Riding in the rain

[ou365]

Just wanted to see what others thought. We got caught about 100 miles from home Saturday, and a nice little thundestorm rolled in. Wanting to get home before dark we put on our rain gear and off we went. I've had my Nomad since February and this is the first time i have had to ride in the rain. As we started our way home it was only a light rain, and we had no probelm, and then the final 30 miles was in a steady hard rain, but to my surprise the Nomad handled the rain with no problem,the ride was solid as a rock,two up and 50 miles an hour. Also had just put on new metzler 880's very satisfied with the combination. My fondness for my Nad grows daily...wish i hadn't waited so long to get her. ride safe guys

[coacha]

Well, Joe, my wife, and I ran into some pretty big storms on the way back from Elkins. We geared up and road through most of it. With slower speed and utmost awareness of what is going on around you, it isn't all that bad. However, we did park them for a bit when it got really heavy and lightning.

[audiogooroo]

The Nomad has always done just fine in the rain. It me trying to see that's a problem. :-/

[cactusjack]

Gee, I don't think my Nomad has ever gotten wet, unless I was hosing it down for a cleaning.

You can ride a Nomad around in slippery conditions at 50% wheel slip and have perfect control. It is a little strange at first unless you've done a some flat tracking on a thumper. The engine's power is so tractable compared to high RPM bikes, that it almost never will get completely out of hand, no matter how loose the traction.

Not so with a high strung multi-cylinder bike where you better not dare break traction or the rear wheel will whiz out of control at the least opportunity. That's the difference between a machine that primarily uses torque to make horsepower and one that relies on high RPM.

But do pay strict attention when braking. I've had her crossed up when braking under very slick conditions and it's a real eye opener on a bike this big. Getting her crossed up under acceleration is one thing, but under braking it's another thing entirely!

[jussmatt]

Being that the Nomad is my main commuter cycle...I've been caught in the rain a bunch of times. Sometimes it's a light rain...other times, it's a SHEET of rain and down right brutal!! The only problem I've ever encountered was when the water rolls over the top onto my sunglasses/goggles... I have to stick my head outside the windshield to let the rain water blow off!!! The Nomad is very stable, but of course you have to be sensible....it is rain!!!

[ianicky]

The second time that i took the wife out with me we got caught in a rain storm, i have a one piece rain suit but as the wife has only just started coming out with me she doesn't, I thought it would be more than my life was worth to stop and put my rain suit on and leave her on the back getting soaked :-/ but as you say the Nomad felt very secure and at no time did i think that i might spin out, and this was the first time that i have ridden in the rain for many years and also only the second time with a pillion. Although we were both soaked to the skin when we got home i did feel chuffed how well the Nomad had handled http://s2.images.proboards.com/grin.gif

[fish]

The second time that i took the wife out with me we got caught in a rain storm, i have a one piece rain suit but as the wife has only just started coming out with me she doesn't, I thought it would be more than my life was worth to stop and put my rain suit on and leave her on the back getting soaked :-/ but as you say the Nomad felt very secure and at no time did i think that i might spin out, and this was the first time that i have ridden in the rain for many years and also only the second time with a pillion. Although we were both soaked to the skin when we got home i did feel chuffed how well the Nomad had handled http://s2.images.proboards.com/grin.gif
same here word for word

[dantama]

You can ride a Nomad around in slippery conditions at 50% wheel slip and have perfect control. .........

Wow, I have a hard time picturing that. As many know, I get enjoyment out of trying to find the physical limitations of a Nomad, but I don't think that I could keep a Nomad up with anything near 50% wheel slip.

It has been my experience that as long as the front and rear tires are in perfect alignment, you can get away with some wheel slip from the rear tire in a straight line (with either braking or acceleration).

The front wheel isn't nearly as forgiving and will set you down on the pavement with very little wheel slip laterally. And once the rear wheel gets out of alignment with the front wheel, you are in danger of high siding when it regains traction.

