riding in the rain

[Jamessd]

Yeh... I was lucky. Slammed my foot down just in time and somehow ended up rolling alond with my foot trapped on the rear indicator?!? V Strange and I have no idea how!

[africajim]

Up here in Scotland it rains, and damn, it rains a lot!
Now I've covered a lot of miles, over 100,000 miles on bikes and a lot of them in the rain so I feel my experience is worth sharing.

In the dry I use a lot of front brake, probably 80% front to 20% back. The most of the weight of the bike is transferred to the front tyre hence the percentage.
In the wet I do not want to transfer so much weight to the front tyre alone so I would brake 50-50% front and back. If the back breaks away I can release the brake and control the slide, if the front breaks away I can almost garantee a tar-kissing episode to follow! Front slide in the wet = 90% chance you will fall off.
This is all irrelevent now as the Vara has ABS and LBS, this takes the choice out of my hands. I use the front handle in the dry while covering the rear pedal, (old habits die hard) but in the wet I use the rear pedal only. Works for me!

[Blinx]

The way I was taught was 70/30% braking with the front brake first then the rear only when you have reached 30mph or so. However this isnt the best way of spreading the weight of the bike created by the forces of braking.

In this instance the weight will expectedly shift all to the front wheel as expected (which is obviously why you use more front brake) and off the back wheel. This reduces the amount of overall grip.

I think if you were to gently load the rear wheel first to compress the rear shocks and then brake harder with your front brakes you would center the weight slightly more and have a better position and greater grip in the even of a skid. It would be a fine line though and would need quite a careful technique. Comments anyone?

to be honest I normally do the 70/30 and keep my weight back when I have to slam the anchors on!

[Jamessd]

The way I was taught was 70/30% braking with the front brake first then the rear only when you have reached 30mph or so. However this isnt the best way of spreading the weight of the bike created by the forces of braking.

In this instance the weight will expectedly shift all to the front wheel as expected (which is obviously why you use more front brake) and off the back wheel. This reduces the amount of overall grip.

I think if you were to gently load the rear wheel first to compress the rear shocks and then brake harder with your front brakes you would center the weight slightly more and have a better position and greater grip in the even of a skid. It would be a fine line though and would need quite a careful technique. Comments anyone?

to be honest I normally do the 70/30 and keep my weight back when I have to slam the anchors on!

My argument for putting more weight on the back is that this means the front becomes ''lighter'' as as such has less grip on the floor therefore making it more likely that the front wheel will skid.

The only solution to braking in the wet, and the best way, is to brake earlier and not as harshly

[grampy]

Got to agree 100% with that, on the day of the "Gay With Fish back" (could make a great ride at Alton Towers!) The roads were very greasy after a prolonged dry spell followed by torrential rain. I should have expected slippery roads and ridden accordingly but even after a couple of hours of rain the road surface was just as lethal. As for controlled sliding into corners, count this "Gay With Fish Back" out!

[Blinx]

I also agree. I also change how I corner to. In the dry I lean into the bends, maybe even put in a vain effort to get my knee down (on an FMX?? yeah right!)

In the wet though, I use the motocross method of leaning the oppersite way to the bike tilt in order to be able to grab any slides with your elbows out. You can go the full way and stick ur leg out too but u look like a bit of a nonce then!

[Rubberchicken]

Knee down on an FMX, you'd be surprised. I've scraped the pegs on my dommie, it's possible.

Anyway. On the NX I've never bothered with the rear brake as I've got a tiny drum in the rear that really doesn't do very much at all, especially when the front's on as well.

Hard braking in the wet can be a hair raising ordeal though, especially on a severely cupped TKC80 where you've only got, say, 25% of the rubber on the road that you would have with an Anakee.

[switch]

Wait, doesn't the knee down method imply that the bike is MORE upright than when using the leg-out method at the same speed in the same corner? So, at least in theory, knee-down would be safer in rain than a leg-out, since during a leg-out you'd need to lean the bike more.

[Blinx]

Well I hang of mine like some kind of enraged baboon trying to swipe bananas off the floor, and I have long legs as I'm 6ft 4 but according to the rest of the bikers im about 12 inches off.

Switch, even though you have the bike at less of a lean, your position is such that you can't really react to any slides as easily as u can in a motocross stance. Your weight is also much further off centre, destabilising the bike more.

[Loomesy]

To get a feel for slides and wobbles which are likely to happen in winter, Id suggest getting an OS map of your area and a highlighter pen and mark all of the green lanes and then go playing in the mud. The dommie's soft power delivery and forgiving nature make it ideal, though be prepared to do a bit of heaving if it gets a bit stuck. As things are happeneing a lot slower on the road you can learn to react to the reactions of the bike as it reacts to bumps and roots and stones and stuff if you get my drift (no pun intended, though maybe slightly)

Tyre condition doesnt seem to make a lot of difference either, mine had no problems with about 1.5mm of tread on a rear trailwing, and my mate was the same on a worn avon distanzia front, besides if a cb500, vfr400, sv650 and K75s can be green laned mildly, then theres no excuse

Looking forward to winter riding.....