JackTheTripper
Shotline For Mod
I was thinking on the way in today what you can do to be a safe driver in rainy conditions. Here are a few tips I came up with. Some info pertains to cages, some to bikes and some to both. (I also stole some info from other places on the net! 
)
Tires:
Most important thing when driving in bad weather conditions. Make sure you have good tread and they are inflated properly. This is your only contact with the road. (And sometimes not. (See Hydroplaning)) But surprisingly enough if you are on a clean well maintained road you do have a very good amount of traction on a bike even though your gut instinct says you don't. Places you really have to watch out for are man hole covers, metal grates (including some bridges), painted surfaces, oily or frozen patches and deep standing water.
Some situations should be confronted with extreme caution. Railroad tracks can bite you hard when they are wet. The standard advice is to try to cross railroad or other metal tracks at a right angle, even in the dry. When they are wet, this is imperative. Otherwise, you risk having the tire slip into the groove alongside the track, which will immediately ruin your whole day. Other large metal road surfaces or metal sections running parallel to your direction of travel -- some expansion joints, for example -- are equally hazardous and should be approached cautiously and upright. A thin strip of metal can usually be crossed while leaned over mildly; tires slip then catch again after crossing. However, a large metal surface such as a bridge grate, a manhole cover or a cattle guard, may permit the tire to slip too much to recover traction. Painted surfaces can be almost as slippery as metal.
Places where the oil doesn't get washed away by rain falling on it can be thrilling. Watch out for surfaces where water gets carried in but doesn't fall on the road with the force or in the quantity to remove the oil. Toll booths and parking garages offer a chance to experience this sort of low-traction excitement.
How much traction do you have? The easiest way to test traction is to feel for it with your rear brake. Assuming you know how much deceleration you can develop on dry pavement before the rear tire breaks loose, you have a gauge of what's available if you repeat the test when the road is wet. This also assumes that you have a reasonable amount (say 3/16 of an inch) of tread depth. If you do this at moderate speeds on a flat, straight road, it won't become a thrill ride. Avoid locking up the rear wheel on a steeply crowned road, where it will tend to slide downhill and out of line.
You can also deliberately lock up the rear wheel two or three times as you come to stops. Once you have a feel for traction, you should have some idea of how much you can safely ask the tires to deliver under braking and cornering.
Do EVERYTHING slower:
Turning a motorcycle on such a slick surface demands an ultra-smooth approach. Getting on the brakes abruptly or making a sudden steering input could put you in the guardrail. So you want to be slowed down before you go in there and keep the throttle neutral all the way through --and be ready for cars that might get unstuck and block the whole mess.
That smooth approach to speed and direction changes will serve you well on all wet roads. Initiate your turns a bit more gradually. Downshift smoothly, engaging the clutch a bit slower than usual, and avoid abrupt throttle changes. Get on the throttle progressively. Use a taller gear to reduce the forces reaching the rear tire. Apply the brakes in such a way that the tires are not loaded abruptly. Allow more space to stop or slow down so that you need less. And also make sure that drivers around you have time to react to your moves.
When commuting, the two most important things you can do is leave earlier and drive slower.
Lights:
Make sure all your lights are in good working order. Last thing you want is for you to stop in time but they guy behind you hitting you from behind cause you're brake lights are out. Also use your signals and triple check. Water spray from other cars (esp. big rigs) can obscure your vision.
Stay visible:
The ability of other drivers to see us could be the single biggest issue a motorcyclist must confront in the rain. With low light, windows obscured, and a streaked and possibly fogged windshield, the driver of a car may have a very difficult time seeing the world ahead. If you are wearing black, or even worse, a neutral color like gray or olive drab, you blend into that gray world. A bright yellow rain suit is probably the best choice for conspicuity and the single simplest way to make your wet-weather rides safer, though white is also an excellent choice and even better than yellow at night. Fluorescent colors also help during the day and retro-reflective striping or panels on your rain suit, helmet or a pack also help at night. A visible helmet color also makes a difference at night.
You can confirm this when you are out in rainy weather. Notice how early you pick up a motorcyclist, bicyclist or pedestrian who is dressed for conspicuity. Compare how close a dull-colored person gets before you see him. Also pay attention to how difficult it is to see out of a car in the rain. You may think you are easy to see, but the reality from inside a car can be quite different.
Windshield/Visor:
Fog is your enemy! The best way to reduce a fogged up window or visor is to equalize the humidity inside and outside. How to do this? For a visor crack it open just the tiniest bit. I used to lift just one side up one click but not the other. Let's some air in but no (or not much) water. For a windshield crack a window just a bit and turn your fan on. No air conditioning and no heat. And most important of all switch it from recirculated air to flow from the outside. There are also some products that claim to stop fog from forming. I have tried rain-X in my cage but had no luck with it. Read before using as some products are not good for your visor.
Even with a visor that's wet on both sides, you probably have a better view of the situation around you than the average car operator does in the rain. The drops on a visor are inside your focal point and are just vague blurs when you focus on the road ahead.
