Never realised my Stradas could grip so well !

[D-Rider]

This evening I was riding back from the footy - it was p#ss#ng down with rain. Making progress along a dual carriageway, peering through my rain-spattered visor, I spotted a car infront of me. A moment or two later I came to the conclusion that my rate of closing was somewhat more rapid than optimum ... am I right? ... no brake lights .... no hazards ..... SHEET .... IT'S HARDLY MOVING ..... Time to chuck out the anchors.
Squeeze that lever, press that pedal .... not enough ... pressure increasing ... will the front break loose, if it does, there'll be no chance of reapplying and stopping. The back end's fishtailing all over the place - my son on the back checking nothing's coming into the back of us.
Anyway, somehow or other the front held with the breaking increasing all the while ... made it. Gingerly past the idiot doing about 5mph - communicating in sign language.

Well, a salutary reminder to be more careful in looking out for the unexpected and a lesson in just how good those tyres are ... I'd have thought that would have been pushing them in the dry - certainly never braked anything like that hard in the wet before.
Now I need to convince myself that they'll hold as well cornering in the wet ... I still can't make myself believe that tyres can grip to wet tarmac - that's the legacy of starting my riding career in the 70s.

[Samray]

Well caught.


It's only riding school bikes have crap tyres these days.

[xrphil]

wouldn`t it be good to have a speedo style % meter, so that you could see how hard you are pushing your tyres. don`t think many of us have any idea just how far we can go.
I am convinced that i could push mine a lot harder on corners, but feel I can be a bit over the mark on my back brake sometimes (when it locks ) dirt bike habit of heavy on back.
I actually feel my biggest hold back sometimes is not knowing how near the edge my tyres are, over shoting apex of corners cos i bottle when i could really push another 50% onto my tyres.
funny but off road in a wobble i give it a handfull and trust my tyres miles more, when they are sliding around maybe cos if i cock up, i end up in a hedge, rather than attached to the front of a bus !!

[paddyz1]

I remember somewhere (I think it was a bikesafe course) that the braking efficeincy in the wet was only slightly less than in the dry. So long as it was in a straight line and there was no panic braking (which you didn't do).

Glad to hear you did not loose it.

[Firestarter]

Glad to hear you're OK, especially with your son on the back!

Found the same thing out a while ago on the Diablos, some muppet pulled out right in front of me in the pouring rain - damn near pulled a stoppie! Back was sliding, but the front was very firm, didn't feel like it was about to slide at all. A few choice words were thrown in his direction...

[Thumper]

Glad to be reading you survived D-rider, front ends will take plenty of braking upright as Paddyz1 remembers, it's that panic with the rear that gets them
An old bike trainer once said to me there are no experts just seasoned learners and his favorite saying was never ride so fast you can't stop in the distance you can see to be clear

When attending a IAM sponsored training day, the guys had us braking from 100mph in the rain using the front brake it was bloody scary. It made for some interesting comparisons and completely changed my views on ABS braking on motorcycles

[DavShill]

Well saved Andy - it's all great experience but you must have been "bricking it" with your son on the back too. Glad your both safe.

[Falco9]

I'd expect nothing less than brilliant riding prowess from a fellow moderator!

What's wet weather riding like then???

OK, only joking but as a well known journo wrote only last month "Only journalists and perverts ruin perfectly good motorcycles by riding them in winter"

Me, well I started the falco up this week for the first time since November. She started 1st time as always and I have to admit if it wasn't for the fact that there has been about 100,000 tonnes of salt scattered all over our highways I might have gone for a ride.

F9

[Viking]

Dumb question...

If you had time to brake to almost a complete stop, why didn't you simply dodge around the car?

(I get the impression that there weren't any other vehicles around you, and that you had room in the next lane to dive across. Apologies if this wasn't the case.)

[paddyz1]

"Only journalists and perverts ruin perfectly good motorcycles by riding them in winter"

Hey I resemble that remark but i wont ride in the winter anymore and I am not a journalist.

[D-Rider]

Thanks for your kind comments on my most recent 'moment'. I might have expected responses telling me not to be an arse and to be more observant !

I guess that over the years I have had a few moments 'on the edge' and I suppose I'm either pretty lucky or not too bad at dealing with them - nevertheless, I don't enjoy them. I guess that goes for all of us that have spent a good few years on bikes.

I've thought about this latest one a bit more and asked myself why, on a dual carriageway I didn't simply move into the outside lane and go round the 'obstacle'.
Well, without doubt a lot of it is down to the Falco's mirrors. The quick glance as I first appreciated the situation and hit the brakes showed clearly that my elbows were heading for doom at the same rate as the rest of me. As I slowed more, the uncertainty that anything else was about to overtake became greater and a glance over the shoulder wasn't really on - I was a bit too busy.
I remember at one point thinking 'this is going to hurt' and concerned that my son was on the back - but as I got nearer I realised I'd got it under control and that if it did lock I had a tight escape route up the inside or I could roll the dice and go round the outside.

.... and yes DavShill - "Bricking it" was an understatement - you could have produced a sizeable wall with that level of production!

I guess my previous moment was on a borrowed Triumph Trophy 1200. A mate from work had a friend at a dealer and set up for me to borrow it for a couple of weeks. I took it in to work one day and set off for a spin at lunctime - with the mate who'd arranged the loan plus a few others watching. Well out of the driveway at work, left turn onto the (wet) road, bit of power to accelerate away and round comes the back. Did I back off? Did I heck ! Probably the best power-slide I've ever done ... and entirely unintended. Eventually got back to work expecting a good ribbing about nearly lunching the borrowed bike - only to find I'd been elevated to the status of biking-god .... it must have looked a whole lot better from the pavement than it felt on board that old barge of a Triumph.

[Viking]

I've thought about this latest one a bit more and asked myself why, on a dual carriageway I didn't simply move into the outside lane and go round the 'obstacle'.
Well, without doubt a lot of it is down to the Falco's mirrors. The quick glance as I first appreciated the situation and hit the brakes showed clearly that my elbows were heading for doom at the same rate as the rest of me. As I slowed more, the uncertainty that anything else was about to overtake became greater and a glance over the shoulder wasn't really on - I was a bit too busy.

No problems there, mate. I asked the obvious question, without contemplating the Falco's mirrors. After a bit of thought, I realised that last time I was doing the same, your brain gets locked into the "OMFG, I have to stop _NOW_!" line of thought, and ideas of dodging don't enter the equation.

[Samray]

The last time I remember being in that situation I developed such a tankslapper it was just a question of which side of the car the bike decided to go.