| Author | Message | ||
     Eaton_corners |
On what type of road surface are you most confident? There are a couple of roads that I take to get to my favorite " playground" that have a shinier surface where car tires have worn it smoother than others. I tend to take it easier in these areas. Please include any thoughts on concrete vs. asphalt, and tar snakes. BTW, this is my "playground".  | ||
| Cityxslicker |
Dirt Gravel Sand Mud Puddles Mix Pavement, if I have to, to get to the above. | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
What kind of bike is that you're riding? | ||
| Cityxslicker |
 In entirely wholly completely inappropriate manner not recommended nor encouraged; with surprising results. | ||
| Birdy |
This is wrong "What kind of bike is that you're riding?" Ferris it should be "What kind of bike is that you're trashing?  | ||
| Svh |
Around here in the cities they have begun putting in the "pretty" fake brick cross walks. These are VERY slippery when wet. My truck gets sideways turning across them. I hate crossing them in the rain on the bike. Other than that the type of road surface only matters to me if it is raining. Not sure if it is true or not but I always "feel" like I have less traction on concrete in the wet. Tar snakes suck. Do they do pea gravel capping by you? Cover the road in tar and then dump pea gravel on it and hope most of it sticks. Great when you turn off a road on a freshly done road. The loose gravel then sticks on the road for months. Hate that too it should be illegal. | ||
| Boney95 |
"Trashing" sounds like the appropriate word. | ||
| Xb1200rick |
when they repaved Taylor's ridge .You could carry some serious speed across the smooth new pavement . That is probably my favorite . new pavement after it has had a little time to cure and harden but still smooth and clean. In theory two smooth surfaces should provide the best grip. BTW your suspension recommendations worked well Friday . bike felt much more confident Rick | ||
| Nevrenuf |
that looks like a good road to me steve. can't wait to get back up that way. anything that doesn't have gravel/sand or any variable there of are alright imo. btw, how you liking the r. | ||
| Birdy |
Yeah it is, But Brian's OK I ordered stuff from him a while back and it was faster than the local shop. I just hate to see a Buell beat like that...BRIAN go by a 883 for that crap! I ride what I have to ride on. Be it concrete, gravel, dirt or asphalt. I like asphalt the best for a "Playground" Concrete can eat tires in a hurry. Gravel and dirt are a little to "Basic" for my XB, not to bad on the KLR with knobbies though! Only problem in farm country is ya never know WHAT'S on the road. From a load of corn to pea gravel that got kicked on when a farmer pulled his trailer back on the road the slow moving tractors. All kinds of dead critter as well! Keeps ya on your toes if you know what I mean. | ||
| Eaton_corners |
Cityxslicker, I almost put a disclaimer in this post just for you. Somehow, I figured you would have that opinion. Rick, glad that helped. Suggestions are good to keep in mind, but remember You are going to be the one riding, so do what feels best to you. Neil, I really, really like the R. I'm not sure you know but, this is my third Buell and each one has been more fun than the previous one. I may not have been specific enough with the original question. What I'm trying to learn is whether or not different styles of asphalt make you more cautious. "Tar and gravel" is definitely a yellow flag surface as is fresh asphalt that may still be a little oily. The smooth worn asphalt may be a better surface than I think, but it always seems to psyche me out. | ||
| Nevrenuf |
no doubt you like it steve. right now i'm in the middle of remodeling the house and when i'm done and able to sell it, i'm moving up to tenn. hopefully the chattanooga area. don't know how long that will take but it couldn't be soon enough. | ||
| Aesquire |
The oil & gravel resurface is deadly, so are the salt/sand drifts that linger in curves in the snowbelt after winter until several hard rains. Not much concrete around here, too much frost heave, so I prefer asphalt after a few months of weather & traffic have worn the oily newness off. Also loath steel deck bridges, especially in the rain. | ||
| Eaton_corners |
Just for you, Cityxslicker.  Neil, hope to see you soon. | ||
| Brumbear |
playground ahead | ||
| Rpm4x4 |
I am always concerned on cement and the arrows in the round abouts. I dont know if I should be concerned about the cement or not. However, the arrows in the round abouts I know first hand are slippery when wet and even if the temps are cooler. I now just avoid them entirely. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