Rain and night riding:
Each of those raindrops on your visor picks up a pinpoint of light from every light around you. Oncoming cars can completely obscure your vision. A timely wipe of your visor can help, but you may be unable to see the road at all for a moment. Puddles may be completely undetectable.
On the other hand, lights that aren't so bright -- such as taillights -- reflected in the road surface ahead can show you features of the road surface that you headlight doesn't illuminate. Following (at a distance that keeps you out of its spray) a vehicle with lots of taillights and watching the point where they are reflected can pick out potholes, seams, or objects lying in the road. Watching the vehicle will also warn you of large puddles, which could cause hydroplaning if you hit them fast enough.
Even at night a motorcyclist has a few aces to play. One advantage of a motorcycle is your high view point compared a person in a car. At night, this allows you a better view of the road surface because you have a steeper angle of view. As a result, it's easier to see striping, and other shallow features. You can also use the reflective qualities of wet surfaces to your advantage. Wet utility wires or tree branches can warn you of a car approaching over a hill or around a corner. Brake lights reflected under a truck can alert you of an impending stop.
Hydroplaning:
Losing control of your car on wet pavement is a frightening experience. Unfortunately, it can happen unless you take preventive measures.
In all sorts of rain, you can prevent skids by driving slowly and carefully, especially on curves. Steer and brake with a light touch. When you need to stop or slow, do not brake hard or lock the wheels and risk a skid. Maintain mild pressure on the brake pedal.
If you do find yourself in a skid, remain calm, ease your foot off the gas, and carefully steer in the direction you want the front of the car to go. Avoid using your brakes. This procedure, known as "steering into the skid," will bring the back end of your car in line with the front.
While skids on wet pavement may be frightening, hydroplaning is completely nerve-wracking. Hydroplaning happens when the water in front of your tires builds up faster than your car's weight can push it out of the way. The water pressure causes your car to rise up and slide on a thin layer of water between your tires and the road. At this point, your car can be completely out of contact with the road, and you are in danger of skidding or drifting out of your lane.
To avoid hydroplaning, keep good tread on your tires and replace them when necessary, slow down when roads are wet, and stay away from puddles. Try to drive in the tire tracks left by the cars in front of you.
If you find yourself hydroplaning, do not brake or turn suddenly. This could throw your car into a skid. Ease your foot off the gas until the car slows and you can feel the road again. If you need to brake, do it gently with light pumping actions. If your car has anti-lock brakes, then brake normally; the car's computer will mimic a pumping action.
A good defensive driver adjusts his or her speed to the wet road conditions in time to avoid having to use any of these measures!
Ride safe! :thumbup
)Tires:
Most important thing when driving in bad weather conditions. Make sure you have good tread and they are inflated properly. This is your only contact with the road. (And sometimes not. (See Hydroplaning)) But surprisingly enough if you are on a clean well maintained road you do have a very good amount of traction on a bike even though your gut instinct says you don't. Places you really have to watch out for are man hole covers, metal grates (including some bridges), painted surfaces, oily or frozen patches and deep standing water.
Some situations should be confronted with extreme caution. Railroad tracks can bite you hard when they are wet. The standard advice is to try to cross railroad or other metal tracks at a right angle, even in the dry. When they are wet, this is imperative. Otherwise, you risk having the tire slip into the groove alongside the track, which will immediately ruin your whole day. Other large metal road surfaces or metal sections running parallel to your direction of travel -- some expansion joints, for example -- are equally hazardous and should be approached cautiously and upright. A thin strip of metal can usually be crossed while leaned over mildly; tires slip then catch again after crossing. However, a large metal surface such as a bridge grate, a manhole cover or a cattle guard, may permit the tire to slip too much to recover traction. Painted surfaces can be almost as slippery as metal.
Places where the oil doesn't get washed away by rain falling on it can be thrilling. Watch out for surfaces where water gets carried in but doesn't fall on the road with the force or in the quantity to remove the oil. Toll booths and parking garages offer a chance to experience this sort of low-traction excitement.
How much traction do you have? The easiest way to test traction is to feel for it with your rear brake. Assuming you know how much deceleration you can develop on dry pavement before the rear tire breaks loose, you have a gauge of what's available if you repeat the test when the road is wet. This also assumes that you have a reasonable amount (say 3/16 of an inch) of tread depth. If you do this at moderate speeds on a flat, straight road, it won't become a thrill ride. Avoid locking up the rear wheel on a steeply crowned road, where it will tend to slide downhill and out of line.
You can also deliberately lock up the rear wheel two or three times as you come to stops. Once you have a feel for traction, you should have some idea of how much you can safely ask the tires to deliver under braking and cornering.
Do EVERYTHING slower:
Turning a motorcycle on such a slick surface demands an ultra-smooth approach. Getting on the brakes abruptly or making a sudden steering input could put you in the guardrail. So you want to be slowed down before you go in there and keep the throttle neutral all the way through --and be ready for cars that might get unstuck and block the whole mess.
