Going steady at fast (for me, anyway) speeds?

[zeocen]

Alright, well I'm still a newbie and damn proud! :P
I was taking my time learning a lot of the basics and getting some confidence under my belt and I think I've progressed quite a lot on my ol' gpx.

However, I got pretty brave one day and went out from manurewa/the gardens and onto the road that leads to maraetai (wouldn't have a clue of the road names, sorry). Everything was fine, I was freaking myself out but having a blast at the same time. There was a bit of wind that day but I found myself rarely getting up and past 70-80kmph because with the wind and the bumpy-ish road I wasn't very confident and following what's ahead of me at that speed.

I was just wondering if there's any tips for light bikes at 80 - 110/120 (;p) kmph? It just felt a bit unstable, is it just getting used to the wind resistance and slowly building up confidence for high speeds or are there some tricks to getting better stability? Leaning into my bike etc..

Theeeeeeenks !

[Mole_C]

Yea i still feel a bit strange at speed with all the wind. My head blows around a bit and the bike sometimes. Feels strange but im getting used to it, just try not to get tensed up, just stay relaxed and let it do what it wants withing reason :cool: Also tucking under the screen cuts out a lot of the resistance to your head + body so just have a play around with that and find what feels comfortable.

Im still new so thats just what i've found helpful, others will probably have some more advice :banana:

[gijoe1313]

Sounds like you having fun! Yeah, I know what you mean about those roads out to Maraetai - every time I've ridden them they always seem different (which I hear is a good point of view to take, always consider every road you ride as unique no matter how many times you've gone down them).

Just trust in your ride and get comfortable with it, I felt unsure like you at times when the winds got up - but you learn to live with it and get a "feel" for what the bike is doing (with your input of course!).

Keep reading and learning as much as you can about the fine art of the ride, heaps of useful articles online and whats been posted in KB...plus a whole bunch of more helpful advice that others will give you I'm sure!

Keep it rubber side down and enjoy the ride! :scooter:

[WRT]

You could try filling the wheels with water, that should weigh you down a bit . . .

Seriously tho, it sounds like you are doing it right. Dont push yourself to hard, and ride to the conditions. If you are on a bumpy (and windy) road, adjust your speed accordingly. To help stop the wind buffetting you around, you can however try ducking in behind your windshield.

And we are all newbies in a way. Even those of us that should be oldbies still generally have a thing or two to learn.

[Bend-it]

Yeah, I'm a relative noob too... been riding under a year, and in THE windy city! I rode all through winter too... Tuck yourself as low as you can, and still be able to see, and be relaxed... The bike will "want" to go straight. Sometimes I've found that dropping a gear helps too. Have fun and ride to the conditions!

[acewheelie]

The only problem I ever had with that rode was the bridge into Clevedon coming back, two up on a Honda 750 with the suspension set too firm, look hun no wheels!!

I still find riding in the breeze an absolute pain and I've been riding for errrr lets just say a number of years! It does get easier with experience, it affects a lot of larger bikes as well as smaller ones, agree with the above try and keep as much of your body low down as possible, not only do you get less wind resistance it brings down the bikes centre of gravity as well.

[acewheelie]

You could try filling the wheels with water, that should weigh you down a bit . . .

Seriously tho, it sounds like you are doing it right. Dont push yourself to hard, and ride to the conditions. If you are on a bumpy (and windy) road, adjust your speed accordingly. To help stop the wind buffetting you around, you can however try ducking in behind your windshield.

And we are all newbies in a way. Even those of us that should be oldbies still generally have a thing or two to learn.

Agree with some of us old hands being newbieish, took my bike for a ride from Akld to Raglan and back on monday, scared myself silly a few times coming out from sheltered hills into windswept areas.

[zeocen]

Ah awesome, thanks for the replies guys!

Yeah I've tried tucking under the windscreen, I'm 6'1 so it feels a bit akward but I guess it'd feel akward for anyone who hasn't done it for a long period before.

