[Frankenstrom]

Lol, lucky you didn't get homeland security called on you. They'd have a bomb squad out there blowing up your top case.

I've never been blown off the road by crosswinds but I've been in some where I needed all of my lane.

My worst experience with wind was coming back to Ohio from Boston on the New York thruway. I was riding into a hellacious headwind and it played havoc with my mpg. Dang near ran outta petrol before I could make a plaza.

 

[gryphon51]

No but I have ridden home pushing hard on the left bar to avoid doing so on more than one occasion...

 

[tmcgee]

I've had my chin on the tank a few times, at about the same wind speeds that you've indicated. :yikes:

 

[Illinois]

Strom sits up high so it's always going to be an issue. IMO a fork brace seems to help out quite a bit. :yesnod:

 

[swingset]

I was in Southern Ohio on some hilly roads last year, wind was gusting but not bad. I got to a right-hand sweeper at the top of a hill, where it was wide open to the west....I lean into the turn, and WHAM! the gust hits me and literally stood my bike up and shoved me out of my lane and onto the cinder berm. I got on the brakes and came to a stop while in the berm....but it about filled my shorts having the bike sort of taken out of my hands like that.

Going straight in the bad wind I can take, but that was a new experience.

 

[Voluhzia-Strom]

Hah, imagine Oklahoma, tornado corridor. Doing TAT east to west with wind blowing north with 45MPH with gusts up to 55... DS helmet, loaded Vee, doing 35-65MPH speed on three track gravel road. Ride in the center track, leaning the bike and pushing the head, jump to the right track with gusts, jumping to the left with calm...

Man I was cursing in my helmet...

 

[Ches_Man]

Not on my Vee, but on a Harley with a sidecar. The damn wind caught the open sidecar and just pulled me right across the road onto the gravel side. In my attempt to straighten out I went right back across the highway back into my lane and off onto the gravel again. Came to a stop, emptied my drawers and then back on the road again!

 

[Keith Falkner]

I've been blown ashore, so to speak.

In May 2010 I was heading west on US-64 in northern New Mexico, and I encountered all sorts of weather, including snow. Yup, snow, in May, in a state bordering Mexico. I was uneasy about the weather to the west.

With good reason. When I entered Arizona, it was as if I had entered another continent, not just another state. The wind yanked the bike around as if it was a toy. I never was blown out of my lane, but I was not able to keep to any part of the lane. I rode about ten miles this way, then decided the trip was canceled. I rode back into New Mexico, then south from Shiprock to Gallup, and thence home to Florida.

Hence I did not enter Nevada, in which a semi-trailer was toppled by the wind, and the Cadillac of a friend of mine was blown from lane to lane at the will of the wind and not the driver.

That was the worst wind I experienced since January 1964, when a blizzard
blew my 305 and me off the Queen Elizabeth Way south of Hamilton Ontario.

Wind 2, Keith 0. But I am still here.

 

[Chuckanut]

Northern New Mexico last year, coming out of a road cut I prepared for the gust but it was too strong and pushed me onto the shoulder. I stopped up the road to let my hands stop shaking.

On that same trip I did a few loop rides without my bags and the difference was huge. Next trip I'll leave the top box home and use soft luggage along with the panniers.

I'm also a sea kayaker and my motto is "I hate wind"!

tom

 

[Nerf]

I was coming up to a typical red light that I go through every day on my commute to & from work one morning. All of a sudden a hurricane came blowing through the intersection coming from my left front quarter. I was in the left side of the lane & it blew me completely through the lane & into the yellow painted stripes on the right side of me before the median. I was braking & not under the bike's power so I was completely at the wind's mercy! Scared the crap out of me! Since I was less than 10 minutes from my house...& after careful consideration....& shorts cleaning, I turned around & went back home to get the cage. The wind wasn't all that much fun in that way to work. That storm system/weather event stayed all day & SUCKED!!!

