There's a bit of a lower than street/asphalt-level manhole cover in a calm corner here. I just go over this one with a bit of an angle, started very gentle and increased speed/leaning angle a bit over time. Not for race bikes, though.
Then, when I see long-drawn-out mended cracksin a corner when its hot, sometimes I try to induce a slip on those. Takes some courage though, but the slip wont be as bad, because the patches are only one to two centimeters wide (the cracks are parallel to the road).
I ride a light dualsports bike, a KTM 790 Adventure. It has spoke wheels and takes the abuse without an issue. And it also has all the electronic features (6-axle IMU, traction control, etc).
It's just that my bum knows how a slip feels and to prevent a bad reaction in case an (semi scary) involuntary one happens. That has served me well so far, saved me from reacting badly when I was surprised in a shady & moist corner and so on.
Edit: added more text to clarify + typos corrected
I'm a big proponent of this method. I do the same thing several times each winter in my car using an empty parking lot.
Practice feeling comfortable sliding and recovering so you don't have a bad reflex and overcorrect. Absolutely saved my ass one time a few years ago driving home from work.
I was on a 55 and the roads were dry and clear. I came around a slight curve that runs next to some woods and hit black ice immediately. I lightly tapped the gas and tokyo-drifted back to the center of the lane. Felt just like what I had practiced and I felt calm while doing it. Had I panicked and slammed on the brakes, I would have gone sideways into the woods at 55.
I do this too, and I've had every vehicle I've ever owned very, very unintentionally sideways and never wrecked because there's zero panic as I've been there before.
I'd go so far as to say this is something that should be taught formally, we'd probably reduce traffic accidents significantly.
