Road Conditions - Who do we moan too?

[Robert Taylor]

The reality is we have a cocktail of b grade roads ( or worse ) and bikes that perform adequately on first world and predominantly well groomed Northern European and North American roads. But get them on our roads and their limitations are very quickly exposed. Those that have invested in high quality suspension realise just how average many bikes are.

This is not a ''party political broadcast'' as such, the improvements that can be effected are often very very substanial.

[Tryhard]

I hate the black squigly repair lines. They give me the shitz!

[Slingshot]

There's a patch about a foot wide on those strips where there's good grip...just aim for that.

[FatHead]

I know that a thread has been started about this before and I did try to HTFU, honest BUT....

On the Wgtn motorway, over the fly-over (both directions) they have used a really slippery something over the joins of the road. I find ........

Hey SJ, I almost went sideways myself both in and out of town today for the same reason. Put me down to ride on down to the NZTA if you need numbers. Might just give them a call myself tomorrow and see if we can bombard them with enough calls they have to do something about them. Cheers Brian

[Pumba]

What every one has said is indeed correct (including Roberts comments, and if I kived in a country that paid decent wages I would happily invest in some of his springy up and down bitss, but alas I digress)

The Road Controliing Authority fro the State Highway network is the NZTA (there are exceptions but we wont go into those), and if you find any problems on thier network DEFENTINLY call/email and tell them about them, the same goes with local roads, the RCA is normally the Local Council (once again there are exceptions).

The reality is most of these roads only get a full condition survey on them every few years (dependant on importance to the network) and even then they dont pick up everything. We/you use the road every day so if a problem is raised they will normally investigate and see if a maintanence solution fits into the budget, or if somthing more major is required.

Yes it is buricratic bull shit, but its a system and you can get a shit load more sone working inside that system than just bitching to the internet/yor friends/work mates etc.

Right that is my rant over for the day please resume to your regular KB bullshit

[sAsLEX]

Getting central and local Governments to spend more money on roads is just not going to happen when there is no money in the kitty. Unless you are happy with substanially higher taxes which all of the parasites would feed off first anyway!

There is money.

If they planned for more than a financial year they could maybe put down a high grade surface which wont rip up within the next 3-6 months like most NZ roads, sure it would cost more now....... but then you wouldn't need to do the same job again next year. But this sort of thinking just does not happen with bureaucrats.

See the big oil cleaning vessel in the Gulf of Mexico is not allowed to suck up oil, as it discharges more than 3ppm out the back....... compared to the 1 part per 1 it takes in from the front ...... but those are the rules...... fuckin idiots at the best of times politicians and bean counters.

[sAsLEX]

The reality is most of these roads only get a full condition survey on them every few years (dependant on importance to the network) and even then they dont pick up everything.

I wonder who inspects the new roads and accepts the work completed on them?

The Esmonde road interchange up here is a myriad of jumps due to none of the roads quite lining up. They reduced the speed limit to 30 for a bit over one of the jumps but have since left it at the original limit....... without doing anything.

[Str8 Jacket]

We can improve the suspension on those bikes that will way better equip them for such conditions. This is not said in humour, the improvement that can be effected is substanial. Especially the front ends which haves very very poor brake pitch dive control

Getting central and local Governments to spend more money on roads is just not going to happen when there is no money in the kitty. Unless you are happy with substanially higher taxes which all of the parasites would feed off first anyway!

It wont improve the friction coefficient of a sport demon on wet steel-like object though will it? Not to mention that you probably wouldn;t really want to spend the $$ on a 24 year old commuter (though it has done Wanga's)....

What I do think though is that I send them an email detailing what happened asking them to consider rectifying the roading conditions while riding another route. That way if they don't and a serious accident occurs then I can prove that they already knew about the risk.

[Str8 Jacket]

The reality is we have a cocktail of b grade roads ( or worse ) and bikes that perform adequately on first world and predominantly well groomed Northern European and North American roads. But get them on our roads and their limitations are very quickly exposed. Those that have invested in high quality suspension realise just how average many bikes are.

This is not a ''party political broadcast'' as such, the improvements that can be effected are often very very substanial.

