Breeze up my Back

[gerrychuck]

Every time I go on the highway with my GT, the back of my jacket inflates with updraft air, which is not particularly pleasant at 10 degrees C, although would probably feel pretty good at 30.  I can open a vent on the back of the jacket, which would probably help, but there is still going to be a lot of cool airflow.  I tightened up the side straps on the jacket, which has helped somewhat, but still not great. I am using the stock seat in the high position and the stock windscreen (shocking, I know, but I've only been riding the bike for 170 km so far).  I am 6'3".

Anyone else experience this?  Wondering if this is something that would be improved by a change of windscreen.  I have a clip-on deflector/spoiler/extension on order, but I suspect it won't do much with regard to this problem; seems more likely that this is related to the wind coming around the sides of the screen.  If I scoot forward as far as I can, it improves a lot, so it seems like the bubble of still air I sit in isn't quite deep enough, and the aft vacuum is starting right at my backside.  Any and all comments, advice, observations appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

[betoney]

23 minutes ago, gerrychuck said:

Every time I go on the highway with my GT, the back of my jacket inflates with updraft air, which is not particularly pleasant at 10 degrees C, although would probably feel pretty good at 30.  I can open a vent on the back of the jacket, which would probably help, but there is still going to be a lot of cool airflow.  I tightened up the side straps on the jacket, which has helped somewhat, but still not great. I am using the stock seat in the high position and the stock windscreen (shocking, I know, but I've only been riding the bike for 170 km so far).  I am 6'3".

Anyone else experience this?  Wondering if this is something that would be improved by a change of windscreen.  I have a clip-on deflector/spoiler/extension on order, but I suspect it won't do much with regard to this problem; seems more likely that this is related to the wind coming around the sides of the screen.  If I scoot forward as far as I can, it improves a lot, so it seems like the bubble of still air I sit in isn't quite deep enough, and the aft vacuum is starting right at my backside.  Any and all comments, advice, observations appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure if this is the same scenario but what happens with my waterproof winter jacket is if I don't have it zipped up to my neck, since it isn't vented there is no where for the air to go, so if I lower the zipper, even a little bit then it fills with air and puffs up like a balloon.

[micah2074]

Lay off the bean burritos. 

[gerrychuck]

10 minutes ago, micah2074 said:

Lay off the bean burritos. 

Not gonna happen

[koth442]

I've had jackets in the past do that. Don't think I found a cause though... 

[gerrychuck]

I've used this jacket, or an identical one, with 5 bikes now; haven't really experienced quite this much ballooning with any of the others. Of those 5, the Tracer has the most wind protection; the others had sport fairings, small aftermarket screens or nothing at all. Definitely appears to be a function of the size of the hole punched by the fairing and screen, and where the air is sucked back in.

 

I guess I like to be different, because this is annoying me much more than the seat or the dreaded buffeting lol.

[knyte]

I('ve) have (had) this happen.  Now I want to have my riding pants altered so I can zip the back of the jacket to the back of the pants.  I'm not that smart, so it took a few cold rides to get why the jacket came with about a foot of extra zipper.  In the meantime, I've been using a light wicking layer over a t-shirt and just tucking the whole thing in.

[HGP61]

Only time this bothered me was on a tour when I had a roll top bag tied to the pillion seat, this must have changed the airflow. I remember stopping to dig out a belt from my luggage to put round me on top of my jacket to stop it ballooning. I changed the jacket after that holiday for a longer one.

The Oxford mondial suit I use now has a short 8 inch zip and a longer 3/4 length zip to attach jacket to pants and that works well. I watched a U-tube video to become an "expert" at sewing and fixed the extra length of zip that came with the jacket to my lighter weight riding jeans for the summer weather.

[TomTracer]

Sometimes we obsess over little things nakkng them big deals. Is this one of those? 

[gerrychuck]

45 minutes ago, TomTracer said:

Sometimes we obsess over little things nakkng them big deals. Is this one of those? 

Fair question lol. However, in our cool climate a cold breeze going up the back literally makes it feel like you forgot to put your jacket on, which is a little bracing at 10c/50f. The buffeting from the stock windscreen and the less than stellar stock seat are a bit annoying, but wouldn't keep me from taking this bike across the country. This bothers me a lot more. I'm sure I'll fool around with gear and position until I find a solution; just curious as to whether it was something that others had also run into with this bike.

[mikerbiker]

Put a beak on your bike.  And if it doesn't solve the "wind on a motorcycle" problem you're having, hey at least the bike looks better...

😄

[ttownfj09]

I have one jacket that does that and tries to choke me. I have another jacket that doesn't.

 

[PhotoAl]

I've not had that problem although a couple of times I got a little lift on my helmet when in gusty sidewind conditions.  Have a top case on almost all the time and on a trip a large duffle on the rear seat but have ridden in all configurations from no cases to just top case to side and top cases and that plus duffle bag.

[BBB]

I’ve had it a few times and it has been when I haven’t fastened my cuff straps tight enough. Air flows up the sleeves, but not enough for my arms to feel particularly cold, then gets trapped in the jacket and it inflates. Keeping the front vent flaps closed, but opening the rear vents works but it feels cold. The only solution I’ve found is to ensure the jacket is tight at your wrists or wear longer gloves that come over the cuff.

[Wintersdark]

On 5/6/2021 at 3:59 PM, gerrychuck said:

Every time I go on the highway with my GT, the back of my jacket inflates with updraft air, which is not particularly pleasant at 10 degrees C, although would probably feel pretty good at 30.  I can open a vent on the back of the jacket, which would probably help, but there is still going to be a lot of cool airflow.  I tightened up the side straps on the jacket, which has helped somewhat, but still not great. I am using the stock seat in the high position and the stock windscreen (shocking, I know, but I've only been riding the bike for 170 km so far).  I am 6'3".

Anyone else experience this?  Wondering if this is something that would be improved by a change of windscreen.  I have a clip-on deflector/spoiler/extension on order, but I suspect it won't do much with regard to this problem; seems more likely that this is related to the wind coming around the sides of the screen.  If I scoot forward as far as I can, it improves a lot, so it seems like the bubble of still air I sit in isn't quite deep enough, and the aft vacuum is starting right at my backside.  Any and all comments, advice, observations appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

This is more jacket related than motorcycle related.  Most jackets these days have adjusters around the waist to keep them snug and prevent this.

Generally speaking, it's something that happens more the more you're leaning forward, as the low pressure behind you pulls your jacket back and up from your body, and this opens the bottom if you're not kind of sitting on it.  When sitting straight upright it happens much less.

I've got one jacket that's pretty bad for it, a Joe Rocket jacket (it has a waist adjuster, but it's just a simple pair of straps and snaps that can be in two positions, neither of which really help) and a Revit Sand 5 that's phenomenal and has adjuster straps at multiple points so it's formed to my body and cannot do that (without feeling constricting at all).  

Opening rear vents does help with the inflating jacket issue, less when it's from the above problem, but if it's from intake vents or sleeves open it helps significantly.