Getting more cargo volume

 

I'm about to equip my Varadero with two large side
boxes. Any thoughts on that in terms of
a) stability due to wind,
b) security getting used ones,
c) miscellaneous?

--
Vänligen
Konrad
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Konrad Viltersten wrote:

Have you decided to ride down to Marrakech yet? Or do you plan to carry all
your Pokemon friends with you when you ride to the next village?


Extra luggage makes the motorcycle less stable because it adds weight up high
and it increases the sail area that the wind has to work on.

Sudden gusts of wind can blow you off the highway. You will learn to watch
the bushes and trees to see what the wind conditions are ahead of you are.

As you ride through grade cuts, the hills will shield you from the wind, then
you will emerge into the wind to be pushed around again.

Motorcycles are aerodynamically stable in the roll axis (the direction the
motorcycle leans toward when you are turning that direction), but they are
aerodynamically unstable in the yaw axis.

Yaw is a term I don't like to even think about, boats yaw and airplanes yaw
in directions you don't really want to go.

When struck by a crosswind, your motorcycle will lean toward the wind and
that is aerodynamically stable, but it will yaw away from the wind.

The front tire's main job of holding the chassis in a vertical position (or a
desired cornering attitude, if you're cornering) becomes a lot harder in a
cross wind.

And a lot of touring luggage, sleeping bags, tents, extra petrol jugs,
trenching tool, and a dozen Pokemons add to the weight carried up high and
the sail area that the wind works on.

Then there's your tank bag with your maps and camera and your Swedish-Arabic
dictionary and your passport and guide books, and that weight also adds to
the instability.

Also, consider the original equipment tires which are probably a  street
legal mild knobby tire. It won't have a lot of traction on pavement, and even
less on a hard packed dirt road headed for Fez al Bali.

When you're riding along with all that gear piled up high and a gust hits you,
it will push you right across the road or into the ditch.

This is why I have learned to ride early in the morning before the wind
starts gusting, and then wait until the sun sets and the wind dies down.

Morroco is nice in the spring, after the snow melts and the red poppies bloom.
.

--
Message posted via http://www.motorcyclekb.com

 

On Tue, 28 Aug 2007 23:27:36 GMT, "Albrecht via MotorcycleKB.com"


Which is why he is going with side boxes which keep the weight lower
and do not increase sail area.

 

Paladin wrote:


Not true at all. If the crosswind cannot blow through the rear wheel area,
the motorcycle will be pushed around more.

--
Message posted via http://www.motorcyclekb.com

 



Let's see now. Add panniers so I can carry stuff or be too afraid of
crosswinds to add panniers.

Ya gotta learn to deal with crosswinds. (Loosen your grip on the bars;
trust the motorcycle.)

--
Timberwoof <me at timberwoof dot com>
faq:  http://www.timberwoof.com/motorcycle/faq.shtml
It's easy to say a war is so important your neighbor should go fight it for you.