That smooth approach to speed and direction changes will serve you well on all wet roads. Initiate your turns a bit more gradually. Downshift smoothly, engaging the clutch a bit slower than usual, and avoid abrupt throttle changes. Get on the throttle progressively. Use a taller gear to reduce the forces reaching the rear tire. Apply the brakes in such a way that the tires are not loaded abruptly. Allow more space to stop or slow down so that you need less. And also make sure that drivers around you have time to react to your moves.
When commuting, the two most important things you can do is leave earlier and drive slower.
Lights:
Make sure all your lights are in good working order. Last thing you want is for you to stop in time but they guy behind you hitting you from behind cause you're brake lights are out. Also use your signals and triple check. Water spray from other cars (esp. big rigs) can obscure your vision.
Stay visible:
The ability of other drivers to see us could be the single biggest issue a motorcyclist must confront in the rain. With low light, windows obscured, and a streaked and possibly fogged windshield, the driver of a car may have a very difficult time seeing the world ahead. If you are wearing black, or even worse, a neutral color like gray or olive drab, you blend into that gray world. A bright yellow rain suit is probably the best choice for conspicuity and the single simplest way to make your wet-weather rides safer, though white is also an excellent choice and even better than yellow at night. Fluorescent colors also help during the day and retro-reflective striping or panels on your rain suit, helmet or a pack also help at night. A visible helmet color also makes a difference at night.
You can confirm this when you are out in rainy weather. Notice how early you pick up a motorcyclist, bicyclist or pedestrian who is dressed for conspicuity. Compare how close a dull-colored person gets before you see him. Also pay attention to how difficult it is to see out of a car in the rain. You may think you are easy to see, but the reality from inside a car can be quite different.
Windshield/Visor:
Fog is your enemy! The best way to reduce a fogged up window or visor is to equalize the humidity inside and outside. How to do this? For a visor crack it open just the tiniest bit. I used to lift just one side up one click but not the other. Let's some air in but no (or not much) water. For a windshield crack a window just a bit and turn your fan on. No air conditioning and no heat. And most important of all switch it from recirculated air to flow from the outside. There are also some products that claim to stop fog from forming. I have tried rain-X in my cage but had no luck with it. Read before using as some products are not good for your visor.
Even with a visor that's wet on both sides, you probably have a better view of the situation around you than the average car operator does in the rain. The drops on a visor are inside your focal point and are just vague blurs when you focus on the road ahead.
Rain and night riding:
Each of those raindrops on your visor picks up a pinpoint of light from every light around you. Oncoming cars can completely obscure your vision. A timely wipe of your visor can help, but you may be unable to see the road at all for a moment. Puddles may be completely undetectable.
On the other hand, lights that aren't so bright -- such as taillights -- reflected in the road surface ahead can show you features of the road surface that you headlight doesn't illuminate. Following (at a distance that keeps you out of its spray) a vehicle with lots of taillights and watching the point where they are reflected can pick out potholes, seams, or objects lying in the road. Watching the vehicle will also warn you of large puddles, which could cause hydroplaning if you hit them fast enough.
Even at night a motorcyclist has a few aces to play. One advantage of a motorcycle is your high view point compared a person in a car. At night, this allows you a better view of the road surface because you have a steeper angle of view. As a result, it's easier to see striping, and other shallow features. You can also use the reflective qualities of wet surfaces to your advantage. Wet utility wires or tree branches can warn you of a car approaching over a hill or around a corner. Brake lights reflected under a truck can alert you of an impending stop.
Hydroplaning:
Losing control of your car on wet pavement is a frightening experience. Unfortunately, it can happen unless you take preventive measures.
In all sorts of rain, you can prevent skids by driving slowly and carefully, especially on curves. Steer and brake with a light touch. When you need to stop or slow, do not brake hard or lock the wheels and risk a skid. Maintain mild pressure on the brake pedal.
If you do find yourself in a skid, remain calm, ease your foot off the gas, and carefully steer in the direction you want the front of the car to go. Avoid using your brakes. This procedure, known as "steering into the skid," will bring the back end of your car in line with the front.
While skids on wet pavement may be frightening, hydroplaning is completely nerve-wracking. Hydroplaning happens when the water in front of your tires builds up faster than your car's weight can push it out of the way. The water pressure causes your car to rise up and slide on a thin layer of water between your tires and the road. At this point, your car can be completely out of contact with the road, and you are in danger of skidding or drifting out of your lane.
To avoid hydroplaning, keep good tread on your tires and replace them when necessary, slow down when roads are wet, and stay away from puddles. Try to drive in the tire tracks left by the cars in front of you.
If you find yourself hydroplaning, do not brake or turn suddenly. This could throw your car into a skid. Ease your foot off the gas until the car slows and you can feel the road again. If you need to brake, do it gently with light pumping actions. If your car has anti-lock brakes, then brake normally; the car's computer will mimic a pumping action.
A good defensive driver adjusts his or her speed to the wet road conditions in time to avoid having to use any of these measures!
Ride safe! :thumbup
j/k! Actually, my last few cages have done this. My bike, I still have to wipe the windows manually- pain in the ass when I'm trying to drink my mocha while talking to my broker on my cell phone! :teeth