Now i've only been riding a Harley (Sporty 1200C) for a year and admittedly most of that has been in the dry. At the weekend however I got caught a long way from home in the rains and it didnt let up until I got home looking like a drowned rat. Once the roads got wet though my bike really didnt seem to handle it too well. The back end kept sliding even at slow speeds and nearly had me in a ditch at one point even though I was only doing 40. Half way home I had completely lost confidence in the bike and headed the remainder of the way on the freeway just to avoid sharp turns.

Is this normal Harley wet weather behaviour? I have ridden in wet, ice and snow (dont recommend this one) when I lived in the UK and aside from the latter two never experienced this type of behaviour on Jap bikes. Tyres are good, recently fitted Ikon rear shocks so in general the bike seems to be set up well. Handles well in the dry, although an occassional twitch since I fitted the Ikons.

Appreciate any feedback

I feel for ya mate, I think we could have been riding in the same bloody rain. I was heading up to Sydney from the South Coast. By the time I got home I could literally pour the water out of my boots. Probably should invest in some wet weather gear.

I've got a new Street Bob with stock tyres and stock shocks and the bike handled fine, even in the really heavy stuff. I've only done 1300kms as well so the tires are pretty new. Having the back end that loose, even in the wet, doesn't sound right to me. If your tyres are in good nick and the pressure was ok  I imagine it is down to your suspension setup. Especially as you mention the occassional twitch in the dry. I pretty sure plenty of the guys on the forum have Ikons installed so hopefully they could throw you some advice on setup.

On that note, anyone got any tips on how to dry out leathers (jacket, gloves, boots)? Keeping in mind its supposed to bloody rain all week here in Sydney so it will continue to be damp.

Cheers, Chris.

you tyre must be crap, at 40k's you could be almost keeping your bike upright and turning corners, I would be getting a new one.

unless you have just got a new one and the silicon has not worn of yet

The heaviest rain I've ridden in was liking riding though a waterfall plus there was a lot of sheet water on the road...plus cars throwing bow-waves all over me. That was on my Iron 883 and it was rock steady, even through the surface water on the road. It was in a 60 zone but I'd have slowed down quite a bit because of the lack of visibility. That was with the stock suspension so not as good as yours so it doesn't sound right that you'd have had problems. Soapbox's comment on silicon sounds on the mark if the bike is new.

The silicone wears off after about 80ks, my guess is your tyre is crap. Have ridden many thousands of ks in the rain on my heritage and had no probs even at 110kph

if you lived through the infamous "Dam Run", then you know about wet weather riding and handeling...there was none...

mate all i do is close my eyes and hang on....then again thats how i ride anyway

When I was 16 my Mom's scooter would go round a wet corner faster then 40 without a glitch, so I expected better from this bike. There again, its funny how you sub-consciously try to adjust to a bad handling bike after a while. I really had to check myself to stop twisting my body and sticking my knees out on corners. Made things worse of course, but thats an indicator of how bad it was for a while.

Bike has done 10k so tyres well worn in, but plenty of tread. Ikon's same setting on both sides. I remember having a Suzuki trail bike some years ago which had a swinging arm problem. Starting to suspect that here, although quite tempted to take the Ikon's off as I only noticed the problem on fitting them.

Im 88kg so used the middle pre-load and a ride setting of 2. Maybe I need to drop the pre-load back another notch and give it a go.

I stopped for a drink (you would think the last thing I needed was more water !) on the Pacific Highway and heard a couple of other bikers mention oil on the roads and that it needed a good downpour to wash it off. That could have been part of the problem. 

In the end though the majority of the problem was psychological and it really does play havoc with your riding skills. I'd like to say i'll head out in the rain more often for practice, but I still havnt dried out from sunday. Think I might have trench foot nuts I got so wet !

Me thinks it's a confidence thing , I know i put new tyres on a bike a few years ago done about 1500 klm on them and got caught in the rain,rode about 50 klm's and absolutly shit myself , the bike was sliding round corners aqua planing , needed half a fucking mile to stop at 6oklm , i was in heavy traffic and very nearly left it and caught the bus home , turns out it was the new tyres , they were cheap but very good i was assured , (yey right )

Anyway for years i would'nt ride in the rain , i had no confidence in it until i went along the great ocean road last april, I got caught in a thunderstorm , from hammilton right through to Geelong , anyway no confidence for a while , then has i relized the bike was fine and everything all good , i actually started to enyoy it , i found sitting on the sppeed limit on a empty ocean road good fun , So much so that even though time was'nt a issue , i still chose to ride to qld in the rain , and now i don't give a fuck if its raining or not i never ever miss my sunday ride . Now the only reason i won't ride in the rain is if i'm not going far and cvan't see the point in getting drenched for a short ride .

Its a confidence thing mate just slow down and enjoy if it happens again change your tyres , thats more likely to be the problem . i run with mettzlers there good rain or shine .

My Fat Bob is the same,spit on the road and you can feel it moving around. On the other hand rode through a tropical storm the other day roads flooded and cars making waves but the bike stayed true. I am thinking that for me it is a confidence thing.

I had an incredible piece of luck 18 months ago when I did my first HART course (hadn't held a license for 36 years and never really rode back then either) because it pelted down with rain the whole day. 8 hours of wet weather instruction got rid of any concerns about it.

check tyre pressure ,if low it will give slippery feel in wet .tyres disperse water better with correct pressure or touch more .this should be first thing checked

Cheers all for the feedback

I have put a good chunk of it down to re-earning my riding spurs after a long layoff, although there is other good stuff to consider. Its true that the front shocks have shown themselves up to be shite since I fitted the Ikons and its the next on a long list of to-do's once I have paid Santa off. I'll check the tyre wear Phantom to see if it shows any signs of poor alignment, but am hoping its just the settings on the shocks. Looks like I might get another taste of wet weather this weekend to get more practice in and there's me thinking I had escaped the crap weather when I moved here