Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Gravel + Pavement = %&3@*!!!

I put my bike down when I had to hit the brakes coming though a corner that was littered with gravel. No damage to the bike as my leg cushioned its fall. It was a perfect recipe for disaster: familiar corner, unexpected gravel and equally unexpected car slamming on their brakes. I managed to get the bike to slow enough so it pretty much stopped when it fell, but I’m thinking gravel should be outlawed.

Glad you are ok. I hope the leg didn't take too much abuse. I don't know why but there seems to be a lot of loose gravel on some of my frequented corners too. I think it might be a lot of truck traffic either dumping some or getting into the shoulder with one wheel and kicking it out into the road.
mike

Yep, I have some very colorful bruising and a knot on the side of my knee, but the bike and I were able to ride away from it, so it was a good day!

There are two kinds of gravel; the loose kind we slide in and the flying kind from the back of semi trailer wheels. Both can hurt a lot!

I had an experience last year on my savage with gravel on a curve. I came up over a hill and there it was...that rain washed marble looking gravel. I hit it, slid into the other lane, caught traction and shot back into my lane. Luckily nothing was coming. Im more cautious now but honestly sometimes that stuff cant be avoided.

Glad you're ok. I agree, outlaw the stuff. I also think they should outlaw rain, but that's just me.

Came as close as every to going down this afternoon coming home from work. Blind, very sharp corner following a truck. I let the slow moving truck get ahead of me, than accelerated as I entered the turn to catch up. Some gravel had washed out and my front wheel slid enough that my foot came off my floorboard and hit the ground. I kept the throttle on and the rear must have missed the gravel and I stayed upright. I was kicking myself mentally for speeding up thru that blind corner, stupid and I'm lucky.

The other evening, we saw some smoke to the west. I hopped on the Triumph to go have a look and went down the dirt road. Now, when I go that way in the truck, I have to shift to 4WD at the stop sign where the pavement starts because the end of the dirt is all marbles and I would just sit spinning the wheels in 2WD.
Well, I forgot that until I was stopping and just as I put my feet down, the front wheel started rolling on the rocks. Because my feet were down and my speed was under 1 MPH, there was no problem saving it, but that does wake one up!

I had a strange and otherwise unlikely thing happen a while back. Coming up to a stop sign I was slowing braking a little hard when my front tire came to rest on one of the standing, egg yoke looking road button markers. As it turns out this one was not attached to the road surface and I slide along sitting on top of it and came to rest in the middle of the busy intersection.
Felt stuppid ending where i did as everyone sat looking at me but no collision.

Gary

Cynthia,

Glad to hear that you are on the mend and that you were able to ride away. We have a lot of gravelly corners around us this time of year and so extra caution is paramount.

Why is it that gravel tends to congregate in tight blind corners?

---Bob