Rain, cracked road, crap tyres, or just lack of talent?

Had an arse puckering moment this morning – wet roads and one of those black shinny “gap sealing” lines running from the left to the right side of the lane on a slight left bend! The rear stepped out big time , enough to throw a boot off the peg and a big head shake (the bandits, not mine). Im usually fairly vigilant about these bloody things, but this one caught me out. Ive noticed that these original tyres tend to tram line . With 3500kms on them so far, looks like they’re going to “last” over 8k unless their wear rate accelerates the older they get. Bring on the PR3’s!

Mate it happens to the best of us
If the original is starting to scallop and square off chuck it now
I ran a PR2 on the rear for a few 1000km before putting a PR2 on the front.
I never had the D218 let go and I got pretty good wear across the tyre until about 5,000km but if you're starting to question it go for peace of mind.
Not sure about the PR3's but the 2's let go easily until warm so keep it straight'ish on white lines and arrows for the first 3km

wet weather..take it easy. You can have the best tyres,but if theres any residue of oil on the road mixed with rain, and your history. Rule of thumb for me, wet road, take nothing for granted,and upright as much as possible on corners,plus any road paint markers

your no orphan mate its easy to get caught out & you can`t always see those repairs in the wet / when they started to repair cracks in SA roads with that stuff they decided to cut costs and didn`t always put the anti slip stuff in it with disastrous consequences. I copped one of them on a ride through the hills & the back wheel stepped out as yours did /didn`t drop it but I was very lucky not to . In the end they made the contractors re-do their work but it took a long while to trust that stuff again .(some of the roads seem to be more squiggly lines than bitumen .)

If you are anticipating 8,000 kms from the Dunlops you might not have squared them off. I'm with 2WA though, I had good grip from them but once they were squared off they were useless - mine were replaced at 7,400 kms and plenty of riders on the forum got way less than that (I'll bet they were more skillful than me). I always warm up the PR2s by taking the long way round to the main road in the morning so I've not had any issues with them cold. Nonetheless, I'm super conservative in the wet compared to the dry and really take things easy, warm or cold. Earlier this year I hit oil on a 40kmph steep downhill right hander and was thankful for my conservative approach. My brother on his Ducati lost the back but he is bloody good (thanks to all those track days) and had no trouble - it always comes down to knowing your bike and riding within the limits of your's and its capabilities.
PS: Sometimes there's a lot to be learnt from a scare such as yours in terms of what one might do differently the next time. This sounds pretty patronising and I don't mean it to be but I've thought a fair bit about what I'd do in the dry if I went too hard into a corner and found myself in danger of running wide. So I have started to practice pushing this by exploring the limits of traction - the PR2s and better front suspension help alot and I'm now confident of leaning the big bandit further over than I would have before. Bottom line, reflect on what happened and take away the positives for you in terms of developing your skills (preaching again of course).

The same thing happened to me with a week old Pr2 on the back. 45 degree fishtails for 10 metres. Thought it was the end for me as there were cars coming the other way. Now I've got a new Pr2 on the front and I'm not taking it out in the wet until I've worn some skin off it. Although the dealer reckons to always wipe the tyre down with metho before it first run. Metho is a defatting agent which pulls the waxyness out of the tyre. Spray &wipe does the job too.

Thanks Lads. Yeah, Im always cautious in the wet - but these Dunlops are something else! Ive always run Dunlops on my previous bikes, but none of them have this vague feeling as the bandits. There a few white lines I know my previous bikes slide over when it was wet - I expected it, and actually had some fun at the time , but Im not so game with the bandits hoops.
Most of my commute in fwy, but the twisty bits are at the start and finish, so Im keen on tyres with grip from the first or second corners! Someone ere mentioned Pirellis over the PR2/3's - I'll do a bit of digging and see what their comments were.

Oh, adjusted my headlight as per Hammys instructions - worked a treat but..........the bloody thing rolled fwd off the side stand (yes, it was facing down a slight incline , yes Im a dickhead ) and fell braking the indicator, scratching the side cover and the bar end! The kids were just as shocked as I was, so I kept my expletives to myself.

Not my week!

I was caught out running in a straight line at 100 clicks a few weeks back... felt like both the front and rear had a bit of a slide at the same time on a bit of shiny bitumen that was wet... heart rate is nearly back to normal now!!

Bhoffo wrote:I was caught out running in a straight line at 100 clicks a few weeks back... felt like both the front and rear had a bit of a slide at the same time on a bit of shiny bitumen that was wet... heart rate is nearly back to normal now!!

sounds like you may have left skid marks on more than just the road there Bhoffo

paul wrote:

sounds like you may have left skid marks on more than just the road there Bhoffo

I'll see if I can find a photo of them and post it if you like!!

Bhoffo wrote:

paul wrote:

sounds like you may have left skid marks on more than just the road there Bhoffo

I'll see if I can find a photo of them and post it if you like!!

( good thing this isn`t scratch & sniff )

I live in the hills and my street is steep and undulating and when they gap filled it, it looked like a dry creekbed. Crikey it was treacherous. If it wasn't the front stepping out the rear was snaking. Revs had to be so low that forward progress was marginal. Tyres were perfect and it made no difference. It amazes me in our nanny state times that they will close a road for six hours to retrieve a twig but painting the street with black ice without so much as a sign is perfectly OK?? I suppose its too hard to put a speed camera in my street.