• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

Classic bite by gravel

It's like that old airplane axion - any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. :cool:
 
Over the past few months I learned something about road gravel.
About a year ago the roads people came out and resurfaced the road running by my place, for a couple of miles each direction, up to the nearest intersections.
It was a beautiful job, the surface they left behind was like a GP track, absolutely flawless, the best road surface for literally miles around. Like having a pristine GP track of my own for a short distance, anyway.
A few months after that they re-appeared and dumped an inch of granite chippings on the beautiful surface. I was intensely pee'd off at that, as at one fell swoop they'd transformed this glorious surface from a trackday delight into the Road From Hell.
Anyway, time and traffic passed, and gradually the surface became more consolidated until it's now quite rideable with only a modicum of care, but I have to exercise normal observation and be aware of some sneaky hidden gravel patches on the edges and corners.
It suddenly struck me the other day that was the cause of the long snakey not-tar-snakes on the main roads around here. These not-tar-snakes are like grooves in the road, right in the middle of the lane, where I'd normally be riding, and they're quite good at causing the bike to suddenly go a bit off-colour in the handling department, causing me more than once to suspect I might have a puncture or something's just broken.
Bear with me, I'm getting to the point...
These roads were surfaced in exactly the same fashion as my local road, and the heavier volume of traffic on them created the not-tar-snakes as the gravel was swept from the normal tracks of the 4, 6, 8 and 10-wheeled traffic both to the sides of the road and to the middle of the lane, where it was eventually pounded into the road structure, but in an uneven fashion. These damned grooves are there permanently now, at least until the next re-surfacing work, just waiting to catch the next unwary motorcyclist out.

Tricky stuff, gravel.
 
Hey Kerry & Mrs Kerry,

glad you are ok. The experience is etched in your mind forever--for both of you. Sliding for approximately 20 feet on gravel through the lens of your helmet...I'm sure you were thinking, "I'm glad I wore my helmet...hey wait, where's my wife?"

Glad you took the brunt of the force which cushioned your wife's impact...I say that in a good way!

Prayers for a quick recovery for both of you. Then comes the eval for the repairing of your bike.

Let us know how the discussion goes with cleaning/repairing that road.

Ed

****
 
Brendan W said:
Better than good.
Any landing the leaves the machine re-usable is excellent!
Click to expand...

True. How many bloodied riders in shredded clothes have you seen popping up looking for their bikes, trying to upright them, only to be restrained by police/EMT. Been there several times myself.
 
Rob S. said:
True. How many bloodied riders in shredded clothes have you seen popping up looking for their bikes, trying to upright them, only to be restrained by police/EMT. Been there several times myself.
Click to expand...


One too many unfortunately and in the most recent case, unlike the wise Kerry, he did not have proper gear. Not pretty in the hand department.
Also unlike Kerry, nobody was the slightest bit interested in his plight, no Samaritan with band aids, not that they would have been of much use.
The police cruised by as I was sitting him down and they just turned their heads the other way and kept on going.
 
Kerry, glad you and the Mrs came out with minimal injury.

In the pic of the case saver, it looks like a bolt is missing. If it was missing before the fall, it may have allowed the guard to move and break the cooling fin. Regardless though, they did their job.
 
Another wish for rapid healing. Take that little lady of yours for some pampering, whatever makes her happy. Thank goodness it wasn't worse.
 
Grimly said:
Over the past few months I learned something about road gravel.
About a year ago the roads people came out and resurfaced the road running by my place, for a couple of miles each direction, up to the nearest intersections.
It was a beautiful job, the surface they left behind was like a GP track, absolutely flawless, the best road surface for literally miles around. Like having a pristine GP track of my own for a short distance, anyway.
A few months after that they re-appeared and dumped an inch of granite chippings on the beautiful surface. I was intensely pee'd off at that, as at one fell swoop they'd transformed this glorious surface from a trackday delight into the Road From Hell.
Anyway, time and traffic passed, and gradually the surface became more consolidated until it's now quite rideable with only a modicum of care, but I have to exercise normal observation and be aware of some sneaky hidden gravel patches on the edges and corners.
It suddenly struck me the other day that was the cause of the long snakey not-tar-snakes on the main roads around here. These not-tar-snakes are like grooves in the road, right in the middle of the lane, where I'd normally be riding, and they're quite good at causing the bike to suddenly go a bit off-colour in the handling department, causing me more than once to suspect I might have a puncture or something's just broken.
Bear with me, I'm getting to the point...
These roads were surfaced in exactly the same fashion as my local road, and the heavier volume of traffic on them created the not-tar-snakes as the gravel was swept from the normal tracks of the 4, 6, 8 and 10-wheeled traffic both to the sides of the road and to the middle of the lane, where it was eventually pounded into the road structure, but in an uneven fashion. These damned grooves are there permanently now, at least until the next re-surfacing work, just waiting to catch the next unwary motorcyclist out.

Tricky stuff, gravel.
Click to expand...

They used to do an odd thing it the rural are where I grew up. Instead of paving a questionable road, they would coat it liquid tar then cover the tar with pea gravel. After a couple of hot summers the gravel would push down leaving the slick, now hardened tar on top. It was super slick when wet.
I had my first real motorcycle crash at about 16 years old because of it. I was riding a beater XL 350 we had. It started raining so I rushed home on the street instead of the usual fields. I applied the only working brake (front) when approaching a 90? turn. Instant wheel lock and fall. My shoulder dislocated and popped back in while sliding. Of course I couldn't tell the parents.
There were three big gouges in the pavement from the footpeg to serve as a reminder for several years.
 
Last edited:
Good to see the outcome was better than a lot of them. So many gravel encounters turn out a lot worse than this one.

Heal up fast and do buy a new helmet. Maybe even talk your wife into a full face one.

Check with your insurance carrier about paying for a replacement. My insurance paid for my latest one in a crash nearly two years ago. However, they didn't offer to do it until I questioned them about it. Paid for helmet, boots and would have covered the jacket but it did not receive any damage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top