Wet riding confidence

I have been riding since I was 17, 23 now, done about 25,000miles on 3 different bikes and I have never been overly confident in the wet. I have driven through snow, sleet, rain, hail, high winds, everything I can think of, but have always been really reserved in the wet.

This weekend just gone I had to ride about 150 miles over about 5 hours in rain/heavy rain. At one point I was following a friend up the A3, a road I know very well, and it started raining very heavily. Usually I would have slowed down and ridden very causiously, but this wasnt really an option as I was following a car and once we turned off the A3 I would have been lost! So i had to keep up and was riding very much out of my comfort zone for the conditions, but I kept at it, almost gave up following once or twice. When the speeds slowed down again, I thought, actually, that was ok.

I then realised I will never improve if I always ride at the same level, so on the last 30miles on my way back to reading, again on roads I knew very well, I slipped on a wet white line. I had always avoided lines on the road like the plague in the wet, but I was supprised to find that all that happened was the bike slipped the width of the white line then regained grip. Massive confidence boost. I then also realised that you can actually tip the bike in in the wet and you wont low side for no reason.

The last 20miles of my trip was on twisty fast roads with no trafic and I have never had so much fun in the wet. The front felt planted and the rear squirmed about under early aceleration out of corners and on the little slips on the lines were held and cornering improved loads!!

While I wasnt going anywhere near as fast as I could in the dry, I was now riding at about 2/3 - 3/4 of dry speed, which was a massive improvement over my 1/2 speed usually wet riding. I would tip toe around corners hardly leaning the bike at all, but now I realise that the bike can cope and the tyres are up to the job.

So even though I was wet and cold for most of the weekend, I think it has been one of the most effective 150miles of my biking carear in terms of confidence and lessons learnt.

I have had similar experiances; my first big wet weather ride was coming home down the A24 from brighton to london. Really horrible weather. But I thought if im smooth, and relaxed, and hang off a little bit, then I can pull the bike round corners and keep up a decent pace, get back to my flat in good time.

So I did just that; I was suprised at how well my MEZ6's performed in the rain. I had one slide on a metal manhole cover that i just couldnt avoid - i saw it, relaxed myself, and let the bike go over. Little twitch. Then carried on as normal.

The SV is very forgiving in the rain; I have had a few slides, but always felt in control. Testement to the MEZ6's aswell, they are a great tyre in the wet...least, better than the MEZ4's I had on before!

Matt

i never normally ride in the wet until recently i must say i enjoy it! does that make me weird? lol

yeah, Ive got the Z6 on aswell!

Suppose I find the limiting factor in the rain is that I'm cold, wet, miserable, struggling with a misting up visor, desperately trying to clutch slip and rev the nuts off it through town to stop the front cylinder from dying on me (and subsequently rev the nuts off it to keep the engine alive on one cylinder when that fails).

I agree though, that first wet manhole cover that you accidently cross, slide a foot across the road, but then magically don't fall off is an enlightening moment.

I guess I should do the sensible grown up bit here and urge words of caution. The available friction in the wet is, as you've found, far greater than most people's initial expectation, but remember that when it goes, it goes a lot quicker than in the dry. Stay frosty out there.

[flymo]

Be careful though, you are probably wise to be wary of those white lines, manhole covers etc. Keep an eye out for them and avoid them if possible.

When you know you're going to cross one just ensure you are not pushing the bike too hard, smooth riding is the key. Pick the bike upright if necessry while you cross them. I was racing on Saturday at Oulton on a wet track with Dunlop 208RRs and I was sliding all over the place under acceleration. It can be done but you really need to be careful, when it goes it will go faster than you'll be able to react and you'll go down.

The main thing to keep in mind is how you will react to unplanned events like a car pulling out etc. You'll have less capability to stop as quickly as you might in the dry and so should allow for this. One things for sure, if you are rough and sudden with the controls it will bite you back! Nice and smooth is the way to go.

was out with an IAM guy, he was on a GS1150 (I think) and me on the SV.

Was absolutley p.i.s.s.i.n.g down and he noticed that I was a bit timid especially when cornering.

He then asked me to follow him and can honestly say, thats when my fear of wet riding disappeared. He was on the limit most of the way and I was determined to keep up with him (we were always within the speed limits) although he did make sure that if I at all felt uncomfortable, then I was to drop off the speed.

We did the route a few times and by the end of the night, I was a different rider, I also found that the SV could really handle in the wet no problem.

Like you say in your post ps, sounds like I was like yourself but feel much more confident now as you do.

I understand what you are saying about slipping on white lines etc and then carrying on - but is there not the risk of highsiding when this happens?

This happened to me once on one of those tar strips around a repair on the road in the wet but fortunately I managed to stay on through the bike's antics until it settled (I didnt know what had happened - my IAM instructor who was following told me afterwards what had happened - I was a blithering heap!) - but it did knock my confidence in the wet.

pencil, what tyres have you got?

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by Blue_SV650S

pencil, what tyres have you got?

Z6's I think.

We were out at the weekend, It rained and hailed, I definately felt more comfortable in the rain at the end of the ride than I did at the start.

Its just time in the rain thats all, nothing to be afraid of. I'd rather ride in it than avoid it and have no idea of what its like to ride when its wet and then get caught out in it.