Honda rider experiences one of the downsides to piloting a lightweight vehicle on the open highway
Compared to the vehicles we share the rides with, motorcycles are relatively lightweight. This is especially true for sport models. While having a stellar power-to-weight ratio allows for awesome acceleration and all-around agile performance, there is a downside to careening down the highway on a sub-500 pound vehicle—heavy crosswinds. This is a problem only exacerbated in flat-as-a-pancake states like Nebraska, as we'll see below.
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The 30-second video starts with a Honda CBR500R traveling down the highway at around 80 miles per hour when the wind starts pummeling the Honda pilot. As he passes a truck, there appears to be a large gust of wind that shoves the bike as it pulls ahead of the four-wheeler. The rider veers out to the left of his lane but then corrects their course and continues onward. When they attempt to overtake another truck, things go awry.
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As the biker passes the second truck, the wind-protection provided by the truck suddenly goes away, and within a matter of seconds, the Honda is pointing to the left, where it continues traveling until the two-wheeler leaves the pavement and starts rolling on the grass and dirt in between the two travel lanes. The rider is able to slow down the bike enough in order to keep it from getting too out of shape, and after a few more seconds—which probably felt like hours to the biker—the CBR comes to a complete stop and the rider gets a moment to gather himself.
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I’m personally having a difficult time determining what exactly caused this to happen. Was it just a particularly strong gust of wind? Was the bike used by the wake of the truck and trailer? Could more input have resolved this issue? What is clear is that there were seemingly some pretty heavy crosswinds that day, and the rider could have slowed down a little and used a larger vehicle to his right as protection from the harsh winds. Having said that, it’s great to see the rider escaped this less-than-ideal situation in one piece.
If anyone lives in or has experience riding in any particularly flat and/or windy states, I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on the video in the comments below.