Motorcycle Hazard

There are many dangers motorcycle riders face. But are you aware of tar snakes?

In Arizona riders call it “jello”. This crap, on 100 degree days acts more like jello than any tar I know of. Though not as bad as painted surfaces in cold rain, the jello is a problem. It’s such a subpar product and application. I hate when they use it on roads. It’s definitely less grip when it’s really hot or even when it’s raining and they eventually peel or break up exposing the crack again. The worst is when you see it on a straight road and there are hundreds of those.

Motorcycle Hazard

Most tar snakes are 2″ (5cm) or less. If your tire slips as it would on a couple pieces of gravel or some sand, then it will find its footing in under a second. A nervous rider can panic, but shouldn’t. If you can’t take a 1/2″ – 3″ lateral slip in your mind then the bike is NOT your thing.

Loosen up that grip. If you are Rossi in the curves, dragging pegs with no lean reserve, then you might go down. Thus that riding is for a track, not a roadway. You should never be in maximum lean on a public street. If you hit dirt, a pothole or get faced with an unexpected thing, you will have a 50:50 of going down.

Stupid department of transportation approved the tar snakes and of course, most states, looking at their road tax bankroll are more than happy to repair them on the cheap, unlike CA where they simply raided the road tax fund to pay for pensions and let the state go to hell…but I digress… Best idea for dealing with these, is a smooth throttle when rolling over them.