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LaggCity
14th February 2006, 21:25
:wacko: Hi Yall, comming back from Sundays little outing I was doing about 130+ comming up to the start of the Bombays and got hit with a very strong sidewind which shunted me most of the way across 1 lane and I had to fight to stop going into the next, my question is whats the best technique to counter the gust, lean into it or steer into it?

cowboyz
14th February 2006, 21:30
I tend to sit to one side of the bike. Not sure if this is the "right" thing to do but it seems to keep my little 600 going in a striaght line. The commute to work each dayfor me is a road that has a wicked crosswind on it, and that is on still days. On windy days it can get really bad. By weighting the bike bias to one side I find you can ride on a lean angle to counter the wind but dont throw the bike around when you come into quiet spots where the wind drops.

My 2c

Virago
14th February 2006, 21:43
:wacko: Hi Yall, comming back from Sundays little outing I was doing about 130+ comming up to the start of the Bombays and got hit with a very strong sidewind.............my question is whats the best technique to counter the gust.....?
......Slow down...........??????

beyond
14th February 2006, 21:47
The times I used to commute to work, I leaned into the wind. I crossed the harbour bridge in a gale once when they advised motorists to be extremely careful and for bikes to stay off the bridge. The bike was my only means of transport then.

You can't "steer" a bike over about 30kmh in the sense we mean steering toward the wind, but you can counter steer. i.e. If the wind is coming from the left, to bear against the wind you push the left bar away from you and the pull the right bar towwards you. This seems like the opposite but will turn your bike to the left or into the wind. Counter steering is more useful in winds as leaning can have the wind drop suddenly and then that's no fun either. Counter steering allows you to make minor adjustments or major adjustments as conditions change, "on the fly" and makes wind riding much more manageable.

It's far easier to counter steer quickly if necessary, than it is to lean or shift body weight.

loosebruce
14th February 2006, 21:51
......Slow down...........??????

pfft what kinda advice is that, pull a wheelie in this situation

carver
14th February 2006, 21:53
i counter steer in sidewinds, and also try anticipate them.
if you can do both it work well, my Dt is terrible in tham because its light and quite tall, only the wide bars save it!

Str8 Jacket
15th February 2006, 07:31
Hey LaggCity, Welcome to the site!

I can totally sympathise with you, I have literally been blown of the road into a grass bank when a freak gust of wind caught me on a straight road up the back of Martinborough. As my bike weighs 120 kilos and I weigh 50 kilos I am continually blown around by the wellington wind. I find it quite unnerving at times but I find that squeezing my knees hard against the tank and relaxing from the waist up helps. This way counter steering against the wind is quite alot easier and you'll find the bike may not move around so much. In saying that your bike is over 6 times bigger than mine, but i'd say the same thing would work for you.

Fishy
15th February 2006, 08:25
The faster you go the easier it gets. Or you could just stick to whatever you are comfortable at and countersteer against it.

MSTRS
15th February 2006, 08:42
Even my heavy bike can get thrown about. Ride 'relaxed' in gusty conditions (ie don't fight it too much). If crosswind is steady, I find 'hanging off' on the windward side is best. This will work on any bike.

sugilite
15th February 2006, 09:23
For very gusty and unpredictable wind, place the balls of your feet on the foot pegs, sit forward, bend your elbows a few degrees, this stance lets you react a lot quicker to those surprise gusts.


I remember racing down Invercargill during the nats years back, it was so windy on the Friday practice day, most riders in the senior production class were backing off half way down the straight!
You were protected from the wind till you past the club house, then WHAM!!!
The only people not slowing down were the 4 Wellington based riders, go figure!

Str8 Jacket
15th February 2006, 09:40
The only people not slowing down were the 4 Wellington based riders, go figure!

What we call wind, the rest of the country calls GUSTS! I swear if anyone had warned me about biking in Wellington with the wind I may have never got my bike licence.

terbang
15th February 2006, 09:46
Try the Canterbury Nor Wester then..

Bonez
15th February 2006, 15:15
All the above advice is good. Keep an eye out the vegetation- bushes, trees and the like. It generally give a good indication how stong the wind is. I've had to stick my knee out at times, along with counterstearing/hanging off the side a bit, to create some drag on the oppersate side the wind is blowing from. Looks silly but has worked for me on a number of times.

Motu
15th February 2006, 16:14
Point into the wind,stops those nasty side gusts...

Korea
15th February 2006, 16:20
The reality is that you will never get 'used' to the wind, just have to learn to deal with it...
Failing that, some practice in Welly in all seasons will help build up your immunity :yeah:

ZorsT
15th February 2006, 20:48
......Slow down...........??????
slowing down in this situation will make matters worse.

