? Corner speed Dry vs. Wet Pavement

For the avid yearly riders and anyone else who rides in both wet and dry street conditions, I have this question for you;

- given the same corner that you may take at say 60 miles per hour dry, how much speed do you drop when its wet? Assuming oils are gone, gravel is nil and visibility is good making all factors equal.

Perhaps its not really about speed but trust in the tires grip to stick through the corner. How much does your style change in the wet conditions? Obviously be smooth and more planing than for the same dry conditions.

EDIT: Added a related post from 2008;
http://www.600riders.com/forum/how-tos/5426-cornering-wet-pavement.html

I ride almost every day rain or shine and its funny you asked because today on the way home from work it was raining and i tried finding my rear tires wet traction limit. I weigh 200 on the dot and i have shinko raven 009 tires and i was stoped at a light purposely in the grease strip and when it turned green i reved it up to about maybe 6k and just about poped the clutch. It didnt spin to my amazement it wheelied in a good steady first 30min of rain on the grease strip launch. As far as corners go if im on my commute i dont change my style at all, rain or shine and i generally ride at least 10/20 over the limit. But i will not push it in the wet because i havent had the chance in a safe enviroment to find out just how far i can push it

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I generally turn slower (75%?) in the corners but in the staights keep it about the same as dry roads.

As mentioned in the linked post, there are seasons that the first rain after the "dry" season down in Florida makes ALL the road extremly slick as the oils come out of the roadway.

Many moons ago, I had a Honda VT1100 Shadow (1986 V twin). I had just left work in the afternoon (when rainy season was just beginning) and it was raining. Being extremly light on the throttle, I could NOT keep the rear tire from spinning, that's staying NOT in the middle of the lane but on the higher side of the grade... After it rains hard for a couple of days, its not half as bad...

One small oil slick/patch of sand can ruin your day....

I'm a lot more careful in the turns, prolly running right at the speed limit for most of them (I usually run about 10 over the limit). The main thing I watch out for is those damn tar snakes, scares the sh!t out of me every time I hit one in a corner and the bike slides a bit.

Obviously there is no straight up rule and I do the same as in - near normal speeds for straights and exercise caution and smoothness for all turns. Tires, temperature, oils, and all that stuff play a huge role. I've got the remains of the stock tires and they just don't seem to sticky in the wet (2008 w/8,200miles). Remember I grabbed this in April this year and doubled its miles since then.

All I can say is rain riding builds the good skills of being smooth and looking even more aggressively than when dry!


This is unrelated as it doesn't compare apples to apples (tar chip surfaces). . .
What sucks is most of the local roads I used to love have been compromise by the cheap repairs by the county - a tar chip surface vs asphalt. This stuff is slick when dry! When wet its even worse even after raining for a week. Last weekend had the tail out under down-shift (my mistake) and on the juice on the tar chip. It's like one big snake! :Flip:

TownsendsFJR1300 said:

I generally turn slower (75%?) in the corners but in the staights keep it about the same as dry roads.

As mentioned in the linked post, there are seasons that the first rain after the "dry" season down in Florida makes ALL the road extremly slick as the oils come out of the roadway.

Many moons ago, I had a Honda VT1100 Shadow (1986 V twin). I had just left work in the afternoon (when rainy season was just beginning) and it was raining. Being extremly light on the throttle, I could NOT keep the rear tire from spinning, that's staying NOT in the middle of the lane but on the higher side of the grade... After it rains hard for a couple of days, its not half as bad...

One small oil slick/patch of sand can ruin your day....

Click to expand...

Our dry spell is gone I fear so most everything going forward will be damp. In addition fall will bring needles and leaves which make for added fun. But ya, I hear you about the oils and first few days after it rains. it takes time to clean the roads and be fun again. I'd say its fair bet I drop 25% or more in my corners than when dry.

Hmmm... I commute daily usually April to December...... give or take... depening on the weather that year..
Wet corners... usually drop 10-40% depending on conditions, amount of water on the road, visibility (fog or heavy rain) ... usually a bit more cautious on the near freezing mornings.... ( hit black ice once, not eager to repeat the experience)

In the dry I am relatively aggressive. In the wet I just settle in and enjoy the ride. I'll usually drop lean angles by like half...especially if it's just started raining or if it's cold out.

A warm street compound will still grip pretty well on wet and clean asphalt....the problem arises with the stuff you don't see. Putting yourself a bit sideways on some oil will teach you in a hurry that wet roads can be very sketchy.

Out on highways where the incidence of oil is a bit lower I've still pushed a little bit on warm tires when it's not cold out. Gradually increasing the pace you can find where the tire wants to step out. The best spots to do that are when you are pretty much straight when straightening out of a corner just grab a handful of throttle. More often than not it will just grip and get on with it. Gradually grabbing more throttle a little bit earlier each time will start to show you where the rear wants to step out. Note....don't do this if you're still learning the ropes haha. A partially sideways bike can make a newer rider panic pretty quickly. I still pucker up pretty good too haha.

But the thing is.....in the wet even on highways I don't go that fast because your braking distances are longer and that's a VERY bad scenario to be in.....middle of a corner....in the wet.....needing to emergency brake....

Even on straights you don't want to go as fast as you normally do. I've had a couple instances where I was emergency braking with the front AND rear sliding around.....NOT fun.

Just lay off the speed and enjoy the ride my man.