How to Ride a Motorcycle in the Rain

You don't, that's it ! Unless you been trap by a storm. It one of the rule I imposed to my daughters when they wanted to pass their licence at 16 (in France) : Road is wet : bikes stay in the garage. I knew I would have trouble to explain and justify. Then it rained during a training lesson, and the yougest fall at slow speed twice, at roundabouts. She was freightened and it certainly delayed her readiness for the exam, but it was a benediction. On a wet road you have only 10% of the normal grip, now they know.

If you are cold, you should be makin sure you've got thermals on or keep a pair with your other rain gear.

In my 37 years of existence, I've never seen a gas station with gloves for pumping gas here in the US. I've been to 5 states as well, so if some have them, great, but the vast majority don't.

I ride a 125cc with no TC or ABS, I do tend to lean the bike and counterbalance, in case of low-side, I don't want to end up sliding down the road under my bike, but I do corner more slowly in a lower gear. I also sometimes have to tuck a little, as the wind can be a serious factor to contend with on such a light vehicle. The tyres on the Yamaha YS 125 are barely wider than a bicycle as well. Snow & ice is just the worst!

Many thanks, entertaining as well as informative as always 😆👌

I like to ride with both hands on the handlebars and when it's raining l always wear my gloves inside my jacket sleeves, this prevents water running down my sleeves into my gloves.
Never wear the gloves over the sleeves in the rain and always try to keep two hands on the bars. 😊

More than 60 years of roads and still today we have that dangerous paint in the roads. In all that time how on earth does anyone use or create one type of paint that have the same or closer grip as asfalt or concrete.

Another pro tip..keep both hands on the bars.

I've gotten stuck in a few mini-tsunamis, last one was entering Valdez AK at the end of a 6 hour ride, learned quickly which rain gear failed and which held its own. Helmet, Shoe Neotec II was fine, BMW rain coat, fine, gloves failed, over pants/rain paints, failed, so then the boots failed. Did they fail because of the pants, maybe? Lesson I learned, my tip of the day, change your gear when it's dry, you see rain clouds, don't wait until you reach the middle of the hurricane to put on the rain coat, at that point you're locking the water in and ensuring you stay cold and wet until your next stop.

Cuffs over gloves over cuffs.
When going, water goes one way. When stopped, water goes the other way.
If you ride all day you will have wet hands whatever you do.

With over 380,000 kms on my 2005 Harley Night Train (which I bought new), I've probably put more time in the saddle while raining (including PLENTY of massive thunderstorms) than most people have on their bikes overall. I still hate it. Not because I'm scared (not even a little bit), but it just sucks all the fun out of riding.

This is great, now teach me how to ride a street bike on loose gravel.

Have you ever tried riding during finnish winter

Going through a tunnel, without beeping the horne😮

far cry from current production, but it has to start somehow, lol

Rode through a flood once. Most fun ride I’ve had.. fueled up while standing in inches of water

I actually use latex gloves over my motorcycle gloves to keep them dry. I always have a bunch of those with my tools for some greasy repairs. I use washing up detergent on the inside of my visor to prevent fogging.

Talks the entire time focusing on making a video while riding...while simultaneously keeping 1 hand on the bar instead of 2 so that he can wildly gesticulate during his "lecture"... all while explaining what NOT to do during a ride in the rain.

Montreal...Hmmmm spent 5 years there. What do you do in the winter?? Ha!

Also, rode around Nova Scotia on a Kawasaki 90, 2-up ....We got wet!!

Is that a bolt?

Just low sided on a wet roundabout time to watch this again 😂

The little edits make this vlog a thousand times better than any of the others out there 😂

i have a motorcycle and i never used it in rain and never will, things with two wheels and rain, dont mix. plus it keeps it looking like new forever hahaha if it has any chance to rain, i'll use a car instead.

