Treat Grip as a Budget You Spend Carefully

Every motorcycle tyre has a finite amount of grip at any given moment, and that grip has to pay for everything at once: braking, turning, accelerating and simply staying upright. Change the surface and the budget shrinks — sometimes gradually, sometimes without any warning at all. The reassuring news is that the surfaces which catch riders out are rarely a surprise once you know what to look for. The trick is spotting them early enough that you have already slowed and straightened before your front wheel arrives.

Polished Tarmac: The Slick You Cannot See

Where the aggregate has been worn flat by years of traffic, tarmac takes on a smooth, slightly shiny appearance — lighter in colour, with no visible texture and often a faint reflection under streetlights. It turns up in predictable places: the entry to roundabouts, busy junctions, outside bus stops, town centre approaches, petrol station forecourts and any bend that thousands of vehicles have already scrubbed clean.

Dry, it is usually manageable. Wet, it behaves like a skating rink, and a light drizzle after a long dry spell is the worst of all, because the dust, rubber and oil sitting on the surface turn into a thin film of slime before the rain washes it away.

When you spot it, resist the urge to brake hard while you are on it. Sit the bike upright, keep your lean angle shallow, hold a steady throttle and let it roll across. If you need to shed speed, do it beforehand, on the grippier tarmac behind you.

Paint, Overbanding and Road Markings

Painted markings are slippery when wet, and Britain has a great many of them. Give-way lines, zebra crossings, direction arrows, hatched boxes and the painted circle at a mini-roundabout all offer noticeably less grip than the surface around them. Treat them as hazards rather than decoration, and cross them as close to upright as you can, with the brakes off and the throttle neutral.

Worse still is overbanding — the shiny black strips of bitumen used to seal cracks and joints between patches of tarmac. In hot weather it softens and feels greasy; in the wet it is genuinely treacherous. The same goes for freshly painted lines, which are often thicker and slipperier than old ones, and for the polished white lines that run along the centre of a country lane, which can hide a longitudinal crack beneath them.

Metal Covers, Tram Lines and Drainage

Manhole covers, service covers, drain grates and gully lids are polished steel. Wet steel offers a fraction of the grip of tarmac, and these covers delight in sitting exactly where you would want to be — on the apex of a bend, on the natural line through a junction, or tucked against the kerb in the gutter.

• Look well ahead and plan a line that misses them, rather than reacting at the last second.
• If you cannot avoid one, cross it as upright as possible with a steady throttle and no braking.
• Watch for drainage channels and gullies, which hold standing water long after the rest of the road has dried.
• Treat tram rails with particular respect: cross them at as close to a right angle as you can, and never brake or steer sharply while your tyres are on them.
• Be wary of temporary steel plates over roadworks, especially when damp or when a thin film of mud has been dragged onto them.

Spills, Leaves and Loose Chippings

Rain lifts oil and diesel to the surface, which is why a wet roundabout can feel so unpredictable. The rainbow sheen of a diesel spill is most likely near filling stations, bus stops, lorry parks and depot entrances — anywhere a heavy vehicle has stood or refuelled. If you see that sheen, avoid it completely rather than riding over it gingerly.

Wet leaves are their own hazard, particularly in autumn on country lanes and under trees, where they form a slick, rotting carpet that hides potholes and drain covers at the same time. Loose chippings are another seasonal visitor: councils resurface with sprayed bitumen and stone, and both the rolling gravel and the oily binder underneath can catch out an unwary rider. Slow down, leave a bigger gap, and let the tyres in front of you sweep a path.

Position, Speed and Smooth Inputs

Where you put your wheels matters as much as how fast you go. On a wet main road, the wheel tracks of the cars ahead are usually swept clearest of standing water. At junctions and on the approach to traffic lights, though, the centre of your lane collects oil and diesel drips, so it is often the greasiest strip of tarmac in the area — move to one side of it.

All your heavy braking and decisive steering should happen on the good bits of road. Once you are on a hazard, the controls should go quiet: light, steady throttle, no sudden braking and no fresh steering input. Sometimes that means deliberately standing the bike up over a metal cover and taking a slightly wider or tighter line than usual, accepting a less elegant path in exchange for staying upright.

• Brake progressively while upright, then carry a gentle, constant throttle through the corner.
• Use the rear brake softly at low speed and on poor surfaces, where it is less likely to overwhelm the front.
• Keep your vision high and your eyes moving — the sheen, the flat white line and the manhole cover should all be spotted in your peripheral vision, not under your front wheel.
• Check tyre tread depth and pressures regularly, and take extra care on new tyres until they are scrubbed in.

None of this is about riding in fear of the road. It is about reading it — noticing the surface changing before it changes underneath you, and adjusting your speed and lean angle while you still have the time and the grip to do so. Do that often enough and it becomes second nature, leaving you free to enjoy the ride whatever the weather throws at you.