Bad Road Surfaces: Do THIS, NOT THIS to avoid the crash!

Let's conclude our series of riding under certain scenarios with some tips for riding with bad road conditions.

***BECOME A MEMBER*** GET INSTANT ACCESS TO THE FORUMS AND FIELD GUIDE

Do you like MCrider and want to get more training, get involved, and help MCrider grow?

SUBSCRIBE to MCrider on YouTube

WATCH EVERY MCRIDER VIDEO EVER RELEASED

SIGN UP FOR THE WEEKLY MCRIDER NEWSLETTER

MCRIDER MERCHANDISE

LET CONNECT

LEARN MORE about Kevin and MCrider, hear my story and how this thing called MCrider started

SHOP ONLINE with these links and a portion of the sale will support MCrider

I will see you on the road,
Kevin at MCrider

[awuma]

9:57 Standing up RAISES the centre of gravity, but more importantly with knees flexed a bit the rider won't be tossed into the air. The rider's CG will be less displaced and so there will be less of a disturbance placed on the bike. Exactly the same mechanics apply to a jockey on a galloping horse, which is why jockeys are standing in the stirrups, knees highly bent and body crouched forward. A bouncing rider disturbs a galloping horse's action and wastes energy, slowing the horse down and potentially injuring it. Simple application of Newton's Second Law of Motion (the law of inertia).

[eddcurry]

I’ve hydroplaned twice this year, it’s an unexpected situation, but quickly backed off power and let the bike correct itself

[maneatingduck]

In addition to my (rather lengthy) other comment about winter riding, I'll add that there are many road conditions in warmer temperatures that can lead to a near total loss of traction and grip. Examples are leaves, oil or diesel spill, mud, gravel or sand, evergreen tree needles (astonishingly slippery from experience), horse/cattle excrements, and so on.

It's not realistic to train physically in a safe manner for sudden loss of traction, but it's probably good to think about it so that your brain and reflexes is a little more prepared if it happens. :)

[garywebb]

My friend And I happened onto a freshly tared and loose gravel road on a back county road and it was not fun. I did what you suggested, just pulled in the clutch and slowed down and tried to stay relaxed for about four miles til we were able to get off it. The bike just wobbled around due to the loose gravel. My bike is equipped with traction control as well and probably helped. My friends bike did not have it and he said that was a training course for a lot of things.
Thanks again for all you do Kevin.

[malelezac]

Thanks, Kevin. Last Sunday, I was returning from a trip riding through the twisties. Even though it's the dry season in my country and rain wasn't expected, it started raining heavily out of nowhere while I was in a desolate place with no shelter. I had to stop, put on my rain gear, and then resume my journey. These videos and constant practice are undeniably important. Thanks again, Kevin!.

[Richard_Evil]

I had a similar situation maybe a month into riding my rogue. It had been raining the night before I had to go to work and I was taking a route that took me out on a main street. Turning onto the street I noticed a drainage grate too late and my bike tire rolled over it and slipped out. Thankfully it was all over and no incident in a matter of a split second. But I naturally reacted by letting off of the throttle and just let the bike roll under momentum. This was really my first motorcycle. So I was surprised I had enough common sense to handle a situation I’ve never been in before. My God that split second felt like a minute in that moment though. Lol.

[maneatingduck]

TL;DR: get studded, knobbed tyres if there is any chance of ice. Stay warm and protected. Train yourself for slippery conditions in a safe, enclosed space.

I agree with your tips about handling a slide in progress, but I'd like to add some (quite a few, as it turned out) tips about how to prepare yourself and your motorcycle for riding on cold roads. Preparation and the right tyres/bike is strictly necessary even if you don't expect ice, as long as the temperature is below 5 degrees celsius you WILL eventually encounter ice on that bridge or in that shadowy canyon (or behind that random porta-potty in the road). It's a "when, not if"-situation.

I have been daily commuting street legal MCs and scooters on public roads in ice and snow for about 20 years in Norway. I ride absolutely every workday with no exceptions, often in a lot of snow and ice, and with temperatures down to 20 degrees Celsius below zero. I naturally also ride in spring and fall with cold temperatures, but dry roads.

Tyres: riding in freezing temperatures REQUIRES soft-rubbered knobbed tyres with a rubber mix designed for cold temperatures, even if there is no ice in sight. Your summer tyres will loose a lot of grip even on dry roads due to the rubber getting stiffer. A street tyre without knobs turns into a non-directional frictionless skate on even a sub-millimeter layer of snow or ice. Also, studs are a must, you WILL encounter ice sooner or later. Do yourself a favour and get professionally studded winter approved tyres for this purpose, change tyres with the season if you use the same bike for winter and summer. Studs will decrease grip on dry roads slightly, but coupled with soft rubber tyres it should not be a problem. Try not to lock your brakes on bare asfalt as you'll loose studs that way, and will have to replace studs or tyre.

Braking: ABS in a car is designed for snow and ice, but on an MC ABS doesn't really work on snow or ice, it's not designed for that and will lock anyway. DO NOT trust your front ABS to save you from a front slide. Instead you must accustom yourself to dual braking, apply most of your brake power on the rear brake while only supporting with the front brake. Steer your front wheel into your direction of travel to avoid a front slide, if you try to use it to adjust your curve you'll low-side. Learn how your motorcycle handles very little grip by finding a slippery parking lot with snow, or a designated slippery training ground. Learn to apply your rear brake softly and keep the rear wheel rolling, if slipping you might avoid a fall and get a rear slide instead.
Edit: I fully agree that ABS on MCs are life savers, always go for the ABS version if you can. ABS is faster and more precise than you and will help you in most situations, just not on ice :)

