Wind hazard? Tire pressure.??

[Bill Hilly]

I have my Brozz 250 sport road legal, and have my 90 day permit. I have put about 35 miles on it today, and have been on both main, and second roads. I first went to town on the main road( Rt 87, and Rt 62/33) .I just filled my tank, and took a secondary road (Carnian Ford) ,and 87 home. All went fine. My bike seems to run very well.. I had yet to get a State inspection sticker on it, so I called a place at Fairplain that I get my vehicles inspected at, and he he said bring it in. I took a secondary roads almost all the way there, and got my sticker. I had my confidence up, and figured I would get on Rt 21, which gets a lot of traffic, and is pretty fast. I was pleased with the way my bike climbed South hill. It has no problem pulling me. It was windy, especially towards the top of the hill and I could feel it shoving the bike. I had just started down the hill, and my bike started kind of a wobble ,and tried to go towards the center line. I was almost into the 45 mph section of road that goes into Ripley's city limits, so I just drove slow till I could stop,and see if I had a loose wheel,or something. I didn't.. Does this sound like something the wind usually does? . I also thought it seemed like it rode a little rough on certain patches of secondary roads. What is your recommendation on tire pressure?

[tknj99]

If the wind is strong enough, yes, you will get pushed around as these bikes are fairly light.. heck ive even been pushed around by wind on past 600lb+ bikes

[Bill Hilly]

Originally Posted by tknj99

If the wind is strong enough, yes, you will get pushed around as these bikes are fairly light.. heck ive even been pushed around by wind on past 600lb+ bikes

I could tell it was really windy as soon as I got back on the bike to go home. I could really feel it ,but I feel that I had good control of the bike. But about a quarter way down the hill I briefly was not in complete control. I can explain being pushed toward the center, and that along wouldn't have scared me as much. It was the suddenly wobbly feeling that ,even though not a violent shaking action, but more of a fast ,loose feeling almost like someone in a car shaking the steering wheel. I still had town to go through, and about 3.5 miles of fast 2 lane roads to travel to get home, and it did fine, but after an episode like that happens it is hard to get it off your mind. I am getting the hang of riding on the road,but I still need experience. I can't seem to ever remember to cancel my signals, and when I do remember ,I usually hit the horn by mistake.. I also can't get satisfied with the way my mirrors are adjusted. I just don't think I can set them to see behind me as close as I would like..

[Megadan]

Wind will absolutely push you around like that. Living in the great plains wind is a constant battle for me and you just get used to it.

As far as tire pressure goes, it just depends on a lot of factors. I will usually atart at max for both tires, ride it, let out a psi or two, ride some more, repeat until you hit on a pressure that rides decent without feeling too sloppy in the handling department.

[Wild Dog]

I hate when wind does that, it is quite common in a Windy area.

[TxTaoRider]

They are light high profile bikes that are blown around pretty easy. It doesn't help that the Brozz has smaller wheels 17/19 that reduces the gyroscope effect over the 18/21 combos the hawks use. My tbr7 is so much more stable after I went to a 21 front rim (it also added a couple degrees of rake).
Having said all that, check the steering head bearings to be sure they aren't too loose or too tight.

[Jim Rogers]

Agree with everyone else. I live in the same city as Megadan, so I, too, deal with wind a lot. The worse bike I have in the wind is my KLR650.

It's 400 lbs, but a tall dual sport, and the wind really plays havoc with it. Several times I've had to slow below 50 mph on the highway due to a strong crosswind that's pushing me either onto the shoulder or into oncoming traffic.

I don't have that problem with any of my other bikes.

I've searched the topic many times on different forums, and the main advice is generally to try to not fight it and don't get a death-grip on the bars. Loosen up, relax your hands/arms, and just flow with it.

Unfortunately, that advice has never been of even the slightest benefit to me. When the wind is blowing really hard to my side, it just doesn't matter how tightly I'm holding the bar-- I get blown off line.

The only thing that has worked for me? I just try to avoid riding the KLR when it's windy.

[ChillRider]

Well, getting pushed around by the wind is one the "surprises" and new sensations a novice rider will encounter. For me, even the sound of the wind rushing against my helmet the first time I ever went > 80 km/h on a motorcycle was wild.



Getting pushed around by 30 km/h side-winds was also scary at first, but it's one of those things you learn to deal unconsciously: slowing down, imperceptibly correcting your course, or even using your legs as "sails" to compensate, and before you know it you are cutting through wind as if it was nothing, almost anticipating any sudden gust of wind.

[tknj99]

The real fun begins when the wind is pushing you around while you are crossing one of those steel grated bridges

[Bill Hilly]

In a way I'm glad it happened, so now I know to try to avoid fast heavily traveled roads during potentially windy situations, until I gain more experience, and skill . It did set me back a little on my confidence level though. When we were kids, we would run around on dirt bikes on our farm's dirt roads, and on the gravel road that was our driveway, and we would run fast, and take turns in the roads at fast speed. We never consciously thought, or worried about leaning the bike, but we evidently did naturally. I noticed yesterday on the back roads that I would catch my self relaxing, and realize that I was just naturally leaning the bike without over thinking it. I have became a worrier in my old age, and while I know it pays to be careful, it can also take a certain amount of enjoyment from an activity. I will get my confidence, and skill level up to a higher level, but it will take some time. Yesterday was 60 degrees, but the next several days will be in the mid ,to high 40s, and then it looks like we will have a few days in a row of warmer weather. I hope to get some riding in.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by ChillRider

Getting pushed around by 30 km/h side-winds was also scary at first

To be fair, 30kph winds are strong enough to blow you around a little. That's a typical breezy day here.

Fun is when you are out riding and a wind storm happens. Yep, that's a thing here. I was out riding last year when one happened, The straight line winds were between 65-80kph (40-50mph) with gusts of 112kph (70mph).

I was thankfully not on my Hawk, but my VFR, and I got nailed with that wind as a cross wind. I could have sworn I was leaned at a 20 degree angle just to stay straight, and I eventually had to pull off the highway.

Now, you might be thinking "that's a freak of nature, ultra rare, doesn't happen very often" kind of thing. While the 70mph stuff is a little rare, maybe happening a couple times a year, it's not that strange to see the 40mph stuff - which is what we call a "windy" day here in the plains.