Well considering that I normally ride an FXR to work which I also bucket race I think you can guess that I aint in a position to splash out on any type of suspension for it, let alone my 'real' race bike!!!

[Str8 Jacket]

Maybe I will just start using the bloody cycle lane to get to work. Oh yeah, when its built........

[Robert Taylor]

It wont improve the friction coefficient of a sport demon on wet steel-like object though will it? Not to mention that you probably wouldn;t really want to spend the $$ on a 24 year old commuter (though it has done Wanga's)....

What I do think though is that I send them an email detailing what happened asking them to consider rectifying the roading conditions while riding another route. That way if they don't and a serious accident occurs then I can prove that they already knew about the risk.

Dont hold your breath for a result anytime soon! But I wholeheartedly agree.

In road racing circles especially we are always looking to improve grip and its amazing what can sometimes be achieved. While Ive never been able to find the batteries for my magic wand ( ! ) perhaps relate it in these oversimplistic terms.................the job of the suspension is to also place enough pressure on the tyres. If there is not enough pressure placed on those tyres ( especially in low grip conditions ) then the coefficient of friction is somewhat reduced. Within sensible parameters of what is achievable more pressure placed on the tyre most often equates to more grip.

Contrary to popular misconception it is also often beneficial to increase spring pressure and or spring rate and damping rates in colder conditions, that puts more pressure on the tyres, works them harder and raises their operating temperature. Very often raising tyre temperature is the first and most beneficial preoccupation in improving grip.

As with everything the parameters can be ''tight''. But overall there are big gains that can be made with any bikes suspension.

[Berries]

Getting central and local Governments to spend more money on roads is just not going to happen when there is no money in the kitty. Unless you are happy with substanially higher taxes which all of the parasites would feed off first anyway!

They don’t need more money, they just have to spend what they have more wisely. A clear safety issue is something that would have money spent on it (up to a point).

Put me down to ride on down to the NZTA if you need numbers. Might just give them a call myself tomorrow and see if we can bombard them with enough calls they have to do something about them. Cheers Brian

That’s kind of what I meant earlier. If one person rings/emails then they have to look into the issue, they can’t just ignore it. Get 50 people ringing up about the same issue at the same time then not only do they get pissed off with everyone they don’t have time to deal with it either.

NZTA are going to have to take more note of motorcycle safety issues as a result of Safer Journeys so I don’t think anyone is wasting their time in telling them what the issues are.

[Str8 Jacket]

Dont hold your breath for a result anytime soon! But I wholeheartedly agree.

In road racing circles especially we are always looking to improve grip and its amazing what can sometimes be achieved. While Ive never been able to find the batteries for my magic wand ( ! ) perhaps relate it in these oversimplistic terms.................the job of the suspension is to also place enough pressure on the tyres. If there is not enough pressure placed on those tyres ( especially in low grip conditions ) then the coefficient of friction is somewhat reduced. Within sensible parameters of what is achievable more pressure placed on the tyre most often equates to more grip.

Contrary to popular misconception it is also often beneficial to increase spring pressure and or spring rate and damping rates in colder conditions, that puts more pressure on the tyres, works them harder and raises their operating temperature. Very often raising tyre temperature is the first and most beneficial preoccupation in improving grip.

As with everything the parameters can be ''tight''. But overall there are big gains that can be made with any bikes suspension.

Hey mate, totally understand what you're saying. I guess for me its all a bit much when I ride and FXR150 for 15 mins each way to work on a relatively straight piece of road!! I am goin to riase my concerns and go from there. TBH, until I had this particular moment where I realised that it could have been really dangerous I was prepared to HTFU and just ride over them. Today shit me and I realised what could have happened. They (transit) may ignore me, they may not. You never know until you try though, eh!

[sAsLEX]

A clear safety issue is something that would have money spent on it (up to a point).
.

Like installing lethal roadside furniture through out the country that is banned in the EU...... when concrete barriers are a little more expensive initially.....

[Capinure]

dude , my mate and i know exactly how you feel. its a nasty sudden loss of traction, it doesnt matter if its my little krr150 or 636 or my mates vtr1000.