w00t  I forgot to mention pudding. Absolutely no traction through pudding, even with a set of MT-60s The bike smelled like an easy back oven all the way home good times PS I have the 883's in the garage too, they are 100 and 150 lbs heavier than the Buell and do not solve the issues that need to be hammered flat | ||
| Technomad |
They "cap & seal" the roads around here for much of the maintenance. This is OK after a few thousand vehicles have run over it to complete the process, but really sucks when your bike is one of the first things to cross it. | ||
| Court |
"cap & seal". . . " Chipseal" also known as "CHIP and seal". | ||
| Svh |
Whatever you call it it blows... | ||
| Gregtonn |
Although chip seal is an effective low cost way to repair road, it has some drawbacks. Loose crushed stone is often left on the surface, due to under-application of emulsion or over application of stone. If not removed, this can cause safety and environmental problems such as cracked windshields, loss-of-control crashes (especially for motorcyclists and bicyclists), and deposition of foreign material into drainage courses. Therefore, it is very important to sweep the road after the emulsion sets. Lots of chip seal used around here and they don't sweep it. I've seen several incidents as a result. It sucks. G | ||
| Fast1075 |
Nice, clean concrete!! It's everywhere down here  and barring that...nice new clean asphalt everywhere....no tar snakes, no gravel, no muss .... | ||
| Ronbob43 |
My favorite surface is two lane asphalt. Watch out for those smoother bits and mashed leaves when the road gets rained on. I had two slight losses of rear wheel traction yesterday. | ||
| Babired |
when I used to do Battletrax I loved pavement the grip was there but on concrete it was a little slippy and the tire picks up concrete dust so it seems the concrete surface wears more or faster | ||
| Swordsman |
I like slightly older asphalt... not the super-smooth new stuff, but the kind you find on slightly older, usually two lane roads where the surface has taken on a uniformly rough texture (UNIFORM being the operative term). Seems to me like you'd have better grip when your tires AND your pavement have grippy tread stuff. At least I feel more confident. I've never ridden race slicks on a perfect coarse, so maybe I'm wrong. Tar snakes are evil. ~SM (Message edited by Swordsman on November 30, 2009) | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
I'm most confident on reasonably new bitumen. Concrete is ok in the dry, but I won't push quite as hard. They use "chipseal" (I never knew what it was called 'til now) quite a lot here in two ways. For a quick repair they spray then put down tiny crushed stone and hope it sticks, truly treacherous when it's just been done, lots of loose pebbles. I hate it  They also do a permanent version on country roads, not sure if it's still called the same thing. The top layer uses larger gravel about 3/4" long half sunk into some sort of road base, and usually there's no loose gravel when it's layed. It's very noisy and I'm never very confident on it, but I've never had any moments on it either (maybe because I back off?). The only nice thing about it is that water drains away very quickly because the surface is so rough. | ||
| Swordsman |
Do they use this "chipseal" around N. Georgia? Can't say that I've ever noticed anything like that. Seems like it's always tar snakes. Just a few years back they repaved a 20+ mile strip of HWY 53 between Calhoun and Rome, and literally the next year they had gone back and filled HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of cracks with plain 'ole tar. You can't go 5 feet without driving over 2 of them. Talk about making a mess in the Summer! ~SM | ||
| Eaton_corners |
Very interesting to find out all the different names and terms used for pavement. I had a guy at a redlight (traffic signal) ask me which way to the interstate (expressway). Words in parentheses are His description. Does anyone know what "chirt" is? Sorry for the thread jack, although I did start it.  This emoticon is not really pertinent, but I think it's cool. | ||
| Nevrenuf |
isn't that something you put on with a pair of pents | ||
| Babired |
Hooked up my heated gear to the X1 today. The X1 has a fresh set of Dunlops on it, make the right turn out of the home street crack the throttle to hear the bike roar and the rear tire gets slippy YEE HA I did a little slip out turning right out of my street. 35 degrees out this morning! Cold tires + cold pavement |
