Riding in the wet

[Jamieg285]

check your bar end weight, when I replaced mine the new one was catching the throttle grip a bit.

Not sure if it was that end or the other, but I've cleaned both up and given them a good coating of vaseline for lubrication, and oiled the cables. Got it all back together and the throttle snaps back nicely and there's less free play too. Just need to see if that helps on the road...

[motodevcam]

I realise this is now a very old topic, however it's been really helpful so I thought I'd give it a natural bump.

I passed my unrestricted in July (17) I learned having never been in a bike before. As luck would have it not one of my lessons nor my test was in the wet. Since passing pretty much rained constantly. I've been really struggling in the wet and do d myself tensing up. It's got to the point where I'll just take the car of the roads are wet. This post has pushed me to get out!

Great forum this. Such a helpful bunch!!

[Hugh Mungus]

The key to riding more confidently in the wet is to.... ride in the wet!


The key points to remember are


If it has just rained (after a dry spell) the road will be slippery so take care. Go easy on acceleration and braking.
Roundabouts are notorious for being slippery in the wet.
Any junction near a petrol station will also be dodgy.


If it has rained for more than one day the roads will be cleaner but still take extra care at roundabouts.

[darrsi]

The key to riding more confidently in the wet is to.... ride in the wet!


The key points to remember are


If it has just rained (after a dry spell) the road will be slippery so take care. Go easy on acceleration and braking.
Roundabouts are notorious for being slippery in the wet.
Any junction near a petrol station will also be dodgy.


If it has rained for more than one day the roads will be cleaner but still take extra care at roundabouts.

Roundabouts, manhole covers, leaves, potholes, drunk people lying in the road, all things to keep you alert.
I often wonder if riding a bike is some sort of shitty challenge derived by some twisted bastard to see if you can survive the day?
As said, riding in the wet can only be properly mastered by riding in it. Watch any pizza delivery rider lean a bike over in shite conditions. Yes, i agree they're ever so slightly mad, and naive, but it's all about the hours spent on the road.
And again as mentioned, either after a good 2 or 3hrs downfall, or the next day, the rain does really clean the roads, so even though the roads are wet you will feel better grip. It's when it doesn't rain, and you get cold nights, like now, that the roads become hazardous, but you will get the feel for all that after a few years riding.
Add the obvious to the equation though, good reliable tyres. Don't scrimp on tyres (or brake  pads), they are your life line. I ride all year round as much as i can and good tyres that perform in the wet are a must for me. If you think you can save £40 or £50 by purchasing cheap tyres then you are being misled and will regret it, because your confidence in riding will go rapidly downhill. Add to that they'll wear quicker, unevenly, etc, so it becomes an issue all round.
Good reliable tyres, common sense and experience will make biking in the rain as pleasant as it can get.
Don't forget the Vee Wipe too, an invaluable piece of kit i simply can't do without!


 https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313.TR1.TRC0.A0.H0.Xvee+wipe.TRS0&_nkw=vee+wipe&_sacat=0

[Frosties]

Totally agree with everything Darrsi said - especially the V wipe.....a must have.


Another thing I sling under the seat or in the top box is a 2 piece cheap as chips waterproof oversuit. Yes I have spent hundreds on my Rukka Goretex gear which is totally waterproof but I rely on this if it starts to rain when I'm out.


I ride 365 to London and back. If it's raining before you leave then stick on the 2 -piece waterproofs. Far easier than trying to dry your sodden gear out for 8 hrs before you ride home again.


A 2 piece easy rolls up and fits under a Fazer seat. Do you look cool ?????, who gives a feck....it's raining.

Forgot to add - also means you don't have to wash your riding gear anywhere near as often to get rid of the winter crap and they retain being waterproof for longer.

[Bretty]

I pretty much ride exactly the same in the wet as I do in the dry. I just don't do max acceleration as the back wheel spins up, I avoid painted lines and metal work, and avoid heavy braking on the front tyre, as it does lock up a lot easier and can get away from you.
I don't go out icy condition.

[Hedgetrimmer]

I pretty much ride exactly the same in the wet as I do in the dry. I just don't do max acceleration as the back wheel spins up, I avoid painted lines and metal work, and avoid heavy braking on the front tyre, as it does lock up a lot easier and can get away from you.
I don't go out icy condition.

