Wet weather handling (Ouch!)

[Robert Stewart]

Hi all,

I haven't yet ridden much in the wet but recently it has been raining a lot in my part of the world, leaving the roads pretty wet on a few occasions. This has lead me to thinking about wet weather handling on the Silvio, which was brought to a head by an incident a couple of days ago.

I was riding to work in the morning as normal. It wasn't raining then, but had rained heavily overnight, so while most of the road was reasonably dry there were some puddles at the edges. I took a gentle right hand turn at speed and strayed towards the pavement (remember, we ride on the left here). My front wheel went into a puddle full of sludgy rotting tree petals and slipped a bit. I tried to steer right to get away from the slippery stuff and I think by this stage I had started to brake. That wasn't a good idea, as my back wheel went into the sludge slightly sideways. It all happened pretty quickly after that, but my back wheel slipped left into the edge of the pavement and I skidded along for a few metres before I lost it completely and fell down onto my right hand side while still clipped in. By that time, I had lost most of my speed, so I didn't get badly hurt (just bumps on the hip and shoulder and a slightly twisted knee). Looking the bike over, I found that the front derailleur was scratched, as was the tip of the right brake lever and the ouside of the right pedal. Thankfully, the gears are still working fine and I rode off after a minute.

So there was no real harm done, but the next day's ride was also wet and I found myself being very cautious on the bends (granny speed upright turns). Fundamentally, I am lacking confidence in the grip and handling of the back end of the Silvio in wet conditions. Does anyone have any tips on getting better handling in the wet? Is there a better tyre than my Gatorskin 25s for wet weather grip?

Any help appreciated,
Rob

 

[Kamatu]

I don't know about what the frame will handle, but I'm using the stock MTB knobbies on my conversion and have ridden through grass, muddy bits, puddles and sludge both coasting and under power with no problems. Possibly you go with something a bit more off road if you are using quick release for those rainy day commutes. It could even help out some for the fair weather speed days since you will have faster tires for those.

 

[MrSteve]

I second Kamatu's off-road tyre suggestion, and add:
practice riding off-road in loose conditions.
Use another bike that you don't mind scratching up, if that'll help.

You should have been able to ride through your incident without a second thought.
The Silvio is very neutral-handling.

Most of the motorcycling road-racing stars have lots of off-road experience.
...That's a clue as to how valuable off-road riding skills translate to riding on the street....

-Steve

 

[Hotdog]

For riding though piles of sludge Kamatu's suggestion of knobbly MTB tyres would be the only thing with a chance of giving you any grip, but for raining day riding on reasonably clean bits of the road they'd actually give you less grip than slicks (of a comparable width), see what Sheldon has to say on the matter. So assuming you are riding on half decent hard road surfaces I'd say there wasn't really anything wrong with your current tyre choice, but if you were looking to change you might want to consider the Continental GP 4 Seasons (optimised for wet grip) or maybe the GP 4000S (extra grippy in general).

The biggest gains to wet weather handling will probably come through experience and corresponding development of technique. Your description of the incident says you tried to brake and then the rear wheel slid, which suggests you were using the rear brake? Generally it's a better idea to leave the rear brake alone as it does more readily cause a slide, though on a slippy wet road with wet brakes that doesn't necessarily apply. I think all you can do is try to keep out of the puddles, or at least the sludgy ones, and when you do find yourself hitting a slippery spot that you couldn't avoid or didn't see then don't brake, don't pedal and unless you're on an immediate collision course with something big and hard don't turn. By coasting in a straight line until you're clear of the problem area you minimise the forces your front tyre is trying applying to the road surface, and so minimise your chance of slipping and falling. Of course if you're already heading rapidly towards the kerb the don't turn part may not be an option, but laying off the brakes and gently turning the minimal amount to avoid an impact would give you the best chance. This is generally the approach I adopted to wet roads with puddles and rotting leaf/petal sludge or ice/snow/sludge when I rode through Autumn, winter and spring when I lived in the UK.

Anyway, glad there was no real harm done. It's always a bit upsetting when you put the first dings or scratches on a new bike, but at least they're pretty minor. Any crash will also knock your confidence for a while too, but it'll rebuild as you keep riding and gradually edge closer to the limits again.

 

[Robert Stewart]

Hi guys. Thanks for your comments and suggestions. In answer to a couple of points raised, by the time my front wheel slipped I was heading for the kerb, so neutral coasting (which i normally try for) wasn't really an option in this case. I did probably turn away a bit harder than necessary, and it's possible I grabbed the back brake as well as the front.

Another problem in that incident was the seam at the edge of the road between the tarmac and a row of smooth hard slabs prior to the kerb. I definitely hit that under the sludge. Anyway, I really blame myself for the loss of concentration that let me drift wide in the first place. It's a pity really as I was just beginning to trust myself leaning in on fast turns, and I will have to start that process again. It will have to wait though as I discovered another flat this morning.

If it isn't one thing, it's another, it seems...
Rob