Moto Journal: twisties and wind don’t mix

I took Aurora out on one of our local twisty roads (see map below) today on the excuse that I needed to go pick up a few items from the local shopping center. 



The road highlighted above is speed limit 45mph, but I found I could only keep that speed going in the limited straightaways. Maybe it’s my off-road-oriented tires or maybe it’s my newbie-ness, most likely some mix of the two, but I just couldn’t lean the bike over enough to stay between the lines in a sharp curve at 45mph. Which is a problem if I ever intend to commute to work at 70mph. 

Actually, I had no trouble making the right turns – it was the lefties that had me in a spot. In fact, on one left-leaning curve I kept slowing and leaning and slowing and leaning and still ended up in the grass on the side of the road. Still upright, mind you – add another outing with no bike drops! – but wheels on the grass all the same. 

Have other people had this problem getting the hang of turns?

I think part of the problem was wind. Wind is not your friend when you are on a motorcycle, it seems, and there was a strong wind blowing across the road from left to right. So when I turned right the wind helped me but when I turned left I was starting off leaned over that way just to stay straight and I had to lean (and counter-steer, and all that) extra-hard to make the bike turn. And I literally felt like the bike was sliding to the right the whole time I was trying to navigate each left-hand curve. 

Well, new tires – Michelin Anakee street-with-a-hint-of-dual-sport-thrown-in tires – are on order. We’ll see if that makes a difference in road gripping. And I’ll just have to keep building confidence in getting the bike leaned way over. Between the two, it might just work. 


And how did the shopping go, you ask? Multiple missions accomplished, actually: meds picked up from the drugstore, garage door opener for my bike from the hardware store, and a new aquarium hood from the pet store – all somehow stuffed into my motorcycle backpack. Rock!

Comments

  1. IlkaMarch 12, 2019 at 7:35 PM

    Street tires will be a game changer, but try to remember to accelerate into your turns. I knew I was supposed to, but until I was *forced* to by other circumstances I did the same nervous dance you're doing. After that I found myself some quiet windy roads to cruise down and fill up my mojo :)

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