Brucey wrote:the notion that motorcycles are somehow not terribly vulnerable to side winds is one that is quickly dispelled by riding one in adverse conditions. They vary considerably too.
Having ridden motorcycles almost exclusively,of all sizes and power outputs for quite a while up until my early thirties I'm well aware of that fact.
You are going to be more likely to get into trouble on a bike whenever the CoP is well ahead of the CoG; however this situation is commonplace on bikes which carry luggage at the front, so I don't think it is always a show-stopper. I regularly ride a carrier bike where the windage of the luggage (up front) is greater than that of a proper fairing and I've yet to 'have a moment' as a result. In fact I've been wondering about fitting a (QD) full fairing to the beast anyway.
One thing I would say is that I just don't fancy anything where the fairing/luggage is well ahead of the steering axis and it turns with the steering; that does invite trouble; for that reason I just don't like bar bags for example. It is a much better idea on a bicycle to have a fairing mounted to the frame, like the Moulton one.
cheers
Can I put it to you that front panniers by their very nature are low down smaller than a fairing and heavier,so whilst they may catch the wind it's much less so and their weight helps nullify the wind effect somewhat
Whereas a fairing(on an DF bike)like the one in the photo up thread,is high,lightweight and is very like a sail in some adverse wind conditions.yachts lean when their sail catch the wind
As I said up thread I'm not convinced at all by them.On 'bent strikes and low riders it's a different matter IMO.