Driving through water

[AJ_MN]

So I stayed late at work today, 30% chance of thunderstorms and right about when I should have been pulling into the driveway it started to rain at work. My husband then arrives(we had a meeting that was cancelled) and we checked the radar. Bad weather is close, and rain is going sideways so we wait a little while. It finally dies down, so we gear up and leave. Huge puddles in the parking lot, and pull up to the street to a car stalled about 20 feet away. We went out the other entrance which was about a foot deep. Neither bike stalled, but I'm sure we were close. From the water marks on my boots it was close to a foot deep.

Guess I've never driven in rain that much, and never been in this spot before. Is more than a foot dangerous if it's just 10 feet or so?

 

[HaulinAshe]

Can't speak to DEEP water. Just yesterday made a one hour run through tornado conditions and 6" of rain in less than half hour. Visibility was almost zero with cagers pulling over to sit it out. FJR did very well in straight line, even at speeds of 70 mph or so. I did feel some slide in corners, even at very low speeds. So that leads me to believe that Mich PRs on a FJR are no match for deep water. I would say if bike speed is more than you can pedal through, OR, water speed is even noticeable, stay out.

Other bad combo would be hot engine and splash of cold water. Aluminum no like.

I yield other thoughts to anyone with real experience.

 

[etz]

Is more than a foot dangerous if it's just 10 feet or so?

I would definitely not recommend riding through water with a depth of 10 feet or so

Seriously though, I don't think it's all that dangerous as long as you're sure of the surface below (no big potholes, rocks, or sticky mud). Just don't tip it over and don't go deep enough to allow water in the exhaust.

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

Yep, the trick is knowing what's below the water and that's where most people make judgement errors. However, if you think about the height that would be required to bring water into the engine, it's pretty high. I can only assume that only air that goes through the air filter gets to the injectors so if you keep water below that level you are theoretically okay. In my uninformed opinion (just remembering the snorkle kit for my bro's jeep.

I would like a more knowledgeable person to address the electrical system and where those components are, and what height.

 

[twowheelnut]

I have this on my Jeep. I have one on the Feej, too. Works great for the bike, but the rider has to take a deep breath...

 

[James]

I've been through water that was abput a foot above the bottom of my boot for about 15 feet. Didn't have much choice, but it didn't seem to cause any problems. Over 2 inches of rain in about 45 minuits, localized street flooding on the way back to work from lunch. Most of the streets were a few inches deep but I ran into a spot that a campus street fed into and boy that was deep!

James