Ducati Monster Forum

We've started to get some rain here, so I thought I'd recycle a post I wrote last winter (and save it from the clutches of the TOB).   ;)

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A ride this last weekend led to many more than one encounter with a wet, gravel-ridden blind corner. I was reminded of a couple of techniques that I find helpful when the conditions are less than ideal.  Even if you're not a "rain rider", this still applies to you.

First, I hang off a lot more than usual. That way I can stand the bike up much more easily. It also reminds me not to be tight on the bars, which is easy to do--and even more dangerous--when conditions aren't ideal.

Second, if I'm already in a turn and all of a suden I see gravel or a damp patch or something that is going to affect your traction, I stand the bike up. There are a couple of ways to do this. If you're already hanging off, straighten your outer arm. It'll push the bike away from you and stand it up. It's almost like you're trying to throw the bike to the outside of the turn. Another way that works well is to step down on the outer peg. It'll straighten the bike up. I tend to do both--straighten the arm and step on the outside peg. You'll get an immediate response from your bike.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not recommending that you straighten up completely and blow the turn. Just stand the bike up a bit so that you have more traction and so that the wet/gravelly spot won't eat you and your bike for breakfast.

Third, even though I'm not a rear-braker, I cover the rear brake. You don't want to use your front brake when traction is not ideal.

Fourth, I don't expect the next corner to be anything like the "clean" corner I just went through. You never know what is around the next bend. Ride like it.

Fifth, and probably most important, I like to leave a big buffer. Don't measure the buffer by how much faster you can go through the "clean" corners. Ride as if each corner is a wet/gravel-ridden one. If you come around a blind turn and there is ice/water/gravel or whatever, you should have enough time and are traveling slowly enough that you can avoid going down.

Have a good and safe [moto]

+ 1!

#6 - Be Smoooooth!  on all your braking/upshifts/downshifts/steering inputs!  Especially after a "first rain" in awhile...

Thanks Spidey!

Very good post, Spidey.  Those are valuable points to keep in mind.  We're getting some weather down here in So Cal now (our "winter," which lasts, like, a minute) and there is definitely more gravel, rocks, etc. in the road.  I rode yesterday after a light rain and was being a lot more cautious than usual, but had decided to hang off LESS.  But you're right - it's safer to hang off more and use less lean angle.  Duh...

I've had a very interesting day....one emergency in one day is waaaaay more than enough, but I had two.  (I posted my story in the "I saved it" section. 

Ironically, my second event involved this very topic, and I saved my a$$ using #2.  Although the roads in Seattle were unusually dry today, it was cold (in the low 40's) with high humidity which made the painted markings on the roads very slippery.  I had to corner across some of the markings and then hit a gravel patch in the middle of the lane causing my front wheel to completely wash out.  I was leaning to the right, but immediately pushed on the left bar to straighten out the wheel and balance the bike from side to side.  I also cut throttle to balance the bike from front to back (I was accelerating when I lost it), and stood up on the pegs to help with my overall balance.  As soon as I felt that had the bike again, I focused on where I wanted to go ( :o away from the ditch rushing up at me :o)  counter-steered and made it out with a much accelerated heart beat.   

Had I simply followed the fourth and fifth suggestion, I wouldn't have gotten myself into the emergency in the first place.