Questions about traction

[Special Ed]

As I travel I often wonder, as I take sharp turns and sweeping curves in damp conditions, about the subject of traction!
Are those metal plates really as slick as they appear?
How about those large white painted arrows and such?
It is well known that roads are slick after the first rain after a dry spell, but how about a heavy dew, or a light drizzle?
Am I correct in thinking that a rather course paved surface offers better traction than a smooth paved surface?Inquiring minds want to know!
Special Ed

[Shacknasty]

Those are the questions that will keep you alive! The metal plates and grates, the painted lines and arrows, manhole covers, etc., these are tractionless areas that WILL dump you on the pavement during braking and cornering. I avoid if possible or proceed slowly if unavoidable.

Fortunately these dangers don't move like cars. It is still the auto and it's driver that I fear. An old rider told me that until you make eye contact with a driver, assume they have not seen you and will pull out in front of you. When you do make eye contact, assume that they hate you and are going to try to run you down! All the bases are covered!

[latexeses]

Paint

Once upon a time in a cage I was pulling up to an intersection in a heavy rain and was slowing down just fine, until I hit the big painted turn arrow. It might as well have been 4 feet of snot. Scared the poo out of me. Never trusted those things even on a foggy day

[Shacknasty]

I don't trust them for traction even when dry!

[old_chopper]

Painted lines are put there to kill motorcyclists, especially when wet. Avoid them at all costs!

[motoman]

The paint is only half the problem being slick when wet. The other half is the reflective round beads added immediately when paint is shot. Won't even bother to say what half my career with CDOT consisted of, as I'm sure you could guess. The arrows, stop-bars, lettering are now mostly all thermo-plastic, pre-cut and put down using a heat source. These are EXTREMELY slick. With EPA's mostly unwanted actions, this and other parts of the country use alot of mag-chloride and such during winter months when roads get slick. Alot of areas pre-treat the roads several days prior to storms. This makes roads slicker than snot on a door knob. Seeing shiney black pavement on a sunny warm day during winter is a sign those products used now are rising to surface of pavement and reduce the adhesion considerabley. Just a reminder heading into cooler riding weather. Can ride here throughout the winter as there isn't much snow, but the mag- chloride used on the roadways is a real hazard and is hard on aluminum, chrome, wiper blade material, etc. so my winter riding is limited not from the weather, but more from what is used on the road for ice control.

[TopCatGr58]

It is well known that roads are slick after the first rain after a dry spell, but how about a heavy dew, or a light drizzle?
Am I correct in thinking that a rather course paved surface offers better traction than a smooth paved surface?Inquiring minds want to know!
Special Ed

Hey Ed,

Your earlier items, painted roads and such have already been covered fairly well. The light drizzle or heavy morning/early night dew can be just as slippery....again due to the lack of enough water volume to actually lift and wash away the oils put down by vehicles during the day.

The rough paved road surface isn't actually better. Look at racing cars and tires and nascar tracks, SMOOTH tires and Smooth tracks/roads....more rubber to road contact area for more traction. A rough bumpy/dimpley rocky road surface will not allow as much rubber to contact the road over a given surface area(contact patch), and will provide less overall traction.

And with the approaching fall weather, falling leaves and such are extra hazards on the road to watch out for...leaves, pine needles, water=bad!

T.C.

[cywelchjr]

Hey Ed,

Your earlier items, painted roads and such have already been covered fairly well. The light drizzle or heavy morning/early night dew can be just as slippery....again due to the lack of enough water volume to actually lift and wash away the oils put down by vehicles during the day.

The rough paved road surface isn't actually better. Look at racing cars and tires and nascar tracks, SMOOTH tires and Smooth tracks/roads....more rubber to road contact area for more traction. A rough bumpy/dimpley rocky road surface will not allow as much rubber to contact the road over a given surface area(contact patch), and will provide less overall traction.

And with the approaching fall weather, falling leaves and such are extra hazards on the road to watch out for...leaves, pine needles, water=bad!

T.C.

Light rain or mist your right, but when the rain gets heavy, then the rough surface is better because it gives the water somewhere to go to get out from under the contact patch. Even Nascar goes to tires with grooves for rain, cause a smooth tire just hydroplanes on the film of water at a pretty low speed, where the rough surface helps to make that less of a problem, which is the stated reason for them making the roads rough in the corners and such in the PNWet, and even in some of the areas around here as well.