WEE being the optimum word.
Damn near pi***d myself, coming round a bend and I hit a wet manhole cover with the bike cranked over a touch, i felt the front let go nothing else to do but stamp my left foot in the road luckily the bike righted itself or i'd have slid unner a line of stationary cages on t'other side of the road.
managed to regain my composure and carry on.
glad it was at a low speed though!!

its amazing how your crash helmet amplifies your heartbeat in these situations! bdum bdum bdum bdum
i had a similar shock going round a roundabout on me last bike!
it was wet and i could see this spillage going round the roundabout.
i didnt know what it was - diesel, oil or whatever, but i had to cross it to go for my turn off.
it was only a cupla inches wide and i wasnt accelorating or anything. but as soon as my wheels hit it, the bike just instantly went from underneath me. instinctively my right foot hit the bottom and it uprighted me, the wheels had turned past the point of spillage and i carried on.
ive read in magazines often about diesel or oil spillages and how dangerous they are, but i didnt realise how bad they were till it actualy happened!
a good lesson learnt i thought. it also tought me the need for cycle clips or at least tucking your trousers into your boots

Have you ever walked across a garage forecourt in rubber soled boots?
It's exactly the same for tyres might as well be sheet ice. gotcha covered on the tucking in thing though Phhaarrt...  

I once was able to smell diesel, even before I saw it. Saved me from a last minute panic.


No, my nose isn't that big.  :O

in the wet  i avoid manhole covers like the plague!

oh them and any painted lines or mini roundabouts.. slippery as buggery in the wet they are!

oh and the joining stuff they use when they patch up a bit of tarmac..


im sure tc and dp will be able to come up with more?

Manhole covers.  The council must employ ex bikers or how would they know the EXACT line a bike will take thorugh a bend?  this is where they place them and most are made of quick-smooth metal so they are extra slippy.

This one was on a bend just after a left turn into a junction.
so i wasn't travelling too quick, if i had been i prolly would have cleared it with just jibber on the front wheel.
As it was the whole bike seemed to have that, you and i are gonna kiss the pavement feel.
Did it make me any mpre cautious?

You bet it did.

Seems everyone had a bad time yesterday, I had my first two-wheeled slide which completely panicked me. I had to pull over and had the wonderful "scared sh!tless" dry-mouth syndrome etc.
Was riding home from work and the roads were completely dry all the way from Wimbledon, down the A3 through Chessington and up to the second M25 roundabout but then as I entered the roundabout (I didn't need to stop as there was no traffic) the road was soaked to the point of having puddles round the outside. There's me doing 40 or so round a roundabout just after a national speed limit section and suddenly the roads are soaked and I'm turning a roundabout.
Isn't it strange that in the 2 or so seconds that something happens you can distinctly remember every detail... I remember hitting the wet, feeling the front wheel start to slip left, glancing in my left mirror to check I wasn't slipping into any passing vehicles, I pulled the back brake a touch to try and get both wheels on a similar path and that started slipping too, I stuck my right foot down hard and managed to jam the bike back upright (only a 125) even though it wasn't that low and I was back on track.
5 mins of sitting by the roadside and the brief loss of breath in that moment tell me that you never know what's around the corner.  :no: