Riding on grooved or milled pavement?

[meowguy_imp]

So I had my first experience on grooved (milled) pavement and I absolutely did not like it. I found I could maybe handle 35 or 40 mph, but anything more was just too uncomfortable. Then later that day it started raining and I followed a Harley (from my truck) that was clocking 50 mph on wet grooved pavement.

So what's the deal. Am I chicken or was the Harley pilot crazy?

 

[Houtman_imp]

When I buy new tires I always look at the tread carefully , thinking how would they do on grooved pavements and bridges.
I have had some Metzeler tires in the past on my CBX and they were terrible on those surfaces, especially when new.
I can not recall the name but they still sell them .

 

[Todd_K_imp]

Even better is before they resurface it and spray it down with oil and sand .

When I can't avoid them I treat those roads like bridge decking. Try to stay loose and let the bike weave as it wants to vs white knuckling and fighting the grooves.

 

[Houtman_imp]

The Metzeler tires I mentioned before was the Lazertec REAR, the front was great but not the rear on grooved payments.
If you look at the tread you can see how they would "wriggle" when new.

 

[INTP_imp]

I have the Pilot Road 3s, and they ride pretty well on milled roadways.

 

[Gumby 1100_imp]

I just did a quarter mile stretch at 50mph, but would not want to do much more. I actually found that the Battlax Radials on my 2014 CB handled it better than some previous heavier bikes would have.

Several years ago I was travelling on a 400 series highway near Toronto at about 65 mph when it suddenly changed to grooved asphalt in preparation for resurfacing. I was on my VTX1800 at the time and was forced to keep pace with traffic. After about 5 miles of that, I found the first exit to a secondary road where I could relax and my butt could unclench

The worse surface I have found so far was the open steel grate on a lift bridge near the harbor in Hamilton, Ontario...and of course, the grooves ran longitudinally to catch your tires. I pretty much had to slow down to a crawl in order to keep my 1700 Road Star upright and on track.

 

[ClassicVW_imp]

I do notice my CB is a little bit more "wiggly" on grooved pavement than my other bike, a Honda NT700V or my previous bike, a BMW 12200RT. My CB wears the Dunlops while the NT has the Bridgestones. Looking at them, they seem to have very similar tread patterns. Maybe the CB's squirm is solely due to a slightly narrower tire?

 

[Gingersdaddy_imp]

When on our trip on 40 west in Asheville, NC I hit that grooved/ground pavement at 70 plus with the wife and over night gear on the CB. It was a little crazy, but I tried not to fight it and let the bike move around like it wanted to. It was mainly just the front that wanted to dance around, but she would hold a line. after a few miles I kinda got use to it.

 

[ClassicVW_imp]

I think that's the main thing, relax and don't fight it. It may be unnerving, but in the end, I think the bike and you will be OK. It'll wiggle, but you should be fine.

 

[Deanohh_imp]

It can help if you move gradually back and forth in he lane, crossing the grooves at a slight angle.

 

[Novice_imp]

They've chewed up the roads here lately so I've unfortunately had to deal with this also. It seemed to me the stopping distance also increased, but that could be because of the residual debris left on the road and not necessarily the grooves.

 

[The Spaceman_imp]

I think that's the main thing, relax and don't fight it. It may be unnerving, but in the end, I think the bike and you will be OK. It'll wiggle, but you should be fine.

My HD used to squirm around a lot from grooves etc. in the road. You're right: once you relax and ignore it, it's not an issue. The bike isn't going to veer out of the lane or anything, it just squirms around. I haven't even noticed it on the CB.

 

[emptysea]

The Road Pilot 3s seem to ride better than the original tires. I blamed it on the center grove, but I'm probably wrong about that.

 

[redbirds_imp]

I think radial tires handle the grooves better. The "squirming" that is felt on grooved roads is more unsettling than dangerous.

 

[mininsx_imp]

I don't worry about bridges with grating, but I slow down when they're milling up old pavement, not because of the grooves but because of the debris that's left behind. I've seen piles of asphalt that looks like sand and rocks from milling that they don't bother to remove right away.

 

[Pauley]

Pavement grooves are okay with me. You can feel the steering squirm a bit but it's manageable. I really get on the lookout when I come across milled pavement when they're getting ready for repaving - it's the edge traps that can bring you down! I had a close call (at low speed) with an edge trap just down the hill from my house a few weeks ago.

 

[Offroad]

I came across some grooved payment (I-70) in my SUV today and I was amazed how much I could feel my SUV moving side to side.

This made me wonder about how my CB would handle it, so I searched the Forum and found this thread.

Then Pauley mentioned "edge trap" and I had to Google it.

Here is what I found (kind of knew this already...getting caught up against a curb just seems dumb but I guess it can happen).

 

[jimgl3_imp]

the old original pilot roads were the best. they had tread that crossed the tire pretty much exclusively

 

[the Ferret]

There is a great road about 2 1/2 miles from my house. Very curvy with some elevation change. Most direct way for us to get down to the State Highway down by the river. About a year and a half ago they milled it for what looked like a repave job. My son and I were all excited because fresh asphalt would be awesome on that road. Well 6 months went by, and no new surface. My son called ODOT and asked them when they were going to fix it. Their answer was they weren't. That the milled surface of this curvy road was "safer". My son asked if that was true, what aren't all curvy roads milled? They had no answer. At any rate it's been a year and a half now. We still ride it daily or nearly daily and it feels like you are riding on marbles with the bike squirming all over the place. Horrible!