Give me some tips for riding in the rain!

[george formby]

How pertinent. I'm off tomorrow & the forecast is for bikes falling over if I brake so I intend going out for a ride & doing some falling off practice. No ABS, front tire is pretty grippy but the rear is just keeping the wheel off the road, probably has less grip than the wheel.
If I am hurled to the tar seal & my bike shatters I will let you all know.

As an aside. If you have an ABS equipped bike, a technological get out of jail free card, do you test it? Wet or dry.

[george formby]

How has cassina not got himself dead yet?

More time driving 4x4's & inter netting than riding.

[Shadowjack]

Haven't read the whole thread - CBA'd - I went for a ride in't country yesterday. Misty, drizzly precipitation, slimy roads.
I tried that "planning ahead"* technique that HK mentioned, and do you know, I got home safely**.
Even treated the TDM to a post-ride oil change.
So, to the OP, ignore the doom merchants here, factor the environmental conditions into your riding, assess their effect on the frictional coefficient of your tyres, and enjoy dripping rainwater over the cafe floors as you enjoy a fine coffee in the hinterland.

* one corner elicited some expected lateral movement, but having "planned ahead", no road surface was injured in the making of this epic.
** despite the rear*** spinning up while cruising across an even larger area of tar-bleed - what torque-monsters these TDM's are.
*** someone's going to ask - BT023's with about 6k kms on them.

[pritch]

[QUOTE=Erelyes;1130730215 By your logic it's a wonder you're on this forum at all[/QUOTE]

Well, "wonder" is not quite the word I would have used. Putting Cassina on ignore has done wonders for my blood pressure.

[buggerit]

This is not my personal view but I have read ABS and other aids create a false sense of security in that the ABS or whatever electronic aid will save them irrespective of riding/driving ability.

And I thought Frank Spencer was a fictional character, Betty!,BETTY!!!

[Erelyes]

Re ABS, when I went on a training course the instructor said, basically - the only time you should ever haul on the picks is in an empty parking lot when you first ride the bike, so you can get used to what the engagement feels like.

Other than that, ride as if you never had it and do NOT haul on the picks and rely on it - that's not what it's for.

Cassina - anyone who gets a false sense of security from electronic aids is a fool.

[george formby]

* one corner elicited some expected lateral movement, but having "planned ahead", no road surface was injured in the making of this epic.
** despite the rear*** spinning up while cruising across an even larger area of tar-bleed - what torque-monsters these TDM's are.
*** someone's going to ask - BT023's with about 6k kms on them.

* A jolly fine thing, I find myself doing it deliberately more often. To the detriment of our local gravel roads.

** revs increasing as speed decreases. Yup. All in a rainy days work.

*** Some people have faith in mysterious Gods, I have faith in BT's.

As promised, avid readers, I went out toady in heavy precipitation to practice braking & generally try to fall off. Much to my dismay I came home unscathed. Practiced "controlled braking" in a car park, across the white lines. At 50 kmh the bike goes slip, grip, slip, grip, etc. Much more grip than slip. Quite enjoyed it.
I also made an effort to haul the bike down in corners using both brakes, as always. No fally downy. I even plucked up the courage to do it on a notoriously slippy off camber round about. Had a moment because the bike slowed far quicker than anticipated. Touch of throttle and a turn of the head fixed it.

My conclusion is that practising bike control in the rain is not as risky as some posters believe, don't think luck has anything to do with it either.

Bullshit & waffle aside, n00bs, practice somewhere safe.

[DMNTD:Me]

This is not my personal view but I have read ABS and other aids create a false sense of security in that the ABS or whatever electronic aid will save them irrespective of riding/driving ability.

One would have to be a total idiotic muppet to feel that any additional aid built into their car or motorcycle will remove any chance of an incident.
I can however guarantee that said electronic aids can and do help in an event.
Muppets are muppets, no amount of additional help will...help

[ellipsis]

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[nzspokes]

How has cassina not got himself dead yet?

Didn't we establish it was she?

[Tigadee]

As do seatbelts in cars.

Pffft! We all know seatbelts are to help emergency services find your body...

[Urano]

I AM A TOTALLY CONVINCED ABS SUPPORTER.
and this since years, when morons in pubs were teaching others how better they brake than that large, bulky and heavy box, which more than being useless will slow you down in laguna seca...

but, in this case, what cassina said is not totally out of sense...

If I have ABS am I supposed to ride faster because I have better braking ability?

actually, it seems it could be:
there is a theory, still under verification, called "homeostasis of risk".
it has been proposed in 1994 by Professor Wilde of kingstone university, canada.
it is based on the observation that people with better equipped vehicles tends to count more on the equipment and thus drive faster, keep shorter distance and brake later than others.
this seems to be true even in "cross-situational" cases, as people seems to stay closer to cyclists who wear helmets than to those who doesn't because of the "increased sense of overall safety of the situation".

this seems to be a transitory effect, but still we have to be aware of it.
if sometime in the future i'll find time and will to translate my safety book in english i can post you a wider abstract on this...

in my opinion, anyway, being conscious if this effect is another way to increase our safety, and IN NO WAY THIS MEANS THAT ABS WILL EVER DECREASE YOUR SAFETY COMPARED TO A BIKE WITHOUT IT.

One would have to be a total idiotic muppet to feel that any additional aid built into their car or motorcycle will remove any chance of an incident.

you know, idiots are the larger resource of the planet.
more than water and minerals, if aliens will ever invade us, they'll be prolly after idiots...
and i suggest to help them. the aliens i mean...

[FJRider]

in my opinion, anyway, being conscious if this effect is another way to increase our safety, and IN NO WAY THIS MEANS THAT ABS WILL EVER DECREASE YOUR SAFETY COMPARED TO A BIKE WITHOUT IT.

That's about the same as saying ... Condoms will always prevent pregnancy.

you know, idiots are the larger resource of the planet.
more than water and minerals, if aliens will ever invade us, they'll be prolly after idiots...
and i suggest to help them. the aliens i mean...

They'll be coming for YOU then ...

[unstuck]

They'll be coming for YOU then ...

Nope we are all full up thanks.

[FJRider]

Nope we are all full up thanks.

Obviously ... the "Higher intelligence" suspected of aliens ... is bullshit then ..