How do you know you are riding on ice?

[Bob Pinder]

Difficult to spot - especially black ice.

The big giveaway is the absense of road/tyre noise.

Sometimes you can see reflections off the road.

If you find yourself in this situation then remain calm, don't panic and remain smooth and avoid any sudden or extreme moves.

The next bit? - well as with most situations gently rolling off the throttle and plotting where you want to go come into play.

 

[Supabird1100]

And spare underpants can be useful in this situation as well.


Sorry Bob !!!!!! :k

 

[Bob Pinder]

Steve
I was expecting you to say that it didn't apply to us riding in the tropical south

 

[Supabird1100]

Steve
I was expecting you to say that it didn't apply to us riding in the tropical south

I thought the underpants line may get more of a giggle Bob....but I do commend you for posting up your tips.

Speaking for myself.....you learn things and then don't use them, so they tend to get forgotten. Bits like this bring them back to you again....so keep it up Bob !!!! :bow:

 

[Aidey]

You know you are riding on black ice when.....







It's f...ing freezing and you fall off for no apparent reason! :neenaw:



When its freezing, take lots of care, cos it's no fun falling off.

 

[Stevebrooke]

You know you are riding on black ice when.....

It's f...ing freezing and you fall off for no apparent reason! :neenaw:

Absolutely spot on. That's exactly what happened to me in January 2003.

And it was so cold my shoulder was "frozen" for about 3 months and has only recently really finished thawing out :B

 

[Punchy]

Difficult to spot - especially black ice.
The big giveaway is the absense of road/tyre noise.
Sometimes you can see reflections off the road.
If you find yourself in this situation then remain calm, don't panic and remain smooth and avoid any sudden or extreme moves.
The next bit? - well as with most situations gently rolling off the throttle and plotting where you want to go come into play.

When this happens I know exactly where I want to go.... HOME. Lack of road/tyre noise and no spray off the wheels of the vehicle in front is the giveaway.

AVOID putting your feet down you are only moving the centre of gravity higher. Put as much body weight as you can onto your footrests to lower c of g. Stay upright, dont brake or excellerate and hope to feck you run off the ice before you hit anything.

Many years ago I had to get off my bike because it was obvious I was going to hit a stationery car. I had been riding through 6" of snow and ran out onto ice whilst going down Taddington Dale on the A6. A steady application of the rear brake meant I slid gracefully to the deck and with both wheels at 90deg to the direction of travel and the solid footrests on the ground (good old Brit iron) stopped just short the rear of the car. Must be a good argument for delinking brakes.....

 

[derek kelly]

AVOID putting your feet down you are only moving the centre of gravity higher. Put as much body weight as you can onto your footrests to lower c of g. Stay upright, dont brake or excellerate and hope to feck you run off the ice before you hit anything.

This is not always the case, where I used to live I had a long drive sloping down to the road, the road was on a hill, I set off for work one very cold morning I was aware that there was Ice about, so I rode slowly to the bottom of my drive, I put my feet on the floor, as I turned to go up the road the bike slid from under me, because I had my feet on the floor I was able to control the slide and put the bike down without so much as a scratch, however the fun began when I tried to pick the bike up I was sliding all over the place until a guy stood waiting for a lift decided to stop watching me and offer assistance, I made it to work without further incident.

 

[Leftlaner]

An ambient temperature gauge would give you a warning up front. I got mine from Acumen Electronics (www.acumen-electronics.co.uk) :yo:

 

[livinabox]

my very thoughts

really. So by putting some weight lower down you raise the C OF g? You move the polar moment of inertia but you cannot raise the centre of gravity by placing more weight lower down whether it is on the pegs or not.

You cannot argue with the laws of physics.

 

[bishbosh]

You know there is black ice on a corner when you start going off at a tangent.

When this happened to me this winter, I loosened my grip on bars and pushed down some on the outside peg. Bike drifted in a to middle of road and when it started to sit up then I knew I was back on tarmac.

Simple ... if nothing is coming the other way!

 

[Scrappy]

Never mind laws of physics ... If you ride in bad weather it's prolly gonna hurt!