And yeah, I'm always riding to conditions which is why I was hesitant to go above 70 - 80k on the bumpy/windy roads - luckily it was during a week day so there wasn't much traffice, whenever I saw a car coming up from behind I'd find the next open road area, indicate and move over to let them pass.. I got a few happy toots for that hehe

I guess I'll just try to go when the wind is down and during week days when there isn't much traffic to annoy at my low speeds :)

[Str8 Jacket]

Yeah, the wind can be quite brutal. I've had a couple of accidents caused by being blown off the road as well as numerous other "incidents". Living in Wgtn is hard due to the fact that there is always wind and the gusts can be quite scary. There are lots of people with different theories on battling the wind but I have found that you just get used to it and after awhile you dont notice it so much. The only things that I have found have helped me being blown off the road again is to tuck in as low as you comfortably can into the bike (behind the screen if you have one). I usually grip the tank quite hard with my knees and try and keep my arms loose, I also like to keep the revs up as it makes the bike feel more stable. Even by doing these things I still find that I can be blown across lanes but by having my arms loose its easier to guide the bike back on track and if your knees are firmly on the tank then it helps as well. At the end of the day its a confidence thing, if im nervous on the bike then I find things can go wrong very easily, where as if im slightly more relaxed then its easier to control what the bike is doing.

Keep at it, sounds like you are doing well!

[bobsmith]

GO FASTER

The faster you go, the more stable you'll be..... or so they say...

[edit] - what str8 jacket said... also just keep riding and you'll get used to it. Practice counter steering so you can instinctively counter-steer into the wind when you meet a gust. Get a road cycle and go cycling on windy days... just try not to get killed though. I still maintain road cycling is more dangerous than MTB or bike riding...

[edit 2] - and don't worry about the size of your bike, it's a very comfortable bike to do 100+ on open road... count yourself lucky your're not on a fxr150...

[TLDV8]

Ah awesome, thanks for the replies guys!

Yeah I've tried tucking under the windscreen, I'm 6'1 so it feels a bit akward but I guess it'd feel akward for anyone who hasn't done it for a long period before.


Maybe its your height but it can get gusty on the coast...You have the right approch in taking the safer option in going at a comfortable speed that suits you.

I remember the first time i went across the Napier/Taupo road and saw the Beware of wind gusts signs but didn't take much heed...What wind?,you soon found out when you went from a cutting into the open..Whoa..Ok,those galeforce gusts :lol:

[Bend-it]

GO FASTER



Yeah, heard the same, maybe from the same source?? who knows... but I don't think it's made a difference once you're above 30kph or so...

Wouldn't work around those bumpy and unfamiliar roads though...

[beyond]

Relax!!!

As soon as you tense up and worry about the wind, you will probably grip the bars tighter and therefore tense your arms and lock them as well. The counter steering reactions will be very diminished and any side ways movement will be accentuated.

Use your abdominal muscles and leg muscle to keep your profile as low as you can while keeping weight off your hands and wrists and relax your grip on the bars.

Let the bike have it's way over the bumps and in the wind and bring counter steering into play in the real hard gusts. Read the road and see where there are gaps between trees and gullies that can funnel wind and be prepared for extra hard gusts in these places.

Move with your bike and has has been mentioned, grip the tank with your legs and use your knees to make smaller adjustments.

It takes a huge gust to actually blow you off the road and we seldom get those up here in Auckland.

[Wasp]

180km/h on a naked bandit 250 seems fine to me.........

just ride, eventually you'll naturally learn to move with the bike, it comes with experience

[Nitzer]

Sounds like you are doing well. I've been out on those roads to Beachlands quite a few times and know what it can be like.

Anyway I live in your area and if you want some company next time you ride those roads feel free to PM me. Cheers

[KLOWN]

relax is the main thing, you will find that the biike will lean into the wind DONT try and fight it just let it lean. We get some good wind down here in palmy and I rode a rg150 which is lghter than your bike and it took me awhile to get used to it but you will.

[James Deuce]

No one has yet said the magic word. Relax.

It's that simple.

