Triumphrat

DDon

Last Saturday, on the final leg of my ride home, I got nailed by some nasty crosswinds. Not steady but, strong gusts. In the rain. On the open prairie.
Was doing 80 on the Interstate. The rain started. Light traffic. Riding in the right lane. Got hit by the crosswind, leaned into it, kept going. Didn't last long. Happened one or two more times.
Then got nailed by a stronger, steadier one that moved me over half a lane. By now was close to a semi and figured I would hang back with him. Thought being; he was slower (75), bigger (Turbulance might reduce some of the crosswind strength), and he could be seen. Was thinking about taking the next exit and continue home differently.
Did alright until you could see his trailer was drifting to the right. He slowed and eventually pulled into the Port of Entry (Weigh Station). I followed.
I was thinking of hanging here for a bit, until the wind died down. I was close to home. Didn't know how much longer it was going to last. So I puttered on through (35 - 40) and stayed in the lane that led to exit and home.
Crosswind was steady but, bearable. Traffic was nil. Onto the Off Ramp. Strong gust comes up, lean into it, blows me across the right lane, shoulder, and onto the dirt. Neatly spaced in the dirt are the reflective metal stakes and maybe 4 feet over is an embankment down to the Truck Stop. Fortunately I stopped before nailing a stake or Off Roading my Trophy 1200.
This all took place in the space of 15 - 20 minutes.
Once I finally reached the end of the Off Ramp, hung a right, my back was to the wind, and eventually got to where the geography had houses and etc. to break the wind. The only other gust prone spot was going on the Viaduct, that goes over the railroad tracks. It was windy too but not as bad. Gald to be home!
Rest of the trip was GREAT!. The last 35 miles were - interesting.
Earlier this year I did practice on some windy days riding in windy conditions. Wind is a normal thing around here, just more around storms and Spring.

Silverhawk

I haven't been in x-winds quite that bad on my America. I do have a Honda Reflex and I've been caught in 40 MPH winds on that.

It's a real trip to be leaning like going through a corner at 50 MPH but it's in a straight line. Remember the Reflex is about 200# less than the America and with 12" rims so it feels the wind a bit more.

Running on the 4-lane in the driving rain is a lot of fun with the America though. While all the cages slow down I just keep on at 70. The best is the weird looks at the "nut" on the bike. That's why they invented rain suits AND I haven't melted yet.

shoggot

I still haven't decided if higher forward velocity helps or not in strong crosswinds.

That said, since on the section of 66 where I hit 'em in spring & fall they tend to shift suddenly from left-> right to right -> left, I generally hang out in the far left lane, towards the left side, but with about two feet to spare. This gives me a nice wide area to drift to the right if need be without getting into the right lane, and a clear shoulder if I get hit strongly to the left.

That said, it's rare that they'd be strong enough to actually carry my over to the shoulder.

Regards the semi & following, isn't that worse turbulence? I know that at highway speeds, the only effect I get from semi's is when I'm too bloody close to 'em, at which point it becomes a constant buffeting back & forth.

Side note: tendency for wind to affect me went down with every bit of gear I tossed aside; most notably the windscreen, secondary was removing a sidebag (I still ride with one, since it's invaluable to me to have the carrying capacity).

DDon

Trophy's are known for their large "sail" area. Hence more prone to Crosswinds. Other than a broadside wind, usually it's manageable.
As for following the semi, wasn't about to chance being blown into him while doing a high speed pass.
To be honest; the combination of a strong buffeting crosswind (with appropiate lean) and wet pavement was not a pleasant experience.
I'm wondering if I was zooming through a Microburst.

Geimer

Hanging around the semi's seemed like a bad idea when I was on I-25 near Sante Fe last week. I was in brutal cross winds. I won't pretend to speak for the situation that DDon experienced in WYO becasue all situations have varience.
In the situation I was in, slowing to 65mph helped a lot, and the semi's and RV's made the winds easier to bear for some brief seconds occasionally but were far from predictable and were catching me off guard too much. I had a much easier time when I was not in their proximity.... besides... the wind was blowing them all over the road too... worse than it was myself. All in all the Bonneville handled the wind very well in my opinion..... but then I do not know what the wind speed was in comparison to DDon's time in WYO. I know it can be very brutal up there too.

kevin_stevens

Absolutely it helps. The faster you go, the more the apparent wind (that which affects you and your bike) moves to directly ahead of you. If you're stopped with a 40mph wind from your left side, the apparent wind is 40mph from the left (270*). If you're going 40mph, the apparent wind is around 56 mph, but coming from 45* towards the front (315*). If you're going 80mph, the wind is up to an apparent 89mph, but coming from only 26.5* from directly in front (333.5*).

Usually the *worst* part of wind riding is wind shadows. Gusts pick up and slacken with at least some warning, but if you're getting 50mph from the side, and you ride into the wind shadow of a building, it goes to 0 in under a tenth of a second.

If wind gets too bad and the lanes are available, I'll actually hang out on the leeward side of a semi rig. Sure there's buffeting, but they will block the wind and gusts for you. It's not normally the best place to be, but sometimes you have to pick your priorities.

KeS

DDon

Thanks Kevin;
This is what I was trying to figure out.
Sometimes you just try what seems to be the least of the evils to pick from.
To have been riding in the lee of the semi trailer would've been ideal. However he was in the right lane of the 2 lanes. I was hoping his turbulance would extend far enough back to cancel some of the effects of the crosswind.
The other problem is that it is not that uncommon for semi's to overturn in crosswinds around here, especially empty cattle trailers. So I would still be a little leery of hanging in the lee.
A bit ponder to here.