The Uphill Stall on a Wet Hill Start
You are on a steep uphill section of a narrow lane, stopped behind a car that has braked for a dog. The road is wet, the surface is patched and uneven, and there is a low wall on your left and a drop on your right. You are on a manual-gearbox motorcycle. The car ahead has been stationary for 20 seconds and its brake lights are still on. Your rear tyre is on a painted white line. A car has just appeared in your mirrors, closing from behind. You are holding the bike with your right foot on the brake and your left foot down.
1. Describe how you would hold and then pull away without losing the bike, given the wet paint and the slope.
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Painted white lines are among the slickest surfaces in the wet, so the first move is to roll forward or back slightly, if it is safe, so the rear tyre is on asphalt rather than paint. Keep the right foot on the brake to hold the bike on the slope; do not rely on the front brake alone while your feet are down.
For the pull-away: select first, set the revs a little higher than on the flat to compensate for the slope, and feed the clutch to the biting point while the rear brake holds you. As the clutch takes up, release the rear brake smoothly and let the bike move before adding throttle. Keep the bike upright; do not lean. If the front lifts or the rear spins, ease the clutch rather than grabbing more throttle.
Because a car is closing behind, signal early and be ready to go promptly, but do not rush the clutch release. A rushed release on wet paint on a slope is how the rear steps out.
2. The car behind is closing. What do you do about that pressure, and what is your fallback if the pull-away goes wrong?
Read the worked answer
Do not let the closing car dictate your timing. A stall or a wheelspin caused by rushing is far more dangerous than a few seconds of delay. Keep the brake light on so the driver behind sees you are stationary, and if the car is very close, consider a brief hand signal or a flash of the brake light to make yourself visible.
If the pull-away goes wrong, the priority is to stop the bike from rolling backward into the car or sideways into the wall or the drop. Keep the rear brake covered so you can hold the slope instantly. If you stall, hold the brake, restart, and try again with a little more revs and a slower clutch release. If the bike begins to tip toward the drop on the right, put your right foot down only if the surface allows; otherwise let the bike settle against the slope and get both feet down as soon as you are stopped.
Once moving, build speed steadily and leave the car behind enough room to react. Do not stop again on the painted line if you can avoid it.