How windy will you ride?

[Steph]

30 MPH winds happening right now. the lights in my house are flickering. Was out in my car earlier and some traffic lights are out. Temps are near 60 degrees F. would live to be riding. Just a little too windy for me. On my PCX that is

[SECoda]

I stay in the valleys at about 30 mph with little to no rural traffic. We have some gusts here too in the 20s.

[you you]

Fart before you start I say

[Steph]

Wind is SW 31 mph gusting to 48 mph. Just got this from the Weather Channel. Damn! It's the gusts that can be troubles.

[SECoda]

That's a bit more stout than we are having. A few gusts hit 30 earlier but 15-20 now max during my ride.

[Steph]

I did see a motorcycle out in this wind. Hope he will be OK.

[RusticCharm]

Riding around in town I don't go above 30 mph and I haven't yet reached my upper limit of wind speed. One day while riding on highways I encountered sustained winds of 30 mph with gusts much higher than that. The speed limit was 55 mph but I slowed to about 30. I was comfortable at that speed but I upset a couple of people in cars that came up from behind me and let me know in their own personal way that they thought I shouldn't be inconveniencing them for a few seconds by going so slowly.

[sendler2112]

The trick to riding in strong side winds is to stay loose on the bars so the bike can use it's steering geometry to correct it's self when gusts hit. And to lean forward to get your upper body out of the wind so it has less area and leverage to push on. If you have a windshield with a height that you peek just over the top of, any rain will blow right off your visor, straight down like someone had a blow drier, leaving perfect visibility. Watch the weather radar. A few minutes sooner or later can let you miss a band of thunderstorms.

[you you]

I did see a motorcycle out in this wind. Hope he will be OK.

Probably might not be dead but here's to angst.

[Steph]

I get a lot of people tell me that my PCX is to light for windy conditions and big passing trucks. I been in 20 mile an hour winds that were gusty and didn't care for it one bit. being loose on my grip does work. it's kinda strange how that is.

[sendler2112]

I get a lot of people tell me that my PCX is to light for windy conditions and big passing trucks.

A lot of people says things about bikes they have never ridden.

[iceman]

I do not like how much the PCX is blown around in town when the wind gets frisky - probably not moving too much but not a nice feeling. Would definitely not want to ride the PCX at 50-60+ on big roads with lorries and such.

[MikeP]

There have been lots of storms where I live, but I refuse to park the bike unless it freezes. The loose grip and relaxing on the ride helps when the gusts of wind hit. It's kind of like wind surfing on two wheels. If I die, it will be with a smile on my face

[buzzdesign]

been out in 25-30's, live in the country side, so mainly country roads and only a few main roads here to get back and forward to work, we have loads of trucks as they are the main roads and very open flat ground with little protection from the wind! ridden about 60-65mph........... but as Mikep says the key is to stay loose and anticipate the gaps in the wind cover....

[Steph]

One thing I can say is I'm glad I don't have a tall wind screen. My scoot came with one and I quickly removed it after my first windy ride. I like the looks of the stock screen anyways!

[geek77]

I do the "Syberian wind" thing - I ride on the longest bridge in Europe - 17 kms - that's 10 and a half miles.
It's high above the water. The wind is usually strong in the winter.



To tell you the truth, I thought it would be much worse. Our brain has an amazing ability to balance the ride, without us thinking about it. The only thing that needs to be done is to NOT CARE and point straight.

The scooter kinda leans to one side and the other under us, to compensate the lateral wind.

I actually catch myself enjoying this "balance autopilot".

I think that consciously trying to correct the lateral wind would be a disaster.

It's really not as bad as it looks from the passing cars. Try it - you must know what it feels like.

As Elliott Hulse says, "be a stronger version of yourself".

[sendler2112]

Our brain has an amazing ability to balance the ride, without us thinking about it.

It is not you. Any good motorcycle is actually self correcting for side wind gusts. This is a normal function of trail in the front end geometry and can be amplified with aerodynamic design of the bodywork to keep the side center of pressure well below the center of gravity. The bike automatically leans into the side wind and straightens up again when the wind is over. You can prove this by momentarily riding no handed. Riding in wind really is a fun and addicting feeling though.

[geek77]

I must respectfully disagree.
It is not the bike, it is our body that provides the necessary movements.
There is no mechanism to correct anything on the bike. The aerodynamics can only reduce the lateral force a little, but it only goes in one direction - pushing you to the side. We would fall over if we did not correct it ourselves.
It is the movements of our body that change the angles and inclination of the bike to correct the inclination provoked by the wind.
http://vestibular.org/understanding-ves ... nce-system

[sendler2112]

Awesome! I had a feeling the concept of a motorcycle leaning itself into the wind would stir a spirited debate. As it did on the last two forums where we had some long winded engineering discussions and finally hashed it out. Try it no handed (Although it is harder to do on a scooter since you don't have the tank to grab with your knees). It works just the same. It has nothing to do with the inner ear or anything the rider is doing consciously or unconsciously .
.
On CBR250.net:
http://www.cbr250.net/forum/cbr250-perf ... winds.html
.
.
On Ecomodders starting about here:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.p ... 54-12.html
.
A rough summary from the ecomodder.com discussion of the physics involved:
I finally got a good explanation of the mechanism responsible for the ability of a good motorcycle like the CBR250R to actually lean it's self into a cross wind with no rider input. It seems it is as simple as the action of the side load on the trail of the front steering geometry. Ken Fry writes

"Yes, most bikes are self-correcting. A gust causes the steering axis to translate away from the wind side. (The gyro effect of the rear wheel tends to restrain the bike's rolling more than it prevents the frame from yawing, because of the leverages involved. The frame yaws, and the steering head translates.) The contact patch, due to trail, is behind the extension of the steering axis. Therefore, in a crosswind from the left, the steering axis moves slightly to the right. The contact patch is then slightly to the left of the steering axis, meaning that the bike is steering itself to the right. This banks the bike to the left, into the crosswind.

You can take your hands off the bars entirely, and this feature works just fine (provided you don't have a bike prone to tank slappers)

If you really freeze your muscles and clamp onto the handlebars with a death grip, you can defeat this built-in trait. Taking the weight off the grips by tucking and putting your chest on the tank makes the effect more pronounced.

On some bikes, cranking in a lot of steering damper will interfere with this self- correction, and the bike will tend to wander."
Thanks Ken.

[Mel46]

Geek77, where are you located? I have never seen that bridge so i am curious about it.