Well I dunno...

....what shit it is exactly that they're coating the roads with this year,
but it, (at least down here in Kent), is far more slippery out there right
now than it normally is for the time of year, day or night.

I've just got in from a blat on the bike... I say blat, but in the loosest
sense - even after having warmed the tyres up over several miles, attempting
to 'make progress' in a straight line invariably ended up with a session of
rear tyre lighting.

For all I know, it was just as bad in corners, but I wasn't prepared to
research this as extensively.

Even the Golf, which is normally very well planted and grippy, has been all
over the shop at times at relatively sensible corner speeds, and when
pulling away from junctions etc., since they've apparently gritted the
roads.

Is it just around here that's like this, or has anyone else noticed it's
noticeably more slippery on the roads than it normally is for the time of
year?

 

I've noticed it as well. The roads have a wet appearance even though the
prevailing conditions are dry.

Very precarious.

 

That's funny, I was just thinking more or less the same thing this morning
after a 'moment'. I'd put it down to it being a long time since last winter
and poor remembering skills. As WH says though, even when dry it's dodgy.

I've never been a big fan of salt spreading for reasons of corrosion but if
the stuff they're spreading is as slippery as the ice it's supposed to be
preventing, what's the point.

And another thing... I had to go out during the day last week and at about
2:30 they'd already gritted. It wasn't freezing, it wasn't forecast to
freeze and what they had spread was rapidly being dispersed by the traffic.
Madness.

 

AOL in Slurrey

Was thinking that on the way home last night after the third wriggle of
the rear wheel on fairly innocuous corners...and decided it was me being
crap. Phew! (Disclaimer: I still reserve the right to be crap...).

Any theories as to WTF is up with the roads this year? The back lanes
are even worse.

Chris

 

Moss

 

Such short memories you people have.

It's winter. The roads have been salted.

 

This is true. In all seriousness, I'm thinking of trying a particular
corner somewhere that's still to be decided, and see if it is as bad
next year. I really don't remember the roads being slimy before;
slippery, yes, but not slimy.

Maybe I should try some Omega 6+3 fish oils like someone suggested to me
about a year ago

Yep, there's so much of the stuff you can taste it in the air (this I
*do* remember from last year)

 

Goldfish short as this topic was covered last week.

 

Does no-one on this ng understand throttle control and driving/riding
to the conditions?

All this talk of wheelspin and 'lighting up the rear' from someone else
is just people confessing to not being able to control their vehicles.

 

More like, a lack of self control imho.

 

Why post moaning about the percieved lack of grip then? If it's so
much fun get out there and fill your boots.

 

*sigh*

It was an observation about the current road conditions, not a confession
that I've come that close to stacking the car or bike...

The bike was breaking traction when provoked by a large handful at times
last night, when I was exploring the current condition limits.

The car however, especially when loaded up, has

Is it, ****...

The point I was making, oh Sister Mary of the Immaculate (driving)
Conception, is even when it's obviously well above freezing, the roads are
far more slippery than normal for the time of year, even taking into account
the fact they've been gritted / salted, by now.

My current take on it, having spoken to a member of the local highways
department, is they've been a bit too free and easy with the salt so far
this year, and the general lack of rain of late means it hasn't had a chance
to be washed away as of yet.

You will note I'm posting from the prospective of not having lobbed the
bike, or stacked the car as a result of doing hundreds of miles on said
slippery roads already this week, so poke your IAM stylee rubbish up your
TCS / ABS covered arse.

HTH

 

I rather thought 'what shit it is exactly that they're coating the roads
with this year', was more than a passing acknowledgement to 'salting' etc.

YMMV

 

Nope,
I took the ol' girl for a spin [1] (literally!) and must admit, it's still
as slippy out there as it was last Friday.
There certainly seems something different about the slop they're putting on
the roads.
Cambs councils apparently are using some sort of salt/sugar cocktail.
It certainly ain't nice on 2 wheels, that's for sure.

[1] Trumpet Trophy

 

It's sort of winter now. It's like this (on the roads and on UKRM) year
after year.

Is that a bite then?

 

....bugger.

The car however, especially when loaded up, has broken traction without any
real provocation when pulling away at times, and this is not the norm for
the time of year, salted roads or otherwise.

In fact its not the norm even when its icy, in all honesty, and the amount
of shit it gets caked in after a day of multidrops in and around the local
area suggest there is too much salt kicking about.

 

As you said yourself - it was frosty one night last week and they
salted - and it's not rained since then. The salt is just sitting on
the road, soaking up water from the atmosphere and keeping the roads
damp and shitty.

It's horrible and a sod to clean off the bike each night, but that's
just part of the riding in winter experience.

 

Depends dunnit.

It is a bit slippy for sure. It's all really a plot to bump the speed
related accident figures up so they can lower the limits more.

Sugar! I'd like to know what that does for the mix.

 

Well, you look like you could do with fattening up a bit...

But no.

 

Feel free to perform a rain dance.