I am a new rider. I only have maybe two hundred miles of riding under my belt. I literally only passed my road test thirty six hours ago.
A friend of mine invited me to a cook out that his MC was having. We met up last night and we ended up riding the freeway for about twenty miles to get to the cook out. He led and I followed him on his sport bike. He entered the freeway and made a B line for the HOV lane. He then proceeded to cruise one handed at 70mph the entire twenty miles making it look easy. I was able to keep up but at times I felt totally uncomfortable. Uncomfortable like I was not ready to be doing 70mph on a busy freeway.
The other thing is, my bike feels great at 50 to 60 maybe even 65mph but at 70 not so much. I see other Dyna riders posting about riding at 85 and 95mph. At 70 mph my bike feels like it's going to shake apart, and my hands go numb from vibration. It makes me wonder if their bikes ride as rough as mine does at 70mph. I have no experience on any other bikes to compare mine to.
Also I weigh close to 300 pounds without gear. I run race tech emulators in my front susspension and I have noticed a huge improvement over the stock set up but I am still running stock rear shocks. I wonder if I am too heavy for the stock rear susspension and that's part of the reason the bike rides so rough at 70 plus.

I know the more I ride the more comfortable I will become. After my experience last night I vowed not to push myself just to impress others. In the future if I feel like I'm pushing beyond my skill set I will just let who ever I am riding with go on without me and I will meet them.at our choosen destination.
I found a huge parking lot so I plan on practicing maneuvers at higher speeds. I am going to practice turning and swerving.
If anyone has any advise or maneuvers I could or should practice, I would love to hear them.

Also, can the Dyna owners out there let me know how your bike rides at 70 and beyond. Is there anything I can do to make my bike run smoother at high speeds?

Here is my 2012 FXDB Street Bob with FXDG Fat Bob trees.

 

Sounds like you learned a valuable lesson. Ride your own ride. I learned to ride with people who didn't slow down. It was educational, but I go much slower when riding with a new rider.

You should enjoy riding, while staying vigilant, but not scared. If you're scared, slow down. My only Harley is an Ultra, so I can't help you with Dyna advice.

 

Clint said "a man has to know his limitations "
and "Dying is EZ and living is hard,"
albeit they from movies , there is a lot of truth there.
Every ride will produce a lesson for you.
Your friend is an idiot of sorts for putting you in a situation like that.
you have almost zero for exp and motor nerve skil set yet.
But the good news as you may have noticed you lived through it.
Concentrate on all the things you need to know at slower speeds and in less trafic.
Don't be scared to challenge your self with cones, stopping distances etc.
Once you have some exp and know your bike 70MPH is EZ

 

One of the first things that I ended up doing to my bike once I started riding on the highway a lot was throwing a quarter fairing on there. It did a lot to help me feel less like a parachute. Another thing that I noticed is that I needed to loosen up my grip on the handlebars and allow that gyroscopic stability coming from the rims and tires to take effect, otherwise I feel like you're jerking around on the handlebars and doing yourself more harm than good. hold on with your knees and your toes. Lastly sometimes that Dyna is just going to shake(my 2017 fxdb sure does!) that's just how it goes, so stay loose so you don't shake too!

 

All very good points. And just so you know, at 70 mph a typical faired sport bike is literally loafing along-the ride is totally different than on any Harley (which is no excuse for your "friend" stressing you out).

 

 

Ride your ride and no one elses. 70 mph on day 1, good friend you have there.
Ride with your head not above it

I've owned a few Dyna's - was it wind buffeting or shaking? My Dynas didn't shake at all (unless typical HD shake) wind buffeting on an unfaired bike is common. If your bike is used, was it checked out? As far as practice - Did you take an MSF class? I also like the motorman Jerry videos...

Good luck and enjoy!

 

 

I think that is just nerves more than anything. When I first started riding, I constantly felt like I was going to fly off the bike at any moment.

Hell, when I went on the test drive, the salesman rode off and left me because I couldn't get myself to go even the speed limit.

Over time you just start to get more and more comfortable. Like anything else in life, you just need more experience.

 

A windshield makes a world of difference.

rk classic.