Bonneville America Forums Forums Rider Safety Forums Riding Technique First close call... saved by a freakout.

So... I'm new to riding... But I've ridden in rain a few times. I did my BRT class in the rain. So I didn't think much of it when the sky opened up while I was at work today. Riding home, it was no longer raining, but the roads were still wet. I came to my highway exit and was doing about 30 (usually hit it @ about 40, but I was keeping it slow because of the rain). I must have hit some oil I didn't see because I felt my back tyre start to slip. I let off the throttle to lessen my lean and got the back come into line. Not 2 seconds later, I felt BOTH tyres going. Out of panic, I slapped my right foot down. I know putting your foot down is a big no-no (like I said, it was a panic move), but it seems to have worked. It put me upright, so I straightened the bike out and coasted with my hand ready on the clutch. I proceeded home (I was about a mile away at this point) and almost the whole way, it was a struggle to keep the front under me. Like I said, I've ridden in the rain a few times so far...but this was the first time it's felt like this. Pretty strange.

Not sure if it is everywhere but in the US the paint on the roads for lines is very slippery in the rain. So is anything metal like man hole covers or open grate bridges. Any of them can be like ice when wet. Leaves are bad too.

Lance that is pretty strange what you went through. Was there a hot spell prior to it raining? Such conditions can lift a film of oil right on top of the rain! But IMHO you can NEVER be too careful on a wet surface. And like Dog said... manhole covers and paint are real bad but everything is magnified with rain.

Glad you never dumped it!!!

almost dropped it on my buddies soft squshy driveway. Whatch it out there

You riding on Metzlers? I am and I think they are cr@p in the wet. Dunlop 404's were much better (on my previous bike) and I've heard good reports about the Avons in the wet too.

It sounds like a possible diesel fuel or oil spill?
I recall a truck's crossover fuel line let go on 684 north some years ago in the rain.
As I rolled south, I watched a dozen or so northbound vehicles slip & slide as if on ice.

+1 Diesel spill.

I ride through an industrial area every day and there is ALWAYS diesel spill on the outside edge of each lane on the tighter corners. Trucks just filled commonly have diesel spilling out their tank overflow going round the corner - slippy in the dry, perilous in the wet. The spill is always a trail on the outside edge of the corner. Always ride the inside of tight corners if trucks use the road.

Try staying to the inside of off-ramps in the wet.
Centripetal force will tend to sling the oil and other crap
toward the outside of the turn. Also, if something does start to go wrong,
you have more room to recover before you run out of road.
Staying a gear lower doesn't hurt either.
BTW, putting your foot down in that situation is okay.
It is a desparate move, but sometimes that's all you have left. Nice save.

Quote:

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BTW, putting your foot down in that situation is okay.
It is a desparate move, but sometimes that's all you have left.

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But with a 500 lb bike it can snap your leg like a twig too.
Glad it worked out though

Best to take it slower and pull in the clutch when you let off the throttle in slippery or potentially slippery situations, lets the wheels roll.

I had both tires go all wiggly on me once. I was leaving Applebee's after lunch and they were spraying out the grease traps in back, but the run off was running out into the parking lot. Both tires started sliding sideways but luckily the patch was only a couple feet across and I was able to get traction again before going down. Did I mention this was the first year I had my (one and only, ever) bike? It's amazing I kept it upright. I was cursing the Applebee's staff all the way back to the office.

Here is Vegas rain is very infrequent. Last week I got caught in a downpour and the bike really got squirrely. I kept to the right lane and I had only about a mile to get home. I cannot tell how many times the rear wheel broke traction when accelerating even though I was being very gentle on the throttle.

The worst time came when the wind started to come from the right at 90 degrees and blew up to 60 MPH when I was on an oily wet street. Both tires lost traction at once and the bike started to slide to the left out of my lane. Thank goodness that the lane to my left was empty as the bike slid over 10 feet to the left and I could only just keep it upright and pointed in the right direction.

I have ridden on ice and snow and loose surfaces before but I never was as scared as I was on this day. I never experienced both wheels losing traction at the same time and I was lucky not to have dumped it. My speed at that time was between 15 and 20 MPH but I had no control of the motion to the left at all. If I had not been a block away from home I would have parked it.

Sliding 10 feet sideways with both tyres and still staying upright - that's a major achievement in my book.

I regularly ride in the wet but I've never experienced that much loss of traction as slow speed. The Vegas roads must have had a lot of oily crud on the surface.

Well I'm thinking the condition is a bit like here only amplified due to extensive heat. Here, and after a hot spell a good rain can lift oil from the asphalt and leave it floating on the wet surface. Now there's a recipe for disaster... even in a car.