Modern Vespa

This morning I rode through the strongest crosswinds I've experienced since riding across Oklahoma as a kid in the 60's after I rec'd my orders for Vietnam. After medic training in TX I was taking my Honda CB350 to my parent's house in Topeka Kansas before flying out.

This dawn the same thing happened to me as it did 50+ yrs ago!

The wind blew hard from my left.....and my scoot moved right! and tilted left - into the wind!
Pretty alarming the first time this happened!
Honestly - this morning's wind took me right back there to that N/S highway in Oklahoma!
I didn't understand the dynamics of this phenomena, then - and I still don't...just hang on and ride it out, hour after hour there in Oklahoma.
Seconds after these photos the rain blew in again....and by gosh the Rain-X For Plastic seemed to work this time! In that wind the droplets stood no chance on my face shield!





O.S.

A pleasant PS....while I was goofing along this stretch of road, putting on my less expensive gloves as the rain started, taking snaps, etc. - two P-Ups stopped to check on me...."You good?"....
"Yes, thank you for asking!"

It's because you instinctively brace your left arm against the wind - this pushes a tiny bit on the left handlebar and guess what - you steer slightly to the left.

A demonstration of unintentional countersteering...

I've observed this effect many times -- the bike leans into the wind. Whether it is conscious or unconscious counter steer (I always caution people not to think too hard about counter steering, as it usually just makes things worse) I think it's sufficient to say that in order to maintain a straight line while the wind is blowing strong from the side, it is necessary to steer into it. And you do so without thinking about it.

Yes, that is what you do. Logical.

And a demonstration of force vectors. Gravity exerting a downward force and a strong wind from one side, a sideways force. For a two wheel vehicle to balance against such a combination of forces on a straight road results in a lean into the wind. Harder to do in strong gusts, of course.

Trim your sail.

The photos are beautiful! The lights on the topcase amazing. Thanks!

This is an excellent explanation. I have experienced this many times in windy Kansas. I bet I can ride with 40 to 50 miles an hour side winds not so much if I'm dealing with wind gusts.

Now I am no physicist and I wonder what happens if the velocity of the wind is higher than the speed you're going.

The leaning into the wind is physics.

It is the response to a lateral force, moving the center of gravity to counter that force.

Similar to the lean in corners.

Bill

With increasing wind velocity you will lean more into the wind. That's all.

While living in Salina Kansas riding was challenging because of wind. Cross winds on the highway required leaning into the wind. Then when you get to an overpass, no wind. When you start to get to the backside of the overpass, you have to be ready to break that wind with a lean into it.

... Until you wipe out?

I guess so. There will be a side wind speed at which it is no longer possible to drive.

A link: (I do not know if this site is to be trusted)
https://familyinstructor.com/when-are-winds-too-strong-riding-motorcycles/

According to what the guy says long before reaching that point probably almost all of us will simply have decided not to drive.

I think the real issue would be that strong gusting winds are more likely to knock you down before leaning would no longer be able to balance a constant crosswind.

I recognize that. Same with trucks in opposite traffic. The trucks block the side wind for a short while.
It is a matter of being attentive and anticipating timely.

It is like surfing

Reminds me of my '89 Honda PC800 (Pacific Coast). It had a combination of aerodynamics and steering geometry that caused it to react to crosswinds by leaning exactly the right amount to track dead-straight regardless of wind effects. Convenient, but a little uncanny.

The online owners group joked that it had an "auto-lean" system that any and all unknown hoses or wires found in the engine area were part of. (In retrospect, the components in question were probably for the vacuum-operated fuel petcock, but since the early models had automatic self-cancelling turn signals that tracked speed, time, and steering-head position, hypothetical weird electromechanical stuff wasn't actually totally out of character for that bike...)

I drove VW Buses for many years and its amazing how similar they are to sailing.

I can remember tacking into the wind on the expressway just to maintain my lane position. Sometimes scary stuff.

Our Vanagon was fine (if you recall the early promo blurbs....road testers called it the Porsche of Vans), but the BayWindow was an adventure.....though once loaded to the headliner it tracked just fine one winter's drive from Topeka to Boston.
O.S.

You will lean into an increasing wind until your tires lose traction or something drags on the pavement.

And then crash

or get sucked up by a twister and land unharmed in the Land of Oz

Going south in Colorado into Alamoso with stong crosswinds riding a Burhman 400 I didn't realize how much I had been leaning into the wind until I saw a semi tractor trailer coming towards me. I'm glad I notices so was prepared for the absence of the wind when we passed. As Jess commented it was instinctive to lean into the wind and my lean had increased as I came down from the mountain to the high plains section.

Gusting winds present a who different problem. Riding in Wyoming a gust moved me over a full lane despite lean from the constant crosswind. Another member had his scoot not only moved over a lane on that same stretch but ended up in a ditch. While I don't enjoy consistent cross winds I'll take them over gusts in a heartbeat. In the 2014 Cannonball crosswinds in Kansas we're brutal.

My Westy wasn't too bad in crosswinds, from a handling standpoint.

From a horsepower one, though? Drop down to third and rev it out -- at 50MPH.

(May have been aircooled, but at least it wasn't the diesel version...)

If you want to ride leaning less, shift your hips into the wind so that you are only sitting on one butt cheek.

Riding through the Free State province here once, the wind was so bad that the bikes in the group were leaning into the wind at about 30degrees from the vertical. If an 18-wheeler came towards us and created a momentary windbreak, the angle of lean caused a whole lane change for the riders. Riding through a road cutting had the same effect, sometimes with an aggravating eddy swirling in from the leeward side.