[formercenary]

I don't know how many of you guys and gals live in the country and have to contend with some gravel roads to get to and from home. I confronted the county grader operator and his supervisor last year and again this year about excessive gravel on the one mile of road from home to the nearest blacktop. I have about 3 hills to ride in that mile and the road is covered in course sand and rock about the size of quarters, especially at the bottoms of all the hills. The operator claims the rain washed it down there but the catch is we haven't had enough rain this summer to wet much more than a postage stamp. Recently I was at the bottom of one of the hills and was met by a truck flying over the oncoming hill. We were only about 10 seconds apart and I couldn't get out of the tire path in the middle of the road. Vehicles had parted the gravel into 3 bare strips down the road, with the center strip the widest.(The other "path" to my right was a mess so I was in the middle path) My side of the road had two ridges of gravel and a "wind row" along the edge. It kind of put the fear of God in me about riding "My road". If I ride slow there is less control but the results of a crash are less deadly, if I ride faster the front wheel is more stable but the results of a wreck are more deadly. I've gotten no satisfaction from his boss and this 20+ year old kid told me his boss says he is doing a good job and if I don't like his grading job I should move to town. I say Kiss his a**, but there is little else I can do.( I asked him nicely last year if he couldn't get rid of the excess gravel at the bottom of the hills) The county commissioners just play "Hot potato" with the matter and refer it to the same supervisor I already talked to. I am thinking about making an angled drag device to pull behind my tractor to move the excess gravel to the side. The county would probably have me arrested for "improving" the road but it would make an interesting argument in from of a judge. I hope few of you have my "problem" or are better riders than I am at riding on "ball bearings".

 

[tunnelrat]

Where did you find 3 hills in Kansas?

 

[dzlfitr]

Where did you find 3 hills in Kansas?

:hystria: :hystria: :hystria: :hystria:

 

[tunnelrat]

:hystria: :hystria: :hystria: :hystria:

Ya can watch a dog run away for 2 days there.

 

[Dwight]

Come on guys, we got hills! Ya just have to know where to look for them! I don't know the answer to your problem. I like riding the gravel roads and did it many times on all kinds of bikes including Wings and various HD's. I've moved to trikes now and don't ride them much because they eat up the paint on the trike body. In the old days we used to ride the sand dunes in OK on our dirt bikes, gas it up and just barely hold on to the handlebars. Don't know if that will work for ya but it probably isn't a good idea to use the center strip on uphills when you can't see if anybody is coming. What county are you in?

Dwight

 

[Barney Biker]

Man I hate Gravel Roads, Parking Lots and such.

Barney

 

[TwiXted48]

I deal with similar circumstances.

Our entire subdivision is on dirt roads in the country. The grader comes through and leaves rocks the size of softballs across the road, also sprays this calcium cloride crap thats not only slicker'n snot on tires but it eats away at the finish on bikes too.

I've got 2 pretty tight turns with about a car and a half width and there is always some asshat cager flying through there like on a baja track. It's really dangerous. When it's really bad I'll go kick the big rocks off to the side.

 

[T.W.Dustin]

My cabin in northern AZ is about 1/2 mile from pavement one way, and 3/4 mile the other way. It's considered a "primitive" road but is usually ok to get in and out on. Fortunately I don't have to deal with higher speeds (it's a 25 mile speed limit). I try to stay off gravel roads otherwise for the most part.

 

[rickr01]

6 miles of gravel to ride. I feel your pain. Nothing is finer than some young dumb azz red neck in one of those 3 story 4 wheel drive monster trucks that flies by ya on a corner doing 50Mph and spraying your brand new bike, or custom paint job with flying stones. Way back when I tried dealing with the town the comment I got was live with it or move, nobody else is complaining. I've since been indoctrinated into the Good Ol' Boys Hall of Fame on the road. I regularly visit with all of my 9 neighbors during our annual West Woodbury Road Pig Roast, and take what precautions I can. I've learned a few tricks and just live with it because I'm not moving! At least after 20 + years, all of my neighbors slow and either stop and talk to me while I'm heading down the road, or stop and smile just like we all do when flesh and blood horses are around. I can give you a few pointers on the rock guards I made from Mack truck mud flaps for the bottom of the bike it you'd like. Can't even see them, but they keep the bottom of your bike from getting hosed with rocks and rusting in the first year of ownership. Daily gravel riding is a whole different animal. Keeping your bike looking nice and still enjoying your country life style is a challenge, but it can be done.

 

[Road King Cole]

Not sure if it would be cheaper for you to pave the road or move.

Was the road like this when you bought it or was this where you grew up?

rkc

 

[HogDreamer]

On the way to Sturgis this year I decided to take a little detour to visit a rancher's wife where I used to hunt pheasant for years. The rancher passed away a few years ago and his widow is in her eighties.

The road I normally took there when I hunted the land was gravel for about 6 miles. I decided to shorten the dirt road portion of the ride by riding past the normal route and coming in on a asphalt road until the last couple of miles.

As luck would have it I turned too soon and found myself back on my typical route of years past. Turn around? That would take too much time. So I prepared myself for the long gravel road ride.

The area had a lot of flooding this summer which I discovered while riding the last portion of tar road before I had to turn onto the dirt road. All of a sudden, with little warning, the road would go from tar to dirt and then back to tar again.

Then I finally came to my turn up the gravel road. Actually it was more a rock road than a gravel road. The average size of the rock was about two to three inches across. I kept thinking, what have I gotten myself into?

Luckily I did not meet any traffic while cresting any of the many hills. I was trying to ride as slow as I could while still being able to keep the bike balanced between rocks. 6 miles at 25 MPH seems to take forever but I did make it.

I was able to take a different route after I left but that asphalt road was even worse than the first I took. This time the tar turned to gravel with no warning, even in corners. I was quite relieved when I got back to the decent road I first left to continue west.

I can't imagine riding on these types of roads on an ongoing basis. To me it's like walking on thin ice, sooner or later something bad is going to happen.

 

[shovelmike]

Me too

Been living on this gravel road for 35 years, used to be 2 miles to pavement, now 1/4 mile. You've got to stay a little relaxed on the controls and let the bike watusi around a bit, extensive dirt bike experience sure helps, even so when they dump the gravel really deep there's not much you can do, especially on an 800 lb. Ultra. Rumor has it that the county is preparing to chip and seal my road this year, time will tell.
The downside is that they neglect needed repairs for so long that I'd rather deal with gravel than broken up chip and seal with huge pot holes.

 

[UnSafe]

Besides the obvious "Suck it up" that you've been doing already, riding in a balanced, upright posture (ride it like a dirt bike) and stay off the front brake. If you have a tractor and either scraper/ grader blade or even a box blade, you could do a bit of road work yourself.

I run a few dirt and gravel roads here and there. But for me the worst is at intersections of paved and gravel roads where gravel and sand collect on the pavement between car tire paths. If not paying attention, Surprise! you can wash out the front wheel rounding a corner.

 

[boblkat1]

gravel had my fill of it

The wife and I where going out for lunch on upstate wisconsin, I desided to punch the address in my GPS. we where going along just fine UNTILL it told me to take a right turn... WE Did...went about 3 mile and then it turned to gravel, I though maybe for a short ways HAHA, the short ways turned out to be 32 mile of gravel...... thats not the 1st time the GPS did that,,, But thats another story
:spank: :dh:

 

[Ed Y]

I ride some gravel roads now and then but not to my home. However, it wouldn't bother me to hookup my grader blade and go to work on the road.