Modern Vespa

compared to normal pavement driving?? Other than slowing down your speed, are there any other advice for driving on a gravel road???

You don't have front brakes! Which means you've lost most of your braking capacity and need to adjust speed accordingly. Get with an active dirt biker and get tips and lessons. It's very doable, but a nightmare with Sava tires (you don't show what you ride).

the basics are
slow down, way down
stay in the tire groove of the cars and don't get out of that path, so I suggest using the far right groove incase a car is coming from the other direction so you don't have to switch grooves.
next when braking apply the rear brake with ease and steadily, no quick or sudden squeezing of the brake lever.
try to keep your weight centered on the scoot and don't be shifting it around on the seat.
keep your arms and hands firm but not straight tensed up. you need to stay in control and relaxed.
look forward 100 yards not down right in front of you. that keeps you balanced.
no quick throttle roll ons
finally ensure you wear AGATT

edited: to change left to right

Don't you mean the far right groove?

no idea if this is the "right way" but this is what I've found works.

learn how to stop first. on hard dirt or even washboards you can use both brakes somewhat. In soft dirt or gravel the fastest way to stop is to lock the rear wheel and let it go repeatedly, just like with snow in a car.

In a corner if the front wheel starts to dig in or wash out a bit of throttle can shift the weight to the rear and give you some steering control back. Of corse this makes you go faster as well so better to go in slow and then power out of the corner.

Practice with someone else's scooter

...and someone else's body.

If your front tire slides your going down but I think it's foolish to only use your back brake. Drive slow, use both brakes evenly and moderately, and sometimes when going through deep gravel or sand the only thing that keeps you upright is the throttle. The fastest way to develop your emergency skills is in the loose stuff though I would recommend practicing on an old bike wearing Toreador Pants. You can learn more in an hour playing offroad than years driving carefully onroad. I have dropped many a bike acting like an idiot in the loose stuff but its for that very reason I can keep control when it matters in emergency situations onroad.

fuck, man. now you tell me.

You can come around to my 150 Ft gravel driveway and practice there! But I don't know what special techniques I use to drive thru it several times everyday; I just do it, slowly and carefully, sort of feeling my way along... 8)

I've driven long distances at times on gravel also, but always on motorcycles before. Stay alert, extra careful, take nothing for granted, anticipate the extra danger of going down, and definitely do not steer into any higher loose mounds of the *&$^*# rocks!!

Two out of three cannonball riders agree, the best advice for riding on gravel roads is "Don't"

P.S. If you buy one of those fancy scooters where the left brake handle is linked to both the front and rear brakes, and the right handle goes just to the front brake then my advice is turn around and go back the way you came.

Now that autumm is upon us you can pratice riding on gravel by riding on wet leaves. Slowly. R

The quickest and easiest way to stop is to hit the ground.
Depends on your speed, after the first or second bounce you do stop.
I learned that on my very first day of riding...

thanks I fixed that

[quote="Maroy"] Two out of three cannonball riders agree, the best advice for riding on gravel roads is "Don't" :

+1 Not only gravel roads, but regular roads. In Calif. the highway maintenance dept. has a nasty way of "reconditioning" roads. They spread tar on it, then pea-sized gravel, then they roll over the stuff with a steam roller to try to imbed some of the gravel into the tar and road surface. There is loose gravel all over the place. For a couple of months after that maintenance, the road is essentially too dangerous for two-wheeled vehicles. Occasionally I'll come upon one of these roads. I just turn around and find another way to go. I tried riiding on it once. I stopped and walked my bike (motorcycle at the time) back to the beginning, about 30 yards. It wasn't worth riding on that stuff.

They do the same thing around here on the back roads.

Yeah I tried riding on it once,

Won't do that again.

If we're talking about a newby on gravel he/she ought to be going slow enough to use the limited braking capacity of the rear alone. Of course you're correct and balancing braking is the most effective, but perhaps not for the beginner. Just a thought from my experience learning to ride on Minnesota gravel country roads this summer, without an incident I might add. Thank goodness for Wisconsin and it's fabulous paved country roads!

I love gravel roads! It's a bit more of a challenge on 10 inch tires, but very doable. Loosen your grip, relax your shoulders, try to stay off the front brake, and keep your feet aimed and ready to the outside of the floor board, in case you need them to drop down dirt-bike-rider-style. Sometimes if it's really rutted, it helps to stand up on the floorboards but keep "loose knees" to help as shock absorbers.

Make sure you wear boots with ankle protection too!

jacqui (who started out with dirt bikes over 35 years ago )

great advise!

It might sound silly but the safest thing is not to use ones brakes on gravel. Just do everything slow and easy. With motorcycles you can use the engine to brake and then as long as you don't down shift you don't have to worry about skidding. Whatever you do don't put yourself in a situation where you have to deaccelarate quickly.

I have to say Jacqui hit it right on.
With a little practice riding a scooter on gravel is not much of a challenge. The "relax" advice is something to take to heart.

[quote="jacqui"]I love gravel roads! It's a bit more of a challenge on 10 inch tires, but very doable. Loosen your grip, relax your shoulders, try to stay off the front brake, and keep your feet aimed and ready to the outside of the floor board, in case you need them to drop down dirt-bike-rider-style. Sometimes if it's really rutted, it helps to stand up on the floorboards but keep "loose knees" to help as shock absorbers.

Make sure you wear boots with ankle protection too!

jacqui (who started out with dirt bikes over 35 years ago )[/quote]

First of all, the BV500 rides really well on gravel roads (which I ride quite often), both loose and hard packed. It has a very positive and stable feel in the front end, not at all like the bikes and scooter I had before were I felt like the front end could slide out at any second.

Secondly, the linked brakes DO work on gravel because the control valve will direct more pressure to the rear wheel than the front. It will actually lock the rear wheel on gravel, the right hand lever shold however be handled very carefully. One must really try hard breaking with this system before you start trusting them, i. e. to stop quickly on asfalt you must use both levers.