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Under normal circumstances, they usually are. ;)
Not for me mate, I never turn down the chance to ride someone else's bike but have never found a bike that is better than a naked for noise and buffeting, but I suppose most bikes are built for hobbits of less than 5'11" but I'm over 6'3" and definitely not normal (whatever that is). Who said that?
 
Quite surprised by some of the answers here.

Here is a wee thought. If you are driving your car and it gets caught by a strong gust of wind blowing it to the right – what do you do? You steer to the left. Nothing else will solve the problem.

Why would it be any different on your bike? If you get blown to the right, steer to the left. Steering to the left means pushing the left bar – pulling the right bar - or both at the same time.
Have you ever ridden a motorcycle across the Great Plains? It's not as simple a matter as dealing with the occasional wind blast and being prepared to compensate. There are stretches of freeway across the middle of America where you're travelling hundreds of miles on completely flat topography at 80+mph, slaloming RVs, semis (lorries), and various other cagers. I regularly travel from Wisconsin to Colorado, and can personally attest that a windy day on that traverse is physically and mentally exhausting, regardless of the motorcycle or rider. You can spend many consecutive hours travelling in a straight line, leaned over. Wind gusts can easily push your bike feet over in your lane, and passing a large truck or RV requires preparation for the vacuum and subsequent blast on the other side. If it's a head wind, the pressure on the upper body causes fatigue pretty rapidly.

I would never discourage anyone from taking a bike on any trip, but there are considerations. In all my years riding in every condition possible, I can easily say freeway travel in the middle of America on a windy day is my absolute least favorite.
 
Have you ever ridden a motorcycle across the Great Plains?
Can’t say I have. But yes, living in Scotland means changeable weather and plenty of windy days.

The point I was trying to make, is that at the end of the day if you want your bike to change direction there is only one way to do it and that is by input at the bars. Sadly, there are a lot of people riding about on motorcycles who don’t actually know how to make them go round corners or how to keep it in a stright line on a windy day.
 
Hello all,
Odd question, maybe lame, and maybe unanswerable. Ive been riding for 30 years on about 20+ different bikes but have never gone outside my state, Colorado. I am thinking on taking my 2010 r1200r on a ride from Denver to Cleveland in 2 weeks, using three days two nights to get there. Taking back roads and maybe i70 20% of the time. I only have 1 concern, wind. I’ve driven this route 30 times or so in cars, trucks, suvs, uhauls etc. And id say half of the time or more there is enough wind to make me point my truck into it to get gas so my door doesn’t blow of its hinges.
The more I think about it the more I may just want to drive my truck again. Anyone with any wind experience that can say its really not that bad?

I did have an extremely bad wind experience about 3 months ago on near Boulder. The wind pushed me into the gravel, over the white line on the right side of the road and nothing I did was going to prevent me from going over except the wind let off for a few seconds and I was able to get back on the road.
Thanks!
Joe
The Front Range is famous for it's gale-force winds in the Spring, and Fall. I doubt that Cleveland has anything on the roads you ride in Colorado.

You're welcome to visit me in San Francisco and practice your wind riding, where the Golden Gate Bridge actually sways, and shudders, and that's on "nice" days.....

One thing about wind, though. You can't trust it. It's invisible, but makes things move around!
 
Can’t say I have. But yes, living in Scotland means changeable weather and plenty of windy days.

The point I was trying to make, is that at the end of the day if you want your bike to change direction there is only one way to do it and that is by input at the bars. Sadly, there are a lot of people riding about on motorcycles who don’t actually know how to make them go round corners or how to keep it in a stright line on a windy day.
A motorcycle is an efficient gyroscope, the more weight, the more inertia. While my 800 lb Rockets were quite stable in the wind, that didn’t keep 160 lb me from struggling to not get blown off the bike.
 
A motorcycle is an efficient gyroscope, the more weight, the more inertia. While my 800 lb Rockets were quite stable in the wind, that didn’t keep 160 lb me from struggling to not get blown off the bike.
Absolutely Dougl. All that gyroscopic energy is what makes steering a motorcycle interesting. I’m also reminded of my first few weeks with the boxer. In the first few weeks I found myself often running a little wide when trying to sweep through tight bends at speed. What was confusing me was the upright nature of the riding position. My previous bike, my FZS1000, whilst reasonably upright has in fact lower bars plus they are a little farther forward. So, on tight turns on the Yamaha, say a left turn, I’d just lean in and shove my shoulder into the left bar and over she’d go. But with the higher closer to me bars on the BMW that just wasn’t happening and I was running wide. I just had to reprogramme my brain a little, and now on the Beemer I find myself steering by a push/pull technique.

I think once you think about something, rationalise it, practise it, then it kinda becomes automatic.

But yeah I take absolutely your point about the heavier the bike. And sure, if it is getting tricky just standing up it is probably best to avoid going out on the bike at all.
 
Hello all,
Odd question, maybe lame, and maybe unanswerable. Ive been riding for 30 years on about 20+ different bikes but have never gone outside my state, Colorado. I am thinking on taking my 2010 r1200r on a ride from Denver to Cleveland in 2 weeks, using three days two nights to get there. Taking back roads and maybe i70 20% of the time. I only have 1 concern, wind. I’ve driven this route 30 times or so in cars, trucks, suvs, uhauls etc. And id say half of the time or more there is enough wind to make me point my truck into it to get gas so my door doesn’t blow of its hinges.
The more I think about it the more I may just want to drive my truck again. Anyone with any wind experience that can say its really not that bad?

I did have an extremely bad wind experience about 3 months ago on near Boulder. The wind pushed me into the gravel, over the white line on the right side of the road and nothing I did was going to prevent me from going over except the wind let off for a few seconds and I was able to get back on the road.
Thanks!
Joe
I would not want to do that trip on my motorcycle. Wind is just one reason. I rode out on the plains in Alberta two years ago and experienced the worst cross-winds I've ever ridden in. Gusts would move me two feet sideways. Plus, Colorado to Cleveland is not a pretty drive. Straight, flat. The interstates are the quickest way, but that is obviously not going to be enjoyable.
 
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