Hair-raising harbour bridge crossing this arvo.

[mattian]

Crikey ! came onto the Harbour bridge this arvo via the Curren street on ramp, heading North. Traffic had crawled to a stop and I made the mistake of coming to a stop with the back wheel on one of those steel grid dividers!? ya, know the ones?? really slippery in the wet! anyways..... try to take off with the traffic picking up speed again and, the back wheel looses traction ! starts going sideways!! :crazy: I recover quickly enough and wave a sheepish sorry to the car behind :Oops: and then the real fun begins at the top of the bridge. Wind buffets me all over the show almost sending me into the fence/barrier :crazy: I've ridden in some heavy winds before but, I would say today was the scariest crossing ever. :sweatdrop
Saw a guy on a little 125 scooter in the center lane! :eek5: he looked like he was having no trouble at all !!

[slofox]

Saw a guy on a little 125 scooter in the center lane! :eek5: he looked like he was having no trouble at all !!

Scooters come complete with invulnerability y'know. That's why ya don't hafta wear any gear on 'em...

[vifferman]

The centre lanes are generally a little more sheltered (depending on wind direction). Also, some bikes catch the wind more'n others.
The key to riding on the bridge on windy days are to relax (don't hold the bars in a death grip), and don't worry if the bike moves around a bit. Be aware of which bits of the bridge cop the wind in which conditions: when there's strong nor-easters, heading north is worst just as you go down the northern side, where you get that long fetch through past Takapuna and along the foreshore by the HP HQ.
Headed south in a nor-easter, the wind picks up speed by (and on) the Shelley Beach offramp).
When it's coming from the SW, you need to be careful headed North in the outer two lanes going onto the bridge, or in the middle two lanes headed south, just as you come up to the end of the arches and head down the bridge.
In either direction, with any strong winds, be aware of large trucks or buses on the bridge: the wind spilling around the ends of them has a higher velocity. However, you can also use them as a mobile windbreak.

[suckingair]

Scooters come complete with invulnerability y'know. That's why ya don't hafta wear any gear on 'em...

I knew I should have brought a Bergman.. do you think it could ride across water ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWueAVyfKTE

[R6_kid]

Was good fun apart from the drizzle!

[JimO]

fuck it was HOT AND SUNNY in DUNEDIN today AGAIN:2guns:

[skidMark]

You want to be in a low gear and be sitting on about 3/4 revs....

Enough to keep an acceleration pull but not nutting it.... stops you from getting blown around as much...if you try pootle as usual you end up in the wall.

[rainman]

'Twas fair blowing like forty baastids though. Even I had a Rocky Horror moment ("it's just a jump to the left") and I'm normally OK with wind. Not on the bridge though, up at the pooh ponds, a much worser spot.

I really should buy that new back tyre... :rolleyes:

[Kemet]

Saw a guy on a little 125 scooter in the center lane! :eek5: he looked like he was having no trouble at all !!

Probably cos it's so freaking small even a mini cold protect a scooter from the wind!!!


fuck it was HOT AND SUNNY in DUNEDIN today AGAIN:2guns:

Is it ever!!! I've go the fan going next to me!!!! 26deg when I got home at 4, right now it's a mere 25deg.


Scooters come complete with invulnerability y'know. That's why ya don't hafta wear any gear on 'em...

Is that an ID software reference (iddqd)??:blink:

[Big Dave]

fuck it was HOT AND SUNNY in DUNEDIN today AGAIN:2guns:

Woah! - that's what? 3 times since 2004.

[skidMark]

Woah! - that's what? 3 times since 2004.


LOL!!!

Um dave...you crossing the harbour bridge on a windy day on a bike...

Isn't that like putting an americas cup boat sail on a dingy.

[Big Dave]

Nah - I outweigh it.

I was going to say to Mattian - you have to do the racing tuck - roll up in a ball and get everything as close to the bike as you can.

[madbikeboy]

fuck it was HOT AND SUNNY in DUNEDIN today AGAIN:2guns:

Speaking of which, when does your sentence for shop lifting end, and when can you leave Dunners?

[Anarkist]

You want to be in a low gear and be sitting on about 3/4 revs....

Enough to keep an acceleration pull but not nutting it.... stops you from getting blown around as much...if you try pootle as usual you end up in the wall.

Uhh.. Wut?

[chasio]

It was interesting alright. I do it every day in all weathers on my Vespa GT200, which I reckon is excellent in the wind, but this evening was a bit squeaky-bum-time.

