What if...road surface question.

[DarrenSV650S]

Just a hypothetical type thing.....


You're going along a twisty country road at a good pace. All of a sudden you find the road is covered in tiny gravel. Coming up is a tight bend.

Do you.....

Brake gently?
Only use the rear brake?
Change down?
Don't touch the brakes, just lean in and hope?
Go straight on, in to the field?


What do you do?

Originally Posted by DarrenSV650S

Just a hypothetical type thing.....


You're going along a twisty country road at a good pace. All of a sudden you find the road is covered in tiny gravel. Coming up is a tight bend.

Do you.....

Brake gently?
Only use the rear brake?
Change down?
Don't touch the brakes, just lean in and hope?
Go straight on, in to the field?


What do you do?

Sh!t myself

Personally I engine brake as much as I dare and lightly use the brakes to dump some speed (75/25% rear to front). Then if I feel I'm still too hot I get my body off the bike through the corner to keep it as upright as possible.

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by DarrenSV650S

All of a sudden you find the road is covered in tiny gravel. Coming up is a tight bend.

Of course one would argue that you should be travelling at a decent enough speed to allow you to react to an on coming hazard such as the gravel you suggest in enough time to avoid it all together.

I've had it happen a couple of times, First time I slowed as much as I could dare and then rode through it on a neutral throttle trying to keep the bike balanced on the suspension.

Second time, I dragged the back brake and made it around the corner.

One thing I'd defo not do is panic and grab the front brake...

[yorkie_chris]

Sh*t yourself seems to be the primary course of action.
Spotting the gravel in good time is preferable.

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

Of course one would argue that you should be travelling at a decent enough speed to allow you to react to an on coming hazard such as the gravel you suggest in enough time to avoid it all together.

I've had it happen a couple of times, First time I slowed as much as I could dare and then rode through it on a neutral throttle trying to keep the bike balanced on the suspension.

Second time, I dragged the back brake and made it around the corner.

One thing I'd defo not do is panic and grab the front brake...

I remember seeing a response to a guy on another forum a while back who was complaining that he exited a blind bend on a country road to find a road closed barrier directly in front him. He said he exited the corner at 60mph+ and didn't have time to react and ended up going into the hedge. The response was the same as Fizz's, should he have been quite so quickly not knowing what could be on the exit of the bend.

[the_lone_wolf]

Stamp on the back brake until you have to turn then power through swinging the back around to keep you on the road

Worked best on the gravel pistes of Morocco when a corner caught us out, not much point in trying to use the front wheel even with a knobbly...

[Mark_h]

Originally Posted by DarrenSV650S

Just a hypothetical type thing.....

You're going along a twisty country road at a good pace. All of a sudden you find the road is covered in tiny gravel. Coming up is a tight bend.

The official recommendation is to only ever be going at a speed whereby you can come to a complete stop on your side of the road in the distance you can see to be clear. Had you done that, then you'd have come to a prompt stop just before the gravel. However in the real world........

1. Should have spotted gravel dust on the other carriage way as traffic coming the other way would have driven over it and that should ring alarm bells.

2. Scrub off as much speed as you can before you get to the gravel. Then look where you want to go (not down at the gravel as if you do that, then that's where you go), think vertical thoughts and if possible relax. Chances are you'd be fine.

The official recommendation is to only ever be going at a speed whereby you can come to a complete stop on your side of the road in the distance you can see to be clear. Had you done that, then you'd have come to a prompt stop just before the gravel. However in the real world........

just rely on all the brake and suspension mods.....

Don't worry about it, you wanted a new bike any how, and this is the perfect excuse, lol.