[Unsung]

Are there any decent methods on how to ride with a strong cross wind on the road?

 

[TJR178]

Living in the flatlands, I lean into the wind when it whips up. You basically "ride" it.

 

[LiZrD]

Yes in texas we sometimes get some pretty strong crosswinds ... i usually find myself leaning into the wind ... It's kind of a natural reflex so that i dont get blown off the road.

 

[Ken_the_Carp]

Size here is an advantage. My wife hates riding on windy days, I don

 

[T-BOOGIE]

good topic! i have been dealing with this ever since i started riding a few years back. here in sf, we usually get some strong winds, especially over the bridges, the way i commute. a few things i have noticed:

keep loose on the bars. if you get freaked out and hold the bars too tight you will actually make the effect of cross winds worse.

i tend to keep higher rpms. theory being, if you have a greater rotational mass it will tend to keep you in line, rather that in you are coasting along. (don't know if this is technically true, but it works for me.)

get low. by crouching over the tank, you decrease the "sail" effect of the cross winds trying to knock you over.

grip the tank tightly with your legs ( i have even heard of some folks pointing thier leg into the direction of the wind which helps to countersteer the bike - haven't tried that)

watch out passing semi's or large profile vehicles. you can get hit by some pretty good gusts once you get passed so be prepared.

slow down, but don't coast.

another thing i noticed, was when i had my windscreen on my monster, i felt the effect of cross winds greater, as i think the screen acted like a sail (the effect lessoned once removed). the first day i rode my full faired supersport over the bay bridge, it scred the sh!t outta me, as i wasn't used to that much action on the bike from cross winds. now, i just go with the flow. hope this helps.

 

[alex]

When I bought my bike I rode it home from boise, idaho to bellingham, wa. It was a pretty straight shot nw through oregon and eastern washington, and the wind was always hitting me from the same side.

It was wierd, because I felt at first like the bike might have had warped steering somehow because I was riding leaned over to go straight.
I eventually realized that I was just leaning into the wind.
I felt like I was riding in an enourmous curve down the freeway, when I was really going straight... ???

 

[burgessa23]

is this your first bike? if so that's a hell of a long ride!

-Andrew

 

[alex]

not my first monster, but it was my first 600 mile trip.
I don't think my shoulders will ever feel the same. :-/

 

[lll0228]

MSF said: "Lean into the wind". It works for me.

 

[dbriannelson]

1. Stay loose. Especially the arms, shoulders and neck.

2. Lean as necessary to keep the steering neutral. The bike should actually do this for you if you let it have its head. Sometimes it's best to adjust your butt so you're upright even with the bike leaning.

3. Stay loose. Don't try to muscle the bike. Even truck buffeting can be handled by the bike if you let it do its job.


I rode from Billings, MT to Jamestown, ND (500 miiles) with a constant 40mph side wind once and could see and feel the beveled flat on both tires.

-Don

 

[troyslap]

I lived in Billings, you ride there you know how to lean into it. Always gusty.

 

[Unsung]

Cool, thanks guys. I guess I wasn't staying loose. Scared the **** outta myself the other day about had the bike blow out from under me.

Thanks again,
Unsung

 

[sivan]

I've had this problem in winter going up on some of the freeways that go over the city (280/101). Lean in, stay loose and keep a lot of margin because you will be kicked around and don't want anything to your sides. But really under those conditions you should reconsider riding altogether.

 

[jack]

Last week I dealt with some pretty strong gusts while slabbing it out for about 2 hrs. I'm pretty comfortable in windy situations and here's what I do:

Get small....arch back and get in tight, but not to the point of being uncomfortable; just keep head somewhat low and elbows and knees tucked.
Stay very loose, although really you should always be very loose.

I find that when I get hit by a gust of crosswind, the bike & rider automatically adjust. Don't know if I'm doing something subconciously but I

 

[samuelleeGoing]

This is real good. The Central Valley in california has been taking all the stinkin winds from the BAY area for a couple months now, and I just switched from my heaven suzuki kat to the 370lb 695...so it's been a little freaky at higher speeds.

I'm leaning just a little and trying to keep my RPM's higher. Anyone know if that actually helps? I feel like the power is propelling me through and helps with pushing out of the adjustments the wind forces? Anyway, I'm interested in all of this because a 695 on the highway is so stink in windy, it always feels like the bike is a little too movable under me.

Any advice is welcome but I'm reading all this too so...

 

[65218]

stay tucked down and the wind has considerably less leverage on you.
I tend to sit slightly off to the side where the wind is coming from and keep the bike upright so I can hit the breaks when some nutjob in a cage does something dumb. Having to do a brake check when you sit upright and have the bike tipped can give you some unwanted consequences.
I've been riding up to fairfeild on the 680 getting tossed around on both of my monsters in the gusting wind and this method feels the most stable for me.

 

[psyclone]

All the above advice is great. Something to consider - add a steering damper. My m696 feels like a "bigger bike" if that makes sense. Less susceptible to unwanted steering movement, and more stable.


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