How to ride a bike in rainy season.

First advice is not to ride your motorcycle in rainy season.

                Riding in rainy season can be an enjoyable experience only if you are experienced. Rain reduces the visibility where as wet road leads to reduce traction and wet clothing reduces your concentration level, and any of the aspect leads you to higher risk.

At the same time Riding in rainy season can be an enjoyable experience. So for the safe and enjoyable wet weather motorcycling involves the following aspects-

General tips

Always remember that rain is risky.

1. The very first rule is GENTLE INPUTS. Let me explain, gentle input is the only correct way for riding every time for every ride and riding in rain this rule is the most important. You should be very gentle in every input you give to your bike i.e: Acceleration, Braking or leaning.

2. AQUAPLANNING occurs when a layer of water builds between the tire and the road, leading to a loss of traction that prevent the bike from responding to the control inputs. If it occurs your motorcycle becomes an uncontrollable sled. The only solution is to slow down your motorcycle.

3. Check BRAKES- Once you start riding, find a dry patch of road and brake hard. By doing this you will get an idea of how much  grip and braking power the vehicle have. Hence gentle apply brakes to the wet roads and muddy surface.

4. In heavy rains, tyres are always wet and you know what kind of grip they will provide. On the other case in light rain, some part of tire will be wet and at the same time other portion may be dry. This will result into ON/OFF Grip. Take it seriously while riding in light rains.

5. God has given the habit to rain of spoiling your ride by spreading gravel and dirt on corners. Be very caution while cornering or leaning.

6. Avoid riding near the dividers. In many cases, smooth soil/ mud get washed out on the fast lane near driver. If you are riding in that lane, grip may be lost because of the mud.

7. Avoid riding on the painted lines on the road. They are quite slippery.

8. Wipe your headlamp, tail lamp and blinkers too. Carry a soft cloth with you for cleaning helmet visor or you can take napkin. Most of the Indian vehicles do not have effective mudguards. So you will always have slush thrown on you. Always carry a cloth for cleaning lamps.

9. While riding in rainy season, always keep your headlight on. It is better to be visible to you and others on the road. DO NOT RIDE ON HIGH BEAM, you won't see anything in heavy rainfall and in case of fog because the high beam reflects back and making you temporarily bling. Always follow lane marking on the roads.

10. In case of low visibility due to heavy rainfall/ Fog, while riding on highways, keep double the distance with the vehicle in front of you so that you can give yourself more space and time to stop your vehicle. Keep your speed according to the condition of traffic and more over on condition of roads.

11. You cannot see the manhole covers or potholes in rainy season. So try to follow the tyre tracks of vehicle in front of you with a required speed and space.

12. Do not panic if your emits a large white colored smoke from engine area, its just because of radiator or engine. This is because when water touches the hot radiator or engine it will emit smoke.

Tips for riding through standing or flowing water 

1. Be extremely slow. Be steady on the throttle.

2. Keep it slow, keep it calm. Do not drop the revs (revolution) to idle. Keep riding at a slower speed in a lower gear, and ride with consistent throttle. This will help avoid a big splash that might just  allow water to creep into either spark plus or exhausts. Keep riding at 2000-3000 rpm. If you need to slow down, use the clutch to control speed but do not reduce the rpm.

3. You cannot see the manhole covers or potholes in rainy season. So try to follow the tyre tracks of vehicle in front of you with a required speed and space.

Tips for preparing your motorcycle for rainy season:

Whether you go for a short distance or take off on long tours, you need to be prepared. First, let us look at getting your motorcycle ready for rainy season.

1. Get the motorcycle serviced before starting the ride or before beginning of rainy season. If service isn't due, just get it checked at the service center. You should check that electrical parts are working fine, all lights are working properly especially blinkers, there should be no cut in spark plug cable, tyres should have sufficient tread.

2. Keep the chain always lubricated. The humid air  + dry chain will result in instant rust. Have a look at the chain side.

3. While starting the ride, find an empty patch and test brakes.

4. While the bike is in parking, check for oil leaks. Once you start riding, every part of your motorcycle will be wet and you won't be able to find out if there is a leak or not.

5. SOME ADVICE: if you intend to ride in wet, over inflate your tyres slightly, say by 5 psi. This will reduce contact patch of your Tyre and prevent aquaplanning. Lower tyre pressure increases contact patch of the Tyre. Higher the contact patch, higher the chances of aquaplanning.

What to do after riding in rains?

• Please do remember that after riding in rains, radiators of bike get clogged with mud. (Not mud actually large number of dust particles. Once the water gets evaporated by touching the hot radiator, it leaves slime). And that's very much difficult to clean. Please do not try to wash the radiator with pressure.
• Rule one of cleaning the radiator fins, never use a pressurized stream of water as it bend the radiator fins and sap cooling ability. Rule two, always pre-soak the radiator with a weak to moderate stream of water followed by a shampoo.
• If you don't have time to clean the motorcycle properly aftre every ride, at least wash it down and remove mud. Keeping it muddy will result in rust creeping up in days.
• You should never store wet riding gears. Wet riding gears will have fungus growing in no time. Let it dry itself before putting it away. 

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