Bad weather riding

dwelby101

I am just after touching down in Paris on the second leg of my trip to germany and I have to say that I couldnt have picked a worse time to go on a long trip! I spent 2 hours from galway to carlow battling some of the worst snow I've ever seen at home and on a bike in that stuff is damn miserable, wiping sheets of snow off the visor every 5 seconds! would have sh1t myself if i could but it was too bloody cold!

From cherbourg to paris was no fun either, man those motorways are so open to the elements, the crosswinds are lethal, mix in some sideways rain and night and 3 lanes of traffic all going at over 130km/h and it soon sorts the fair weather riders from the any weather riders... not much fun i tell thee!

On the upside i only have about 500km more to go until i get to my destination and then ill have my beaut of a roide with me in the motherland for the summer.

Anyone else out there fancy sharing some mad-weather riding experiences???

Here she is all tucked in for the crossing

galwaytt

yer mental.

No, seriously :pac:

Wonda-Boy

It will make you a better rider and the trip even more memorable.

Best Of Luck, really should be on a tourer all the same....lol

the cats pajamas

good luck man, enjoy your holiers

peckerhead

dwelby101 wrote: »

Anyone else out there fancy sharing some mad-weather riding experiences?

Well, since you ask....

I remember once doing the reverse trip, driving from Paris to Cherbourg in December on a battered old CX500 Eurosport (yes, the old cop bikes, don't snigger). Solid wall of water all the way up the motorway, and my rain gear was sh1te.

Stopped under a bridge when I quit the motorway, looked at my watch and it said 2:15pm, ferry was now only 25 miles away and I didn't have to be there 'til 4pm. Grand, I thought, I'll nip in to this café and have a bite and some hot coffee.

Half an hour later, as the feeling starts to return to my extremities, I glance down at my watch to see if I've time for another belt of coffee for the road.

Watch still says 2:15....

— "Monsieur, vous avez l'heure, s'il vous plait?"

— "Oui, trois heures et demie" (3:34, actually) :eek: :eek: :eek:

I don't think I'll ever forget the experience of trying to coax that old pig of a bike (we're talking 0-60 in about, oh, 5 or 6 minutes?) to average better than a mile a minute all the way to the boat. I almost lost it coming around the last bend into Cherbourg port (the old one) and down the quayside to where they were just about to pull up the drawbridge. The side casings were nearly melted off the yoke...

Got a big cheer from the deck crew, though!

blu3r0ri0n

dwelby101 wrote: »

I am just after touching down in Paris on the second leg of my trip to germany and I have to say that I couldnt have picked a worse time to go on a long trip! I spent 2 hours from galway to carlow battling some of the worst snow I've ever seen at home and on a bike in that stuff is damn miserable, wiping sheets of snow off the visor every 5 seconds! would have sh1t myself if i could but it was too bloody cold!

From cherbourg to paris was no fun either, man those motorways are so open to the elements, the crosswinds are lethal, mix in some sideways rain and night and 3 lanes of traffic all going at over 130km/h and it soon sorts the fair weather riders from the any weather riders... not much fun i tell thee!

On the upside i only have about 500km more to go until i get to my destination and then ill have my beaut of a roide with me in the motherland for the summer.

Anyone else out there fancy sharing some mad-weather riding experiences???

Here she is all tucked in for the crossing

Glad you made it back safe and sound, fair play you, I can't even imagine how hard it must have been from Galway to Carlow in that weather as I had to ride for 30 miles two nights ago, it was as if I was driving through a snow storm.

I was ok with the bird fishtailing every now and then or trying to not get blown over across my lane. Had to use minimal breaking and watch out for a$$holes driving way too close for the conditions. I was fine with all that but the snow build up on the visor, now that scared the crap out of me! I ended riding with my left hand constantly off the handlebar to wipe the snow off the visor. I couldn't even see my clock's never mind the road ahead. Every time I saw the tail lights of a car I was tankful as it made it a little bit easier, just have to watch out as they could get in an accident as easily and you don't want to follow them in to the ditch.

I have ridden in very heavy rain and extremely windy conditions on the Dragstar, FZ6 and the bird, it never bothered me but riding in conditions like the other night with snow is definitely not something I will be doing again in a rush!

After that night I have a renewed respect for commuters, fair play to you all who are brave/insane enough to commute in this weather with the nut jobs that does be out to get you!

MonstaMash

Riding to the Elefantentreffen or the Elephant Rally between Thurmansbang & Solla, Bavaria, January 2008

RosieJoe

No matter how bad the conditions are, other road users inability to drive properly seems to grow exponentially!

I got caught out a few years ago in the really bad snow. Set off from work early and still ended up driving through inches of snow/slush on the N11 in Wicklow. Wheels had minds of their own as the slipped on ice and went from one rut in the snow to the next. As bad as that was & having to drive slowly to cater for it, I still had muppets driving inches from my back wheel, barely squeezing past me as the overtake as they wouldn't go into the overtaking lane fully, and then pull in on top of me and hitting the brakes.

dwelby101

Quick Update

I have arrived at my destination, it was a fair trip today, 450 km but the roads were really good, well everywhere except belguim the roads can be pretty bad at times there with potholes. I went through a few radar zones in france too without even realizing i was in them and i was probably a bit over the limit, i was usually at around 160km/h but I am curious to see if many others have been caught by radars and what were the consequences?