Quite differently then 

[tommyardin]

I pretty much ride exactly the same in the wet as I do in the dry. I just don't do max acceleration as the back wheel spins up, I avoid painted lines and metal work, and avoid heavy braking on the front tyre, as it does lock up a lot easier and can get away from you.
I don't go out icy condition.

Quite differently then 

I went out on my bike about three years ago and it nearly rained and I could almost swear I got very, very slightly dampish but just maybe it was my imagination.


Don't do rain, I worked Self Employed (Brickie) on the building sites for 53 years sometimes in the sunshine but often in the rain, got soaked trying to earn a living, standing in the footings in 3 inches of water with your legs jammed up against the wet muddy sides of trenches with water trickling down between the cheeks of my arse. Steam coming up off you soaking wet back. Fuck riding in the rain.

[tommyardin]

Sorry wrong thread.

I reckon that Scotish ice cream has got a lot of Teachers in it.

[YamFazFan]

Don't do rain, I worked Self Employed (Brickie) on the building sites for 53 years sometimes in the sunshine but often in the rain, got soaked trying to earn a living, standing in the footings in 3 inches of water with your legs jammed up against the wet muddy sides of trenches with water trickling down between the cheeks of my arse. Steam coming up off you soaking wet back. Fuck riding in the rain.

People don't realise, unless they too do it, how hard that is working out in all weathers and the toll it takes on you, especially as you get older.

It's no joke out in the cold and wet all day. It runs you down.

Having said that I admire anyone that does ride all weather. I couldn't face it now.

Like you tommy I've spent all my working life so far outdoors. Not quite managed 53 years yet tho!.

[Hedgetrimmer]

Having said that I admire anyone that does ride all weather. I couldn't face it now.

I don't admire people who ride in all weather. Maybe they have to because it's the only transport they have - fair enough. Or maybe the commute would just take too long in a car when there's a lot of traffic. Ok. But admiration? Why? I've ridden in the wet as much as anyone over the years, and maybe you do learn from it. But it was never something I particularly enjoyed doing, even when I was younger. I used to commute each weekend from London to nr. Wolverhampton, and I remember hating being freezing cold, having kit that just couldn't cope with heavy rain on the motorway, hands so numb with cold I got the hot aches when I finally started to warm them after getting to my destination. I used to put off leaving home till the last possible minute, and would have given anything to have a car to do it in. I was in my late teens at the time too.

[YamFazFan]

Respect then maybe?


It's harsh and foccin dangerous on a dark night when it's absolutely chucking it down.

[YamFazFan]

Oh alright, they're all a bunch of twats

[Hedgetrimmer]

These days when I see a motorcyclist out in the pissing rain, I just think "sucker!" 

[darrsi]

Respect then maybe?


It's harsh and foccin dangerous on a dark night when it's absolutely chucking it down.

I'll certainly agree with that one.
The amount of people that just cross a road in front of me wearing dark clothing on the way home from work at night when it's raining is just phenomenal.
They can't comprehend that every drop of rain on your visor is being illuminated by oncoming headlights, or worse still brake lights that make each drop red in colour.
Then you get potholes that can appear out of nowhere that weren't there the day before.

I changed my route into work the last few weeks because they've totally messed up my normal route with some weird reconstruction of the road and pavements which has caused major traffic problems now, and on the new route there's a sunken drain cover in the middle of the road which keeps catching me out almost every day. I know it's there, and I use it as a warning to miss the next one about 200 metres ahead, but I somehow still keep hitting it, and that's in daylight.
If I see any bad potholes I just report them myself now, as everyone will moan about them but do sod all about them.

[tommyardin]

Like has been said in the post that riding in winter is not good, but like a lot of bikers in here I have done it as it was my only form of transport from age 17 up until 46.
I have had to ride in all weathers and getting to the building site soaked through before the days work has started, fingers so cold that its hard to uncurl them from the bars, and with the snotty water that is streaming from you nose and eyes freezing on your face, scarf full of frozen shot and breath, bloody open face space helmets
(The full face made it a bit better when they came along)

I remember my old BSA Rocket it had a small split in the stitching on the seat and water used to get into the foam and when you sat on it the water squeezed out and made your arse wet even before starting out on the foccing thing, and it was no better when the weather was freezing either it was like sitting on a plank of wood that eventually made your arse wet as it slowly melted and squeezed out of the split.

