Cross Winds and the LT

[jiminabqnm]

Just a thought on how the LT handles in a severe cross wind. I have taken interstate 25 S to El Paso, Tx from Albuquerque and have encountered some pretty good cross winds (35-40 Mile Gusts). i have to admit, that the LT handles those winds with trust and confidence. I salute both the suspension and tires on my LT to keep my ass in a strait line during those pucker factor wind tunnel test. Thank You BMW!. For those Harley's on the frontage road, i salute you too!

Jim

[cfmpilot]

I, also, have ridden my U-boat in heavy crosswinds and am pleased with the way it handles. I think it is a function of weight more than anything else. Also, I have noticed that if I relax my grip in heavy x-winds, the ground track is straighter.

[jiminabqnm]

I do care about possible winds and forecast in my area of riding. I have to make sure the Ms. is happy on the back of the bike. But if i'm caught in the crap wx, i'd be happy to be on a beamer. Just from observations from other motorcyclist in my area, hiding under a bridge is not the answer. No flame intended, but it's a fact.
Jim in Albuq.

[Zotter]

U-boat,
"Das Boot" - mmm, she may well finally have a name. Taken already?

[cfmpilot]

Well, I was thinking about naming mine Das Boot, but go ahead if you want it. I can use a number, like U-49, etc. :)

[dshealey]

Repeating something I read a few years back: If the center of mass is above the center of pressure, the bike will lean INTO the wind, if the center of mass is below the center of pressure, it will lean WITH the wind. In this case, the LT's high CG works FOR us! I know it handled strong wind much better than my son in law's Harley! The LT is almost hands off, the Harley took a lot of work to keep it in the lane.

You also found out the same thing I did, if you white knuckle it, it is all over the lane, but just a light touch on the bars lets the bike do what it wants to, mostly self correct with only a little fine tuning from the rider. When I got into gusty wind I learned to lay my fingers on the clutch/brake levers and only push a little when necessary.

[cfell]

When life throws you wind, pretend it's a curve and lean into it.. =)

[Osprey03]

I nearly got rid of my LT due to what I considered poor handling, until the chap at the BMW garage said just relax and let the bike wallow where it wants to, (not too sure if wallow translates into American !!) Now I can't wait to ride it - side winds not a problem.

[usmctpdog]

The LT may be better than some out in the wind but here on the Open plain last week I was blown around pretty good, enough to make it not fun.

I have taken off my tour box hopefully to minimize the target affect, I'' find out this weekend if that makes a difference ..

Of 4 bikes, I was the only Touring bike, none of the sport bikes complained about the wind like I did..

[billybiker]

Repeating something I read a few years back: If the center of mass is above the center of pressure, the bike will lean INTO the wind, if the center of mass is below the center of pressure, it will lean WITH the wind. In this case, the LT's high CG works FOR us!

Maybe on an object not touching the ground but certainly not on a bike!

[dshealey]

Maybe on an object not touching the ground but certainly not on a bike!

Yes, on a bike too. If an object is stationary and sitting on the ground, no, but there was a long article I read a few years ago that explained this in great detail. A moving bike, with steering capability is much different from something just sitting there. I wish I had saved the article, but cannot find it now. It may have been in a magazine.

In any case, there has to be an explanation for why the LT, with all it's "sail" area handles much better in cross winds than a bike that seemingly would be better but is not. I know the Harley was MUCH worse, even though one would expect the wind to blow through easier and have less affect.

[pieceofficer]

When life throws you wind, pretend it's a curve and lean into it.. =)


Very Well Said!!


Maybe on an object not touching the ground but certainly not on a bike!

You Dare Argue with the Great dshealey? One thing I have learned on this site besides Ari and Messenger being the Farkle Gods.... I have Learned you NEVER argue with dshealey....he is all knowing and all powerful (and always right)

:p

[jrlakin]

Perhaps I am the odd one here, but in my opinion, my Ultra Classic handles cross winds better than my LT. I do recognize they are different in the wind--and thus riding style is going to be different too. BUT, I think the Harley wins in cross winds and on the Interstate with the Semi push and pull. Just my opinion.

[grifscoots]

Very Well Said!!




You Dare Argue with the Great dshealey? One thing I have learned on this site besides Ari and Messenger being the Farkle Gods.... I have Learned you NEVER argue with dshealey....he is all knowing and all powerful (and always right)

:p

Somehow the word God used in any context with Joe doesn't work, especially Farkle God. That boy's bike is almost stock.

[dshealey]

Perhaps I am the odd one here, but in my opinion, my Ultra Classic handles cross winds better than my LT. I do recognize they are different in the wind--and thus riding style is going to be different too. BUT, I think the Harley wins in cross winds and on the Interstate with the Semi push and pull. Just my opinion.

I don't know about the Ultra, my son in law's Harley was a Heritage Soft Tail. I know that one was much worse in wind than the LT.

[jrlakin]

BTW, I am not saying I think the LT is BAD in cross winds. Perhaps I am so use to riding the Ultra, I am more conditioned to riding it in those situations, and thus I am making compensation for the wind, and handling. jrlakin

[rjhammetter]

I'm sticking to the same guns as last time (another crosswind thread was ~2 weeks ago): riding the LT in big wind isn't big fun. Backroads & expressways = same thing... easily blown from one side of the lane to the other. Granted, I travel top heavy (fully loaded) much of my riding time, and I don't have significant experience on any other bikes to compare to.

I'm going to try the non-white-knuckle approach as opposed to trying to fight it and see if that helps.

[dshealey]

I'm sticking to the same guns as last time (another crosswind thread was ~2 weeks ago): riding the LT in big wind isn't big fun. Backroads & expressways = same thing... easily blown from one side of the lane to the other. Granted, I travel top heavy (fully loaded) much of my riding time, and I don't have significant experience on any other bikes to compare to.

I'm going to try the non-white-knuckle approach as opposed to trying to fight it and see if that helps.

Like many of us, I think you will find that when you relax and see what the bike is doing before you try to fight it, you will find it MUCH easier. I started out fighting it, after riding the Harley, but pretty quickly realized that the bike was about to mostly correct itself before I muscled it. After that I did not tense up any more when in gusty winds. HUGE change in how tiring it was! You still have to make some corrections, but nothing compared to when you are reacting too fast.

[cfmpilot]

Well, here is another way to look at it... If you were toolin' along in a 30 knot x-wind 45 degrees off the nose of the LT cruising at 60 mph and you could magically switch bikes to, say, a Honda Shadow 1100 (the bike I traded in on this one) there would be no comparison. The Honda weighed about 1000 lbs. gross weight, with no fairing and an aftermarket windshield. My neck would start cramping in x-winds because of the effort required to lean into the wind. The LT is not at all uncomfortable in a moderate crosswind. It wanders a bit, but any bike would.

Keep in mind, I am not talking about a west Texas breeze of 45-50 knots.

[LTinOH]

Not to hijack this, but I already named mine Das Boot from the band Kraftwerk's album with the same name (remember the song "autobahn"?)

[dmatson]

One trick I have used in heavy cross winds is to play with the wind deflectors under the mirrows. When i was ridding through some stiff cross winds I was playing with these like flaps on an airplane wing and found that if I would pull the one flat against the body (windward side) and put the other one straight out as to block wind the bike would track much better. I though this was just a fluke but I have done this since and it works! The other thing is to not hold onto the bars tight as others have said.

[bmwusmc]

I have removed my trunk and it seems to be a little bit better in the x-winds. Not as much movement as with the trunk..