BKtje

If i remember correctly from a site that I've read:

160 kph i think is a fine if caught of 45 euro? On the spot if pulled over. 170 kph it becomes a major offence and 180+ is instant ban for 2-6 months and 700 euro. Much more and vehicle can be impounded or even seized.

Driving after being banned is 4k and 4 yrs in prison apparently.

Edit: more accurate and up to date info i think. http://english.controleradar.org/speeding-fines.php8

Skill Magill

MonstaMash wrote: »

Riding to the Elefantentreffen or the Elephant Rally between Thurmansbang & Solla, Bavaria, January 2008

and 5 mins later the sun came out and off you went?

BKtje

If i remember correctly from a site that I've read:

160 kph i think is a fine if caught of 45 euro? On the spot if pulled over. 170 kph it becomes a major offence and 180+ is instant ban for 2-6 months and 700 euro. Much more and vehicle can be impounded or even seized.

Driving after being banned is 4k and 4 yrs in prison apparently.

Zascar

Fair play to you. Yuo have visions of a cross Europe trip being all beautiful weather and stunning roads, its horrible when the weather gets bad. I circled France and we were mostly ok bar the fact that one day doing some of the best roads I've ever seen it rained for the entire second half of the journey, was still fun though. However, on the last fay we woke up in La Rochelle at 6am and had about 500km to do to get back to the boat. Was raining but not much - but 20 minutes in the heavens opened with the most torrential rain I have ever seen. People were pretty much stopped on a motorway as you could not see. It went straight through goretx gear, we were both soaked to the skin. Did not let up for quite a while but we had to push through as we'd miss the boat otherwise.

Bloody horrible. Memorable, but not fun. Give me this any day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXjDwDzGGjI

prunudo

Great video, if that doesn't make you want to go for a blast nothing will.

roadsmart

The radar cameras are of no consequence to an irish registered bike (I'm assuming its irish?). Fair play to you, rough going. Personally I wouldn't have gone near a motorway in France, I would have stuck to the red routes, far safer and far less boring.

BKtje

Ah yeah forgot that Ireland and the UK don't share traffic offenses in Europe which is of course why If caught you're forced to pay on the spot.

BKtje

Ah yeah forgot that Ireland and the UK don't share traffic offenses in Europe which is of course why If caught you're forced to pay on the spot.

sean61

I bet you were glad you fitted those heated grips!

MrPudding

I think bad wind is about the worst I have had to cope with. That is weather, as opposed to flatulance. I have riden a few times in snow, clearing the visor is a real pain.

The two scariest rides I have had were wind related. One was the top of Pont du Normandie in high winds. That scared the sh1t out of me. But the worst was riding back to buckingham from Holyhead in a storm. That was really back. The fast boat was cancelled due to the storm and I had to take the cruise ferry. Man, riding a ZZR600 in winds gusting over 90 mph, not fun.

MrP

dwelby101

sean61 wrote: »

I bet you were glad you fitted those heated grips!

Yeah man, I dont think I would have made is as far as athlone without them!

The Don

BKtje wrote: »

Ah yeah forgot that Ireland and the UK don't share traffic offenses in Europe which is of course why If caught you're forced to pay on the spot.

I was told that foreign police can follow up with local police forces. That said I'm pretty sure I should have been done by the French but it's +1 year later and nothing so far. Maybe if you were really taking the biscuit they'd follow up?

Whether they follow up locally or not the offence is probably recorded against the bike. I'd wonder if the next time your driving through France could you be stopped and fined/impounded? It'd probably take a few weeks for the offence to be registered in their systems.

roadsmart

The Don wrote: »

I was told that foreign police can follow up with local police forces. That said I'm pretty sure I should have been done by the French but it's +1 year later and nothing so far. Maybe if you were really taking the biscuit they'd follow up?

Whether they follow up locally or not the offence is probably recorded against the bike. I'd wonder if the next time your driving through France could you be stopped and fined/impounded? It'd probably take a few weeks for the offence to be registered in their systems.

They CANNOT follow up in Ireland. Dunno about an offence being recorded against the number, but you'd have to be unlucky enough to either be stopped on your second visit or be got by ANPR. All I can say is that it's never happened to me, and I've set off an awful lot of French speed cams in the last 10 years.

dwelby101

Well I hope you're all right about this because if not, there will be a big stack of letters waiting for me when I get back! On the upside i am now living around the corner from the A44 autobahn where there's no speed limit, and about 1hr from the Nurburgring should be fun for sunday morning spins

MonstaMash

Skill Magill wrote: »

and 5 mins later the sun came out and off you went?

Pitched the tent, put on a brew & rolled a fatty...the road will still be there tomorrow