One News Weather

[dreamride]

Man, that weather in WGN etc. must be pretty bad...Not too bad in Auckland this am, rode into work from the suburbs, bit of shower, heavy clouds but will see :sneaky2:

[vifferman]

Weatherlady warning about high winds and thunderstorms in the north:
"Keep your Motorcycles in the garage".

Yeah, right.
I've ridden over the Harbour Bridge several times when they've warned bikes to stay off, and it's been OK. Scary, yes, but OK.
The secret is to keep your weight forward, and keep your grip on the bars light. It's mostly the wind blowing on your arms that makes you weave, but the wind gusts cause the bike to lean.
Having said that, the wind blowing through the railings on the bridge when it's coming from the South does make the bike do funny things, and I think it's due to it pushing on the front wheel and/or mudguard. It was worst on the VFR, OK on the VF (small front wheel and vented mudguard), and not too bad on the VTR (small mudguard and only three spokes on the wheel). However, the VTR's lighter in the front than the VFR-Pig, and carries its weight a little higher, so overall it's a bit more scary.

The other things that are bad are:

• A strong north-easterly when you're heading north in the left lane, as the wind seems to funnel up along that side of the bridge. It's especially bad at the Stafford Rd offramp, as there's a weird turbulent effect as it passes over the median island thingo.

• Riding near buses, trucks and vans, as the wind gusts speed up going around them. It's OK if you can use them as a mobile windbreak, but otherwise you need to keep clear of them, especially if they are in an adjacent lane to windward of your bike.

• Riding over those stupid slippery expansion plates at the end of the bridge, when there's a side-wind blowing hard. The bike's front wheel momentarily skates sideways, and if I'm heading North, the one past the Ponsonby on-ramp causes MASSIVE wheelspin if I don't remember to throttle off when accelerating up the bridge.

I didn't actually hear the wind warning last night, but I didn't take my bike today anyway, not because I'm a wimp, but because my front sparkplug cap has a tear in it, and the bike misfires badly in the wet. I'm on to it, though, and have a new plug cap on order. So I had to suffer today, and travel in the Peugeot in the company of my wife and the receptionist from work (so I could use the transit lane), listening to CDs and suffering the climate-controlled comfort of the Peugeot's luxurious interior.
It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it...

[Antallica]

Yeah it's looking good here for now, should last the day.

[750Y]

my gixxer will be in center of auckland tomorrow 750Y ...

lock it up tight while your in there bud, chain it to something if possible. theives will be lusting after that beast.

[Ms Piggy]

Actually even yesterday afternoon, when I rode from my place in Newtown (near the Zoo) to the bike shop down near the Basin Reserve, I got blown about a bit. The wind doesn't generally bother me too much, just slow me down a bit.

Thanks for the tips though firestormer, I tend to grab tightly onto the handles...need to relaaaaaaaaaaaax.

[Motu]

We had a thunder storm pass through awhile ago and at the time was talking to someone in the city who said the hail was piled up thick - then some woman came in for a WoF and said it was dangerous driving on the motorway.So I jump in her car and do a road test in the rain - but her wipers don't work!!!!! Take care,it's dangerous out there alright!

[jrandom]

Yup, I'm sitting at home in Te Atatu working in my gargre, and the weather's just been going mental. I swear the leaves were blowing down the street at 50kph at one point.

Lots of thundering and lightninging. Also, it's fscking cold. Feels about 10 degrees below what it was yesterday.

And I have to go to the office at 3pm for a meeting. You can all prick your ears up for a 'jrandom blown off the side of the harbour bridge' post...

[Jackrat]

Took two hours to get from Waiuku to Penrose in The Rav4 this morning,then just as I'm pulling out of the truck driving school at about 11.00 it pissed down big time,Rain,hail,wind, Flamin' truck was geting blown about heaps.
Oh yeah quite warning,I'm gonn'a be out there in a 15 tonne truck next week so keep ya' eyes open.

[bungbung]

... I swear the leaves were blowing down the street at 50kph at one point....

I thought Wellington was windy, 50km/h? nasty.

Best you tie your gargre down before it flies away.

[sparrow_34]

Oh yeah the weather is mad! This morning I had a new set of Diablo's fitted to the Hornet and as I was leaving cycletreads all hell broke loose. First there was thunder, then just after I had crossed the harbour bridge the fricken hail started to come down, in about 30 seconds the motorway was white with hail and I was putting along at about 30k's trying to stay in the car tracks which was the only place where you could see the tarmac. I needed gas so got off at Fanshaw street, gassed up, and then proceeded to take it nice and easy the rest of the way home on my brand new slippery rubber in the pissing rain and wind. Sheesh

[Holy Roller]

Yeah, right.
I've ridden over the Harbour Bridge several times when they've warned bikes to stay off, and it's been OK. Scary, yes, but OK.

Back in the 80s a mate in the Navy lost his little toe when a gust blew him into a car beside him on the harbour bridge. Constant wind is not so bad its the gusts to look out for.

[Dr Bob]

Yeah - Mangell Bung Bung and I went up there and on the second to last corner before the summit - with the white fence - the bloody wind stood the bike upright from lent over - thankfully nothing was coming the other way.

I also remember driving down the motorway on my Bandit 250 just coming to the Whakatiki turnoff, the wind was strong strong coming across the rode I had to ride on hell lean - then it fucken stopped suddenly, nearly went shooting off the road in to the toi-toi's.

It does that around the plains north of Wellington, you have the tree windbreaks and then a nice little whole for a gate that concentrates the blast. But the worst for wind was down the South Island, there was a sign saying dangerous gusts. The wind was being blown up a gulley and lifted the front wheel from the ground depositing me, and my two other riding buddies each in succession, on the other side of the road.

[Dr Bob]

Yup, I'm sitting at home in Te Atatu working in my gargre, and the weather's just been going mental. I swear the leaves were blowing down the street at 50kph at one point.

Lots of thundering and lightninging. Also, it's fscking cold. Feels about 10 degrees below what it was yesterday.

And I have to go to the office at 3pm for a meeting. You can all prick your ears up for a 'jrandom blown off the side of the harbour bridge' post...

I came in from Te At at 2pm and the weather was well passed, Mr Random would have had a wonderful trip.

[vifferman]

Back in the 80s a mate in the Navy lost his little toe when a gust blew him into a car beside him on the harbour bridge.

My boss (back when I was a professional sheep botherer) lost his little finger (eventually) when he crashed his AG100 into a sheep.
I dunno whether the sheep was a wether, or if it had wind.

[marty]

i was at St Lukes when the hail storm came over - it was incredibly hard - my car, which is filthy at the moment, has a whole lot of white patches on it where the hail cleaned the dirt off!
bought a new helmet today, as although i am bikeless, it is only for another 90 hours (or 3 sleeps and a bit, or 5400 minutes). not that i'm counting