Had to do a way faster than speed limit run on the Interstate for an hour or so today to try to make an appointment. Windy, gusty conditions, lots of big trucks on the road. The front end of the Terra really felt overly light, doing a slight head-shake every time passing trucks and catching the turbulence's from the gusty wind off the trucks. Not like a heart stopping, oh sh*% situation, but very uncomfortable for longer periods of time. Thinking that's that very large high front fender catching the wind? Maybe the Metzler Sahara front getting a little squirrly at speed? Combination of both? Whats your experience? Anybody want to trade their low Strada fender for my high Terra fender?
Yup- describes my bike perfectly; caught me by surprise the first time a heavy cross wind hit me! I have learned to consciously relax my grip: minimizes the wiggle. But it is still a light bike: worst ever was between two semis on a twisty long three lane downhill on a KLR: thought it was gonna disintegrate on me!
The fender is a major contributor. I have a strada, and swapped the front fender for a Terra fender because the Strada setup has less radiator coverage. In dirty air the high fender adds to the drift quite a bit. I think I'll be going back to the strada fender and just putting a flap on the rear to keep the crud off the radiator. While you can put a Terra fender on the Strada, the other way doesn't work, the front wheel is too big.
Hansi, you don't mention any speed numbers, so I will guess that you are talking about rates over 70mph. I just spent ten hours on the interstate with my Terra at 70 to 80 plus. Much of the 70 mph was with a 20 to 25mph headwind, so effective 95mph! I'm running a mild knobby that was skittish until well scuffed in. I had just a handfull of cases (literally 5 or 6) where the bike would want to weave a bit, especially if I tried one hand at high speed. Just a little resistance on the grips let it smooth right out. I was a little nervous about running this fast on a front knobby, but I soon just relaxed and let the bike roll on. The wind blast at that speed is no fun! But, that's what the traffic was doing, so I went with the flow. I never felt like the bike was trying to lift or get light; I think it was more of a tracking issue with the front tire. If I was going to do this kind of riding a lot I would probably switch to something more road oriented. I used Kenda 761's on another dual sport when I had to cross a large part of the country on the interstate. They were absolutely solid and smooth. I'm sure there were better choices than the Kenda, but tread pattern and tire profile make a huge difference in handling. Make sure your tires and wheels are balanced!
I have changed my front tyre to a Michelin Sirac. It seems to have a firmer sidewall so it doesn't feel quite as squirmy at speed on the highway in comparison to the Metzler. The compromise is that it is not as grippy offroad. I agree, very nerve wracking the first time a semi went past me in the other direction @ 100km/hr; a road train as well (two 40ft trailers behind a prime mover).
The Strada gets a bit shakey at "speeds well above the posted speed limit". So, it might be partly your tires or fender, but that wouldn't be all of it. For longer runs at 65-75mph it's 100% solid. It does react to a cross wind, but everything does. For a quick burst I've had it up to 95mph and it wasn't inspiring a lot of confidence. My last street legal bike was a 450 supermoto though, so this thing is a rock solid tank compared to that.
Put a knobbly tyre on anything and all of the sudden it gets unstable at 80 mph... My F800GS used to wander around like hell at highway speeds on TKC's. Was even determined to put steering dampener for that.
I find tire inflation on my GSA is important on keeping the bike tracking well above 80 with TKC's. If you find the bike wondering I would make sure the tires are at max recommended inflation. Looking forward to putting TKCs on a Strada. On my GSA they work very well on both pavement and dirt. I like having tires and bike that let me know when I am in serious ticket territory.
I had a Honda XL 650 Pari dakar that use to lift slightly when doing 70 mph due to the front mudguard but the Husky is not a sports bike. I have ridden one at speed and it just need to muscle to keep it in check, enjoy!
my Aprilia SXV had an issue like this, the rear portion of the fender acted like a sail at high speeds. not sure if it would work on the Terra but i cut the rear portion of the fender off just behind/below the rear bolts leaving about a 3" long section. problem solved.
I got up to 170km/h on the autobahn with no wind issues on the front fender. However, there was some serious movement at lower speeds when there were powerful cross winds, which I see as normal. I am very pleased with the comfort on long rides and overall handling. I do little off-road riding - mainly gravel paths, so will change to road tires - either Avon Roadrider or Metzeler Lasertec which should improve cornering. I tried some offroad riding with the Sahara 3 stock tire but was unimpressed.
Interesting. I find that crosswind bothers me when traveling at 100km/h, but at 50km/h it is much easier to control. Are you saying that much faster speeds (170km/h) the wind is less of an issue?
I don't think its the fender, but if I'm behind a truck or van in the the dirty air I'm getting some head shake. I did lower mine an inch.
Seriously I have no issues at higher or lower speeds, other than when there is a cross wind, this definitely gives a wobble effect due to the front fender. I am definitely not recommending riding faster. Most of my riding is in Alpine Valleys, I have never ridden the bike on flatlands, so maybe this has an effect.
Yeah, odd, but that was my experience. I used to ride *very* fast and was comfortable at speed on the big bikes. It may be the higher speed diminishes the effect on the bike due to the speed differentials being greater (forward vs cross) - but that is for someone a lot smarter than me. I will also hang a knee or leg out into the cross wind. That also diminishes the effect, something to do with the disturbed airflow ...
Interesting! I will experiment. In addition someone else told me to keep the rpms up (normally I lug bikes a bit) and to put weight on the foot pegs.
Has anybody tried to mate a low front fender to the Terra? I'm not talking about the Strada low fender, as we know that won't work. However, there are tons of aftermarket low fenders out there. It should be a relatively easy mod to take one from another model and apply it to the Terra. This could be the test to put this fender theory to rest once and for all.
Some of went with the ACERBIS front fender smaller than stock and has flow thru vents in rear, no instability, There's pics on here somewhere.
