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Cold Tyres


L_J
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Having only been riding a few months I've tried keeping my riding to dry days only... ventured out this morning on damp roads and the rear was VERY loose, guessing the tyres were a little cold. Question for those with a bit more experience - how long generally does it take for the tyres to warm up? When warm is traction really affected that much? It knocked my confidence a little and was reluctant to do anything but take it very steady back home

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I'm still learning too, but it depends on the tyres how long they take to warm up.

Stock Vee rubbers on my bike would only warm up when the ambient temperature was above 18°C and I had been out for 10min or so.

The replacement Metzler feel free wintecs I put on warm up after 5min or so even in ambient temps for about 5°C.


If the roads are damp/greesey then you need to take it easier anyways, warm tyres won't necessarily save you from the bike slipping.

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:stupid:

Check your pressures...... :wink:


I went out on the bike yesterday for the first time in several weeks, but I checked the tyre pressures first......both tyres were down about 6-7psi on what they should be.....so I put them up to what they should be.....but it shows how much difference the ambient temperature drop can have on your tyre pressures.... :wink:

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Having only been riding a few months I've tried keeping my riding to dry days only... ventured out this morning on damp roads and the rear was VERY loose, guessing the tyres were a little cold. Question for those with a bit more experience - how long generally does it take for the tyres to warm up? When warm is traction really affected that much? It knocked my confidence a little and was reluctant to do anything but take it very steady back home

Autumns here, roads are going to get cold, wet and greasy. Time to forget about speed and concentrate on riding in a full defensive mode. Wet leafy covered roads can be treacherous no tyre hot or cold going to offer any form of grip here. The centre of the road were a biker generally ride becomes the most dangerous remaining cold wet and greasy through out the day , suggest you keep to the roads well worn tyre tracks which generally are kept clear of leaves and dirt by traffic, also any heat if any available is going to happen here, be very careful crossing through the centre of the road this is where the roads will remain cold wet and greasy. Take your time look at the road, learn to read the road conditions and think well ahead, brake sooner - smoother stay safe.

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Autumns here, roads are going to get cold, wet and greasy. Time to forget about speed and concentrate on riding in a full defensive mode. Wet leafy covered roads can be treacherous no tyre hot or cold going to offer any form of grip here. The centre of the road were a biker generally ride becomes the most dangerous remaining cold wet and greasy through out the day , suggest you keep to the roads well worn tyre tracks which generally are kept clear of leaves and dirt by traffic, also any heat if any available is going to happen here, be very careful crossing through the centre of the road this is where the roads will remain cold wet and greasy. Take your time look at the road, learn to read the road conditions and think well ahead, brake sooner - smoother stay safe.

:stupid: Experience will tell you to just go slower on these roads and the only way to get experience is to go nice and slow so you don't fall off!

We all still hit wet patches (keep eyes out for drain and manhole covers those things are slippery as Bon Jovi when wet) and remember sudden acceleration/braking is the worst thing ever so if you do find yourself in a bit of bother ease off the throttle and try to fight the instinct to grab all the brakes. This only leads to bad things :lol: You'll be fine just use your head :thumb:

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I'm only on a 125 so I guess my situation is much different but in the wet my traction is really crap. The back end never feels right, but in the dry it's perfect! It could be the tyres themselves, unfortunately my bike is limited to two options and I have the better of two evils. Maybe your tyres aren't good for wet weather?

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Having only been riding a few months I've tried keeping my riding to dry days only... ventured out this morning on damp roads and the rear was VERY loose, guessing the tyres were a little cold. Question for those with a bit more experience - how long generally does it take for the tyres to warm up? When warm is traction really affected that much? It knocked my confidence a little and was reluctant to do anything but take it very steady back home

Autumns here, roads are going to get cold, wet and greasy. Time to forget about speed and concentrate on riding in a full defensive mode. Wet leafy covered roads can be treacherous no tyre hot or cold going to offer any form of grip here. The centre of the road were a biker generally ride becomes the most dangerous remaining cold wet and greasy through out the day , suggest you keep to the roads well worn tyre tracks which generally are kept clear of leaves and dirt by traffic, also any heat if any available is going to happen here, be very careful crossing through the centre of the road this is where the roads will remain cold wet and greasy. Take your time look at the road, learn to read the road conditions and think well ahead, brake sooner - smoother stay safe.

 

This is interesting. As a new rider i have been sitting plump in the middle of road purposely to avoid the well worn tracks (thinking there would be less grip_. Also didn't want to be too far left to end up in gutter/drain country and not too far right so not in too close proximity to oncoming traffic. I may have to rethink my logic and road postioning.

