A
aterry1067
Guest
Not long ago I rode from southern MD to Culpeper, VA. It started out as a little windy (weather channel was reporting 10-15 with gusts to 20), but it wasn't that bad. By the time I got to the 301 bridge the winds had picked up. But as I was approaching the bridge I seen another rider on a 1200RT, so that eased my mind that he had just crossed it. Crossing the bridge the bike was buffeting both directions quite a bit, and I assume this was attributed to turbulence as the wind past over the side of the bridge. I let the bike do pretty much what it wanted to do as I stayed focused on the license plate of the car ahead of me, and wishing he would go a bit faster (I really wanted off that bridge). The winds picked up as the day went on. Through VA as I would pass large fields, I would be at a constant right lean. At this point a stronger gust would hit the side of the bike and I would lean harder, but the front end felt like it was getting light, so I would ride the rear brake a bit to settle it down. Was this necessary? I have no idea, but it worked for me. When I got to Culpeper and got into a hotel room, I turned on the Weather Channel again and they were issuing severe wind warning with 40-45 sustained with gusts to 60. I don't know if I got hit was a 60mph gust or not, but...well....it was windy. By the time I reached the worst of the wind, I was well too far to turn back, and my destination was the first place I could really stop, so I pressed on.
I learned a lot about riding in the wind that day. I have no idea if what I did was "correct" or not. But, it worked for me, so I'm going with it. A few things that helped me:
1. Lowered the windshield all the way down. This cut the buffeting of the bike exponentially.
2. I got my torso down to almost laying on the tank. I think this helped by lowering wind resistance, AND lowering the COG.
3. The tighter I tried to hold the bars straight, the more abrupt the changes were to the bike during a gust. I would lean the bike as fast as I could, but would also let the bike wander around in my lane. Not from side line to center line, but a few feet off the center of my lane.
4. A little pressure on the rear brake during a gust seemed to settle the bike out. Keeping the RPMs up a little seemed to produce better results when I used the rear brake. If the RPMs were lower, say below 3K, the bike would significantly slow down when I applied the brake (lol, that's what it's for, right?) but if I kept the torque up and applied the brake, it seemed to tighten the bike up. Similar to the feeling of applying brake and throttle at the same time in slow speed maneuvers. But my speed was generally over 50mph.
Again, this is what worked for me. If there are things that work for others, I'd love to hear them as well.
FWIW, the next day was a rather cold, but beautiful ride down Skyline Drive, with nearly zero wind. The best part of the trip was at the end of Skyline Drive I met up with this cute lil gal that brought along a great lasagna dinner. That was well worth battling the wind the day prior. And for some unknown reason she seems to like me. I hope she don't go see an optometrist any time soon.
Thanks,
aterry1067
I learned a lot about riding in the wind that day. I have no idea if what I did was "correct" or not. But, it worked for me, so I'm going with it. A few things that helped me:
1. Lowered the windshield all the way down. This cut the buffeting of the bike exponentially.
2. I got my torso down to almost laying on the tank. I think this helped by lowering wind resistance, AND lowering the COG.
3. The tighter I tried to hold the bars straight, the more abrupt the changes were to the bike during a gust. I would lean the bike as fast as I could, but would also let the bike wander around in my lane. Not from side line to center line, but a few feet off the center of my lane.
4. A little pressure on the rear brake during a gust seemed to settle the bike out. Keeping the RPMs up a little seemed to produce better results when I used the rear brake. If the RPMs were lower, say below 3K, the bike would significantly slow down when I applied the brake (lol, that's what it's for, right?) but if I kept the torque up and applied the brake, it seemed to tighten the bike up. Similar to the feeling of applying brake and throttle at the same time in slow speed maneuvers. But my speed was generally over 50mph.
Again, this is what worked for me. If there are things that work for others, I'd love to hear them as well.
FWIW, the next day was a rather cold, but beautiful ride down Skyline Drive, with nearly zero wind. The best part of the trip was at the end of Skyline Drive I met up with this cute lil gal that brought along a great lasagna dinner. That was well worth battling the wind the day prior. And for some unknown reason she seems to like me. I hope she don't go see an optometrist any time soon.
Thanks,
aterry1067