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Rail Road track is f**king me up!

P

peena

Paki rider
Joined
Oct 20, 2007
Location
San Francisco
Moto(s)
Ninja 250
I was considering myself a good rider on street since I got in couple of accident this week. This Tuesday I was riding my Ninja 250 to college on a rainy at 25-30mps, one car stop in front of me in order to cut it I got on RAIL ROAD track. As soon I was getting off the track me and my bike both was on the ground. Luck enough me and my bike did get much hurt, just some starch on bike and my clip on bar is bend, and I get some scratches and burses too.

But that’s was not it today, Saturday, I was coming from Treasure Island on Bay Bridge on my Ninja 250 (man I was the scariest ride I have so far the wind was so hard it was pushing me everywhere!) I took the first exit, Folsom st, in order to avoid bridge. As soon as I got on street I was a bit excited that I didn’t have to worry much from now on, but this excitement didn’t last long. When I was making a right turn on California I end up on the Rail Road track and same thing happen Rain + Rail Road track = Accident

I bought a new Ninja 250 last October and riding since then every day no matter is rain or shine, but never get into this type of situation. Now I wonder is there any problem in my bike especially my tires or iam not careful enough or I just a bad week for me!
 
peena said:
I bought a new Ninja 250 last October and riding since then every day no matter is rain or shine, but never get into this type of situation. Now I wonder is there any problem in my bike especially my tires or iam not careful enough or I just a bad week for me!
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In the rain, every road hazard becomes exponentially more dangerous. Paint, manhole covers, and railroad tracks can make you slide even at timid lean angles.

In the rain, I would recommend crossing a railroad track at no less than a 45 degree angle. I would be sure to ride straight across, and keep a neutral throttle (not closed, but not really accelerating.) If you do find the bike sliding, try to relax on the bars and resist the urge to snap the throttle shut. Unless you have a lot of experience, the safest bet is to let the bike recover on it's own.

If I were you, I would assume that your bike is going to slide across any wet metal surface. Plan your approach accordingly, and consider changing your route to avoid difficult railroad crossings.

I enjoy riding in bad weather, but it's certainly not a friendly activity for a new rider. Keep at it, but be very careful. Learning to ride in the rain is like learning to ride a motorcycle all over again.
 
I rode a bunch with a guy that made me put my front wheel in ruts, and ride on tracks to understand what it feels like. Practicing in a controlled situation sure helps when it happens unexpectedly. The rain is an added dynamic of course, it makes everything more amplified.
Same man makes me (I love it though) ride on wet metal plates "just so I know what it'll feel like..."

props on you for being out there and I know you love that 50+ mpg from that 250.
 
Yeah, you'll definitely want to be at neutral throttle (not slowing down or speeding up) when you go over the tracks, and keep the bike straight up as much as you can. Metal gets so slippery in the wet, you really don't want to try and play around with leaning the bike or using the brakes and throttle when you're going over that stuff. In order to survive a street ride, there's a couple of things you really need to do.

The first is to make sure everything is OK with your bike before you get going. Check the fluids, tire pressures and tire wear, check the chain to make sure it doesn't have too much slack in it, and periodically check the bike to make sure nothing's loose. The last thing you want to be worrying about when you're out riding is whether or not your bike's gonna make it to where you're going, and with motorcycles, a mechanical failure of any kind can mean a crash, which would cost a lot more time and money than just making sure everything's in order to begin with.

The second thing is to ride cautiously, especially in the wet. Watch out for those crazy cars. When you are riding with cars, ask yourself what is the stupidest thing that they could possibly do, and then expect them to do it. If you have an option between shaving a few seconds off your ride and playing it safe, always try to play it safe. There's no award for first place in street riding, so just try to bring it home on two wheels every time. The risks you take might save you a few seconds, but if you crash, it will cost you much more.

Take it easy and try to stay safe out there. It's fun to ride, but not so much fun to crash.
 
RhythmRider said:
Yeah, you'll definitely want to be at neutral throttle (not slowing down or speeding up) when you go over the tracks, and keep the bike straight up as much as you can. Metal gets so slippery in the wet, you really don't want to try and play around with leaning the bike or using the brakes and throttle when you're going over that stuff. In order to survive a street ride, there's a couple of things you really need to do.

Take it easy and try to stay safe out there. It's fun to ride, but not so much fun to crash.
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If you get your wheels into streetcar tracks that run the same direction as the street, and it's wet out, there isn't much you can do. Even an experienced rider is going to have a hard time getting off the rails without going down. The trick is not to get into the ruts they put those tracks into. I ride a lot of logging roads with very deep ruts in them, and once you get your wheels into a deep rut, they're going to stay there until the rut ends, or you fall down.

Crossing tracks shouldn't be a big deal as long as you try to cross them as close to 90 degrees (striaght across) as possible, and without touching either brake, or moving the throttle one way or the other. Also, if you're actually turning as you cross the tracks, try to straighten out just before you reach them, then continue the turn after you've passed the tracks.
 
OK, I may be in the minority here (wouldn't be the first time) but it seems to me you need to take a step back before you can advance. Motorcycling, or more accurately "surviving motorcycling" is about not biting off more than you can chew.

