How dangerous is road debris?

[gnorthern]

How dangerous is road debris.?

After many years of uneventful motorcycle rising, I made two major swerves on my Spyder on the same day. The first was for three chunks of semi tires in the road and the second was for a 8 foot long 4x4 perpendicular to the road. I had plenty of reaction time for the tire chunks but I got nervous on the 4x4 (not that nervous since my thought was Nannie would stop me from tipping).

On a motorcycle I could easily miss the tire chunks and have never worried about tire chunks in city driving. But with three wheels I bailed for the shoulder. But with no shoulder and frequently no gaps between cars for an escape route, I'm really nervous about riding in an urban environment.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[Blue Star]

How dangerous is road debris.?

After many years of uneventful motorcycle rising, I made two major swerves on my Spyder on the same day. The first was for three chunks of semi tires in the road and the second was for a 8 foot long 4x4 perpendicular to the road. I had plenty of reaction time for the tire chunks but I got nervous on the 4x4 (not that nervous since my thought was Nannie would stop me from tipping).

On a motorcycle I could easily miss the tire chunks and have never worried about tire chunks in city driving. But with three wheels I bailed for the shoulder. But with no shoulder and frequently no gaps between cars for an escape route, I'm really nervous about riding in an urban environment.

Thanks for your thoughts.

I have ran over debris on my Spyder before, and other than the bump and banging of the item against the bottom of the Spyder everything was fine. I always keep about six seconds behind the vehicle in front of me, so I can normally escape the road debris trap.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

As an LEO I was a trained accident investigator ( a specialist ) and this may help ...while driving look as far down the road as possible ( like 200 ft. ) the faster you are travelling the less time you have to react .... Avoid hitting anything if at all possible .....AS LONG AS YOU CAN DO IT SAFELY ... a dear or bear or moose is to be avoided, even if you have to leave the road to do it .... also be aware of escape route's you might be able to take ..... I know this all sounds like a lot to think about instead of just enjoying the Ride.... But I never kid anyone about safety ..... ride safe, ride happy .... Mike

[RZ-Jackrabbit]

Like they are saying look as far down the road as possible to spot debris. Especially give yourself that extra distance behind vehicles that you can not see around or over. Watch that traffic out in front of you that may be dodging something that you can not yet see.

[Chupaca]

I would add...Trust no one to do the right thing out there...

[gnorthern]

While I normally agree with everything like looking far ahead and knowing your escape routes, I get very panicky riding in Portland Oregon since that is often impossible for me.
I was thinking about riding my Spyder up through POrtland and Seattle to look at Lees-ure Lites (no time for the scenic route), but this thread is convincing me to take my car.

[youngers]

road rubble is always out there , if you are worried about it , just always have it in mind it is there , even if it isn`t , you have trained yourself to be ready with out really trying ... { you have trained your motorcycle skills to react } .... but if you have " a trouble ahead " type of feeling even before you go riding , take the car ! I am not saying " man up go for it " but I am saying , if you worry about the little stuff , you might never be able to reach the fun stuff! just slow down and have fun as best you can !

[kep-up]

road rubble is always out there , if you are worried about it , just always have it in mind it is there , even if it isn`t , you have trained yourself to be ready with out really trying ... { you have trained your motorcycle skills to react } .... but if you have " a trouble ahead " type of feeling even before you go riding , take the car ! I am not saying " man up go for it " but I am saying , if you worry about the little stuff , you might never be able to reach the fun stuff! just slow down and have fun as best you can !

Amen.

[Bob Denman]

This is why we have to slow down, and learn what the limits are...

[JayBros]

While I normally agree with everything like looking far ahead and knowing your escape routes, I get very panicky riding in Portland Oregon since that is often impossible for me.

If you can't see far enough down the road to make things safe enough for you regarding reaction time you need to increase the distance between you and whatever is in front of you, i.e., slow down and/or adjust your lane position.

[Road-Kill]

I only ride/drive as fast as I can brake and pull over if I'm blocking traffic.

[Highwayman2013]

[SpyderConvert]

Motorcycle safety course taught S.I.P.D.E.: Scan, Identify, Predict, Decide and Execute. And look down the road as far as possible AND safe.

[asp125]

Your motorcycle experience should have already prepared you to maintain appropriate sight distance and lane position. On a Spyder you can with practice, straddle small debris between the front and rear wheels. Unfortunately unless you have a dirt bike, you can't just wheelie over a 4x4 so like the rest of us you'll have to swerve.

With three wheels you need to increase sight distance as debris and potholes need a bit more planning to avoid.

[ARtraveler]

Debris is going to be there and dodging it is bound to happen.

