Hi, I am a relatively new rider - started riding and purchased my '06 last summer. I also just missed a deer about 20 minutes after purchasing it and going home. The bike and I were both under repairs for about a month.

Anyway, my question is about the tar splices in the roads. Does anyone else feel a loss of control when they have to make a turn over them? And I am not going fast - just a slow left turn across 4 lanes of traffic at a stop light. I have been trying to go over them at different angles but I still feel like I am going over ice and am going to lose it. Do experienced riders have problems also or is it just me?

Yeah, f**ked up roads will make any rider nervous or "Oh, sh!t!" feelings.

Those tar strips can be pretty sketchy sometimes. If you are going slow and not taking a corner at an extreme lean angle, then you should be just fine. The bike is much more stable than the minor wobbles would make it seem. Just ride like normal and don't worry about those a whole lot.

Good to know others feel something also. The majority of the splices are are thin and relatively flat. This one that that I hate is across the road from one edge to the other so you can't avoid it and mounded up, as though they had probably repaired it so many times that they put on lots extra.

It is amazing the little things that you watch for when on a bike which you never noticed before because it didn't bother when you were in a car. I have a totally different perspective of the road now - no matter what I am driving.

It is amazing the little things that you watch for when on a bike which you never noticed before because it didn't bother when you were in a car. I have a totally different perspective of the road now - no matter what I am driving.
+1. And then some. :)

Usually the tar snakes are parallel to your direction of travel and I try to avoid them because once in awhile they are mighty slick. On one pretty decent turn on the interstate I'm on they have one long snake right thru the best line. I wouldn't even pay attention to it in a car. On the bike keep your lean angle as unaggressive as possible and be REAL easy on the throttle. You should'nt really have to correct even if you momentarily slide on one at low speeds. Both heat and freezing cold make them slicker as well.

I have run into some of that joyful tar riding around. I found it to be slicker than the road it was on.

It was a learning experience as the backend slipped momentarily and then grabbed. It was one of those "Aha" moments when all the stuff you read about staying steady on the throttle because the bike doesn't want to go down anymore than you do clicked.

The backend slipped then caught and all was good. I came out of it thinking, "that's what they are all talking about."