Advice for riding in windy conditions?

[andmoon]

faster is better

[county]

faster is better

For what?

[Snowbird]

Advice: watch out for empty garbage cans and other crap that can get blown onto the road. Watch for dust and dirt blown airborne that can get in your eyes.

And, yes, be very careful riding past wind egdes that can easily blow you into the oncoming lane or off the right side. Watch for other vehicles that might get blown into your path-- large profile vehicles like SUV's and semis.

[andmoon]

For what?

You may not be able to ride a motorcycle at 5mph in 50mph crosswinds but you can at 80....yes the bike is thrown around but sometimes going too slow will make riding in windy conditions harder.

[Mobycanuck]

Make a sail.  Stick your knee out in the direction the wind is coming from.  This works really well on my 250.  The added wind resistance is enough to dampen the gusts a little, and prevent you from needing to lean as much in constant winds.  Experience helps too.  My first time out in the wind, I turned back and went home.  After riding a 300km trip in the rain and a 60km/h crosswind, I learned that it's not going to blow me off the road.

[PixelPusher]

To add to what everyone else has said, look ahead about 100 feet and see if the grass, trees, weeds, etc. on the sides of the road are doing. "Reading " them will provide some advance warning of wind direction and velocity across your line of travel.

Sometimes you can get an indication on the freeway by watching other traffic, but that is usually only when the X-wind is very strong, as it takes some force to move a larger vehicle around.  

Of course this isn't much good in the city, or freeway, but others have offered some good advice regarding where to expect cross winds (rock cuts, bridge ends, etc).

Having some idea in advance will obviously not stop your bike from reacting to the wind, but it will make it less nervous for you, and your reaction to the bike's movement will be less reactive and smoother. This makes for better riding.

+1! If you looking for it, you'll be surprised at how many clues you can find for the behavior of wind. Trees and grass are obvious guides. Also, street signs can flutter in sudden gusts. And a spray of dust or leaves can give direct evidence of the track of the wind. And once you see it you can prepare your position for when you hit it.

[Bug R]

Be very careful on big bridges like the Golden Gate, Seven River M4 (UK), Hamilton Skyway (QEW Ontario), you are very exposed and the geography tends to funnel the wind across them. I almost got blown into the guardrails (Across 3 lanes) once.

If I have had to cross I have actually use a truck to shield me in the past, yes it sounds and is dangerous, you are relying on the truck not to get blown into your lane.

There are times when it's better to pull over or find a less exposed route regardless of what it does to your personal schedule.

Chris

[turboderek]

I want to add a few more.  Earplugs or headphones.  I find it much easier riding in the wind if I don't hear it blowing.  I had a few times were it sounded like death was knocking on my helmet but the wind was more like a mouse fart.  Once I started riding with my iPod cranked up it was much easier.

[RBEmerson]

First and foremost, "go with the flow".  Oversteering can be as exciting as being blown around like a tumbleweed.  If the bike wants to move a little, let it, but stay on top of things and come back to your lane position as soon as possible.  Drift, gust by gust, over to the left of the lane, next to an 18-wheeler, and then take one more gust pushing you left and...    But when doing all this talk yourself into keeping a loose grip on the bars.  Do a "death grip" on them and you'll fight the bike, things will feel worse than they are, and you'll tire out a lot sooner than you might otherwise.  

DantesDame is spot on about wind edges.  Watch for them, anticipate them, and the ride will be more to your liking.  Vehicles in front, passing through the wind shear, will give some clues as to what's about to happen.  Look for a flag or blowing leaves or debris to give some indication of where the wind's coming from.  If you just see leaves or paper flying around, the wind's really not that bad (10-20 MPH), but if you start to see dust raised, the wind's started to come up and is probably blowing more like 25 or better.  

Back off a notch in turns.  As someone said here, it's not a lot of fun to be set up hard into a turn and have the wind knock the props out from under you.

And, yep, wind force increase with the square of the increase in velocity (remember it's all about wind acting on an area, measured in square inches or centimeters or whatever).  Go from a breeze of 5 MPH to 10 MPH and the pressure exerted by that moving air is four times stronger.  

[iflyducati]

Hard Gusty wind is hard to ride in.  I get blown around but tuckin in seems to help, even with the side gusts.  I have a friend that rides a VTX 1800 (he always adds the 1800) he tells me that the bike doesn't move at all but he gets blown around so much he has to hang on.

[RBEmerson]

Earlier this winter I took a ride to Maryland's Eastern Shore and part of the route was down I-495 in conditions forecast to include wind gusts to 35-40 MPH.  I happened to find a Gold Wing heading south at the same time and I figured I watch how things went for him as the wind gusted up and down, blowing from basically the right rear quarter.  Things generally went well until we came to the bridge over the Christiana River.  The bridge has a published 60 foot clearance for boat so that would put the bridge deck about 70-75' off the water.  Going up the bridge, the winds got surprisingly strong and I really had to work to stay in my lane and the GW was busy doing the same thing.  I basically tried to "climb under the paint" to keep my profile as low as possible, tried to keep the bike in line, and held on until I got down the other side of the bridge.  

It helps to remember that the higher you go, the windier it gets.