"Where did i go wrong?" thread in "Staying Alive"
Poor show, Bonny 'Cack-hand' Lad....

Poor show, Bonny 'Cack-hand' Lad.

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But bikes do not only skid when in the 'centre' of a lane!

It is certainly a reality that all (probably) roads can be slippery on occasion and most of us will have experienced it - but this does not automatically conclude that there is a 'centre-lane grease-strip' that can be identified as the cause.

true - but not definitive.

Again, agreed - but it's not definitive.

there will be times when a skid has fuck all to do with being the in the center of the lane, and there will be times when a skid IS partially caused by being in the centre of the lane and hitting a greasy patch.

CHANCES ARE - that in this (Bonners) case, it's possible that a grease patch assisted in his dismount, if he was in the center of the lane, and it was a road where these greasy patch are likely to occur - which I think it was.

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non quod, sed quomodo

Correct, which is why I suggested it as a possible contributary factor.

After all, cack-handedness [now, I believe, known as 'Doing a Bonners' ] can overcome limits of grip in the dry - let alone the wet.

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Argue with me: http://the-ride-info.blogspot.com/

And the irony is that where you're most likely to get a 'greasy strip' is often at locations where you get the wheel-tracks either side of it worn smoother by vehicles braking.

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Argue with me: http://the-ride-info.blogspot.com/

Interesting comments, and there are areas on my ride where I think there are greasy bits of road, but this isnt one of them. Like I said, I went back and looked and could not see anything. So in this instance, I think it may just have been over vigorous braking for the road conditions, maybe with a bit of a grab. yes, the roads may have been a bit greasy, but nothing out of the ordinary that I have not come up against many times before.

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TALK TO ME OR THE BUNNY GETS IT!

Not often I join the pedants, but about the oily strip in the BlackWall tunnel, how does it get wet, apart from the first hundred yeards or so?

I've experienced the slippery effects of long dry roads being rained on, sadly not in the last few years though, so will admit it happens, I can even remember when a thick black strip of crud used to exist on the M1, left had lane, most of the way through Sheffield, although improvements in HGVs and recent resurfacing have removed this now.

The fact that most of the places I remember that the 'grease monster' used to live in are now pretty 'grease monster' free does make me wonder if he's heading for extinction, anyone noticed this, or am I imagining it

Get well soon Bonners, don't let the incident get too deeply into your head, also make sure you check that front tyre, if it lost 4 psi in the off it might keep leaking.

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If beer is so bad for brain cells, why does my brain allow me to drink so much of it?

Crikey.... If you haven't spotted it yet then how's Bonners supposed to have seen it....

So you have found it somewhere..... So it does exist

Pretty much everywhere that you will find regular bouts of stationary traffic (as listed by Horse) you will find some fairly shitty patches of oil/fuel/coolants/air con discharge etc etc. Wildwoodflower also mentioned 'crud in the road' so have a think about country lanes covered in cowshit or recently cheaply resurfaced roads (where they just lob a load of gravel down). What part of the road 'cleans' the fastest....?

I don't think anybody has identified this as the sole cause just merely suggested that it may have been a contributary factor.

Like ol' Bobbie the instructor, you are putting two and two together to make five.

Just because it is slippery does not mean it was from the collective deposits of 'third-hand' cars making a 'centre-lane grease-strip'. Just as it isn't necessarily the motorcyclists regular whine of 'spilt diesel' either.

There was something making the road slippery on that occasion. It can (and does) happen pretty much anywhere. We need to be aware of it but not to the extent that we fixate on that and look for excuses for our own errors.

Stop it. I'm trying to read an article that talks about increased mental pressure on the rider.....

At a guess I'd say that with more modern cars on the road it should mean fewer old bangers on the road dropping oil etc.

No. There is not a 'centre-lane grease-strip'.

Some roads are sometimes slippery. That is all.
Back to my reply above - you are looking for an explanation that fits your model. I don't doubt that some roads are sometimes slippery but disagree that there is a 'centre-lane grease-strip' that we need to fixate about. Indeed to do so would, I think, cause you to forget that all of the road can be slippery and we need to be aware of that and not suggest to learners some ill-proven (and outdated) concept of a 'centre-lane grease-strip'.

Surely all roads are sometimes slippery if compared to how they are when dry?


I have no model to fit an explanation to. People have thrown up some ideas in response to Bonners' confusion as to why he may have fallen off. Nobody has categorically stated that a greasy patch in the centre of the lane is the only reason why he fell off.


More than happy to take you to 5 or 6 locations within a 3 mile radius of me that will have noticeable rainbow spots in the centre of the lane when the road is wet. The level of grip either side of these spots is considerably higher.

Are you really suggesting that it would not be prudent to make any rider, not just learners, aware of an area that could potentially cause them problems. As mentioned above and by several others, these 'grease-strips' do exist and also happen to be in areas that a rider is likely to need to brake in. If they choose to fixate on it and 'forget that all of the road can be slippery' then perhaps they are too simple to be on a bike....

Easily disproved by looking at the road surface at any set of traffic lights where traffic regularly queues... something I have been aware of over many years riding...

Its certainly not always there but its a definite factor I account for during everyday riding and particularly in the wet..

Was there?? I think we are in agreement that IF there was a greasy patch (it's unproven), then it MIGHT have been contributory.

but we've no "proof" either way. Even Bonners (the one person with first hand experience) doesn't think there was anything there, and the majority of the contribution to the accident was cack-handidness. We're just discussing the fact that often a greasy patch CAN be there in certain places.

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non quod, sed quomodo