The bugger of it was the traffic was slowish so I couldn't keep the speed up enough. I tried splitting lane 1-2 from the Curran on ramp up to the top to keep my wheels/gyroscopes going a bit quicker, but it was just too hard to hold the right line in the gaps... so I slowed down and got buffeted worse. Tricky call.

Still, we're all at home typing stories about it...

[mattian]

Nah - I outweigh it.

I was going to say to Mattian - you have to do the racing tuck - roll up in a ball and get everything as close to the bike as you can.

yeah mate. I try to turn myself into a bullet while in a head wind. LOVE those tail winds though! anything from the sides is a nightmare.

[mattian]

You want to be in a low gear and be sitting on about 3/4 revs....

Enough to keep an acceleration pull but not nutting it.... stops you from getting blown around as much...if you try pootle as usual you end up in the wall.

yup, I do that. I also find a little bit of rear brake helps to stableise things a little. Trying to relax my grip, like Vifferman suggests is a little difficult though. When all your senses are screaming....... "Fuck, I'm going to be blown over the barrier!" :gob:

[Ixion]

It was interesting alright. I do it every day in all weathers on my Vespa GT200, which I reckon is excellent in the wind, but this evening was a bit squeaky-bum-time.

....

Scooters usually are. One of their advantages.

I believe this is because they have a large wind resistance surface area to the rear (ie all that enclosure stuff around the rear). And very little forward of the centre line to catch the wind.

The more side surface area you have on the front of the bike the worse it is in wind. The more surface area to the rear of the bike , the better. Especially if the surface area is low down.

[vifferman]

Whelp, I didn't ride my bike today, because of the wind. :confused:

Y'see, I really like the wind, but it winds me up summat chronic, so I end up riding like a wanker.... :o
Don't need any more tickets...

[Mikkel]

Scooters come complete with invulnerability y'know.

Oh, I thought it was invisibility - must be that drunk russian bad guy again.

[JimO]

Woah! - that's what? 3 times since 2004.

laugh all you like you suckers, we have everything that you cunts have without the traffic, gang problems etc, you can buy a nice house in a good area for fuck all, you can ride on roads 10 mins from dunedin and not see another car.....but you suckarses stay where you are, we dont want you here

[Kemet]

Nah - I outweigh it.

I was going to say to Mattian - you have to do the racing tuck - roll up in a ball and get everything as close to the bike as you can.

And while you're tucked up like that you may as well use the posture to the fullest of it's purpose.....


laugh all you like you suckers, we have everything that you cunts have without the traffic, gang problems etc, you can buy a nice house in a good area for fuck all, you can ride on roads 10 mins from dunedin and not see another car.....but you suckarses stay where you are, we dont want you here

seconded

but...

um.....



What are suckarses??? :kick:

[swbarnett]

Still, we're all at home typing stories about it...
Well, those of us that are at home and typing are at home and typing, the rest we don't know about.

For myself, I avoided the bridge today. The CBX does tend to catch bit of side wind, especially with the Givi on the back.

[musicman]

I hate how people seem to not know how to drive whenever a few drops of water fall from the sky. Crossing the bridge northbound today at 3pm cars were doing 40km/h. Yes, 40!! What the hell was up with that!! It wasn't even jammed or anything, traffic was free-flowing on the other side! Gaaaah!! Oh well, good thing that bikes can lanesplit :2thumbsup

[chasio]

Scooters usually are. One of their advantages.

I believe this is because they have a large wind resistance surface area to the rear (ie all that enclosure stuff around the rear). And very little forward of the centre line to catch the wind.

The more side surface area you have on the front of the bike the worse it is in wind. The more surface area to the rear of the bike , the better. Especially if the surface area is low down.

That makes sense and probably whipping the screen off would make it better still, as the curvature of it means that it does present a reasonable side profile.

Another things with the GT200 is that it is made of steel and is 150KG dry, with most of that weight down low. I wouldn't have fancied it on a 95KG bit of flexi-plastic.

[74 knuckle]

Hey you guys want a realise theres life south of the bombays and come to a town that gives you a frequent wind velocity of 140ks it adds to the adventure!!!!:Punk:

[SixPackBack]

laugh all you like you suckers, we have everything that you cunts have without the traffic, gang problems etc, you can buy a nice house in a good area for fuck all, you can ride on roads 10 mins from dunedin and not see another car.....but you suckarses stay where you are, we dont want you here

There is a fucken good reason why dunedin and surrounds are sparsely populated.

