Man I hate this stuff, was riding down VA route 5 this afternoon. Love that road but you have to cross at least one metal decked draw bridge or two depending on how you get to route 5. I have to slow to almost a crawl because the bike really starts wandering around all over the place. Would approach the bridges in the far right hand side of the lane and end up on the dividing lines! Am I doing something wrong? going to slow? too fast? or maybe looking down too much?
That stuff is scary, would ride route 5 more often If I didnt have to cross those bridges.
I cross one a couple of times a day. The bike will try to wander a bit - just let it. It'll actually track more or less straight with a little wander from side to side. The GS does it more than the SV - tire width, I'd imagine - but they both do it, it's normal, it's fine if you just let it do it a smidge. Going too slowly will exacerbate it; I cross the Montlake bridge at 30-40. If I have to stop on the bridge, I can feel the tugging as I slow down.
just stay at normal traffic speeds and you'll be fine.
I crossed one ONCE, just ONCE!
Scared the hell out of me! I too ended up heading for the opposing lane. Luckily the bridge ended before I got all the way over. Whew! There was NOTHING I could do to stop it from drifting. At least at the time I thought so. AND it seemed so SLIPPERY that I thought I'd NEVER be able to stop if I had to.
Thanks for the tip about going slow. I'm sure I slowed to a crawl fearing having the bike slip out from under me.
But seriously, CAN you REALLY stop on those steel grates?
the bridges are easy, its when the repaving crew comes through with thier resurfacer, this machine chews up asphault as it rolls along and spits the rubble out the back/side into a dump truck for recycling later. this machine takes layers off and leaves grooves behind anywhere between 6 inches long and 2 foot long. this causes the tire wander both in front and rear, and not in same directions. i hit that coming off the highway at about 60mph and about shat myself. :o
Quote from: Blueknytthe bridges are easy, its when the repaving crew comes through with thier resurfacer, this machine chews up asphault as it rolls along and spits the rubble out the back/side into a dump truck for recycling later. this machine takes layers off and leaves grooves behind anywhere between 6 inches long and 2 foot long. this causes the tire wander both in front and rear, and not in same directions. i hit that coming off the highway at about 60mph and about shat myself. :o
I have never ridden a bridge like that before or anything.
but when my dad rode to california from here in texas one part of the highway was like that and he had frontal side winds hitting him so that he was riding about an 1 or 2 from the edge of the tire. It wore his tire to the cords cause he was running it at about 65 to 70. Hes pretty crazy but he said the bike is really stable though even with winds hitting him, he didnt say that about that trip though just riding normal. Ill find the pics and post them.
Do not fight it first off. If you you try an holf the bars to tight it will make it worse. Have a loose but safe grip on the bars and you will fill some feedback but do not try to correct the path of the bike with a firm hard grip or you will be fighting the bridge.
it sounds strange but relax and let the bike slightly wonder but do not let it get away fom you. Lite grip on the bars and go for it.
Same with grooved pavement, just dont tense up and ride normal, youll be fine
I know what you mean about the resurfacing, The highways here in Va dont get ground down before they slap a new layer of black top down (or if they do they do it at the same time so you never have to ride on it) but the local roads do, WAY down. all kinds of deep grooves almost down to the dirt underneath. Only had to ride on a road like that for a few minutes but it was worse than the expanded metal bridge decking.
Thanks for the tip about the speed on the bridge.. Plan on riding that road again tommorow afternoon. Ill try to just hit it at a normal speed and see what happens. :dunno:
It looks like they take a diamond grinder to the old lines in the highways before they paint new ones. I changed lanes over a freshly ground line on the way home this evening and felt the rear end shift a little under me. Nothing like the bridges but I could feel a difference. If only every cager could feel the roads like we do on bikes. Might form a new respect for the on road experiance.
They use that stuff short term when they rebuild a bridge in Tulsa..
Anytime they lay it down they put up a huge sign that says
Motorcycles use extreme caution
It usually takes them a year, but they do eventually take it back up..
I cross a draw bridge everyday to and from work. I just ride it normal, it tends to want to go towards the right alittle, no biggy. Took me about a week to feel comfy about it. 8)
what's worse than all that is the steel plates that they put down around here. I-15 down here about half the off ramps are plated, 80-0 on steel plates is not fun.