Road conditions

[spaximus]

I am a relative newcomer to riding having passed my test at the age of 62 just before lockdown and have only managed to do 3000 miles since passing.

Yesterday I rode to Minehead form Bristol and the section between Bridgewater and Minehead has to be the most unpleasant I have ridden on.

There are grooves i the road where I suspect it was ground way to resurface and now these groves make the bike jiggle as it drops in and out. Avoiding them is awkward as they pretty much cover the whole road and this is for many miles, punctuated by the odd mile or so which has been resurfaced.

Any tips on how to deal with these types of man made problems?

[Biker9090]

You can't.

The only things you can do to make it slightly less st is to make sure your tyres are in good condition and your suspension settings/hardware is right for you.

[poo at Paul's]

Relax your arms a bit and let the bike move about a bit under you.

The gyro effect of the bike will mean you could jump off it and it would carry on in pretty much the same direction, a bit of mvment over the bumps and ridges is to be expected, the bike will sort it out.

[GriffoDP]

As above. Bike is relevant holistically. Some bikes are armchairs with pocket sprung bases. Others are 15 quid white plastic jobbies. An s1000rr will be quite annoying on the same road a gs (or my ktm 1290gt) will handle it all before you realise.

[anonymous-user]

It's one of those things unfortunately, although I agree it is distinctly unsettling until you get used to it. My current bete noire is cheapo tar and grit resurfacing where they haven't bothered to fill any of the potholes in so they're still there but masked by the new top surface.

[HughiusMaximus]

As already suggested really - relax and let the bike do its thing.

Welcome to the world of heightened hazard awareness and anticipation.
Things that would have barely registered in a car now need to be watched for and planned around (manhole covers in the wet, potholes, diesel on the road, loose gravel...).

The above needs to be balanced with picking your vision up to look further down the road to better anticipate hazards developing in front of you.

It gets easier with practice, experience and if you want some post test training.

Edited by HughiusMaximus on Monday 20th June 14:23

[spaximus]

Thanks for the replies.

My Bike is a Triumph Street twin so not the heaviest at all and it is as described unsettling when it happens.

I retire in August so will do some further training probably with IAM and get some more miles under my belt.

I did the car test so observation is pretty good but I have already upped my self awareness as there are too many things that appear to want to harm us from errant drivers to pedestrians

[scorcher]

You managed to find the most boring road with solid white lines through most of it. There’s some beautiful B roads if you go via Taunton that take you across Exmoor with hardly any traffic and long flowing corners . Look for the B3224 that takes you across to Wheddon cross and beyond. And of course you got the joys of porlock beyond Minehead. You can make a nice circuit for a day out from Bristol.