Dealing with crosswind

[V_Mark]

We had a few windy days here in Chicago over the last few weeks. On a few occasions, my 9c front hub motor was more sail than motor. I'm just waiting for that one gust that throws me into traffic. Are there any possible solutions short of getting a smaller-profile motor?

 

[neptronix]

Hmm... are you being pushed over, or is the wind dragging your rear wheel to the side?

 

[dogman dan]

Prolly getting some push from the jacket you are wearing nowdays. You could ride naked for better coefficient of drag. :lol:

Seriously though, if it's blowing a crosswind over 30 mph you are pretty screwed. even a smaller motor might not help much. But you may be catching wind off a coat that doesn't help any. So maybe something tighter fitting and slippery could help a little. You will just have to hang on a bit tighter and try to anticipate the gusts a bit more when it's that bad.

My bike has a 9c front hub, and a set of bulky panniers. When the north wind blows in winter, I get a nice crosswind that makes it hard. Fortunately, It blows hardest in afternoon, and the wind blows me off the road, not into it. Steering a straight line can get hard with a big crosswind.

 

[Ykick]

Best way to deal with it IMO is to just slow down and leave yourself time/room for corrections. Physical size of the motor has very little to do with how much effect strong wind will have on your bike.

 

[grindz145]

Best way to deal with it IMO is to just slow down and leave yourself time/room for corrections. Physical size of the motor has very little to do with how much effect strong wind will have on your bike.

This is my opinion as well. As motorcycles get bigger they do better in the wind for one reason only...because they're heavier. quick handling bikes are good in the wind too because you can make adjustments quickly.

on my ST1300 which weighed well over 1000lbs fully loaded 2up, I still nearly got blown off the road in Nevada, when there were really gusty crosswinds. I had to slow down to slower than the Semi trucks. It's the only time in ~50k miles that I've had trouble with that bike, but thats mainly because it's heavy and handle's pretty well.

But as for a fast, relatively light ebike with relatively marginal handling characteristics...just take it easy in the wind.

 

[slimbeau]

lean into it :wink: and stay loose

 

[Eclu Lardbut]

Riding fast, heavy touring motorcycles, I found that the trick was to go faster
Unfortunately, that's not really an option with an electric bike.

 

[gogo]

Dealing with sidewind is one of the few situations where weight is an asset. A big surface area on your motor is worse on the front than the back because it interferes with your steering control. Just like the difference between a frame mounted fairing vs. handlebar mount. I doubt you'd notice the difference between a big motor vs. small on the back wheel, but maybe on the front.

Here in Iowa we regularly get steady 20 MPH wind and occasionally gusty wind of 30-40+ MPH. This makes riding a bicycle and 750W ebikes often impractical. Windy days are part of the reason I'd like to put pedals on a 100cc motorcycle chassis and load it up with a lot of high amp heavy lead acid batteries just for going 20 MPH.

 

[John in CR]

lean into it :wink: and stay loose

Slimbeau's advice is good, and to minimize the drift to the side in a gust is going to require a bigger countersteer, so get out and practice on some safe streets when it is really windy. I saw to side gust testing of the monotracer where they drove it by a wind machine, and for the bike to maintain the straightest overall line it was pushed to some pretty big lean angles. During the counter steer and correction, but I believe their claim was that the distribution of the side area relative to the wheels makes the bike naturally correct itself in cross winds. I take that to mean that battery placement and body position will have a significant impact on how our ebikes behave in cross winds.

As previously posted weight matters, as does height. Despite having big flat side areas on my bike, it's quite low and weighs 125lbs with the big surface area between the top and down tubes. With my added 250lbs cross winds affect me less than I expected. If you have extra batteries it may be worth loading them on. You'll need extra nominal capacity due to the cold anyway and cross winds increase consumption significantly too.

Practice is the best thing for you to do, so even the biggest gusts aren't a new experience.

John

 

[wineboyrider]

Lot's of motorcycle experience here helps! A bigger heavier motor might actually be better! Lessen your drag as much as possible and go with it! Sometimes you have to let it lean towards the wind a little and keep adjusting good balance is key. A two wheeled vehicle is actually more stable than a 4 wheeled vehicle when it's in motion....

 

[swade]

We get at least 10 days a year of 90km/hr (~55mph) winds. I recommend not jumping your bike in such winds.

 

[John in CR]

We get at least 10 days a year of 90km/hr (~55mph) winds. I recommend not jumping your bike in such winds.

It might be fun if you keep it as a headwind for the first half of your ride. Then the return home going with the wind can be super peaceful at high speed. 8)

 

[7circle]

Maybe some handle bar tassels will help guide you through the risky winds or stick to the foot path.

It works for harely D's

I knew there must be a reason for them.

Sorry couldn't help my self

 

[Eclu Lardbut]

Maybe some handle bar tassels will help guide you through the risky winds or stick to the foot path.

It works for harely D's

I knew there must be a reason for them.

Sorry couldn't help my self

I thought it was the saddlebag tassels and buckles that aided in boundary flow

 

[slimbeau]

i always wondered what those were for

 

[V_Mark]

I'm on a front hub DD 9c. It's not unmanageable, but I do get a little scare when doing 25mph through a busy intersection and a gust plays with my steering. I'm currently getting over a fractured wrist/elbow from a spill I took a couple of months ago so I try to keep a loose grip on the handlebars.

I'm surprised that it doesn't seem to be a big problem for anyone else. I'm often riding on the lakeshore trail here on Lake Michigan and get huge gusts that definitely play with my steering. Fortunately, the consequences on the lakefront aren't as detrimental as in street traffic.

Guess I'll have to put up with it, being a resident of the Windy City (even though the nickname didn't originate from the high winds here.)

 

[John in CR]

V_Mark,

I doubt the motor itself plays much of a role, since it's center can't be too far from the turning axis and it's pretty low to the ground. The turn of your front wheel in a gust is mostly just a reaction of the bike to stabilize itself after the side force of the gust on the rest of the bike. Battery placement may have a strong enough influence that experimenting is worthwhile. The higher from the ground the side air flow resistance is placed, the greater leverage that side force will have. The front/rear placement will also have some effect though that effect is more difficult to picture.

 

[rebelpilot]

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