Help with this gravel on pavement scenario?

[CruisingRam]

At this time of year early in the 'breakup" season in Alaska, there is alot of sand/gravel/small rocks on the road that were used to provide traction all winter. It banks up in turns and turn lanes etc, and in odd places here or there- and those odd places can be scary!

My question is this: If you have a big, heavy streetbike dinosaur, like my V65 Sabre, and you are a little hot coming into a corner, nothing you would even think twice about on normal pavement, and you get into a bit of that gravel, what is the best course of action? I simply don't go in to corners to much at this time of year- pavement conditions are bad, even without gravel.

But several times, I have seen this gravel on the road, and I ride like I am on ice, trying to turn pretty slowly, front brake only when in straight line, and going in real damn slow. I have had front tires wash out on me and dump at real slow speeds during this time of year in the past, so I am a little paranoid about them.

 

[grandmastershake]

go to a dirt flat track race school. it teaches you how to handle this.

 

[CruisingRam]

Wow- that would be a long drive from Alaska!

I have driven some marginal bikes on some very marginal roads, but mostly by staying straight and upright, with no sudden moves- kinda like you do in a car in the winter up here- but that is not always an option!

 

[grandmastershake]

but damn it would be a fun course. i say it is worth the drive.

 

[CruisingRam]

I guess I would have to learn or die on the way down- it is always about 400 miles of dirt road somewhere on the alcan, I don't care how many times someone says "oh, it is all paved now".

First time I learned that lesson (that poeple lie about paved roads on the alcan) I was "transporting" a rigid chopper with a springer front end from florida to Alaska, at the tender age of 17, when I still thought harleys got you chicks. I ate gravel several times. I don't think I have ever figured out how to keep the front end of a springer from washing out on a mild corner in soft gravel.

 

[afm199]

In the words of Reggie Pridmore: "Don't go in hot"

 

[CruisingRam]

Sound like "be careful, or Cruisingram fall down, go boom"

 

[tzrider]

CR,

Bikes handle better on the gas than off, even in loose conditions. The bike's traction is optimum when you're rolling on the gas gently to shift a little weight to the rear. It's not much acceleration; about like a top-gear roll-on on the freeway.

There's no way to guarantee that you won't fall down if you're truly in too hot, but most crashes in conditions like this are something the rider did that reduced the bike's traction potential, e.g. rolling off the gas. Off the gas, traction overall is reduced and you're much more likely to lose the front in particular. On the gas, traction is better and if something slides, it's more apt to be the rear, which is easier to deal with.

When I suddenly find I'm about to get into gravel, I stand the bike up and brake for as long as I have clean pavement. Just before I reach the gravel, I'll turn into a line that puts me on the shortest possible path through the gravel at a shallow lean angle and get right to the gas. Once in a while, I get a little rear wheel slip, but it's uncanny how stable the bike can feel in gravel if you're not going hopelessly too fast.

 

[CruisingRam]

Thanks- good tip, I haven't gone in hot enough to go down but one time, and it was due to a mountain biker last summer, he had made a ramp on a guardrail, and didn't see me, and jumped almost right into me, I stood the bike up just a wee bit, I was on good hot pavement, and trying to do a little knee draggin' on my dinosaur bike , well, more like exhaust and centerstand draggin', on my favorite corner, a very nice 90*, and I had to go pretty far outside my usual line to miss him (little to no traffic) and got into the gravel, and powered on to get through the corner, but when I hit the gravel, I lightly touched down, and it was a pretty slow speed crash in the end I think, I wasn't hurt, bike had a couple small "ow-ies" , the worst being a smashed 20 year old JC whitney hazed windshield.

But I have thought about it for some time and wondered, other than never having a little fun on a nice corner, how I could have done it differently, if at all. Back tire got loose and went away first, I was never on the brake.

 

[Wrong Way]

I too prefer to have the throottle cracked when dealing with gravel., just like it was explained before.

If I were to add anything it would be that; if I can identify where it is and where it isn't, I would expect the bike to slide to where the grip was better. Meaning, I don't swerve around a patch in the center of the line with car tracks on each side. I would just continue through and expect to hook up on the outside.

One thing I have experienced with Harleys is when they start to slide, they find maximum lean angle quickly. A little bit of sand everywhere doesn't seem to affect them, but when they let loose the floor boards start to scream.

On sportbikes I should have quite a bit of lean angle in reserve while on the streets. A small amount of sand usually doesn't increase the lean angle too much.

 

[afm199]

Oddly enough I still like Reggie's answer, which is basically that if you moderate your speed on the street you probably won't have problems with gravel. I have safely navigated gravel many times at a brisk but safe pace, and the one time I went down on gravel, it was when I was feeling like a hotshot on Redwood road.