[Bass]

There is a fucken good reason why dunedin and surrounds are sparsely populated.

You may be right, even the gangs have more sense. I lived there for a year!
Also, I'm pretty sure this "good area" where nice houses are to be found is a figment of his imagination, unless of course they are on the tops of those hills that I couldn't get to cos the roads were completely iced over.

Just to get it back on topic, driving to work yesterday morning, as has been pointed out, the breeze was a trifle spritely. Things got really interesting for a second or so when a couple of phases of an overhead 11,000 volt transmission line touched about 50 m ahead of me

I thought that God had taken up flash photography - the whole world went blue-white and the arc must have been 20 m long.
It sounded like all the arc welders in the world were operating at once in the back seat of the car and I was certain that the line was going to fuse and come down on top of me. I was reminding myself not to try and get out of the car if it happened.
There was no point in trying to stop but as luck would have it, the arc broke just as I got alongside and the lines remained intact. I still had to drive through a rain of liquid metal droplets though and it was about 10 minutes before my pulse got back to normal.

[vifferman]

laugh all you like you suckers.....but you suckarses stay where you are, we dont want you here
Fine.
We'll post messages on here about our winter riding, while you're stuck inside because you can't even walk outside without falling over on the iced-up roads and footpaths. :laugh:


I hate how people seem to not know how to drive whenever a few drops of water fall from the sky.
You mean, still following one car length behind, and traveling at 1110km/h, even though it's pissing down with rain and visibility's shit?
That's what I experienced this morning - some dickhead on my bumper, who then overook on the left, and into the sensible gap I was leaving in front. The car I was following had to keep hitting the brakes as he wasn't leaving enough distance to the car in front of him, whereas I didn't need to brake once.
Anyway, I ended up moving one lane left, which actually meant I passed Mr Tailgater within 2 minutes of him passing me, so he ended up behind me again.
All that risky driving for nothing.
Pillock...

[Hailwood]

laugh all you like you suckers, we have everything that you cunts have without the traffic, gang problems etc, you can buy a nice house in a good area for fuck all, you can ride on roads 10 mins from dunedin and not see another car.....but you suckarses stay where you are, we dont want you here

So jimjim how is the new job at the Otago Promotions Board going?

[Hailwood]

Hey you guys want a realise theres life south of the bombays and come to a town that gives you a frequent wind velocity of 140ks it adds to the adventure!!!!:Punk:


We call that breeze eh down here...I do laugh weather warning for Auckland wind expected to reach 100kphs..ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo thats really windy...pfffttt. Having said that I have riden over that bridge in a light wind and it wasnt fun so I can imagine just how scary it must be in a real gust....respect to those who ride it every day....

[vifferman]

We call that breeze eh down here...I do laugh weather warning for Auckland wind expected to reach 100kphs..ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo thats really windy...pfffttt. Having said that I have riden over that bridge in a light wind and it wasnt fun so I can imagine just how scary it must be in a real gust....respect to those who ride it every day....
The gusts are actually harder than that on the bridge - you've got a long fetch in the main directions wind comes from (NE and SW) so it gathers some velocity. Then the structure of the bridge itself means that in places the gusts are actually harder than the wind strength expected.

However, having commuted over it at least twice a day for 7 years, I found that even on days when there were signs indicating motorcyclists shouldn't use the bridge, it was actually not too bad. The VFR was the worst of the five bikes I've ridden over it - going north in the outermost 'clip-on' lane in a strong souwester, the bike would do this strange 'wiggle dance' where the wind blowing under each successive panel of railing would blow on the front mudguard and steer the bike slightly. Apart from that, it was exciting, but I had no real sphincter-opening moments.
At it's very worst, I had to slow down to 30km/h, get my weight forward, hunker down over the tank, and pick the best lane.
However, traveling over it in a lesser wind in a Renault 10 (rear wheel drive) without a bag of sand in the front was 'interesting'...

[Jaghund]

Had a similar one last saturday between National Park and Taumaranui. 100kph+ cross winds and all sorts of debris to avoid on wet road. Not so bad on the big old RX, but my mate on his Duc was looking pretty flimsy. Don't you love the change of seasons?

[JimO]

booo hooo what a pack of whining poofters i think you will find that the roads and footpaths dont ice over apart from a couple of shady hills that can easily be avoided but you believe what you want we dont want you snivelling latte drinkers here mincing about felching each other

[jer66]

Had a suzuki impulse years ago going over the harbour bridge. Fuchen shat my self a big gust came just as i got to the top i dont no how i stayed on.