i've ridden in high winds a bunch of times, today was different.

as the wind blew in from 10:00 direction (front left) the bottom of the bike went to the right causing a left lean and as it leaned left the bike was drifting to the right in the lane.
when i pushed left to go left it added to the left lean i already had going and it felt very wrong. it felt counterintuitive. for the first time on my sportster i felt unstable.
as a result i did all i could do... i slowed down and eased the bike left in the lane with as little lean as i could.

it all felt so wrong that i stopped and checked the tires and stuff twice.

anyone else ever experience this?

 

I was riding ' into' the wind all day,didnt matter which direction I was headed.

 

once on the big road... most of the wind was head on - my neck was sore from head bobbing. from that experience i got a removable shield.
had some side winds like you are describing on the same ride and i get what you are saying. feels like you dont know the bike kinda... an uneasy feeling. fortunately most of the wind i hit was the head on wind. bad enough but not as bad as side winds.

 

Once riding on the open road got hit by severe crosswind to the point it sent me to the emergency lane.. I had to stop and wait.. I also attribute the instability to some degree to the tires.. the stock tires don't grip the road as well as my new Avon Venoms X.. I once was riding downtown at slow speeds and out of the blue came this very strong wind.. I am not kidding when I say that it actually made my front tire loose grip and jump a couple inches to the right.. my friends on sport bikes had to slow down but were able to keep riding. i had to stop and wait.. I hope Avon never discontinues the Venoms.. I love them!

 

holy crap! it'd hate to have been riding with you that day.
i'm glad i'm not alone here.........
also, do you think my tires may have been sliding, slightly, to the right?

 

SAme problem with the cross winds. Havent noticed as much of a problem since I went with the metzler 880

 

hey Volks.. I experienced what you described in your original posts quite a few times where I live.. South Florida has crazy weather changes including wind gusts that are very annoying and sometimes dangerous... I made the decision to get the tires with the best grip possible.. and as far as I know for our bikes are the Avon Venom X.. of course... they are softer and probably last less than half compared to stock tires... but heck... whatever it takes to avoid an accident... sure... if you put 20k miles a year then it is going to be expensive and annoying to have to change tires all the time.. but if you tend to ride in areas with a lot of wind then grippy tires are a good alternative.. (I believe Metzeller 880 are also grippy)

 

 

Wind was bad here In Indiana yesterday also. Just put the Ride Wright wheels and Metzeler tires on bike so have been going easy, making sure everything is ok with them. Decided to get on I-74, got up to about 75mph and the wind was beating on me. I hate fighting the wind.

 

Here everything is almost flat and you're normally riding in between corn fields when you leave the city - winds suck(blow) all the time. Been geeting alot of 30 to 50 mph's allready this year - Saturdays supposed to be 80 degrees hoping for calmer day.

Driving to North Platte from Omaha for pool tournament next weekend - 280 miles. Last year we had wind in face both ways.

Never had bike slide from wind but really had to fight to stay in my lane a few times.