Bike Handling

wet roads, lots of wind.

"Roland2k" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Is there something about this year's course that's causing all these
crashes? Are younger rider's bike handling skills not as good? The
number of crashes this year seems abnormally high.

The only good news is that Tyler has no broken bones yet. Given the
number of crashes, I would have figured him for at least two :-D

Roland

"Roland2k" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Is there something about this year's course that's causing all these
crashes? Are younger rider's bike handling skills not as good? The
number of crashes this year seems abnormally high.

Wets road and diesel film
Dave

"Roland2k" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Is there something about this year's course that's causing all these
crashes? Are younger rider's bike handling skills not as good? The
number of crashes this year seems abnormally high.

The only good news is that Tyler has no broken bones yet. Given the
number of crashes, I would have figured him for at least two :-D

In Europe I don't think they have sealed crankcases like they do in the USA
and there's a lot of oil on the roads. As soon as it starts raining it comes
out of the rather good asphalt roads and turns them into skating rinks. I'll
say this - ALL of the roads I drove on in France and Switzerland were of the
quality of the very best roads in California.

Tom Kunich said:

In Europe I don't think they have sealed crankcases like they do in the USA

Not sure what this means... but there is a lot of oil and diesel on
French roads.. there are a lot of vehicles that run on diesel as it is
cheaper than petrol, around $1.10 per liter rather than $1.30. After a
dry period it is lethal. The white lines were also painted with
non-grippy paint until recently and this causes problems for two wheeled
road users.

Roads also tend to be flat or hollow rather than convex, or even inverse
cambers, the Romans figured this one out 2,000 years ago so I can only
assume this is a hang-over from the days when the drain/gutter ran down
the center of the roads in France. The inverse camber thing is done by
the highways department to slow down drivers on bends but I've been
caught out once on a bicycle by this. Seems counter intuitive to make
roads more dangerous.

In article <[email hidden]>,

David Off said:

Tom Kunich said:

In Europe I don't think they have sealed crankcases like they do in the USA

Not sure what this means... but there is a lot of oil and diesel on
French roads.. there are a lot of vehicles that run on diesel as it is
cheaper than petrol, around $1.10 per liter rather than $1.30. After a
dry period it is lethal. The white lines were also painted with
non-grippy paint until recently and this causes problems for two wheeled
road users.

He's probably referring to EGR valves, but I don't think that's been a
difference for some time. The big deal is that, as you say, diesel is
common.

Gasoline is just as slippery as diesel (I've dumped gas and then slipped
on it; it's really really slippery) but evaporates very rapidly. The
half-life of a gas spill is minutes. Diesel is less volatile, and like
motor oil, will happily just sit on the road.

Quoted message said:

Roads also tend to be flat or hollow rather than convex, or even inverse
cambers, the Romans figured this one out 2,000 years ago so I can only
assume this is a hang-over from the days when the drain/gutter ran down
the center of the roads in France. The inverse camber thing is done by
the highways department to slow down drivers on bends but I've been
caught out once on a bicycle by this. Seems counter intuitive to make
roads more dangerous.

Inverse camber to slow down drivers? Really? Are you sure it isn't just
an excessively crowned road? that can lead to an off-camber in the
outside lane.

If they want to slow down traffic, one of the best ways is to paint
lines on the road that give the optical illusion of narrowness
(extra-wide lines at the side of the lane are a good one). This slows
drivers down before the curve, not by pushing them off mid-turn. Yeesh.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

one or a couple of stinkers in the publicity caravan are enough