Riding in the Wind with 18 Wheelers...please share your thoughts....

[blackfin31]

Hi Everyone,

I was on my way to the Rally from San Francisco via San Antonio Texas and finally to the Rally in Minneapolis when I got a call saying I needed to get home for a family situation. So I'm about 600 miles short of the rally when I take a turn on Hy 80 to head due West. I rode 8 days straight and had a few 700 mile days on this trip...Total trip 4,408 miles.

Then on the 7 day from the Bonneville Salt Flats all the way to Winnemucca Nevada a 240 mile stretch I ran into a constant 28 mph head wind with gust up to 40 mph from the South through the Valleys on the left....I was going about 70 mph and dare not go much slower for fear of getting rear ended by all the 18 wheelers on Hyway 80....More trucks than cars on this road.

My question is this...Are these wind conditions something a good rider shrugs off and rides through...Or were these extreme conditions?...

Link to the Weather History of that day...http://www.wunderground.com/history...Carlin&req_state=NV&req_statename=Nevada&MR=1

My bike a 2009 R1200Rt....,my riding experience...less than 2 years and about 20,000 miles of riding....

Thanks for your opinions in advance....

 

[157149]

My 2 cents

Takes a lot of the fun out of riding when you basically have to be on alert at all times-doesn't it? Initially, four years ago when I got my bike, I had trouble doing 55mph in the presence of trucks and thought that perhaps it might be time to get a new hobby. Well, I hung in there and then as in most things, I got better and now I can zip down the interstate with very little trepidation. In my case, having the wife on the back makes my bike much more stable.

Chuck

 

[Omega Man]

Welcome to the forum!
Pretty much what Chuck said ^^^^Try to enjoy the days when the wind is with you. Same thing with the motorhome, like carrying a sheet of plywood in the wind.
OM

 

[David13]

You have to get used to it. It's rather common.
Watch that turbulence from the big rigs.
Slowing down usually makes it worse.
If it's too bad, just give it up til nightfall, to see if it dies down, or the next day.
The bad stuff is directly from the side.
dc

 

[saddleman]

The K1200LT handles high cross winds very well.

 

[pauls1150]

Wind (and/or heat) can really be one serious P.I.T.A., no doubt about it.

What you do with it, how you handle it... depends mostly on how comfortable you are with it. This is definitely one of those times when you have to command that far right lane, and beware not to permit some cager to intrude on the space that you may and will need.
It does get better with experience, but it's NEVER as comfortable, nor as safe, as a "calm" day.
Any "wide open range", or strips between ranges, is subject to these conditions. Part of any major road trip...
You probably already know about "tucking in" to minimize your profile, lowering the windshield, etc...
Do NOT "lock" yourself into position - that will increase fatigue, and make it more difficult to quickly respond to any change in the blast.

99% of the interstate truckers I've encountered were damm good drivers; many of them also ride (I've chatted with a couple who stashed their bike in the back if they had a layover!) and will give you any extra courtesies you need. STAY VISIBLE TO THEM in their mirrors; don't ride in the big honkin' Blind Spot (it's quite a bit larger than cars'), nor too close to their rear. Once in a while, we've been able to communicate with sign language that it would be ok for me to tuck right in behind him and ride the "quiet zone" of his rear vortex! I've also been signaled that there definitely was a Smokie ahead. Thanks, Guys!!!

Be aware (and no doubt you already are) that high wind will directly affect them too - they can get blown around, not just into another lane, but flipped right on to their side.

 

[wbrownell9]

Taking the time to read this thread all the way through http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=862214 (124 posts as of now) really got me to thinking respectfully about riding in high winds.

 

[David13]

Yeah, I forget about the bad times.
This year, again, I had to sit it out. Heading north from Flagstaff, in May, 90 degree from my left wind. I couldn't keep it on the road. I went back to Flagstaff and spent another day.
The freeway, I 17 from Flagstaff to Phoenix was closed. Too much wind.
Going out to Palm Springs, thru' Hemet, I don't know how many times I have been whacked by flying tumbleweeds. I forget about that stuff. I have to be reminded of it.
It can kill you.
dc

 

[kantuckid]

Worst I've seen was the Mexico, Isthmus of Tehuantepec, where the narrow piece of land separates the oceans & winds can be fierce! I rode through lying at an acute angle at times to stay upright. Some areas there have many large bushes breaking the wind then suddenly an opening and really dangerous! I-80 in WY can be treacherous too. Doing a crotch rocket style "lie on the tank" thing can help with the wind for awhile.