You are (really) new to the sport and riding in very advanced conditions - the wet, center city, areas with numerous hazards, the Bay Bridge etc. You have crashed twice in a week :rolleyes which should be a warning sign that you are not yet ready to ride whenever and wherever you want. You're going to get hurt before you get better. Take it a bit slower in terms of what you tackle and you will be more likely to enjoy a long career in motorcycling:ride
 
In wet weather, you really need to be aware of the surfaces you ride over. It's still true for dry weather, but wet weather makes it even more critical. Anything metal is going to be more slippery. Same with anything painted. Keep an eye out ahead of you for such things. If you know that there are RR tracks up ahead, position yourself so that should something happen, like someone stopping suddenly in front of you, you have time to do what you need to do without sliding on the slippery bits.

Many riders don't do it, but one of the most important things you can do is to pay attention to your road surface. Doing so can save yourself a lot of grief.
 
Thanks for all your good advice. I know for sure I wasn’t braking, but I may be giving some throttle so from now on I will pay attention on this thing.

Enjoy safe riding
 
Wait, we're talking about going in the same direction that the rail is traveling? Sounds scary...
 
Lots of good advice here, to which I'll add only a little. Did you feel your self stiffening your arms and shoulders and grip on the bars when you encountered those railroad tracks? If so, consciously trying to keep your upper body relaxed with a light grip on the bars will really help. Did you notice if your eyes focused on the tracks right in front of you? If so, that will cause your wheels to go right into those grooves in the pavement the tracks are laid in. Try to look further ahead of your bike, focusing on where you want to go rather than where you fear you'll go.

Last point, if those tires on your Ninja are the stock ones, go ahead and upgrade now. Those are not much good in the wet, and you can significantly improve your margin of safety with some aftermarket tires. Go see Supertireguy, and have him fix you up with whatever he recommends (Pirelli Sport Demons on my wife's bike). That - along with all the good advice you've already gotten in this thread - will help.
 
I don't live in SF, but did ride over some tracks there & also see them in downdown SJ every day. Treat damp or wet tracks like they are strips of ice. You will have almost no traction on them compared with the road around them. Downtowns love to put those tracks in the worst places for motorcycles. As others suggested, keep the bike vertical, keep the throttle at neutral (try to be at your steady speed before going over the obstacle).

In downtowns, sometimes you cannot cross the track at anywhere near a 45 degree angle so in those "worst case" crossings at least minimize everything else you can: don't turn, don't accelerate, don't add any more complexity to the situation and don't make your bike do anything more than go "straight" at that moment. After you pass the track, you can go back to turning, accelerating or whatever.
 
peena said:
Thanks for all your good advice. I know for sure I wasn’t braking, but I may be giving some throttle so from now on I will pay attention on this thing.

Enjoy safe riding
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Braking or not, when your tires get snagged in railroad tracks , you can fall.

Just avoid getting close to railroad tracks when riding parallel to them.

Some things should get learned in early age, such as being a kid and riding a bicycle around railroad or light-rail tracks.
 
Also to help you avoid this situation again try scanning further ahead. Unless that idiot in the car in front of you slammed on the brakes for no reason there was probably a hint that traffic was going to slow. Riding a motorcycle in LA has taught me a few things about scanning the road (not just for traffic but road conditions). It has also transfered to my caging to. Its an eye opening experience when one mercedes benz almost takes you out twice while lane splitting (Benz illegally crossed the double yellow of the SoCal Carpool lanes twice) luckily some of things I learned at the track saved my ass from first getting sandwiched between two SUVs, and not losing my front as a served the second time. But yeah as others have said things get tricky when its wet out. Leaves, metal objects on the ground, paint. Try to take the obstacles head on in a nice neutral way (straight up and down if possible, loose body position, steady throttle or smooooth applications of the brakes if needed)
 
I have learned that being a rider with very little experience means that I just don't ride in the rain. I will learn sooner or later, but for now I don't put myself in a situation where I may HAVE to ride in the rain. Also living in downtown SF on Market st. I learned what roads suck for motorcycles. California street is one of them. It has lots of hills, railroad tracks, and slick concrete not just asphalt. I always avoid the large painted arrows turning from gough to fell. Just be aware of these things before you ride that way you are not suprised by any of it while riding.

Jay
 
I find it pretty interesting that you crashed in the same scenario more than once. I crashed once from rain + painted lines. You know what I did after that crash? Stayed the hell away from wet painted lines!

You should do the same with wet railroad tracks.
 
Since I have not seen anyone say it yet, you may want to fix that clip-on and have anything else checked out that may have been bent or tweaked......before you try again.
 
Burning1 said:
30-40 in the rain isn't even remotely unsafe given the appropreate situation. I'm sure many people could chime in with personal experience about going much faster than that.
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I believe Jesasaurus was focusing on the mps. :nerd
 
j8food said:
I have learned that being a rider with very little experience means that I just don't ride in the rain. I will learn sooner or later, but for now I don't put myself in a situation where I may HAVE to ride in the rain.
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Just to be a contrarian, avoiding riding in the rain just means that your moto is never more than a sunny day toy. It misses out on being a form of transportation, it misses out on being a means to adventure. Learning to ride in the rain is skill, and one that is really useful to develop, and which also improves your riding in the dry. Much of the advice posted above is useful for rain riding (e.g. being aware of surroundings and surfaces, staying relaxed on the moto, etc.).

You can make an argument for choosing the circumstances in which you will begin to develop your rain riding skills, but avoiding it is not a solution. More training can help too. Do some Doc Wong clinics. Or, if you want to try out a really intense and fun introduction to riding with low traction, check out Rich Oliver's Mystery School and sign up for either the dirt bike school or the two day fun camp. You will learn how to ride on slippery surfaces, and it will make you a better rider.
 
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