That all said, the Nomad does very well in the rain. I've never felt any instability at freeway speeds in the rain. But do watch out for oil on the road at intersections. If you live where there is infrequent rain, the oil will build up in those areas and when it does rain, it will float up on top of the water and make for a very slippery condition.

I've ridden in the snow before, but didn't dare get anything near 50% loss of traction.

[1stgear]

My '03 has been real stable in the rain. I only can think of 2 times I had trouble: once was because my tires were about worn out, and the other was on the interstate going from Missouri to Oklahoma City, with heavy rains and wind, and real deep tire grooves. First time I ever experienced hydroplaning! I just moved to the center of the lane (it was definitely washed clean) and was okay. Scary though! http://s2.images.proboards.com/shocked.gif

Dan, maybe I've overstated this a bit, and I wouldn't think it easy to do except in pretty flat conditions, but I've ridden the main street in the rain here and achieved a very high degree of slip and never felt like the rear was going to wash out. In fact, I was amazed that I could hold a line on this bike with no fishtailing nonsense either. Coming off the line hard and dodging between cages I found the bike amazingly steady.

Yeah, if the front end slips in a turn it's going to be hard to keep up. Impossible most of the time. I've hydroplaned the front wheel and locked both wheels stopping on black ice and did not go down. Oh it was an act of extreme balance to stay on top of her, but I did it and I'm an old fart!

I've ridden lots of bikes in snow and mud, but I have not ridden the Nomad in snow yet. I have ridden in slick mud, with a passenger, and in deep, loose gravel too. I was amazed at the the way she went through it all.

[damark115]

I have been caught in steady rain about a dozen times. I ride almost every day to work and I just never trust the weather reports. It has happened enough now that I have been thinking about getting rain gear. I keep an extra set of clothes at work in case. Never had a bad experience yet. Very happy with the handling.

[formikec]

My wife and I actually got caught in the rain this weekend, for the first time. The only problem we had, other than being soaked, was with me trying to see because it had just turned dusk as well.

I did have another incident a couple of weeks ago where I guess I hit some oil at an intersection. I was only going about 40 when I tried to stop for a "way-to-fast" traffic light. Locked both wheels up, let off, tried again, locked them up again, finally figured out locking them up was the only alternative. A little shook up over it, but never felt close to dropping the bike. I did have the attention of everyone in the intersection, though. Skid for about 10 feet before stopping.

[dank]

I have ridden in a great deal of heavy rain, light rain, and everything in between. I find you have to really be careful on secondary roads with traffic lights. Very easy to slide on braking. I prefer the freeway in a rain storm. Also a good idea to pull off, if you can, right when it starts raining if it has been dry for a while. An amazing amount of oily scum floats up in the first few minutes of a heavy rain after a dry spell. Some cars must really leak oil.

[rksaw]

There are worse things than riding in the rain...riding in the fog is one example.

[phenrichs]

I was returning from Minneapolis a couple years ago and it started to rain lightly about 100 miles from home. Another 30 mins down the road it started raining hard. I stopped and bought some dry gloves (didn't own rain gear then) got back on the road and a mile later it started snowing. It was barely above freezing. I was on my 01 Vmax that day. Thank God I put new tires on before I left for that trip.

Go figure, it was sunny and 68 the whole way up to Minneapolis too.

[phenrichs]

And that trip nearly broke me from riding in the rain. Until I bought my Nad. I would ride this baby through hell and back without any worry. I love this machine.

[socwkbiker]

At the central rally we had some really hard rain that kept us from group rides but didn't stop me from going to buy a rain suit. The nomad handled like a champ the entire time although I have to say the ride back was much more comfortable with that suit.

[chainsaw]

I never mind riding in the rain. But I do hate to leave home in it. If I'm on the road, I deal with it.
Always feel pretty safe on the Nomad.

[flavor]

I'm always a little nervous in the rain. It may go back to an experience years ago (the '70's ) when I lived in Queens New York. I was running an errand for a friends mother who was sick.

