Safety is of upmost importance on gravel,to me more so than seal,as so much can go wrong.As far as I'm concerned if I can't see through the corner,then I assume a car (or big arse truck,combine harvester,rally wannabe) is coming the other way.So unfortunatly on a DHOCR it's dead slow,steer with the bars,shit yourself and wobble.But I make up for the nana stuff where I can.

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

Accept that the bike is going to move about more, relax your grip more than normal. (stay relaxed overall)

Slow down untill you get use to it, and slowly speed up till you find a comfortable speed for you.

Don't slam on the front brakes and cause a lock that bad... I tend to use the rear brakes a bit more on gravel.

[marks]

Soooo, I'm not the only one that hates these then!

I'm far from expert on this topic but what (sometimes, when I get it right) works for me is getting well forward on the bike and giving it heaps of throttle from the apex, or even before the apex if I time it right. The rear will controllably slide around and the front bites and steers well. This works for the DR650 and may work with your XT (marks) as it's a similar type of bike.
My other option is the nana crawl at 5km's wobbling around.....

I assumed that if I gassed it on an off camber the rear would try and overtake the front as it already wants to slide "down" the camber. I provide more than enough entertainment for my riding buddies without leaving the road arse first

Still its all worth while when you can strop along roads like these for hours on end....

[cooneyr]

BTW I dislike the off camber ones too as does i suspect cooneyr.
I always slow more than i want to for those ones

Yer off camber didnt help but that wasnt the cause of my crash. Off camber not at all fun though.

Cheers R

[NordieBoy]

Soooo, I'm not the only one that hates these then!

Yep, my pet hate is the OCDR's
Even on the XR250 with knobblies I hatesssss 'em.

[Crisis management]

Are we not at risk of making these off camber corners a bigger threat than they really are?
All right hand corners are off camber, the road naturally slopes that way (yes, I know that's a generalisation, but too bad) so we deal with them on every corner, whats the big deal?

If it's downhill and a bigger off camber then thats just like cranking the bike over a bit more, it's just the angle the road and bike are at....adapt to it.

I find the DR corners best under power, the back wheel spinning and with the weight forward and I don't see why that should be any different for a DHOCRH (did I get the acronym right) corner.

Marks, yes the rear will come round, thats ok, it just means that it is easier to straighten the front and point out of the corner faster.....instead of steering your way around with the front you are getting the bike turned faster and back in line with the next straight.

Right, rant over!

PS. I take Motus' point about visibility around the corner and the care required, something we townies forget....

[chris]

Lots of good advice there. One thing missing though, tyres. Fit decent tyres and you're half way to enjoying it. Fit road biased tyres (even those that think they are 'dual purpose' tyres) and you're making life more difficult than it has to be. Just fit good, road legal knobbies.

[Transalper]

I think this thread has officially lost the plot.
I refer to the original title.... Gravel road tips for a road bike
Some of this isn't going to help the Hornet 900 riders and CBR1000 riders or almost any sportsbike that find them selves on the stones, they don't have the steering lock and weight distribution to make use off where this thread is heading, and i don't expect the thread originator fishb8nz to be putting anything other than 100% road tyres on his bike.

[chris]

I think this thread has officially lost the plot.
I refer to the original title.... Gravel road tips for a road bike
Some of this isn't going to help the Hornet 900 riders and CBR1000 riders or almost any sportsbike that find them selves on the stones, they don't have the steering lock and weight distribution to make use off where this thread is heading, and i don't expect the thread originator fishb8nz to be putting anything other than 100% road tyres on his bike.

My DR650 can go on the road....

[Transalper]

My DR650 can go on the road....

So can/does mine, but this thread strayed off the road bike topic in to the duelsport action long before your post on tyres.

[Dazza]

Although I've covered a fair bit of tarmac, I'm nervous when riding on gravel roads. Recently rode from Awakino to Marakopa after being assured it was sealed all the way through. He was partly right but I still had 45 km of gravel. I felt a bit more confident after that but still need more experience.

What tips can you give me. (BMW F650CS)

That's hardcase, I did it the other way round about a month ago & had a blast. Was riding with 2 mates on there Tuono's, one wouldn't go over 75kph, so thought bugger this as the front guy was getting away.The scariest bit was the sealed piece towards Awakino as they hadn't swept the road since they sealed it. Just get well over the front & give it shit as long as the front is going where you want it to go who cares what the backs doing. We where getting along @ a fairly brisk pace. Just had to throttle off far enough from the corner to prevent the rear from passing the front.On blind corners stay as far left as possible incase someone is a Possum wanabe.And these are road bikes.

[Rosie]

I think this thread has officially lost the plot.
I refer to the original title.... Gravel road tips for a road bike
Some of this isn't going to help the Hornet 900 riders and CBR1000 riders or almost any sportsbike that find them selves on the stones, they don't have the steering lock and weight distribution to make use off where this thread is heading, and i don't expect the thread originator fishb8nz to be putting anything other than 100% road tyres on his bike.

It started off as a very useful thread. Fitting knobbly tyres to the KR 150 so it becomes a gravel road weapon may not be an option, but I would like to improve my skills so I don't feel I need to avoid an entire section of road because of a short bit of gravel.