 

[R184]

Riding in the area of Winnemucca sucks!

Riding in a crosswind sucks!

Riding around any 18 wheeler sucks!

But we do it anyway, time after time!

Why? Because riding doesn't suck! Anywhere, anytime!

 

[lmo1131]

I-57 south of Kankakee, Illinois; runs north-south, a billiard table would be hard pressed to be as flat... and with an almost unobstructed, thousand mile run off the great plains the wind is generally from the west.

When you ride in a steady cross-wind you can compensate for it, to a certain extent, by biasing your body weight to the windward side. In 1978, riding south from Milwaukee, returning to Rantoul, that's how I was dealing with. I was almost home and not really thinking about the road, when I came up on a semi. I rode in his wake for a a minute or so taking a short break in the quiet air, and then pulled out to pass. Everything was fine until I cleared the front of the tractor and the wind hit. It was dirt-bike tactics for the next few seconds when I was blown onto the edge of the median, just off of the shoulder. I somehow managed to keep my sh*t together and stay upright and came to a stop in the grass. When I looked up the driver had pulled the rig over and was climbing down to see if I was okay. Another biker. I don't know if anyone would do that today.

Lesson learned; consciously keep mind on the task at hand, and anticipate conditions. Anticipating conditions can be hard to do when you don't have a lot of riding time; I had been riding for ten years at that point, but I'd never experienced anything like that. I never would have anticipated that a cross-wind could literally blow me off completely off of the road.

Just a little rider lore to tuck away into the back of your mind.

 

[jeffkruger]

Riding in the area of Winnemucca sucks!

Riding in a crosswind sucks!

Riding around any 18 wheeler sucks!

But we do it anyway, time after time!

Why? Because riding doesn't suck! Anywhere, anytime!

+1 on the riding around Winnemucca.

Other than being on the edge of the Black Rock Desert it doesn't have too much going for it. The wind between there and Reno can get fairly serious.

OP, relax your shoulders a bit. It's easy to get really tense when the going isn't easy. Being all stiff and tense has a tendency to degrade the handling of the bike even more. Wiggle your toes and make little circles with each elbow. You can't do that when you're tensed up and it helps remind you to stay a little loose.

 

[ricochetrider]

Another anecdotal story RE WIND

A buddy of mine is an airline pilot who rides iron butt style distances on his vintage bikes, his primary rider being his 1971 BSA Thunderbolt with full Givi luggage. He affectionately dubbed it the "Thunderwing". He carries an aluminum auxiliary tank on the pillion spot. His range, I believe, is shy of 600 miles between fill ups.

This summer, he rode The Amazing Thunderwing from his home near Atlanta out to Northern California for the BSA International Rally, held in a different country each year. He logged updates along his way out and back.

Here's HIS "wind story":

"No wait it gets better - So I'm making for Amarillo TX where a nice hotel waits. Its 85 degrees and the wind is finally on my back. The moon and stars are out. And then with 76 miles to go it hits - a cold gust front. So my tail wind goes to a direct 30 knot cross wind at San Jon NM and brings with it the dust again in the darkness even. The temperature drops 25 degrees in one mile and I'm looking at tumbleweeds in my Denali headlamps.

So the visibility in the darkness is running back and forth between about a 1/4 to 1 mile and I'm having doubts but I downshift and keep going. And this pickup truck pulls along side and starts pacing me. I slide over to about a handlebar width from his passenger door and turn my high beams back on. By my lonesome I can do about 56 mph in third gear leaning into the wind. With the pickup truck on my left I can do 65 in fourth.

So we dance the pas de deux. When somebody wanted to pass us the truck would pull ahead and I would turn off the Denalis. When the pass was done he would pull back out into the left lane and would slide up to his RH door an turn the Denalis back on. We did this ballet all the way to Amarillo.

At one point he pulled ahead and right for faster drivers and a green CTI 18 wheeler assumed the position. I slid over next to his driving wheels where I knew the "quiet" spot would be. Eventually faster drivers pushed the big-rig ahead.

All this time dust and tumble weeds are blowing sideways across the road in front of us.

I would have made it to Amarillo but I have nothing but thanks and gratitude for the two angels taking me under their wing. I have no idea who they are."
*************************************************************************
Here's his entire BritBike.com thread about the ride out and back IF anyone's interested:

http://www.britbike.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=540067&page=1

OK, hijack over. Apologies to the OP.