[zeocen]

Thanks for the tips and vote of confidence guys!
re: gripping the tank, I've always wondered about this.. when taking a tight-ish corner is it still wise to be firm on the tank with your legs? I only ask because I see people putting their knee down for whatever reason and I'm not sure if there's a point where you'd switch or if (on roads) it's fine to be firm on the tank for stability.

Thanks again!

[Big Dog]

Thanks for the tips and vote of confidence guys!
re: gripping the tank, I've always wondered about this.. when taking a tight-ish corner is it still wise to be firm on the tank with your legs? I only ask because I see people putting their knee down for whatever reason and I'm not sure if there's a point where you'd switch or if (on roads) it's fine to be firm on the tank for stability.

Thanks again!

Wind is an issue at any stage in your developement on any size bike.
Forget that and you will get buried in an envelope.

I have gotten some very hairy reminders in the form of unintended multi lane lane changes. The threat from the wind is not in having an off at 100kmph. That won't kill you and may not hurt given good gear.
Opposing trafic may facilitate the aforementioned envelope.

There are three keys to staying safe in the wind.

Relax (well covered allthough the advice to grip the tank is at odds with this)

Always wear good safety gear, you never know when conditions will change, good gear will have good adjustment to minimise the sail effect and save your skin in an off.

Road craft. Be sensible by minimising the risks -
- Pointing one knee into the wind can minimise buffeting.
- Pointing both knees out in a head wind may stabalise wobbles (use your head if this makes it worse bring them back in).
- Gripping the tank with knees helps if the wind is coming for the rear or the rear and a side but makes matters worse everywhere else.
- If the wind is coming from the right move to the right hand side of the lane to allow for gusts (and vice versa)
- Practice your emengency breaking. In a sidewind is not the time to be thinking about this.
- Give yourself some room, double your following distance and flash your brakelights at people who follow to close.
- Ride your own ride. Never let yourself be pressured into riding faster.
- Dropping a shoulder into the wind can help, but not reccomended if your knee is already out.
- If you feel genuinely scared (not just a fright) trust your instinct and stop for a breather or go back.
- Avoid leaning against or with the wind in corners. If the direction changes in strength you will get a real fright or some panel damage.
- Riding beside large vehicles can reduce buffeting but make sure you can see the eyes of the driver in the mirrors or they cannot see you.
- Experiment with foot position. I move my toes onto the pegs in wind, this allows me to offer direct input of a weight shift without moving mass. Also I find less weight on my wrists, ergo it is easier to relax my grip. This varies according to your height and fit onto the bike.

I used to have a GPX250 and being fairly tall I found to ride the bike comfortably in a heavy wind it was neccessary to rotate the controls on the bars. by moving these to where my wrists were straight when gripping these while sitting comfotably i was able to cover the break and cluch with two fingers each and still have a firm but relaxed grip. This is now the first mod i make to every bike.





When considering advice you have aquired from a forum consider this advice.
"Never take riding tips from someone you would not pillion with."

[sunhuntin]

yep..those wind things are fun! LOL. as someone else said, just let the bike find its way. i treat mine like a horse...it knows what its doing, all im there for is to keep it within its lane.

im still learning how to properly ride with the wind. i just tend to play it by ear each time...worst was making the mistake of going into town...nearly got blown over at the lights.

[jtzzr]

Some seriously good tips from people, I tend to lean into the wind but not too much just enough to keep the bike uprightish then ride it through it,don`t forget the wind sometimes dies/drops so be ready , but that will come with experience , there are wellington riders up here that ride on a permanent lean,lol

[McJim]

Thanks for the tips and vote of confidence guys!
re: gripping the tank, I've always wondered about this.. when taking a tight-ish corner is it still wise to be firm on the tank with your legs? I only ask because I see people putting their knee down for whatever reason and I'm not sure if there's a point where you'd switch or if (on roads) it's fine to be firm on the tank for stability.

Thanks again!
At our level, gripping the tank with your knees is good advice. People "putting their knee down" are commited to their line in a corner and are going a fark of a load faster than thee or me - if they suddenly see a pothole on their racing line they have very little room for maneouvre. Don't try to put your knee down. Not yet anyway...and not on the open road.

