wet weather spill advice

foresthill

On my regular commute home tonight, came off on a right hand turn - in a right hand lane. Not going fast, not too sharp a turn but bike just slid from under me.

I'm on Conti 4 seasons at 100ps1 which seem fine until now - but slip has knocked my confidence somewhat.

I'm going to need a new jacket and shorts and TCP - but if i was on elephant and castle roundabout it wouldn't have been funny.

So what do I need? Different tyres? Lower pressures? A Wet weather cornering technique. Or a train ticket?

Black, Blue and Fluro yellow.

maddog 2

could have been anything, diesel, oil, sap from trees etc.

There's nothing wrong with 4 seasons - I run them on my winter commuter (in 28mm). I'd drop my pressures a bit though, to give you a tad more grip, especially on the front.

Al_38

Could have been a variety of things... Was it wet? when it rains all the grit and muck gets washed onto the road and if you ride over a patch cornering the bike will slide more. Or diesel? I use the gp4000's on my bikes and like them well enough, had a set of vittoria corsa evo ks on before hand which were grippier in the dry but they also wore out in about 1200 miles

Al

foresthill

will lose a few psi in the morning.

yes it was wet, and on a downhill. Will look in the light and see if gravel etc have built up.

28mm Maddog2? I've got the room.

I don't need more comfort but would it make me grippier i.e. safer?

balthazar

Tyres is tyres. And technique has nothing to do with it, unless going slowly is an acquired skill. Wet roads, oily puddles, slick metal road furniture, all mean no grip sometimes.

JWSurrey

Nowt wrong with 4 Seasons - in fact, i switched to them and found them a massive improvement over the 4000 - sadly, the seasons don't have reflective sidewalls although the 4000 does.
Running 90 on the rear and 90 (or sometimes even as low as 80 if i'm paranoid) on the front - though obviously ensuring I'm packing a good set of spare tubes if I do that!

Recently baled out in to a hedge on a corner - this was caused by slime from leaves - the road camber ran away from a clump of leafy trees - it's that time of year I guess.

I've always been curious as to how good a set of panaracers would be though.
The wider the better. Currently using 25c. If it's really bad, I get the MTB out - though with knobbly tyres there's arguably less contact with the road, ergo less grip.

Had the 4 seasons out in conditions so cold the bike was icing up - and managed to stay upright - albeit on a relatively flat, straight, good abrasive road surface.

Edit: In short, stick with it, and just watch out for the diesel/tree cover etc. and if it still feels awful, try an MTB (or a trike)!

graeme_s-2

I had a crash in the Spring on a wet day. I was on paving slabs which I think must have had sap on them. One minute I was fine, then next the bike shot out from under me like I was riding on sheet ice. The first thing I knew something wasn't quite right, was when I realised I was sliding feet first along the floor on my front in the direction I'd been travelling (so looking back the other way). I slid for some distance (even though I was only cycling at walking pace at the time), and when I finally stopped, discovered that I had a brake lever jammed into my sock. That was on 25mm gatorskins.

Knocked my confidence a bit, but I've just stayed off the sappy side of those paving slabs since then and had no problems.

I've come a cropper on manhole covers in the wet a few times, but the bruises have taught me to steer well clear (eventually).