HD rider does a 360..

You are apparently ignorant of the Honda ST1100/1300/PanEuro speed wobble issue. Occurred on brand new bikes at high speed. The bike was intended to be a police service model but Honda discovered belatedly from field reports that it became unstable at high speed. Unlike you, I'll provide a link with Honda's recognition of the issue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_ST_series#Pan_weave

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_ST_series#Honda's_response

It's also not very difficult to find Goldwing owner reports of speed wobbles.

All that said, neither I nor anyone with half a brain would judge the ST or Goldwing to be poorly designed bikes. In fact, both tend to make up a sizable percentage of Iron Butt Rally participants along with FJRs, RTs, GSA's, and a few Harleys.

You should focus on reeling in your own stupidity before unleashing it on others.

Remember the old Yamaha 200 (2cyl/2stroke) street bikes? Sorta like a baby RD350.

My roommate had one in college - UNCC

That thing would get into little wobbles at 50, bigger ones at 60, scary ones at 70.

At least the Yamaha engineers let you know in small steps when you were approaching the upper limit of their intended design speed.

Or it could have been the old, worn tires and/or the unmaintained suspension, swingarm and steering.

But my money is on a Yamaha conspiracy to get you to buy the bigger bike, cause my RD350 didn't do that.

My RD350 didn’t either. It was a very good bike for its era. Its vibes was its only sin - expected with a two stroke. Personally, I didn’t care for the high pitch sound of the engine but it sure could accelerate. I touched the ton once on mine. It might have made me see God. Never did it again. Took my VStrom to the ton once - far less primal. I’ve only tapped 95mph on my Road King - a few times while passing on the interstate in Montana and Wyoming. The Harley truly did not care. In contrast to the RD and VStrom, it had so much more to give... which one expects from 1,800cc. And rock solid too... again, expected on an 830 lbs machine. I tend to limit my riding and driving to +2 or +3 mph over the limit when I’m touring but a lot of guys touring on HD’s spend all day at 85mph and they’re clearly capable of that.

Come on!! No way this is Harley's fault.

I feel sorry for the guy but it was totally his own damn fault. You can't fix stupid.

No...but you can surely blame it on other things.

Kawasaki triples were famous for it, as was the GPz750.

The racing version was nicknamed the "Flexible Flyer." I wonder why?

Neither am I, and we all know that HDs are commonly modified by owners without concern for or knowledge of how a modification affects the dynamics. A classic example for those who may not be old enough to remember it:

Back in the 70s, when I was working behind the parts counter of a Honda dealership, there was a huge demand for extended fork tube kits as a cheap way to get a 'chopper look'. Stupidest-looking thing in the world to me; merely tilting the whole bike bike back. But my point is, people do such things with no idea whatsoever about how steering geometry works.

But it's not just that. Dealers commonly don't balance wheels on street legal dirt bikes. The worst tank slapper I ever experienced was a quick test ride on a KTM 500 EXC when comparing it to a 690. It was actually threatening total loss of control at 65 MPH.

JET

Those are designed to only be safe below 12.7 MPH.

Something beyond unbalanced wheels was going on w/ that 500EXC.

I had a GPz750R1 with the twin shocks which was supposed to be a bad handling bike, I found it handled really well, never had a problem. The first slingshot GSXR1100s (Ks?) from 1989 were apparently wobblers, never rode one wouldn´t know. There were lots of Japanese UJMs from the original CB750 until some point in the 80s that would get out of shape really easily if you pushed them too hard. If you rode them at or only slightly above the speed limit they were generally fine but somewhere above 85-90mph all bets were off if you were unlucky enough to hit the wrong circumstances which could be just about anything from a bit of overbanding on the road to a strong sidewind. The GS Suzukis stood out as being better handling than most of the 70s bikes even though their basic design was pretty much identical to the rest.

Mine was the UniTrak version, a 1984. Over here, a guy named Wayne Rainey took it to the 1983 Superbike championship. It was the last old school air cooled motor to win. It was famous for chassis flex.

All the talk about brands and models being unsafe at certain speeds, is entertaining.

The truth is, motorcycles are not safe at any speed. I knew of a guy who did a nasty Tib/Fib compound fracture. He was at a dead stop at the time! Just tipped over from a loss of footing and the bike landed on him and busted his leg. So obviously motorcycles are unsafe.

When things go bad, blame the equipment. When thing go right, credit your skill.
It is just human nature. Please take this with the intended humor.

Merry Christmas, All' yall

I’m working on editing videos from my ride to Wyoming and over Beartooth Pass. Just so happens that the second video is of me defying death (according to someone) by exceeding the designed speed limitation of 55 mph on an HD Touring model. How in the world did I not die from this!

I loved the 750 Unitrak GPZs, about as far as the Japanese went with 70s tech, they might have flexed on a racetrack when ridden by a god like Wainey but for everyday road riding I found them very confidence inspiring. I keep looking out for ones in good condition secondhand but then the reality of having to deal with a 36 year old bike normally brings me back to reality. My girlfriend at the time had a GPz550A1 and that was a remarkable bike as well, great mix of fun and practicality.

The real leap forwards in terms of handling came between 1984 and 1987, first with the GPZs, then the first race reps. In 1987 I had a go on a TZR250 which blew me away, I couldn´t imagine how a production bike could handle better, then an FZ600 which had the XJ600 engine shoehorned into a Japanese market FZ400 frame, absolutely sublime handling. By the end of the 80s most Japanese sportsbikes had more handling than an average rider could use, combined with decent rubber. It had taken the Japanese fifteen plus years to work out how to actually make frames that could deal with the power their engines were making.

My fuel tank started leaking at the rear mount, and because of the gas gauge a big tankbag was out of the question.

It still never died on me though, and it was fairly comfortable.

Over here in the late 90s they sold a bike called the ZR-7 that had the old air cooled motor. It would have been cool to see one with a GPz 750 swingarm swapped in. I can't imagine it would be difficult.

The odd thing - I can rip my 500 XCW at 70 mph off road and feel like I'm on a flying carpet. However, at 65 mph on slab, I have a pucker factor of 10. The next time I need to run slab at 60+ mph, I will try laying on the tank, as the video suggests, and see if it feels more stable.

But ultimately, if my route includes any long stretches of 60+ mph, and I am on the 500, I have already made a series of bad decisions.

Are you running full on knobblies pressured down for offroad use?

Tall suspension + narrow tires = twitchy on the highway. On a dirt trail it would not have the same effect because things are always twitching or slipping one way or the other.