[beth75kiss]

I learned an important thing the other day. I've moved to a great little rental house out in the sticks, beautiful country around me, off Hwy 107 in a place called Limestone Cove, TN. I know winter may be fun, but I have four wheel drive, so no problems there, right? And the house is up a "lane" that is really a gravel drive that I share with an older lady and her grandson. I was a little apprehensive about getting my bike to its new home, because I really have a thing about gravel, but had no issues at all getting her up to the house. Wasn't able to get her under the porch through the yard, but got her settled in under a tree with her cover in place. Then I decided to take her for a ride.

After the normal fluid and air pressure checks, she started right up as always, and I headed down the drive. It's a steep drive, and my landlord did tell me he'd recently regravelled it. You really can't slow a bike down in a lot of gravel by front brakes only (I had both feet down, trying to slow down...) I learned that you have to use the back brake, can't leave your feet down, and I gotta find a better place to park that doesn't involve this hill and gravel! It was a definite pucker moment but probably woulda been funny to watch from anywhere but where I was... I have checked with my landlord and he's ok with my parking at his house- I just have to get my nerve up again to go back down the hill...:scared:

 

[DraEagWol]

Glad that you didn't biff it... nothing's worse than picking gravel outta a wound!
Just take it slow and easy... practice makes perfect.. or at least more comfortable transversing gravel.

 

[J4patrice]

I'm with you on the gravel. Don't like it and never will. Be careful.

 

[Adrenaline Revolution]

80% rear brake and 20% front brake... 0% feet young lady!
Start off at the top of the hill dead stop first then creep down it with constant pressure on both brakes... Mostly the rear brake.
I NEVER touch the front brake in gravel and really only use the front as a last resort in a hurried stop.

Practice Practice Practice. :nod:

"AR"

 

[nogard]

Beth and Patrice didn't like the BBQ joint in MV then.. was a bad gravel parking lot ><.

 

[milani]

I guess I'm one of those ladies that don't like gravel either

 

[Adrenaline Revolution]

I guess I'm one of those ladies that don't like gravel either

Just treat it like ice

 

[DraEagWol]

Beth and Patrice didn't like the BBQ joint in MV then.. was a bad gravel parking lot ><.

we should have taken it as a sign of the quality of food there...!:tsk:

 

[Guest]

Just treat it like ice

I do my best to avoid ice too!

 

[Adrenaline Revolution]

I do my best to avoid ice too!

I meant when you're driving a car or something.
If there's even a possibility of ice or black ice then the Stryker will be cocooned in the garage, maybe even wrapped in an electric blanket then covered!
You won't find this guy on the bike in winter!... Pure chicken!

"AR"

 

[mikoloe]

Try it again Beth, not brakes this time!

 

[beth75kiss]

This driveway is way worse than the bbq place-lol i had no trouble there. This is step, with lots of loose gravel. I have no choice other than to practice, if i ever want to ride again lol! If the train let's up I'll hit it again, both feet up, hopefully breathing thus time

 

[Silkentek]

After the normal fluid and air pressure checks, she started right up as always, and I headed down the drive. It's a steep drive, and my landlord did tell me he'd recently regravelled it. You really can't slow a bike down in a lot of gravel by front brakes only (I had both feet down, trying to slow down...) I learned that you have to use the back brake, can't leave your feet down, and I gotta find a better place to park that doesn't involve this hill and gravel! It was a definite pucker moment but probably woulda been funny to watch from anywhere but where I was... I have checked with my landlord and he's ok with my parking at his house- I just have to get my nerve up again to go back down the hill...:scared:

I have always had this thing about gravel... so what does toby say to me? "you need more experience riding in gravel and playing around with your throttle and making your rear tire swish around a bit so you know what it feels like"
>.<
So shortly after him telling me that, I decided I wanted to see what the road looked like between the two ends I knew of, One end comes out near our place, and the sign says <--- Fort Sewart, the other end comes out on old hwy 101 (referred to as Avenue of the Giants) and says Elk Creek Rd --->
well I had never been very far up either end but both ends were paved... so like, the middle should be paved too right? RIGHT?
NOT
lol it all started out well, then turned into 18 miles of fairly well kept but steeep twisty gravel road...
We got to the highest ridge line and stopped to rest and Toby told me "next time you get an idea your head should explode" LOL
He was referencing a student video we had watched where the end of the world arrived in the form of exploding heads anytime the owner of the head said "Gee I have an idea...." SPLOOOOOSH!
Anyway, after that little adventure, gravel doesn't spook me much and definitely not on a stryker.
Use your rear brake, cover your clutch, keep it in low gear, don't do anything 'sudden'.
If I can ride down refrigerator alley in mid feb on 3 inch thick sheets of ice and snow that are 3/4ths of a mile long on curves and do 30 miles of that safely I am sure you can get used to your driveway =)
I always downshift to first gear tho on any kind of rocks... just stay real easy on the throttle and be ready to feather your clutch when you need to.

 

[StrykerSmith]

All summer long they have been resurfacing the roads and dumping gravel on the roads in my town, so that every street corner is covered with the stuff. It's dangerous as heck for a rider on two wheels. Two blocks from where I live I saw a guy riding a mountain bike crash on a patch of gravel at an intersection. My wife rides a motorcycle too and riding on the gravel scares the **** out of her.

 

[63falcondude]

My first gravel experience was on my way home from the dealer. I pulled into a gravel parking lot to talk to someone and when I went to pull out I hit the throttle a bit too hard and slid to the left. Luckily I put my right boot down hard enough and caught myself. Came soooo close to dumping her on the first day.

 

[Silkentek]

Much as I hate to admit it, lol Toby was right when he told me I really needed to just practice riding in gravel.
With the road conditions we often face up here, I get a few miles of practice every time I ride and I never know what kind of gravel it will be either because it seems they dump new gravel or tear the road up a little more each time we go past the bridges they are working on up the road to the east.
Then going the other way towards the west, we have at least 4 different stretches of gravel road that is from 1/4th of a mile to a couple of miles long each.
I have learned to just relax, keep a light touch on the throttle and let the bike do the work. These bikes actually handle quite a variety of terrain quite well.

 

[readneck1]

gravel

I live in the northern part of Canada and we have a great lack of paved roads here. I find riding gravel is pretty easy with a bike but you have to be loose on the bars and let the bike wander if it wants to. hard to explain the exact right technique but I grew up riding dirt bike so it is now a natural feeling. just bought my stryker this spring and loving it. so far have put cobra spet backs , cobra power commander and cobra power flo intake on it. plus of course the required black skeleton hand mirrors.