riding in the wet

[captaincaveman]

does anyone else on here enjoy riding in wet? i've always hated it over the years till i got the AT even with deathwings on it i enjoyed it


luckily i had my givi box on with waterproofs inside and that made an obvious difference, but i got caught a couple of times in thunderstorms and the AT makes it feel more of an adventure than when i was on the buell, gs1000 or gsxr1100. with my old bikes i was looking for shelter, finding shortest way home etc

but not the AT, weathers not the issue it used to be and with heated grips it dont take long for your hands to be comfy again

Or is it me just being mental

[simmo2]

Your mental!!!

Problem is so am I!!! the harder the weather the more prone I am to get out in it and do something!!

Mind you, on the AT I'm so crap with cornering. Have this feeling that at any slight lean the bike's gona fall away beneath me!!!

Any tips?

[croydon@twin]

I don't mind riding in the wet on the AT - it always seems sure footed as long as I don't push it.

My previous bike, CCM R30, was also very planted in the wet - almost didn't have to slow down at all

The VFR800 though was a different matter. I very rarely felt comfortable in the wet. The rear was very skittish and I didn't like the linked brakes in the wet (they were OK in the dry though).

Tony

[africajim]

I thought the opposite about linked brakes? I loved them on both Varadero and VFR.

In the dry pull the front handle with all your might and in the wet stand on the foot break as hard as you can! Both worked just fine.

Redmarcus pointed out the linked brakes offroad with the Vara were scarey!

As for the wet, well, I found it an adventure in itself on the @T. Loved it. It tends to rain a lot here in Scotland unfortunately!

I also like riding in the dark, the @T was ok, the Vara? God have those things got lights? Better than any car I've had!

Agreed, wet weather clothing's the key to it. Set of waterproofs and you can ride in any weather. Just adjust your riding to suit.

[captaincaveman]

yeah, still bit of a stwichy butthole on smooth tarmac roundabouts, i find the AT's got good wind/rain protection too

[croydon@twin]

... in the wet stand on the foot break as hard as you can!

I just could never bring myself to do that

[cbrpaddy]

I don't mind the wet one bit, cept at night when anywhere off the main national routes it gets nearly impossible to see the verges. Oh, and on many roads here the surface on corners has been worn away to a mirror sheen, that often leaves bite marks in the saddle when wet.

[peterb]

Riding in the wet is purely a confidence thing . Providing your tyres are adequate you should be perfectly safe. Its when your confidence is low you tense up your centre of gravity shifts higher everything is much more twitchy which in turn lowers confidence further and so on , tend to panic without cause in corners worry about breaking etc...
My brother used to ride no differently in the wet which always amazed me as i have never liked it.
clearly tyres , tyre pressures etc are more crucial in the wet , the risks of shiney tarmac greasy surfaces are higher but not significantly. The key we are told is to RELAX and ride SMOOTHLY braking progressively.Damp roads i find worse than really wet roads, for me the worse conditions are Autumn with leaves and dry and wet on the same road without warning.
I dont feel confident in the wet so have fairly recently taken many opportunities to do so where i would not have done so before. It needs practice to build this confidence, find a tyre that works and it should work as well in the wet if ridden properly. I have to tell myself just because its wet does not make it unsafe and ride accordingly . I dont like it but getting better.

[jabba]

Only draw the line at black ice season then its butt puckering time. Rain never bothers me and love summer showers.

[Dilbert]

NO and yes you are all mental, but I'm getting there