I am seeing the use on chip seal on more and more roads now days. There is a road behind my place that I use when I need a test ride or just want to ride around the block. Only about 5 miles but curvy . I know every corner and can ride it to my abilities. Well, they went and chip sealed the thing and took the "fun" away in the process. They said that they will sweep it 3 times to get the rocks that don't stick but as of date its still one hell of a gravel road! Since it all looks like gravel its impossible to know what corners have loose gravel. This isn't the first road ruined that i've been on lately. I was coming out of reno this month and came upon a fresh chip seal with a lady on her bicycle laying in a fresh pool of blood. I don't know if its a planned conspiracy to slow us two wheelers down but they have succeeded. Just wait until they chip seal the DRagon! :roll:
Is the chip seal process the end of our fun motorcycle roads?
Jercoupe
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I am seeing the use on chip seal on more and more roads now days. There is a road behind my place that I use when I need a test ride or just want to ride around the block. Only about 5 miles but curvy . I know every corner and can ride it to my abilities. Well, they went and chip sealed the thing and took the "fun" away in the process. They said that they will sweep it 3 times to get the rocks that don't stick but as of date its still one hell of a gravel road! Since it all looks like gravel its impossible to know what corners have loose gravel. This isn't the first road ruined that i've been on lately. I was coming out of reno this month and came upon a fresh chip seal with a lady on her bicycle laying in a fresh pool of blood. I don't know if its a planned conspiracy to slow us two wheelers down but they have succeeded. Just wait until they chip seal the DRagon! :roll:
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1,892 Posts
They have been doing the chip seal thing for several years up here in Canada on some country roads, for the few weeks that they leave the chips on it is pretty much suicide to ride the roads at speed on a motorcycle and finally when the sweep you realize that we're they applied the stuff you now have a permanent mini speed bump ...sucks
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4,022 Posts
when they do that here, the snowplow peals it all off into your yard. Then the next summer you think it's ok to ride fast and they do it again. Best thing for it is the dump trucks and logging trucks packing it into the road on hot days. it's always slippery in the middle of the road. Don't tailgate !!!!
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Here in PA, they've been doing that for many years. It's very common. They claim it's a much cheaper method of "repairing" the roads. The good news is that on roads that are traveled fairly heavily, after a few weeks, the gravel gets seated in the tar and the excess gravel is either swept away or washed away by the rain. In the meantime, it really makes it a challenge to ride on and plays hell with the paint job of all vehicles. Considering the danger it poses to bikers, I can't believe they can get away with doing it. But since when does the gov't care what the public wants?
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3,777 Posts
I don't mind the chip seal once it's all done getting loose gravel so much, but around here we have worse processes. The worst is the tar snakes. A few tar snakes I can live with, but when they basically paint the entire road with 600,000 snakes going every direction and sometimes even tar an entire patch on the road, it gets rediculous. I've seen tar snakes 10ftx10ft right in the center of a turn in a gooey mess in the heat of summer. The other thing is the crosswalks. I'm all for pedestrian safety as I walk upwards of 2000 miles a year, but a car or motorcycle doesn't give $0.01 care whether a pedestrian crosses the road in white squares or not, so why paint 3 million of them on the road that does zero good?
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694 Posts
I am not sure what chip seal is, but.... when in North Carolina in early July I rode down a familar road off of the Blue Ridge Parkway >215 < toward Canton, which is steep and very curvy coming off the mountain for about 10 miles. As soon as I got on this familar road there was a layer of small gravel spread sorta evenly over the road. It was extremley dangerous and no way to turn around once started. I traveled all the way about 10 mph max in a slow coast. When close to the bottom they were starting to put a thin layer of a black tar/sealer ? on the road on top of the gravel. they had completed about a mile of the tar/ gravel and were leaving for the day.... I can't imagine someone finding that road after dark which leads past a National Forest Campground near the bottom. You all said they put the sealer down first ?
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:agree:. We have very little good quality pavement left. :evil:
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4,925 Posts
tar and gravel road "repair".... AKA cheap seal...
They tar and graveled 1/3 of my favorite 60 mile twistie route several years ago. That section of road was crap to ride on for a year. The second year started getting a bit better, but you still had to watch out for the piles of loose crap. Eventually, it got to where you could go balls-out on it again. When the loose stuff is gone, the well stuck rock gives good grip if you have good tread, but it does wear down the tire quick. I would also agree that it is a better cheap solution than just using the tar alone creating 10-20 miles of tar snakes in a 1 mile section of road.
They tar and graveled 1/3 of my favorite 60 mile twistie route several years ago. That section of road was crap to ride on for a year. The second year started getting a bit better, but you still had to watch out for the piles of loose crap. Eventually, it got to where you could go balls-out on it again. When the loose stuff is gone, the well stuck rock gives good grip if you have good tread, but it does wear down the tire quick. I would also agree that it is a better cheap solution than just using the tar alone creating 10-20 miles of tar snakes in a 1 mile section of road.
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In Texas we don't have any good pavement left. They've been using it for nearly 15 years (or more) down here. And when it starts to wear off, they just pile another coat on top of it.
While it is cheap to apply, if it doesn't last and has to reapplied often, where is the savings?
Sounds to me like BS. The government is saying it is cheaper but it is a way of throwing more money to politically connected road constructors.
Sounds to me like BS. The government is saying it is cheaper but it is a way of throwing more money to politically connected road constructors.
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759 Posts
+1 :agree:
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3,582 Posts
With the government giving less and less money to our States, these pitiful road conditions will continue to be implemented as long as the Mr. Charmins in government deem necessary to give more billions in foreign aid to country that hate us rather than spend that money on infrastructures.
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5,258 Posts
It is just another name for tar and gravel. We have a lot od it around here. It is very noisy to ride/drive on and at intersections the gravel gets pushed down leaving the tar which is slippery as snot.
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