Wind-Related Motorcycle Accidents?

 The wind is really active in my area of Michigan ... gusting to around 40
MPH.

Just curious ... do wind-related motorcycle accidents ever occur?  What
circumstances?

I've ridden on days worse than today ... there have been a few odd effects,
such as:

a)Riding down the freeway at a permanent lean angle without turning.

b)Passing a semi that acts as a wind shield while abeam of the semi, with
odd effects at both transitions.

c)Once a gust caught me in a turn, required a bit of control action, but
nothing dangerous, just my perception that the bike started to fall towards
the inside of the turn.

d)On really gusty days, I've been physically knocked around a bit (my body,
directly) ... hit by the wind.

But does anything worse ever happen?

Clearly, if you ride a motorcycle into a tornado, there will be problems.
I'm just wondering about lesser circumstances ...

Thanks, DF.

 | d)On really gusty days, I've been physically knocked around a bit (my
body,
| directly) ... hit by the wind.
|
| But does anything worse ever happen?
|
I've lost prescription glasses to wind off semi's and cussed headwinds in
New Mexico and cross winds of the Mackinac Bridge but never even came close
to crashing.  YMMV

 
Yeah, the "crashing" is mostly my question.  Morbid curiosity.  The bike I
ride weighs 460 lbs. and I'm a good 250 lbs., so it would take a lot to get
the rubber off the ground.  I'm guessing that anything up to 50 MPH would
definitely not do it, but I'm wondering how high you can go.

I don't even like taking a car across the Mackinac Bridge -- never done it
on a bike.  I hate those darned expansion gizmos when you look down through
and see the water below you.

I'm assuming you know about that gal about a decade back who got blown off
the bridge in a Yugo?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackinac_Bridge#Work_and_major_accident_fatalities

(Make that two decades back ...)

Riding in gusting winds is NOTHING compared to flying in them.  I remember
several years back I went up with a flight instructor (after I had my PPL,
but she wanted to go with me for my own safety) in a '172 in winds gusting
to 30 knots.  It is perversely fun when you have the rudder at full
deflection and the plane won't straighten, the stall warning is going off
intermittently, and you are being tossed against the belts.  It is a weird
game.  I guess you normally end up landing in between the gusts.

But landing an airplane has one advantage ... if the wind is blowing
straight down the runway or nearly so, your ground speed is pretty low when
you touch down.  Decreases the probability you'll die if you botch it.

DF.

 

  When we crossed in '06 the outer lanes were closed for construction.  Not
only did we *HAVE* to ride on the grate, we had some dumbfuck in an SUV
trying to overtake us the whole way across.

--
RCOS #7
IBA# 11465
http://imagesdesavions.com

 Stephen! wrote:


The outer (concrete) lanes are *always* under construction!  I've ridden
across that bridge numerous times and always had to ride the grate.

--
   -bts
   -Four wheels carry the body; two wheels move the soul