What is the slipperiest stuff you have ridden on?

[John A]

For me it was a cattle grate at an intersection with some oil on it and wet from rain. Put me down as I set up a left hand turn. Next was anti freeze over oil at an intersection near freezing . I didn't go down but my friend did. Sometimes ice is not so bad, just be smooth with throttle and brake. Spilt diesel fuel is surprising. Anything else?

[SeanF]

Hard-packed snow on the road to the 14th century Gergeti Trinity Church in the Caucasus mountains of northern (Republic of) Georgia.



Shinko 705s on my DR650 said "no way, Jose". So I hiked the rest of the way. Worth the effort:

[sturgeon]

Automatic transmission fluid spilled on the road.

I live in horse-and-buggy country; horse manure is a close second.

[Aaron D.]

A lake.

[oldbike54]

 There was a member here who crashed on avocado innards , maybe someone can find the story .

 Probably the slipperiest thing I've ever successfully ridden on was a series of new bridges on highway 456 in New Mexico after several days of rain . The first 25 FT of new concrete was covered in a layer of gook and mud tracked in from the dirt highway . Cue Rocker and his pics of the road in dry conditions .

 Dusty

[Hahnda]

Ice.

[webmost]

Low of 5, high of eight, three four days in a row... but no snow or ice. I fire up the big beemer bagger and head up to Concord Pike for a business appt. Main divided business thoroughfare, three lanes each way, shopping centers and stoplights all long. Turned left, bingo: a water main had broken in the median. Water gushing both ways. Cars tracking water a quarter mile each way from the leak all three lanes. Black ice with new water on top. 700 lbs of big awkward bagger. Boots as outriggers.

So much fun I went ahead and returned the same route.

ABS rocks, BTW.

[kirkemon]

Maybe not the slipperiest, but I was surprised recently when I was taking an off-camber corner and rode over a man-hole cover. It had been "polished by being driven over so much, It was a quick slip and I was able to recover easily, but surprised.

Also not the slipperiest, but those metal grates on bridges for expansion freak me out sometimes.

[britman]

Roads in Virginia currently.  Apparently the State has a huge surplus of sand this year.............

[Doug McLaren]

Not the most obvious, but riding to work one morning about a week ago, it was cold, wet and dark and I went over a small sheet of cardboard which had been pulped by passing traffic. It was on a bend so I was leaning over a wee bit and the front end slid across a foot or so. No great drama but it certainly woke me up.

[Sasquatch Jim]

 Diesel spill on ice.

[Kent in Upstate NY]

Tar snakes on a hot day.

[pressureangle]

1. Black Ice. Unsuccessfully, I might add.
2. Radiator coolant, also unsuccessfully.
3. Car Wash water in the street. Got through that one with some theatrics.

[ITSec]

Fresh rain lifting six months of untouched oil from Las Vegas roads, onto the nice white road paint...

[Arizona Wayne]

Tar snakes on a hot day.

Fresh tar snakes on a curvy road.    We(2 up) caught up with the crew that was laying the fresh tar.  It was a norCal hiway we were riding west on that when riding east on it had a completely different personality in that when riding west on it there were curves you weren't aware of until you crested a spot in the road and suddenly found out then it was the beginning of a curve left or right!    Going east on the same spot you had straight road after finishing the uphill curve.  The tar crew were oblivious what they were setting up for a MC rider. 

[Huzo]

Suzuki Hyabusa !!!

[Triple Jim]

A large gasoline spill in the Homoco gas station near the U of MD.  I didn't know it was there until I was leaving the station, and did several slow motion drifts before I got out of it.

[rboe]

Snow. Actually fell once.

Successfully; One morning on the way to work, very cold, very humid. Hoare frost on the bridge railing (white fluffy stuff) and I came up to the Blatnik Bridge with my mechanic on the back. Once the bridge had air under it the surface looked very slippery. In fact I could see car tracks that merged, crossed and diverged. Tanker truck following about 200 yards behind me so I couldn't slow, couldn't steer. Just had to maintain.

Later my mechanic told me he took he feet off the pegs and slid them on the road. Like snot.

I swore by Metzlers after that!

[Arizona Wayne]

Later my mechanic told me he took he feet off the pegs and slid them on the road. Like snot.

I did that once on my RD350, after being warned by a State Trooper I was approaching ice and didn't know it.  I backed off the throttle and stuck my legs out like outriggers.  It got me across the invisible ice, unlike a couple cars before me. 

[v7john]

Bailey bridge with metal plate deck in the rain.

[Sheepdog]

You've all named things that have affected me at one time or another, save one: wet leaves over algae on the shady part of an asphalt road...like motor oil on glass!

[Arizona Wayne]

You've all named things that have affected me at one time or another, save one: wet leaves over algae on the shady part of an asphalt road...like motor oil on glass!

You just opened up my memory...........in `67 riding my 305 Yamaha I went over  slippery pavement on Oahu, Hawaii that felt like ice but instead it was algae I couldn't even see.   Had to go back to figure out what /why happened. It was an area that didn't get any sunlight due to all the greenery.

[PeteS]

Tar snakes are a given. Most towns around here add sand so its tolerable but one town skips the sand and those are like grease.
One time though I was on my LeMans on road that crossed a railroad track on an S curve. The crossing was covered with metal diamond plate and it was raining. When I changed direction the back end slid out and I thought I might have broken my wrists. There weren't broken but were pretty sore for a couple of days.

Pete

[TodkaVonic]

Hundreds of frogs. Evidently it was some sort of mass road-crossing event I stumbled through. First I was confused, next I was disgusted, and last I was unnerved since I was barely able to keep her upright. I haven't been down that particular stretch of county road since.   

[chuck peterson]

Humility, in the form of long wet grass under both of my airborne tires of an obsessively heavy r60 driven skyward by a college hold my beer attitude. Didn't get the girl either...it pretty much hit me, everywhere...and was not intimidated by my skull, shins, ribs, blood and bone resistance...we took a short break in our relationship together.

[JJ]

Black ice during the winter in Dallas, TX

[Daniel Kalal]

This thing.  With virtually no forward speed, the front end slid out on the smooth steel deck covered in water and oil and diesel fuel and Pete's yellow Griso dropped to the ground, well-protected by the cushioning my leg.  Sheesh.



Lesson learned, and I am now super, super careful whenever I'm rolling (or even walking) on the steel deck of a ferry.

[mjptexas]

There's this stuff called black algae that grows in wet low water crossings in Texas.  Makes Astro Glide seem sticky.

[Arizona Wayne]

Humility, in the form of long wet grass under both of my airborne tires of an obsessively heavy r60 driven skyward by a college hold my beer attitude. Didn't get the girl either...it pretty much hit me, everywhere...and was not intimidated by my skull, shins, ribs, blood and bone resistance...we took a short break in our relationship together.

A former work supervisor broke his collarbone when starting out for work on his bike on wet grass once. 

[John A]

I forgot about trillions of mayflies on bridge decks over the Mississippi .and the thousands of frogs up near Leech lake very slimy but I didn't go down!