Jun 21, 2007

The first sign of the rains

It happened last night. I came down a dry flyover, which leads to another one. And as I crested the rather sharp, flat top of the second one, the surface went from bone-dry to drizzle wet. I went from throttle-to-the-stop mode to smooth as a teflon-coated, butter-laden, oil-dripping metal ball in a second. The front wheel of the CBZ X-Treme landed with a gentle whiff and the speed came down only a bit.

Then, there came the third flyover, which is a nicely curved one. In the dry, you can keep it pinned, letting the bike lean over just a bit and take the whole thing like a sweeper. In the wet, you have to back off a lot because the expansion joints are all metal – as slippery as that metal ball I just imagined. So I braked for the first of the joints and then it happened. For just a moment, the rear went silent and greasy. I felt it come out in a twitch before tucking back in smoothly. It said, 'The wet season's here, son.' I can't tell you how happy I felt!

6 comments:

A biker... said...

Can i have ur email id rearset?

Crew@Ginger Chai said...

Yeah you bet.. Happened a lot earlier to me. I was testing out this new HH Karizma and it had rained a bit earlier. Down the new town road in Kolkata, where construction of a zillion aparments are underway and Tatras and Volvos deliver more silt on the tarmac than to their respective landfill destinations.
The moment I hit the silt, I braked gently... that is, gently enough to lock up the front for a full 5 seconds... And 5 seconds my friend, is enough time for a full life flashback.. I came out of it with some rear wheel spinning twist on the gas..
Pulled over, lit a cigarette and smokes 3 puffs before the rain gods put it out! The flame however, was burining inside... unabated!

Anonymous said...

oh god the rains have arrievd, the tyres are bald, but my brakes are so pathetic that i can't lock them up so it's all good (i think) anyway, i hate those metal connectors, had a scarry incident on a flyover a year ago that made me take notice of all things metal-y on the roads.

happy rain riding.

PS: this is not related, but isn't it ironic that the advertisement for monoshock e-magazine has a bike with twin shocks at the rear.

Anonymous said...

rearset, with the kind of rain that has been hitting Mumbai for the last 2 years, I just wanted to know do you still ride in that weather. I know you are able to judge the depth of water :) but riding in ponds is a huge talent I guess ;). Is any bike (in the world) capable of riding in 1.5 to 2 feets of water without significant damage provided even the roads underneath are smooth and shiny (which we surely know they are not in Mumbai :).

Anonymous said...

i don't see what the problem might be, all you need is to angle your exhaust slightly upwards and it should be fine.

Anonymous said...

Hmm. How about an exposed chain assembly and a half dipped engine. Are the engines sealed tight enough to resist water entry in such conditions. Also how much clearance does the air filter exactly have and in case if an open air one would i not be exposed to way too much moisture.