Control: train on how to balance in a rear slide by applying steering and soft rear brake leaving the rear wheel slightly rolling, in both left and right side slides. Locking the rear wheel will make you slide out. This is not like riding on gravel or sand, a rear slide will slide out far more than you're used to and can lead to a sudden low-side. Provoke rear slides at slow speed, learn how to release rear brake accurately and recover from it. A front slide will be more difficult to recover from and can slam you to the ground fast, so adjust your speed and leave yourself space to stop before sliding out into meeting traffic if you should go down.
Edit: in snow, and to a lesser degree on ice if you have studs, "a twist of the wrist" (applying throttle and rear wheel spin) can also help you stabilize and recover from a rear slide. And it's a ton of fun :)

Bike choice: use an MX or adventure bike, or at least do not choose a wildly inappropriate one like a cruiser or a crotch rocket. It'll help if you're able to support the weight of your bike with a leg at speed if you should lose control, so if you're not tall and strong consider getting a small MX bike or even a cross-style moped for learning winter riding. Larger adventure bikes are more stable due to their weight and can be a good alternative, but are of course heavier and far more difficult to "wrestle" if you're on the verge of falling. I've ridden Yamaha WR250R, Honda CRF300L, BMW 310GS and Transalp, all are suitable. Smaller cross mopeds and even Vespa scooters work fine (I winter-rode a manual Vespa for many years before moving on to MC), but you need manual transmission and a clutch. Automatics or electrics will cause rear wheel spin, traction control is also useless as it's not designed for very slippery conditions.

Heat: get warm clothes, dress in layers, use heated gloves and liners if necessary. Heat is nice for comfort, but most importantly you'll react faster and more precisely if you're not uncomfortably cold. Your hands and feet are the most important for control, but you should be reasonably comfortable as well to keep your focus on riding, you'll need it. Old-fashioned nylon "old-guy-equipment" a size too large is actually is quite nice for this, as it's windproof and enables you to put on some fleece underneath. This is what I do to handle -19 degrees Celsius (-2 Fahrenheit).

Padding: for winter riding you want to wear a robust padded riding suit. I use nylon/kevlar as mentioned above. Equip a turtleback and armor pads on knees, elbows, shoulders and hips. By luck and coincidence I have never gone down, but I fully expect to lowside some day and plan for it by always wearing all the equipment and always planning to leave myself "sliding space" in traffic. It becomes second nature after a while.

Did I mention studded, knobbed tyres? :)

[stevemoore]

GREETINGS FROM THE PPRC GREAT VIDEO TODAY, THANKS FOR DOING THEM.

[aaronrosenthal]

Riding through Oregon in early April one year and on the I-5 on the way to California, hit a sleet storm while doing 605-70 mph. Couldn’t see anything except the white line on my left of the shoulder/oncoming lane divider. Heavy traffic with transport semis etc. No option other than carry on until I outrode the storm.
Pucker factor of 14 out of 10.

[KevinStrand-eqii]

Intersections, side roads and driveways are where cars pose a significant danger in pulling out in front of you. One strategy that wasn't mentioned and a habit worth doing is when approaching any of these areas where a vehicle can and will pull out in front of you if they don't see you is to swerve back and forth in your lane. This will draw the attention of the other driver that you are approaching...

[TruckinMental]

Few years ago I was riding down in Texas and come up on a freshly made Road, freshly made Texas style that is. Spray oil down covered up with pea gravel and let the traffic pack get down. Only the traffic had not packed it down had just barely started, so I'm on about 3 inches of loose pea gravel that's on top of oil and it was slick I was doing 75 when I hit it I did what you did in your story just as I started to feeling like I had a little bit of control ahead of it it started raining and all that oil started floating to the top.! I had already gotten to speed I was comfortable with for the gravel, so then I had to keep falling down until I found one I was comfortable with for both situations. Luckily I found it and right after I did it quit raining LOL . But that taught me a lot about my own skills and how to handle that kind of situation or a situation like it. The bike I was on was a 94 Electra Glide

[kevinmacwatters]

Another great situation for a video. Some of these situations (potential crashes) can last what seems like a long time. I agree the training, relax and remove power. During mine I did that and overcorrected and then overcame that overcorrection. I never thought that you would have enough time to think during the situations but it happens like you recorded.

[ArtD]

Great advice I never thought about icey roads

[pl]

Live in canada an rode bikes year round, went through two of the old 4 cylinder goldwings to drive in the winter, laid them down many times on ice, i used to stay sitting on the bike but of course pull that lower leg up an wait for it to stop sliding in stead of letting go, if someone is behind you much better for him to try to dodge 1 thing than 2 on glare ice and on ice it will happen there's nothing you can do, clutch don't brake if you spot it but half the time you don't an i would say most of the time in the dark

[murraehaynes]

HD Riding Academy has a “surface traction activity” at the beginning of day two of the Nee Rider Course (BRC) that covers many traction challenges…

[galeholt]

That does give a new meaning to “black ice”.

[tommeyer]

Am I right to assume that maintaining the throttle with the clutch lever pulled would have kept the motor turning at the appropriate rpm for the gear you were in and your rear wheel speed when you regained traction on clean pavement? That “chirp” you heard was the rear wheel matching the “ground speed” when traction was regained, right?
Good post. Thanks Kev.

[hogwildbowhunter]

Prevention is the best, however we train for the unavoidable as well. Like blue or brown ice you experienced Kevin. Let us not forget, we dress for when all else fails us. This was an excellent video and if you ride enough you will have experience like the ones Kevin shared, train for it!

[eliinthewolverinestate]

Went down usual dirt roads to work. On way home the road grader had graded the roads. On an adv bike but was more challenge then I would like.

[Ksneia]

Once happen to me at corner, never thought dried oil on road still has kick, almost went off cliff. Now l've got suspicion about stain on road.

Thanks about the abs, never thought also abs has weakness.