And since you're on our side of the bridge why not join Mav on the next 250 run - loads of help, support and nothing to prove.

[Disco Dan]

...just got back from little ride to Parakai and back to westgate, wind was shocking!

sitting on about 120, when massive gust hit me from the right. the bike leaned and i was still upright, then hit a left hander and just let the wind push the bike round!

Still very scary though! seems the bike moves, but not me with the gusts! I cant lay on the tank, as im too tall for the bike as it is and when i need to brake my ankle doesnt bend up enough to get onto the pedal! its painful when im upright!! :Pokey:

[The Big J]

Keep your head up and be careful not to lock your arms. You don't drive a car with stiff arms because you can't adjust so easily -same with a bike.
On a windy day go down the motorway on a straight with a bit of space and just get used to the sensation of the wind blowing. The bike will sway but if you keep your head looking up where you want to go and your arms relaxed you will naturally adjust and with time you will notice it less.

[Big Dog]

Still very scary though! seems the bike moves, but not me with the gusts! I cant lay on the tank, as im too tall for the bike as it is and when i need to brake my ankle doesnt bend up enough to get onto the pedal! its painful when im upright!! :Pokey:

Try taking your brake pedal off the post and rotating around 1 or 2 teeth. Another must do mod.
find a close tooth where you can brake and still push far enough that you cannot push any further.
If you cannot find one that is perfect try adjusting the turnbuckle from the best tooth.

[Big Dog]

Keep your head up and be careful not to lock your arms. You don't drive a car with stiff arms because you can't adjust so easily -same with a bike.
On a windy day go down the motorway on a straight with a bit of space and just get used to the sensation of the wind blowing. The bike will sway but if you keep your head looking up where you want to go and your arms relaxed you will naturally adjust and with time you will notice it less.

Never try to muscle a bike, you will lose. If you want to force yourself to relax finesse the bike. that is don't push and pull to steady the bike. just steer where you want to go by pushing on the handle bar you want to lean toward.

Even if you outweigh your machine you will never win the fight, the battle maybe but the bike will win sooner or latter.

I have seen plenty of excellent riders end up in low speed tank slapper because they tried to muscle a bike.

[beyond]

No one has yet said the magic word. Relax.

It's that simple.




Excuse me :(

First page, three quarters down, my post:

Relax!!!

As soon as you tense up and worry about the wind, you will probably grip the bars tighter and therefore tense your arms and lock them as well. The counter steering reactions will be very diminished and any side ways movement will be accentuated.

Use your abdominal muscles and leg muscle to keep your profile as low as you can while keeping weight off your hands and wrists and relax your grip on the bars.

Let the bike have it's way over the bumps and in the wind and bring counter steering into play in the real hard gusts. Read the road and see where there are gaps between trees and gullies that can funnel wind and be prepared for extra hard gusts in these places.

Move with your bike and has has been mentioned, grip the tank with your legs and use your knees to make smaller adjustments.

It takes a huge gust to actually blow you off the road and we seldom get those up here in Auckland.
....

....


I'm not offended. :)

[Swoop]

Wgtn is hard due to the fact that there is always wind
Strange! Whenever I chat with anyone from Wellytown, they always swear it is NOT windy there...:lol:

I still maintain road cycling is more dangerous than MTB bike riding.

The accident statistics say downhill MTB riding is the most dangerous activity.

[zeocen]

Use your abdominal muscles and leg muscle to keep your profile as low as you can while keeping weight off your hands and wrists and relax your grip on the bars.

I find myself leaning onto the bars, is this something I should look into fixing? I've noticed that my clutch hand can get cramps but I figured it was just because I was a stupid newbie who needs to harden up :P

Thanks for all the posts again guys, the information is invaluable.

[Big Dog]

I find myself leaning onto the bars, is this something I should look into fixing? I've noticed that my clutch hand can get cramps but I figured it was just because I was a stupid newbie who needs to harden up :P

Thanks for all the posts again guys, the information is invaluable.

