Have you ever ridden in REALLY thick bugs?

[Fudd]

This ride seemed almost Biblical.

Just northwest of New Orleans, on about a 10 mile stretch of I-55 going through the Manchac Swamp, I ran into these critters at about dusk.  It looked like like rain in my headlight, felt like it, too.
By the way, my bike was nearly "NASA satelite clean" when I left New Orleans...Here's what it looked like when I got home.

[Grumpy]

Had that a few times in Florida, Love bug season. Or F&^& insects season, make a real mess.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

I think its going to be bad this year everywhere because of the mild winter. I cleaned my 18 wheeler up outside of Nashville,Tennessee yesterday and drove 175 miles home. By the time I got home it was covered in bugs     

[hubcapsc]

Once, in Gerogia, on the way to Stanley Steamer's house, I went through
several miles where the air was thick with big hard bugs, June Bugs maybe.
They didn't leave a mess on my bike, but it was like one of those WWII movies
where the pilot is flying through flak...

-Mike

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Once, in Gerogia, on the way to Stanley Steamer's house, I went through
several miles where the air was thick with big hard bugs, June Bugs maybe.
They didn't leave a mess on my bike, but it was like one of those WWII movies
where the pilot is flying through flak...

-Mike

Hey Mike was looking at Killboy and he claims 800 of your " Good Buddies " in Mini Cooper's will be at the Gap this weekend.

[KSDragonRider]

I hit a swarm of bees one day on my sabre.  It straight up sucked, the only good thing was the oversized windshield kept most of them off me.

Joe, i laughed my ass off at that pic!

[bscrive]

I hit a really big swarm of shad flies one year.  My bike looked kinda like that.

[Jabba]

When I lived on Oahu, the bugs were ALWAYS bad in the sugar cane fields at night.  The ONLY relief was when it was raining.

I had not yet adopted the use of windshields at that point either, and rode a CB650 Nighthawk.  I never washed it either so I didn't REALLY care.  But I had to slow down for the pain of them.

Jabba

[Ice]

When I first had the Valk, prior to having a windshield, I was cruising down a back country road late afternoon, moving at a good pace and hit a swarm of June bugs, by the time I was through the swarm I had to pull over due to the extreme pain I was in, only had a T-shirt on no jacket   I pulled off my shirt and it looked as if I had been beaten by a ball peen hammer or something, I had 2" welts all over my chest and arms....next day the windshield was on its way.

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

I think Joe's right. Gonna be a bad year for bugs. The boy stopped by on the valk on his way home from work yesterday. His windshield looked like a pizza, all from his 18 mile predawn ride to work.

[Jack]

Aw, Love Bug Season!  I had a guy tailgating me once on I55.  I noticed he had lotsa bugs on his windshield so I held my window washer button down for about 30 seconds and he hit his button.  His windshield turned white and he hadta pull over because he could not see.  I laughed my A$$ off.

[ChromeDome]

Love Bugs in Florida in 2007 and some kind of gnats on I-94 early in the morning in eastern Montana.

[Jess from VA]

I rode the 10th annual Laughlin Run from SoCA to Laughlin NV (with 17K hogs).  It crosses the Mohave Desert during Monarch butterfly migration.  You are driving East at 75MPH, and they are flying North, so you get a constant cross wind of bugs.

I am glad I had a full dresser with lowers.  Thousands of no-shield-under-any-circumstances Hog drivers were literally streaming in bug guts, and it was especially funny watching guys with foot-long beards combing dead and dying butterflies out of their beards.

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/spring2005/Update031805.html

[0leman]

In this portion of Oregon we have midges.  Small, green, swarming bugs that are around water/lakes.   They have one to three hatches a year.  Last year I was in my pickup being followed by a couple guys on BMW's.  As soon as I got thru the bugs I pulled over to clean my windshield off.  The also pulled over.  Their faceshield/jackets were covered with those green bugs.  They could hardly see.  I let them have some paper towels/water to clean up.   I normally take a different road to head north of town on my Valk that doesn't have as many bugs.  These guys didn't know what they had hit.  I had left my camera at home or would post their pic's. 

[flcjr]

I rode up in Canada once and hit a patch of grass hoppers that made the highway greasy and your bike stink from all hoppers cooking on the engine. I am not sure if I ever got all of them off the wing after that trip.

[fudgie]

2 yrs ago in So Dakota the grass hoppers where thick. Sounded like bubble wrap on the roads. They were constantly jumping up on ya. Still was finding them the following spring under the bike.
It was the yr we got married out there. I musta been a sign! 

[X Ring]

Saw my first love bugs yesterday.  During the spring and fall love bug season, I carry a bottle of water and a towel.  Whenever I stop some place, I throw the towel over the windshield and soak it with water.  After about 30 mins the bugs just wipe off.

Marty

[LilAbner]

Just think of it this way, you are getting a lot of protein to eat.

[john]

  love bugs                                                     

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

I bought my first motorcycle windshield due to a nighttime strike in the throat from some kind of large moth or small bat. It completely took my ability to breath for a little bit. I knew a coworker had a used windshield for sale, I gave him the money that night and installed it on my 550 Honda 4 in the plant parking lot the next night.

I've never owned a street bike without buying a windshield for it since then.

[Hoser]

Them grasshoppers in Mizzou in the cornfields near the river, where they plant clear to the road edge, are messy. Sometimes the road surface is nearly covered in front of you. They bounce off the soles of your feet!  Not so much above knee level, though.  They stay close to the ground. Hoser