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Having only been riding a few months I've tried keeping my riding to dry days only... ventured out this morning on damp roads and the rear was VERY loose, guessing the tyres were a little cold. Question for those with a bit more experience - how long generally does it take for the tyres to warm up? When warm is traction really affected that much? It knocked my confidence a little and was reluctant to do anything but take it very steady back home

Autumns here, roads are going to get cold, wet and greasy. Time to forget about speed and concentrate on riding in a full defensive mode. Wet leafy covered roads can be treacherous no tyre hot or cold going to offer any form of grip here. The centre of the road were a biker generally ride becomes the most dangerous remaining cold wet and greasy through out the day , suggest you keep to the roads well worn tyre tracks which generally are kept clear of leaves and dirt by traffic, also any heat if any available is going to happen here, be very careful crossing through the centre of the road this is where the roads will remain cold wet and greasy. Take your time look at the road, learn to read the road conditions and think well ahead, brake sooner - smoother stay safe.

 

This is interesting. As a new rider i have been sitting plump in the middle of road purposely to avoid the well worn tracks (thinking there would be less grip_. Also didn't want to be too far left to end up in gutter/drain country and not too far right so not in too close proximity to oncoming traffic. I may have to rethink my logic and road postioning.

 

The right hand track is where you want to be as often as possible! Deters any idiots who might have a mind to make a silly overtake and end up forcing you into the kerb when it goes tits up, while simultaneously making sure that anyone overtaking the vehicle behind you can clearly see you're there before it's too late - avoids any instances of them trying to pull in on you :shock: And it gives you more escape routes; you can go left or right to get out of a sticky situation on either side of the road, as opposed to being on the left where your only option is going into the kerb :lol: Makes filtering a bit smoother too; cars know to expect it due to your more aggressive road positioning, and you're already positioned to tuck out and around nice and easily.


Oh, and it gives you a clearer view of what's happening ahead of you, especially when you're stuck behind something you can't see over. Gives you more reaction time, especially important on wet and slippy roads!

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On warm dry day's especially on busy roads - built up areas you can see the black greasy slick of oil and shite in the middle of the road dumped by the thousands of buses, lorries and cars passing over time, you should always keep well off this and keep to the worn tracks at any time. Come the Autumn with the roads wet and leaf covered it's hard to see this slick on all the roads and so it becomes the bikers worse nightmare, pay extra attention when entering and exiting roundabouts, if going straight across we all have a tendency to cut across the lanes, treat roundabouts when the roads are wet and cold as if you were riding of ice. Winter bike riding takes on a completely different mind set

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And don't even think about riding OVER a mini roundabout instead of around it :lol:

 

Never have after I got bollocked by my instructor for doing so on ride back from my MOD 1 test.

 

For real?!?


My instructor bollocked me for not bombing it down the 40mph road with no speed cameras on the ride back from Mod 2... Took me ages to catch up with him :lol:

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There is a Roadcraft Nottingham video where he recommends the middle of the road for a lot of situations, particularly when the road is wet


Found it:

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I aim for what ever part of the road is driest. So long as it is not the total left hand side, next to the pavement. Sometimes it happens to be in the tyre tracks of cars, other times it is the middle of the road.

I also try and avoid all puddles, small wheels and underwater potholes are no fun :-(

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There is a Roadcraft Nottingham video where he recommends the middle of the road for a lot of situations, particularly when the road is wet


Found it:

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A very informative video, as already said it's all down to common sense and road craft, take your time look way up the road and read it. I'll bet any money that instructor would not ride the so called sump line if it was cold wet and looking slick, Agree modern motors have come on leaps and bounds environment wise, but there's still loads of trucks and buses leaving there deposits on busy roads. You will also notice that after heavy rain that grit, stones and other shite that gets washed into the road is soon cleared from the tire tracks only to be piled up in the centre and sides of the road.

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There is a Roadcraft Nottingham video where he recommends the middle of the road for a lot of situations, particularly when the road is wet


Found it:

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" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

That's interesting, but I couldn't on my way home. There's literally a trail of diesel on the commute home down the centre of the road. Someone with a leaky tank obviously takes the same route and you can see spots for about 4 miles continuously. I assume it is diesel, but it might be oil or petrol but I'm assuming my bike is going to react the same way on all of them.

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  • 11 months later...

What you really need is to get some knobbly tyres :thumb:

 

Knobbly tires in wet?! I have those and i slipped hard, popped back in my dislocated sholder and carried on but i never felt slippy on normal road tyres. Now im crawling like ive never rode in the wet before after being confident in the wet since i started riding last december. Riding really scares me now not like the last time when i knew why i slid (ice) but because i dont know why i slid and believe its the knobbly tires?!

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Tyres can make a huge difference. I recently put on a pair of Continental Contimotions - only because the local place had them going cheap - and they're brilliant in the wet. The pressures are important and a change in ambient temperature makes a significant difference so I check them very frequently.

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