Riding in the rain

Monsoons - Greenery all around, cool climate, cleaner air, the mollifying breeze and the sun, obscured by clouds. Everyone's happy all around. Well, almost.

The non-chalance broken by swear-words from a muddy, filthy, dripping wet creature that will not bow down to nature, and keep true to the idiosyncracies of his species. For him, come hell or high water, two wheels will be the weapon of choice.

Yes, the biker. Non-conformist, unimpressionable, incorrigible and intrepid.

The monsoons add new levels of challenges for riders. You could be riding for decades, but you would still be totally new to riding in the wet. Unless, of course, you have the experience. Riding in the wet gives the laws of physics a new whip to crack at you. Each law of physics which bikers tend to defy in dry conditions, demands amplified respect and there's no defying them. What you could do though, is to understand them, and follow them thoroughly. Yeah, we all know rules are for fools, but trying to defy laws of physics in the wet isn't too smart now, is it?

You'd be surprised that when you do ride ethically in the wet, you're almost as fast as you ride in the dry. And the best part about it is, that when you've learnt to go fast in low-grip, low-light, cooler tyre temperatures, better control on the bike while trying not to hit those damned pot-holes, you're a better rider at the end of the monsoons. And then comes summer. With all its grip, confidence and the sunlit cheer (which adds 5 hp :D), you are more confident, faster, safer and most importantly, smoother.

I've ridden through four monsoons, two of them, considerably, this being the fourth. And through each monsoon, I've learnt better bike control, better braking, better balancing, better throttle inputs, smoother lines, and most importantly, better judgement. It's like a crash course in physics, minus the crashes if you're careful.

Let's take a look at some of the things I've been forced to learn by the shrew that Mother Nature is.

The splendor years.

- Zero electricals, brakes and power meant I had to use all the judgement I had and then some. I needed to ride assuming that the other vehicle did not and would not know of my presence, and then make my decisions. It's a hard job considering the road had it's own set of rules for me to follow. Unlike the infinte unmarked lines on a good road, the cratered roads offered a limited number of lines marked by muddy puddles.

- Braking was a tough job since the drum brakes offerred almost no stopping power, especially after being thrashed recklessly in the summer gone by. Solution was to engine brake. Innfact, brakes or no brakes, stopping on low-grip surfaces requires engine braking at all times. Heck, even motoGP riders use it, and their brakes are by no means weak! What it does is prevent the bike from transferring the weight to the front tyre, thus preventing it from the risk of locking and skidding. But care must be taken that the engine braking isn't too abrupt, and not downshifting a cog-too-many at once, else you'll end up losing out the rear end. A process much too common on the splendor.

- Accelerating through corners is not the greatest idea, unless you're well-aware of all the grip you have. To make use of maximum throttle while exiting a corner, try to get the bike upright as soon as possible, and then give it gas. Infact, keeping the bike in a straight line and upright gives you the maximum possible scope for braking and accelerating. To accelerate on the corners, the inputs have got to be a smooth as possible. This isn't too much of a problem on the 17bhp weed-whackers we're forced to call bikes.

- Going fast in the wet has just one key - smoothness. Be it straight line, cornering, traffic-carving or braking. If you're smooth, you're fast. Something track riders can't stress enough. This can be disobeyed in the dry without any dire consequences, but in the wet it's not an option. Unless you like to kiss the tarmac.


- The tyre does count in the amount of grip you get, but amongst medium grip and excellent grip tyres, medium grip are adequate if you can balance the bike without being carried away with the momentum while manouvering. Shifting the weight of the bike is the key. If you don't understand what this means, get hold of some offroad bike videos here. Keeping the bike balanced is the key, and more than the grip, the shifting of weight of the bike matters more.

The Karizma Year

This would be my first year of genuine wet riding on the Karizma. I did ride a bit in the wet last year, but that was not much.

- This bike is far more capable than the Splendor. Far superior brakes, that don't fade in the wet. Working electricals. Better power, meaning more control on the road and no more being bullied by four-wheelers or other pesky two-wheelers for that matter.

- Far better handling. Bigger tyres mean better grip. But negating this is a heavier weight to shift. Try 50% more. Yeah, at 150 Kgs, the Karizma is just a few Kgs short of the Enfield Bullet.

- On the upside, good low end torque (LET) means that the bike is easy to pull out of sticky situations, without being too abrupt with the power inputs.

- The stock tyres have a tendency to slip in partially wet conditions. But in full wet, the tyres are pretty good, as long as you're not trying to posh your chicken-strips further.

- The suspension is excellent and gives a nice cushion from the 'riding on a cheese-grater' effect. Watch out for big pot holes though, that alloy could bend, as did mine, or you could end up bottoming out the relatively soft front suspension, and having the number plate leave it's mark in the headlight.

All in all, the Karizma is a dream to ride on the wet roads. It provides better protection against mud thrown up by the vehicles in front, but redeems itself by spewing mud all over your feet. It is very, very stable, and braking is very progressive, which means, smooth braking is ensured by default, unless you go trigger happy.

More to follow soon. :)

Comments welcome.

Cheers,
Manas Karekar.