Clutch hand pain normaly has to do with poorly calibarated of alligned lever.

When you are in your normal riding position adjust the lever until you wrist would be straight while grabbing the lever. (adjust this feet up on a centre stand or with the assistance of a friend. under no circumstances try to adjust any control on the move)

If your lever or action is adjustable play with the various settings till you find the right fit for you.

Longer action gives more control on a hill start but makes your wrist more prone to pain.

[bobsmith]

The accident statistics say downhill MTB riding is the most dangerous activity.

What kind of statistics? accident numbers???

I realise that more people have accident on their bikes with MTB but I wonder who would suffer more... In my time doing MTB and road cycling (I didn't really do downhill stuff though) I've fallen off more with MTB for sure but hell it hurts a lot more with road cycling (road rash, etc...)

[Swoop]

What kind of statistics? accident numbers???


Accident/injury statistics. ACC figures as I seem to recall.

[NighthawkNZ]

Doesn't matter what your riding big or small the wind can effect how you ride... and sometimes gusts can be scary

The first thing...breath and relax... trust them tyres, bike and your ability as some one else said if you grip to tight and you not relaxed is not good... don't lock your arms and try not to have one of them freeze moments...

You have a whole lane use it if needed souseit... so you do get blown to far into the shoulder of the road and have undesirable results

Ride to the conditions, if you don't feel confident enuff at the speed slow down, if it gets two bad, stop take a real breather before carrying on.

Some bikes handle the wind better than others, depending on many factors, fairing, shape, size, but most will be effected from sideways guts...

Oh and still have fun even if it still seems a little hairy at times :baby:

[Str8 Jacket]

What really catches me out are the really really strong gusts of wind that hit you like a wall. They come from nowhere and just seem to hit you and your bike right over, literally. If someone can help me solve that problem then I would be sorted!

[zeocen]

Well I looked out the window today and saw no tree branches moving, so I decided to put on my gear and head out maraetai ways again.

The wind fooled me! But there was little to no traffic so I used it as a learning experience.

There were a few gusts coming from the side, not sudden ones but constant pushes, I was already trying to keep my arms relaxed when it first hit and I found the bike just kinda did its own thing and I semi-leaned into it, but not too much so that if it stopped or somehow I got a gust from the otherway that I would be in too much trouble.

I was feeling pretty proud of myself! I went down a side road because the bitumen looked pretty good, but soon realised it had dust and dirt all over the farm road along with bigass trucks going in the opposite direction. I soon learnt to trust my bike in THOSE situations that's for sure, the first backdraft I got from one of the trucks almost made me yelp in my helmet hehe.

But all in all, taken purely from advice from this thread I'm definately getting more confident and a lot more safe (I still haven't actually hit 100kmph, I only made it to 85 at most, but the sign was 80 so I figured I should stay in there "just in case")

So thanks a lot for all the advice! I really had a blast today.

[Big Dog]

But all in all, taken purely from advice from this thread I'm definately getting more confident and a lot more safe (I still haven't actually hit 100kmph, I only made it to 85 at most, but the sign was 80 so I figured I should stay in there "just in case")

So thanks a lot for all the advice! I really had a blast today.
Some people will no doubt try to knock this next statement but here goes....
Don't be in a rush to go fast.

It will come in time if you put in the ground work.
If you rush the process you will either end up an ex biker... perhaps against your will or you will find you are fast but have no grasp of the basics.

When I ride my motto is "Ride your own ride and let me ride mine"

I am not crashing to impress someone else.

[Goblin]

What really catches me out are the really really strong gusts of wind that hit you like a wall. They come from nowhere and just seem to hit you and your bike right over, literally. If someone can help me solve that problem then I would be sorted!

Might have solved that one now eh Hels!:yes: :scooter:

[frogfeaturesFZR]

That FZR of yours Hels goes to fast for the wind to effect it !:gob: Yeah I know...I'm biased, great bikes them Fizzers