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Tar Snakes...WTF


RSVDon

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Okay, so I felt like I was gonna go down again the other day. Ever since I got the new tire put on (Sportmax Q2) it's an absolute bear to deal with steering whenever I go over a tar snake. And in Michigan there's a lot of those!

At 70+ mph, if I'm changing lanes, I get headshake when I hit the tar strip, same for accelerating. Yesterday, I was on an on-ramp covered in the damn things and when I crossed over one (doing 30 on a 25 mph ramp, aka not fast) parallel to my travel the bike slipped and tipped in very quickly.

What gives?! My old Qualifiers never did this, and the new Q2 is completely stable on dry, wet, bumpy, smooth, pretty much any condition I can throw at it. But if I cross a tar snake it's game over. WTF...

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I always remember this story about a group of experienced riders on a ride through Arizona. They went through this pass that was just wall to wall tar snakes and everyone was all puckered up and hated it but after about an hour on them they all got used to it.

Point of the whole thing was that they don't cause any trouble, they're just a pain to get used to.

I think I'll just always hate them. I just picture the perfect one that follows my rear tire right off the road.

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i spend much of the summer putting these "tar snakes" down. It depends on the compound they put down. Theres two major ones. One is called mc3000 and the other I don't remember. But one is rubber and the other is tar. When it gets hot out one of them softens up and becomes slippery to a motorcycle tire. The plus side to the one that softens up ( to the road crew) is that when it gets hot, it "bleeds" and will repaire itself from snow plow blade marks, and anything else that may have scraped it off.

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it may be something that got tweaked aftrer you last accident..

I rode it after the accident with the old front Qualifier. No problems whatsoever. As soon as I got the new tire on and got the bike to Michigan is when I noticed it. Like I said, it's fine any other time no matter the road surface, just not on tar snakes.

I guess it's just the budget tar they use up here to cover the roads in. Michigan is very fond of not patching or fixing roads until they have the ability to pop car tires.

Eff this state.

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them damn tar snakes are scary! i hit some going around a curve the other night and it made my butt pucker! LOL i never really saw them as a threat until that night.. not sure about my tires though...

Reading this made me giggle a little bit

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same thing happened to me when I put my contiforce on changed lanes up in garfield over some snakes and head shake like WHOA!!! scared the piss out of me thought I broke something

Edited by ZIXXER9R
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I've always heard them called snail trails (not that kind of snail trail). How funny. I need another example of regional dialect for my linguistics class. I just got it. Thanks.

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Yeah, I hate tar snakes. They get super soft in the summer.

You know what I hate DON. I hate coming home on 35 from Xenia area and the merging area where it seperates with trees has been torn apart and nothing but ridged vertical rumble lines which make your bike feel like your going to tip over at speed. When the hell do they plan to pave that area already!?

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You know what I hate DON. I hate coming home on 35 from Xenia area and the merging area where it seperates with trees has been torn apart and nothing but ridged vertical rumble lines which make your bike feel like your going to tip over at speed. When the hell do they plan to pave that area already!?

Dude! No shit!!!! I was coming back from Skydive Green County when I came home to get the bike. Didn't even know they had torn it up, wasn't paying attention and went in at 65 like I always do. BAD IDEA!!! I coasted down to 40 and it was still all over the place. Of course, the cagers behind me were kind enough to literally almost run over my ass by the end of that grated stretch. I'm avoiding that from now on.

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if I cross a tar snake it's game over. WTF...

why dont the AMA do something about that? those idiots dont even know tar snakes are a hazard to motorcycllist. likewise, the steel cable lane dividers, which kinda remind me of the band saw in a butcher's shop. the AMA is such a farce..

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why dont the AMA do something about that? those idiots dont even know tar snakes are a hazard to motorcycllist. likewise, the steel cable lane dividers, which kinda remind me of the band saw in a butcher's shop. the AMA is such a farce..

huh?

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