Rain & White Lines !!

[Stig / Major Tom]

Just a quick reminder about tracking as straight as possible across wet white painted lines!
This morning on dark wet roads watched a HD rider coming towards me almost dump his bike on a new and very wide white 'stop line' at an intersection.
I don't think that they sanded this paint.
It felt very slick under my feet at thr stop light.
This area is only 3 or 4 minutes into the start of my morning rides....so have to be fully in mental gear early on :-).
The City Grips work well in the rain....even three yrs old and with @ 10, 000 miles on them.
Stig

[PaulF]

Thanks for the reminder Stig.     I do cross them with care but you can never be too careful.

[ScooterWolf]

White lines and sandy gravel are on my 'alert list'. There's something about the topography in the area where I live, but a lot of storm, or sprinkler run-off turns into thin berms of sandy gravel in the roads, especially at intersections. At the end of my street it's gotten worse because it's accumulated over two manhole covers.
Not a good combination.

Also, watch out for thin gravel along the sides of streets and roads where you may stop to park. Your bike may not slip, but your foot could the moment you take it off your running boards an place full weight on the ground.
I try to size up my 'landing spot' for gravel and sand when I'm parking.

- Wolf

[chaz35]

Good points!  I have been surprised a few times when I stopped on uneven surface that my foot wasn't on the ground yet, like messing the last step coming down a stairway.  I ride a small scooter, so easier to manage as a beginner.  Have found gravel especially on pavement very treacheous, and of course white lines are like ice if wet.  I normally don't ride in the wet, but have been caught out a few times.  Cheers

[Kymsec99]

Yep, came across a urban 110 degree fairly tight bend, which was damp and plastered with white lines in various directions.
Took it in 2nd gear, 10mph.... manhole covers and them white lines scare me loads!

[Snorvey]

Is it just me or does the Dowtown feel a bit vague / light at the front end in the wet (particularly when you've always ridden motorcycles)?

[ScooterWolf]

Having only ridden a few motorcycles for my BRC, it's hard to say. It seems to react faster to counter-steering compared to my former Yager, but it was a lighter bike. I will say it also seems to have slight more sail in strong winds (nothing alarming), but that may be from not having full running boards, and a effect of a Maxi design.

- Wolf

[ole two wheels]

Another hazard that I haven't read here and if I missed it, I'm sorry. Steel expansion joints on bridges and overpasses. Also the large, thick steel plates they like to place over unfinished road work. Maybe they don't use them where you live and I hope they don't, but they are all over the Memphis area, They are 1 inch thick and I am careful to avoid them even in a car. The edges should be beveled. If you cross one on two wheels, at any speed, you're just along for the ride. When any of the above mentioned hazards are wet the problem is multiplied ten fold. Be careful out there.

Mac, aka "ole two wheels"

[ScooterWolf]

Good points, Two Wheels. Look out for the rail road spikes they use to pound the plates into the road too. Sometimes they fail to nail the spikes fully into the ground making them stick up above the plates and as dangerous as the slippery plates themselves.

- Wolf

[ole two wheels]

This might be considered off subject, but since this whole thread is about biking safety, maybe it's spot-on. There was a Honda motorcycle, sold in the USA sometimes around the late sixties or early seventies, not sure of exact time. It was not on the market long. It was a 500cc, early version of a crotch rocket, and it had a turbo on it. It could get out from under you quick and there were some injuries as a result. Hence, the short lived production run. I said all of this to say this: It had a sticker on the fuel tank that read: COMPLETE AND CONTINUOUS ATTENTION REQUIRED WHILE OPERATING THIS VEHICLE. A thought we would all do well to apply to our "vehicles" also. Ride safe today so that you will live to ride another day.

Mac

[ole two wheels]

Just did a little research on the Honda Turbo. It was a CX500 and was available with or with out a turbo. The X stood for experimental and there were only a little over 1100 produced. It later evolved into the CX650 that generated far less boost.
I wrote the first post from memory and at my age that's never a good idea. Hope we can all apply the message on the sticker.


Mac

[Stig / Major Tom]

Just did a little research on the Honda Turbo. It was a CX500 and was available with or with out a turbo. The X stood for experimental and there were only a little over 1100 produced. It later evolved into the CX650 that generated far less boost.
I wrote the first post from memory and at my age that's never a good idea. Hope we can all apply the message on the sticker.


Mac

Speaking of bikes that could get out from under you in a hurry :
While I  was 'permanent party' for a short time at Brooke Army Hosp, San Antonio we all owned motorcycles. A, dumb, buddy bought the first Kawasaki Mach III that I'd  ever seen. I never got to ride it because he bent things on it too soon. Showing us the power of his new bike in a parking lot....he rode past at about 30mph and then snapped opened the throttle. His bike went straight up into the air and came down on the hood of a car.
It was horrible...brand new bike. Messed up the car, too. Don't  recall  his condition - 19yr old medic trainees were a dime a dozen in those days - but that pretty bike was injured!
Someone  told me that soon after launching this rocket bike (light weight and 60hp?) Kawasaki stipulated  that dealers give special  instructions to all new buyers of the Mach III.
This, too, could be faulty memory - but not the sight of that new bike laying on that car hood.
I would have needed help to put my new green/white CB350 onto a car --- and that was fine by me....it was just my speed.
Good old days...
Stig

[ole two wheels]

This happens with Rockets everyday here. Some insurance companies won't ever consider them. At the time the first CX500 came out, the 900 two stroke Kaws were the meanest kid on the block, but the few CX's that made it to the street, quickly took that title. Selling 200 mph rockets to inexperienced riders who aren't buying them for use on a race track is insanity and should be outlawed. IMHO

Mac

[forkintheroad]

Another hazard that I haven't read here and if I missed it, I'm sorry. Steel expansion joints on bridges and overpasses. Also the large, thick steel plates they like to place over unfinished road work. Maybe they don't use them where you live and I hope they don't, but they are all over the Memphis area, They are 1 inch thick and I am careful to avoid them even in a car. The edges should be beveled. If you cross one on two wheels, at any speed, you're just along for the ride. When any of the above mentioned hazards are wet the problem is multiplied ten fold. Be careful out there.

Mac, aka "ole two wheels"

That brought a smile to my face. I used to live in Memphis, just off of Summer. It used to seem like half the town was covered in those steel plates. guess that has not changed. I never saw a town use them as much. I wish chattanooga would use a few though. Leaving a one foot pothole on a busy street is normal here.

[h2ou8n4]

Don't forget manhole covers...years of traffic polishes them up slick!