So I was driving home the other night on the freeway (car, sadly) and hit a long patch of grooves on the freeway that extended all the way down the offramp which had a slight turn to it. They were pretty rough and had a slight drop off of about 2 inches.

It made me think, how would you handle grooves like this on a bike? Any suggestions / comments?

 

Main thing is to keep your concentration. Don't panic. Remember, the bike wants to go straight. Slightly countersteer off of the groove. You'll be fine.

 

Do you mean the grooves where they take up the a section of road & reveal the 'Base' before they reseal it again? If so 1st time I hit on of those was years ago on a foggy morning commute.Doing a 110 KPH (68ish MPH) Road dropped by about 4-5 inches & suddenly no bloody traction & the rear started to fish tail all over the place, then whump, hit the the other rim where the unsealed road ended, lifting the front wheel, then the rear & now my feet come off the pegs as my **** gets thrown in the air. Needed fresh undies when I got to work. Now they put up "Motorcycle Hazard" signs.

 

ya those groves are bad, they are doable but not fun at times. if turning on and off of them remember to angle and let the bike do the work. i thought i was for sure going down the first time i transferred, to my surprise it was no big deal. no quick movements

 

The first time I ever encountered that was on a back road where they , at some point in time, had sparyed tar & gravel on the road but the gravel was long since gone BUT it stuck to where the tar lines were making grooves. I slowed down and the bike seemed to "wobble" but later found out they were much easier to hit them at a bit faster speed around 40 or 45 MPH instead of slowing to about 25MPH. I've seen the grooves you're talking about but just use a little caution and adjust speed to what you can handle.

 

Best thing to do is relax. No pressure on handles, and don't be stiff.

 

I hit those few weeks ago. I went to work in the morning and street was fine. Then when I was going home, it said "rough road ahead" and air was very dusty. I could not change lane to good surface because it was like 2 inches higher. It went on for 3 blocks. Bike was following the grooves and was very uncomfortable but it was ok. Although I would not go on it on purpose. I think I was stiff....

 

hit some the other day on the highway..scared the crap outta me...almost panicked but i kept calm and just rode it out...only 1 deep groove shifted me a little but no biggie...just ride it out