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Real World "Rain Riding Survival Skills/Techniques Checklist"

Riding in Rain at Night

Got caught out a month ago for the first time in a decent rain in the dark. Talk about suicide on a two lane (one each way) twisty highway. The glare of oncoming headlights on the rain on my faceshield was completely blinding. Or am I just a wuss?
 
I don't understand why supporting your weight w/ your leg's and just skimming the seat w/ your butt would help in a rainy situation??? Could someone clarify this a lil more?

I know it's the end of the rainy season but I am still curious on this one
 
koi, I believe the answer to your question is this:

Gary J said:
Along with this anchoring of the lower legs/feet to the bike in these contact areas, there is certainly some pressure/force being kept in a downward vector direction on the outside peg. So hence, some outside peg "weighting" is going on.

If the rear tire loses a bit of grip and does slip sideways when cornering, a conscious effort to direct a higher percentage of that combined inside/outside peg contact force ...... to the "outside" peg ...... does come into play. The objective being to resist the bike's tendency to rotate around its center axis (e.g. lose some of its near vertical attitude), as a result of the tire's outward lateral movement.
Click to expand...

My take on it is that you stand on the pegs so that if you feel the rear starting to slide, you can immediately transfer your weight to the outside peg. If you were sitting with most of your weight on the seat, you couldn't do that. Using the pegs to apply torque to the bike to counter a slide (it wants to rotate down to the ground -- you want to rotate it back up from the ground) would only work if the bike was just barely leaned over. That's probably why it's only a wet riding technique and not normally done on dry pavement.
 
Seems like a good time to :bump a classic Gary J thread.
 
Good thread.

I didn’t see anything on keeping dry. And a wet crotch can certainly be a distraction which is not good. One way to help keep your crotch dry is to look at it, after you are sitting on your bike and pull up on any fabric that is down and creates a pocket or cup that can collect water.
 
I once got to ride a few laps on the back of Gary’s bike at Laguna Seca. Definitely one of my best motorcycling memories! I had to hook my toes on the passenger legs to hang on when we braked hard after the straightaway for turn one. He was such a nice dude, and I love seeing these old posts.
 
I only went on a couple of group rides that involved Gary J, and I never interacted with him.

Since I started riding on dirt bikes, there were many instances where we rode in the rain. Beyond being wet and muddy, it was always pretty fun.

I remember the first deluge on the street was on a TT500 - same thing without the mud.

My time spent riding street bikes in the rain has been very limited up until the last few years. It was something that brought a bit of anxiety. But I've found that if you prepare for it and aren't too worried about getting wet, it's really just a nuisance. If you're smooth and don't do anything stupid, nothing goes wrong.

I rented a Multistrada in Innsbruck and rode it down to Croatia and back with my cousin who was on a KTM690. The first day was nice, and then it rained for the next four days. I got soaked. The bike had good tires and was solid. Once I got over being wet, It was pretty fun.

If it's raining here, I'm taking the car. Fuck riding in the rain.
 
The wisdom of the rider who Gary J was remains.

:rip
 
One of the most fun rides I've had was with just Gary and Harry in the rain on Santa Cruz mountain. Good times indeed.
 
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