Newbies riding in the wind!

**Rocket Man** · 11th June 2007, 12:36

Hi all. Am new to the site and was wanting a little feed back on how others go riding in high wind... Went for my first long ride 3 weekends ago now down to National Park from Auckland.. The ride down was amazing!!! The ride home we unfortunately had the gale force SW's!!!! This was pretty frightening I have to say. Every time you hit an area that was exposed, the wind shear was unbelievable!! I ride a Suzuki GSXR 250.... Any advice out there to combat wind??? Couldn't imagine travelliong over the bridge in high wind! Are the affects of wind reduced with heavier bikes or is it the same for everyone? Do I just need to harden the f##k up??

**slinky** · 11th June 2007, 12:42

my opinion - not fact.

get down low, and be ready to act. so that wen a gusts pushes u either left or right. you can quickly counter-stear it/lean it in the oposite direction to stay going straight, turn the corner...etc

**Trudes** · 11th June 2007, 12:44

HI RM, welcome to KB!! Do a search of the KB threads on riding in the wind, you'll find a ton of useful info, mainly from Wellington people who are pretty well seasoned at riding in gale force winds, (and others of course). Good luck, happy riding!

**James Deuce** · 11th June 2007, 12:46

Reeeelaaaaaxxx.

Tensing up in the wind makes your body act like a sail in relation to the bike and stiff arms will transmit steering inputs to the bike, magnifying the feeling of being pushed around.

Don't alter your normal body position as that just complicates things.

Try to understand how countersteering works (push on the left bar to turn left, vice versa for the right) in relation to your own bike so you can actively counter any inadvertent changes of direction.

Relax. Go with the flow, participate in the experience, don't fight it.

There are threads and threads of stuff on KB so use the search engine as well.

**Kwaka14** · 11th June 2007, 12:46

IMO with some experience you get used to looking for the "windy" spots and lean earlier etc. There's not a lot you can do about it, bigger bikes are affected less as are naked bikes, but there's a lot of other things that come in to it right down to how sensitive your steering is etc..

**bull** · 11th June 2007, 12:56

As a noobie also i was a bit concerned with the wind blasts on the motorway here in Wellington that always seems strongest at aotea quay offramp.
Like Jim2 said reeeelaaaaax, ive found that if i put my knee out towards the wind it seems to break it a little and not push you so hard, also i tend to watch the landscape for possible breaks where the wind may be coming through.
Once youve got used to the wind its not bad at all and sometimes can be quite fun.

**Lissa** · 11th June 2007, 13:17

Hey Welcome to KB

The first time you encounter a bit of strong wind can be kinda frighting... (I remember, scared me half to death!) ... all I can really tell you is that you will eventually get use it.

Lots of threads on Riding in the Wind somewhere on KB.

Enjoy.

**xwhatsit** · 11th June 2007, 13:47

I went over the Harbour Bridge last night twice. Pretty flaming miserable and windy. The lanes are so frigging narrow too lol!

My bike is a hell of a lot lighter than yours (although it's naked, so less sail effect). Jim2 is right, just relax, especially your hands on the bars. I always find myself doing the same thing, tensing up and getting down low, but as soon as I relax the bike stops getting knocked around so much. Try accelerating. At 110kph the wind seems so much better than 90kph, probably because most of it is then blowing in your face rather than knocking you sideways.

One thing to keep an eye out for is hedges and walls and stuff. When one of those pops up (or goes away) the wind can suddenly vanish (or reappear) which can give you a bit of a fright.

Riding in the wind is fun. Sunny windless days are for losers who only ride their Harleys to the pub in the weekend wearing leather vests.

**Rocket Man** · 11th June 2007, 15:44

Thank you all for your words of wisdom... I must say I felt farely powerless against Mother Nature. I think there were a few people who did not want to pass me on the motorway fearing that I was going down!!! I guess I have a lot more practice yet... Do many of you guys go riding regularly in the weekends??? Am always up for a lengthy ride but would be more comfortable with at least another bike or two.

**zeocen** · 11th June 2007, 15:44

I made a thread about wind at speeds a while back (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ighlight=wind), hopefully that helps!

What I took from it was just to relax and if the bike tips on an angle, then relax and let it, I eventually got used to it and it's sort of become second nature to move with the bike when wind hits it on the side. I'm still not quite used to getting punched by air in the helmet, that always gets me.

The main thing was to not be on such an angle that when you come out of a twisty hill area and hit the wind that you don't fall over completely!

Hope this helps

/Edit: Lots of us go for group rides whenever we can in Auckland, there's a good amount of 250 riders who have just gotten their restricted and are on their way to full (or have their full) and still go on 250 rides, no one makes anyone ride beyond their limit so just sign up whenever there's an event posted and have a blast !

**gijoe1313** · 11th June 2007, 17:46

Originally Posted by Rocket Man

Thank you all for your words of wisdom... I must say I felt farely powerless against Mother Nature. I think there were a few people who did not want to pass me on the motorway fearing that I was going down!!! I guess I have a lot more practice yet... Do many of you guys go riding regularly in the weekends??? Am always up for a lengthy ride but would be more comfortable with at least another bike or two.

Did you say go for lengthy ride?

Now, to me a lengthy ride is like going to Cape Reinga or down to Wellywood ... anything else is a pootle to me!

I'm always looking for an excuse to ride ... and now my report writing and exam marking is out of the way, there's some lanes to freedom I need to travel down!

The 250 crew in South Auckland are always out and about ... drop me a PM when you feel like it and see if we can scoot out for a ride!

And oh yeah, the wind feeling will pass (bad pun

) do as others have said, follow up the thread links, do a search and then - go out and ride some more!

**325rocket** · 11th June 2007, 18:33

i hear what your saying about wind!!! first time i hit the motorway on a windy day i fair s**t myself. i felt like i was all over the place, i was way down low hugging my tank pretty much trying to stick my head into my dash when out from behind me comes a fella on an old triumph with an open face helmet no glasses and only one hand on the bars!
thats when i figured a bit of winds not that scary.

**johnnyflash** · 11th June 2007, 18:53

Welcome aboard Rocketman. good to see you here, Wind i9s just another motorcycling skill you will learn to handle and anticipate, just relax, dont over react, Yes the size of bike has a major influence on how it handles wind sheer, my current ride is over 320kg plus another 200kg of rider pillion and luggage... so half a ton of metal presents a little more of an obstacle for the wind...