I was coming over the top of a hill during a light rain and 3 or 4 cars were stopped at a light about 75 feet or so in front of me. When I hit my brakes the bike just kept going, had enough time to downshift, which as you know didn't help and finally turned the bike sideways like a dirt bike, still going down the hill and slowing up until the tires grabbed the road. The bike threw me over the side and I continued sliding towards the intersection, (the vinyl raingear really worked like a slip'n slide). Meanwhile the light changed to green and the oncoming traffic started coming up the hill as I was going down the hill. The first driver was a kid driving a '72 colony park station wagon that weighed about 6000 lbs. He stopped just in time for me to slide under the vehicle, which when I stopped sliding, left me looking up at the transmission housing.

You may wonder how I didn't get killed but I can tell you that a story that my uncle told me when he was in 'NAM I believe saved my life. He told me he saw a motorcyclist have the same thing happen to him and how when he grabbed the grill to stop his slide he ripped and exposed all his internal organs from the momentum.

I flashed bach to that information and just before I went under the wagon, I gave a forearm shiv to the front bumper to slow me up and then pulled my arm back into my body, keeping my head sideways in didn't touch the underside of the wagon until I came to a stop. I crawled out form under the wagon and realized there were more than one person waiting for a bus that knew me. They thought I was going to be critically injured or dead and couldn't believe I wasn't hurt.

I took my helmet threw it across the road for some reason and went and picked up the bike.

Damage was minimal. Handlebars, brake lever, brake mastercylinder cover spun off from friction and shot across the road.

All in all I do ride in the rain, but now only when touring. AND I don't try to hold tight lines when it rains. I use the whole lane just like a NASCAR driver, just in case the wheels break.

Was I going to fast? In retrospect, most definitely, 30MPH was to fast for the bike to handle the oil that came to the surface of the road.

Bye the way, finished the erand which was picking up a script, and drove the bike home.

I live near Tampa, FL... so every morning its beautiful and every afternoon its raining. I got used to it. I always have my Frogtog jacket and my gators.

I like the handling and don't feel unsafe on it.

Michael K

[skyhookman]

I enjoy the rain , ran through 4- torrentials goeing to S.C. and three comeing back, I didn't even put on the rain paints. In 5-minuites I was dryer than a powder house and happy as a bug in a rug. Got a little anxious , when I got a little too close to some lightening.

There are worse things than riding in the rain...riding in the fog is one example.

We have something here they call "Tule Fog", and it can be very heavy on winter mornings. I ride in it and I've driven in it for over 30 years, and I can honestly say I almost prefer to ride in it than drive.

For one thing you sit higher up on a bike and the higher you sit the better visibility. Also you do not have windows to look through and they do cut visibility in the fog, even if you have wipers, you can see better without having to look through glass.

The other thing is that you can hear better on a bike. That's a big deal in the fog.

I enjoy the rain , ran through 4- torrentials goeing to S.C. and three comeing back, I didn't even put on the rain paints. In 5-minuites I was dryer than a powder house and happy as a bug in a rug. Got a little anxious , when I got a little too close to some lightening.

I went through a real toad strangler, going over Tioga pass 2 years ago. I was crossing the Alpine meadows at about 9,500~9900 ft. elevation and there was at least an inch of rain on the road, and falling steadily. Cars were tossing up some water too, but it was so bad even they were barely going 25 MPH.

But the worst part was the lightning! I could see lightning striking the peaks around me repeatedly, and they were only maybe 1000 ft higher than I was. For miles I was seeing bikers huddled under the trees, hiding from the rain, but I kept going because I was always taught that the worst place to be in a lightning storm was on a flat meadow under a tree, and these guys were all standing around under 100 ft. tall trees!

Needless to say I didn't get hit, but man did I get wet!

Even worse, though it dried out as I went down hill from there, I had to go up 3 more passes that day and it rained on each one.

The view (on a clear day) from the ranger station of Tioga Pass, elevation 9945 ft.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh269/caddmannq/Yosemite/Tiogastation.jpg

[coloradontexas]

just returned from a 3300 mile round trip to colorado, got lots of rain, hail, and by god snow!!! Just kept riding through it, no problems and we was two up with luggage.