 

[lmo1131]

I would have made it to Amarillo but I have nothing but thanks and gratitude for the two angels taking me under their wing. I have no idea who they are."

Well, you may not know their names but there's a pretty darned good chance they're motorcyclists, and it probably wasn't the first time either of them had done this.

 

[sagerat]

They call the wind Mariah; I call it one of two times I've almost been KIA on a bike

Long story short: You just learn to deal with it. I had hellacious crosswinds from Battle Mountain to Reno a few weeks ago on my GSA and basically you keep your arms and shoulders relaxed, put slight pressure on the windward side of the bars so the bike leans into wind, and be ready for a change in wind direction at any second. Oh, and keep an eye peeled for flying debris. If despite all that, you are impersonating a kite, then look for a place to pull off and call it a day. I've had some lovely crosswinds in the Columbia Gorge.

Anyway, my near-death learning experience: About 2 a.m. heading N on I-84 and buddy and I had just pulled out of rest area near ID/UT state line. We'd been dealing with a severe cross-wind from our left for hours. Semi goes by in left-hand lane. I speed up to catch my buddy on his '04 GSA and I'm on my '02 VFR Interceptor. As I pull in front of the semi, the combo of the crosswind and his bow wave moves me quickly to the right.

Even though I'm pushing on my left handlebar, my Viffer keeps drifting right. In about a second, which seemed an eternity, my headlights show my bike has drifted across the fog line. Then I'm on the rumble strips on the shoulder. This whole time I'm pressing the left grip. Then I'm past the rumble strip and have about 2" of pavement before I depart the paved portion of our interstate system to find out how a VFR does as a dual sport as the gravel shoulder is that close.

I pinned the throttle, pushed as hard as I could on the left grip, and finally shot forward into calmer air. I instantly eased up on the pressure on the left grip so I wouldn't go into the 18 wheeler's path.

Lesson learned: In severe crosswinds, always pass large vehicles on the upwind side, never the downwind side.

 

[Paladinwest]

Long story short: You just learn to deal with it. I had hellacious crosswinds from Battle Mountain to Reno a few weeks ago on my GSA and basically you keep your arms and shoulders relaxed, put slight pressure on the windward side of the bars so the bike leans into wind, and be ready for a change in wind direction at any second. Oh, and keep an eye peeled for flying debris. If despite all that, you are impersonating a kite, then look for a place to pull off and call it a day. I've had some lovely crosswinds in the Columbia Gorge.

Anyway, my near-death learning experience: About 2 a.m. heading N on I-84 and buddy and I had just pulled out of rest area near ID/UT state line. We'd been dealing with a severe cross-wind from our left for hours. Semi goes by in left-hand lane. I speed up to catch my buddy on his '04 GSA and I'm on my '02 VFR Interceptor. As I pull in front of the semi, the combo of the crosswind and his bow wave moves me quickly to the right.

Even though I'm pushing on my left handlebar, my Viffer keeps drifting right. In about a second, which seemed an eternity, my headlights show my bike has drifted across the fog line. Then I'm on the rumble strips on the shoulder. This whole time I'm pressing the left grip. Then I'm past the rumble strip and have about 2" of pavement before I depart the paved portion of our interstate system to find out how a VFR does as a dual sport as the gravel shoulder is that close.

I pinned the throttle, pushed as hard as I could on the left grip, and finally shot forward into calmer air. I instantly eased up on the pressure on the left grip so I wouldn't go into the 18 wheeler's path.

Lesson learned: In severe crosswinds, always pass large vehicles on the upwind side, never the downwind side.

No good comes when you go from pilot to passenger in any vehicle, but particularly airplanes and motorcycles.

 

[sagerat]

I've never been a passenger on a motorcycle.

 

[sloride]

Have to say the 08RT and now the 2012 1200GS are the best bikes I've ridden in bad air

 

[36654]

Have to say the 08RT and now the 2012 1200GS are the best bikes I've ridden in bad air

How something like a GS, with its barn door aerodynamics, can be good in turbulent air is baffling to me.

 

[xlarry]

How something like a GS, with its barn door aerodynamics, can be good in turbulent air is baffling to me.

I think it's because the boxer motor keeps a lot of the weight close to the ground. Never ridden a GS but my RT is really good in strong winds.