The biggest challenge faced by riders in the rain is traction. Traction to clarify is a measure of how much grip a road provides. On a dry road, traction is rarely a problem but in the wet, water acts as a lubricant, reducing the tyres ability to stick. Thus riding in a straight line in the wet is the same as being leaned way over in a dry corner. Anticipation here is your biggest tool. It pays to concentrate on the road and slow down accordingly. So one can ride on full throttle but you cannot get to full throttle in an instant. You have to roll on the throttle more and more, allowing the tyre time to hook up.
Similarly and perhaps a lot more importantly you have to brake this way also. In the wet, your reliance on the front brake has to be backed off. You must use more of the rear brake and if you downshift early and let the engine add its own natural braking effect, you will find that the motorcycle feels a lot more stable.
But perhaps the scariest thing about the wet, especially for new riders is negotiating turns. Now that the straight line traction is already low, leaned over traction is lower still. The trick is to keep the motorcycle on a fatter contact patch by using your body. The safest way is to lean your body heavily into a corner. The bike will remain more vertical to compensate, allowing you to exploit a fatter contact patch.
One of the reasons people hate riding in the rain is being wet. The first thing is that raincoats have a short finite life – which means a three year old raincoat needs to be replaced. Secondly while buying trousers choose long ones since a size that fits you will ride up and leave your socks and the bottoms of your trousers exposed. Gloves are a good option but water-proof ones are expensive to buy. So you can experiment with reusable surgical ones; that can be worn over your normal ones. Shoes need to be water-proof as well. Finally remember to clean your visor before and after every ride. |