Heres my #1 tip for riding in the rain: dont

Pretty dry road for à rainy ride...

one time i got caught in the rain and had my laptop in my backback that isnt waterproof. i was so focused and worried about the laptop i wasnt paying attention to the road. i hit 2 big puddles of standing water going the speed limit and didnt lose traction in the slightest. if i had been paying attention i never would have hit them that fast assuming it would at least attempt to hydroplane but it didnt.
i still need to ride more because the curves bother me until i learn how much traction i have

Here in the Philippines it is impossible to have a decent following distance. The roads are very crowded, everywhere, not just in cities. Everyone overtakes and gets in front of you all the time. They're careless and dangerous. The road quality tends to make you wreck easily. Bottome line, don't ride in the rain here. if you can avoid it. And of course no gas stations in the Philippines would ever have plastic gloves. If they did, someone would steal all of them as soon as the station places them there.

missed opportunity to show dumb and dumber frozen to their pocket bike but forgiven for the oversight, any f9 video is a good one

Have the right kind of tires, and be extra careful and reduce speed. Don’t stay close behind cars.

On the west coast we get a lot of rain. I have noticed that where the car tires run often the road surface is depressed and pools water. The center of the lane is not as smooth and shiny as the tracks that the cars run in. With a Tuono V2, 138 hp the tire would spin easily on the portion that car tires run. The centerline had MUCH better traction. Oil dripping on centerline is mostly not an issue with modern vehicles. I only see oiled centerlines at intersections where vehicles. stop for a while.

Checking traction is easy to do by hitting the back brake briefly or with powerfull bikes, hitting the throttle with a short blip to see if there is spin. It is important to learn proper use of the front brake in slippery conditions. If front wheel locks, a quick violent slap of the foot on the road can prevent a crash. I have done that twice while testing maximum braking ability. Or just get a bike with good abs brakes.

I miss videos like this a lot. They're casual but still have effort in them. It's comforting to watch and also informative.

I’ve gotten used to riding in the rain, i ride a super sport and it handles fine in rain, just means I can’t use the power, but i still get to enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of nature so it’s not all bad

I recommend Low Tyre pressure for safety.

I bought a new Yamaha SCR950 and hated it . I droped it once at low speed . It was heavy bike , top heavy and kind of lacking hp to for 950 CC . This what happens when they try to make a all round bike sort of . Not good at anything . But it did look cool .

Everyone else on the rode trying to figure out what his hand signals mean

You also shouldn't talk with your hands while riding in the rain

"Don't tuck up on the bike when it's cold."

Great advice. 🤔

had a diesel pickup in the province of quebec and i dont remember seeing those glove anywhere here, also a truck driver. very rarely see them a truck stop but never in quebec

Two hands on the handlebars... #1 Rule...

On the subject of "trust your tires--they always have more grip than you think"

I have to say I am not an advocate of that idea. I have been riding about 15 years and have had several low side crashes--two of which were in the rain.

In my experience bike tires DO NOT have more grip than expected. In fact, I made the specific mistake of believing that heuristic once and it led to my first major crash in the rain. I remember very clearly that as I was riding through the tightening curve I made a conscious decision to "trust the tires" and lean further to stay on track. I had heard this instruction before and followed it when the time came. The bike slid and I flew off the road. I don't believe in that heuristic anymore.

I got caught by a storm and got so wet I had to jump in a lake to dry off. Riding in the rain isn't hard. It just wears you down faster.

Which path is best really? middle is dangerous because of possible oil leaks, but left/right following car tires paths seems also dangerous in a higher intensity rain as they leave tracks of water and possibly lead to hydroplaning if we follow the tires path. I’ve been riding on middle path since it’s visibly dryer than the sides… but idk

You were in QC? 😅😂

I don't know, I don't wanna know.

Good advice x

Damm this channel really got improved, OMG what an improvement curve we can see in the new videos in comparison with this one... props to you, bro, you really is someone not sitting on the confort zone