The faster your wheels are spinning, the more gyroscopic forces they create.

The gyroscopic forces are what keep you upright and in a straight line

far queue
15th February 2006, 21:00
Try the Canterbury Nor Wester then..

Normally riding in wind doesn't really bother me, but riding home from the March Hare rally last year, would have to be my worst experience of riding in wind yet. Rally site to Ashburton was OK, but Ashburton to Chch (about 80km) was a real bastard. Very strong and very gusty from left to right, I was being blown toward the centreline all the time, got scary a couple of times. Actually got blown 2ft across the centre line twice :shit: I tried varying the speed but it made no real difference. My bike is relatively light (147kg dry), reasonbly high compared to a road bike, and with carrying the gear for the rally CofG would have been higher than usual. I was knackered when I got home. My mate riding with me on a KLR650 experienced the same thing.

I normally slag off the Harley's but I noticed they seemed to be handling the wind really well. I assume it was the extra weight, the low height not catching the wind as much, and the lower CofG. I wouldn't have minded being on a Harley that day, a nice big low one.

One group of Harley's did really piss me off though. They sat behind us for a bit and must have seen us getting blown all over the road, then one of them passed between me and the centre line. As he did so another gust blew me towards him - it was bloody close :shit: If he had any intelligence he would've given me a wider berth. Then about a minute later another one of the group did the same thing having just watched the previous close call. Tossers.

thealmightytaco
23rd February 2006, 00:10
...lean into it or steer into it?

Leaning is steering in the end, but counter steering will get you battling it as soon as and stop you going into the next lane. Just relax and do it.

ZeroIndex
1st March 2006, 12:40
pfft what kinda advice is that, pull a wheelie in this situation
I bet that's your answer for everything?

Toast
4th March 2006, 23:37
Most of the problem is caused by you holding on tight, and when your upper body gets blown to the side, you're actually putting force in to the bars. Simply grip the tank with your legs, relax your grip on the bars. That solves most of the problem. Try it.

Merwood
5th March 2006, 19:28
crosswinds are tricky, bruce was halfway there with the wheelie pulling trick, its a classic :Punk:, some people who are uber pro handstand on the seat doing the splits, this creates less drag becuase it defys the law of gravity, the pink power-ranger told me this. You must put most of your weight on the hand furtherest away from the wind blast. This move has many variations such as the handstand bycycle, stupid post end :nya:

kickingzebra
5th March 2006, 20:10
Someone once suggested removing fairings etc, but that only works on tiny bikes with no motor... I find the sticking knee out like a loon approach, although, when the wind dies down, can be a slight problem, If you keep said knee relatively loose, let it flap in the wind, firstly you will give your quads a reeeeal good stretch, and secondly, I find when it gusts, it will take up the slack. Hunkering down on the bike, going faster, and looking where you want to go can all help too (Thankyou Foxton straights!!!) just make sure you look out for the fuzzy wuzzy Chops (and be thankfull that you ain't riding in a dustbin fairing!)

ZeroIndex
5th March 2006, 22:25
Someone once suggested removing fairings etc, but that only works on tiny bikes with no motor... I find the sticking knee out like a loon approach, although, when the wind dies down, can be a slight problem, If you keep said knee relatively loose, let it flap in the wind, firstly you will give your quads a reeeeal good stretch, and secondly, I find when it gusts, it will take up the slack. Hunkering down on the bike, going faster, and looking where you want to go can all help too (Thankyou Foxton straights!!!) just make sure you look out for the fuzzy wuzzy Chops (and be thankfull that you ain't riding in a dustbin fairing!)

I did that on the way back from Tauranga with the bike i just got, I was going up hill (170cc, top speed 115km/h) and all the putting out my leg did, was slow my hill climbing speed...

Lou Girardin
6th March 2006, 07:13
I noticed a lot of side movement on the Sprint when going over the bridge on Friday. It felt just like my old RF, then I realised it must be the fairing catching the wind. The Bandit is nowhere near as bad.

pritch
6th March 2006, 12:02
The Bandit is nowhere near as bad.

Yeah I notice that the Hornet is not as badly affected as the fully faired K100RS was. If it is necessary to travel in extreme conditions; gale warnings, great chunks of tree blowing across the road, motorists warned to stay home, etc, I modify my normal cornering lines so as to stay nearer the middle of the lane.

This, after I got blown right off the road at the entrance to a corner one day.
A good cure for constipation that though...

Ixion
6th March 2006, 12:20
I have heard this about the K100RS. Yet, oddly, Der Uberfharter (K75RT) is totally unaffected by any wind I've encountered. Dunno why, RT fairing is bigger than RS.