Oh! the good old days.
Good old days my arse
Good old days my wet arse.

[steve 10562cc]

I'm a retired brickie remember it well, had forgot how s**t it was being wet and frozen most of the day in winter. Just switched the heating up to help put that flash back out of my mind. So I'll stick to riding in the good weather and leave the bad weather to the poor soles that have to, or those that get some strange perverse pleasure from it.

[darrsi]

I'm a retired brickie remember it well, had forgot how s**t it was being wet and frozen most of the day in winter. Just switched the heating up to help put that flash back out of my mind. So I'll stick to riding in the good weather and leave the bad weather to the poor soles that have to, or those that get some strange perverse pleasure from it.

Riding in it is just part and parcel of living in this country, it rains a lot so i just deal with it.
The main thing is wearing the right gear to stay warm and dry.
Once you feel ANY water anywhere on your body then that’s when it really becomes a major issue.
I’ll never forget riding back from the coast to London years ago on a job for work, i don’t think i had heated grips then, my jacket was leaking and i could feel water coming through my boots and gloves, then i hit traffic near Heathrow because of an accident and i literally felt like giving up and finding the nearest train station, i was so cold.
Not pleasant at all.

[crickleymal]

Riding in it is just part and parcel of living in this country, it rains a lot so i just deal with it.
The main thing is wearing the right gear to stay warm and dry.
Once you feel ANY water anywhere on your body then that’s when it really becomes a major issue.
I’ll never forget riding back from the coast to London years ago on a job for work, i don’t think i had heated grips then, my jacket was leaking and i could feel water coming through my boots and gloves, then i hit traffic near Heathrow because of an accident and i literally felt like giving up and finding the nearest train station, i was so cold.
Not pleasant at all.

Been there done that. When I was a learner I remember coming back from Fishguard in the rain with less than waterproof boots and gloves. When I accelerated the water sloshed to my heels and to my toes when I braked. I was so cold that when I stopped for a drink at a layby I had to warm my hands under the hot tap in the bogs before I could buy a cup of tea.

[celticbiker]

I remember back in the ' couldn't give a flying foc' days of my youth, riding back from a rally in Liverpool to Manchester in the pouring rain wearing a leather jacket with denim cut off, leather laced up the side trousers and doc martens.
Soaked to the bone by the time I got home but back in those days for ' one reason or another' it didn't bother me.
It's funny how things change, back in those days I used to drink a lot of bourbon (bottle/week) but would only drink Rebel Yell. I don't drink these days as a rule but swmbo thought it would be nice to get me a bottle for old times sake for Christmas. I opened it on Friday when I got home and the smell nearly knocked me flat. Swmbo ended up drinking it, one capful diluted through the evening in 1.5 litres of coke, and this from someone who drinks Japanese whiskey neat.

[agricola]

Never bothered me too much riding to to work and back in the rain, but it was only 7 miles each way. I always swore by the (relatively) cheap outdoor waterproof gear to keep me dry, rather than the overpriced designer label top end stuff. I think theres something to be learned from wet riding, forward planning/anticipation/focus wise

[slimwilly]

I have ridden to Donnington many times in the rain and back, watching moto gp,  100miles, I didn't mind it,, be careful.. 150 miles to Harrogate a few times,  wet is ok ,  cold is a no no. Now heated grips rule...
  On longtrips , I start careful then k relax and can really get a move on as you learn the safe level

[celticdog]

Riding in the rain is a pain in the ar5e but you just put up with it. It's all those little coloured rainbows I worry about and I'm not talking about gay pride flags.


 

[darrsi]

Rain is not fun, fog at night is bad.....but hailstones!!!
Now we're talking.
That really is a challenge.
What idiot sits down in hailstones? They pummel your legs, rattle your crash helmet and feels like you're on a marble assault course designed to put you down.
Not funny at all.

[tommyardin]

It's funny when thinking back to my early days on a bike, passed test in 66. On a 175 BSA Bantam I bought brand new that year £129-19/11d. Bought it on finance, at the time I was an apprentice brickie earning just under 7 quid a week, bike tax and insurance, 2 stroke oil and petrol, bike repayment, and £1-10/- to my mum for keep, It left nothing for waterproofs or a crash helmet so I rode my first few years without either.

Wasn't law then to wear a bucket.
My first bike was in 1964 again a BSA Bantam 175cc a 1959 model