Ride aware--as others have suggested. With the , the fact that we have three wheels under us can present a problem. At first, I got good at dodging with the front wheels, but the back would always run over whatever was there.

You will probably never get 100% on missing everything--but some parking lot practice can help train for the inevitable.

Wood always scares me because it usually has nails in it.

[AY4B]

All the above and if you can, install a bump skid on your spyder. It will save you from the minor stuff.

[Peter Aawen]

And at the risk of re-stating what many of you will already know, but hopefully helping those who haven't learnt this yet, if you can't avoid entirely, it might be smart to aim to JUST miss whatever is on the road with the inside edge of one of your front tires! Rocks & potholes etc aren't great to hit with your steer wheels, cos not only can the kick on one side create steering havoc, but also the tires are smaller with less volume of air inside them to help the suspension absorb the knock; but by JUST missing them with the inside edge of a front tire you've got a reasonable gap for the object to pass thru before you are likely to hit it with the rear tire!

That said, it helps to be aware that you have a longer swing arm on the rear suspension than the 'A' arms up front & it is aligned with the direction of travel so it's easier for it to absorb hits than it is for the 'A' arms; and besides, the TREAD of your tires are the strongest bit of their construction, so if your rear tire is inflated correctly, then hitting something with the tread of your rear tire will allow the tire & suspension between them to absorb a helluva lot of knock before it becomes a major safety issue! But if your rear tire pressure is too high, you can pop the tire like an over inflated balloon as well as passing more shock load into the suspension; while with the pressure too low, you can pinch the sidewall between the object/tread & the rim & create a blowout, or you could even crack or shatter the rim!! And even tho you aren't likely to lift both the front wheels off the ground on your Spyder all that often, you REALLY want to be off the brakes when you hit anything - brake hard before the hit if you must, but getting Off the Whoa and on the Go before hitting will help unload the front suspension & maximise the Spyder's ground clearance.... pulling up on the handle bars & raising your behind off the seat probably won't lift much either, but it too will help unload the front suspension so that it's got the maximum possible travel available to absorb the knock, and with your behind clear of the seat your knees can help absorb any shock transmitted thru the frame from the rear suspension too! Breaking your tailbone thru not lifting off the seat can be embarrassing as well as extremely painful!

Still, if the object is taller than your ground clearance, you are going to want to try & avoid it entirely if you can do that safely, or you'll really want to have a bumpskid or an alloy Skid-plate fitted underneath your Spyder instead of the flimsy placcy OE tray that is down there from the factory!! But really, it does come down to that 'situational awareness' thing and scanning the road & traffic ahead as far as you can, then ryding to meet the changing circumstances as best you can! Your Spyder is not really at any greater risk of damage from hitting an object on the road than your car or 2-wheel bike, and it's certainly a whole lot more stable & has better braking than your 2-wheel machine, just be sure that your 'situational awareness' includes the cager texting & tailgating behind before you do an all out panic stop on your Spyder - the Spyder will outbrake most other road users significantly but they really don't make for great hood ornaments on the front of some dozy drivers truck!!

And others have said, Ryde More, Worry Less, or you might as well give up on living life!

[easysuper]

While I normally agree with everything like looking far ahead and knowing your escape routes, I get very panicky riding in Portland Oregon since that is often impossible for me.
I was thinking about riding my Spyder up through POrtland and Seattle to look at Lees-ure Lites (no time for the scenic route), but this thread is convincing me to take my car.

Ride like your in your car. We moved from Lebanon OR. to Portland last year and it's no different than any large city. We have ridden in LA, Chicago, Seattle, Frisco, Dallas, besides that if you find your trailer you can tow it home with your spyder ! Just give yourself room and ride defensively .

[Docster]

Posts #3 and 5 sums it up.

-Always be aware of your surroundings
-Ride like you are invisible

[GaryinWI]

A bump skid is a good investment especially for an F3.

[PistonBlown]

Road debris is not an issue for a Spyder. So far on my Spyder I've hit 2 possums (animal about the size of a large tom cat), several patches of gravel, potholes, a piece of firewood and some shredded truck tire (I have avoided a lot more stuff:-)). None of those things have caused any issues other than the bump as the tire goes over it. If I can't avoid something completely I just make sure it misses the front wheels. I was trained that its better to hit something like this on a bike with your wheels straight rather than at an angle trying to avoid it.

In comparison to a motorbike its far safer. On my bike I've crashed on a corner because of a bolt on the road I didn't spot, my front tire hit it, slid and down I went. The place where I hit a piece of firewood on my SPyder, a couple of bends later I came across a guy on a Japanese cruiser who had hit another piece and ended up in the ditch.