 

[notacop]

I've done lots o' side winds traveling across Texas and Oklahoma. It sucks. Traveling out on Hwy 50 a while back I saw a dust devil traveling up the valley and as luck would have it we converged eventually. Blew my SIDECAR RIG into the other lane. Then again, it is the loneliest highway so no oncoming traffic.
To answer your question more precisely, coming out of Anza Borrego Desert some years ago one of the guys on a GS was parted from his bike by gusts. The paper reported gusts of 100 mph at a nearby mountain top. That sucked too.

 

[Banks C]

Twice.

Once (as a returning rider after 34 years) on my late, hated, thoroughly despised, under powered, poor handling, over priced piece of garbage known as a Ridley. I was caught in heavy rains and wind (that turned into a tornado) about 10 miles from house. Blown off the road and dropped the bike on soft grass about a foot from a big ditch that I couldn't see until the storm ended because it was raining so hard.

BTW the 1st sentence list only the good points of that bike. :fineprint:

Also once on my ST1300 in Wyoming. I was able to get back on the road in that instance and sped up to help offset the cross wind. Had fewer problems after I sped a up a bit.

 

[PTRider]

Yeah, there are some times when the only thing to do is to find a place to hole up and wait it out. If you can't countersteer into the gusts and stay safely in your lane, you gott'a get off the road.

My strom was really poor in winds. I found the steering stem nut to be quite loose. After tightening it (hand tight only; it isn't a damper) and securing it with the lock nut, the bike is much steadier. Roller bearings are on my to-do list. Black Lab has a great write up on changing or tightening the bearings. A fork brace is also a big help.

 

[DSCR]

This spring, on my KLR705 (sold), I was riding in the right lane of a divided 4 lane headed to Athens, GA. Wind was unpleasant, strong and gusting.

A wind hit me from the right so hard that I blew left into the left lane and caught it just before I was pushed into the median. Scared the crap outta me! Thank God no one was to my left or passing me at the time.

No bike is pleasant in gusting winds. The KLR caught EVERY wind like a sail. I was used to it and just accept wind compensation as a necessary evil on any bike.

That particular gust is the worst one to date.

 

[ozart]

Typical scenerio most every year [X2] for 500+ miles across west Texas and eastern New Mexico.

 

[sakebato]

On the way home from a trip I was on the interstate doing 85mph with a massive tail wind. I don't know what the wind speed was but I could not float my hand in the wind at 85. So when the road takes a turn to put the tail wind to a cross wind and then crossed a bridge it was almost to much for me. On the bridge was Im sure the most scared I have ever been. Complete failure to maintain two lanes let alone one. It was bad enough that I had trouble keeping a well fitted helmet on my head when tightened to an uncomfortable point. NEVER want to experience that again.

 

[Calbear]

HWY 395 across CA Desert

Riding home from weekend fishing trip in the Sierras a couple of weeks ago I rode thru reportedly 50 + mph side winds from Ridgecrest to San Bernadino. Wee pushed all over the rode during gusts. Tucked my chin on the tank whenever I was passed or overtook oncoming vehicles. Seemed to help but ended up with really stiff neck in the morning. I have a fork brace and had the stock screen with a laminar lip on the bike. Leaning into wind with light grip seemed OK until the gusts hit. Being passed by trucks running about 70 mph was real adventure. I wonder if I had my large touring screen would it have been better or worse? I rode across Midland/Odessa area a few years ago on an ST1100 in tornado winds and just pulled off and grabbed a hotel room along with the truckers. Good decision. I'm old and think it best to live to ride another day.

 

[griffin800]

winds

Wind blows this bike around some, not alot different than other bikes I've owned. If you don't counter steer you're going to have problems.

Bill H.

 

[chicago]

Winds on 395

Riding home from weekend fishing trip in the Sierras a couple of weeks ago I rode thru reportedly 50 + mph side winds from Ridgecrest to San Bernadino.

Big rigs occasionally fall victim to the winds on 395 and then it is closed to high profile vehicles.