Mystery of Viral Rider-Less Harley-Davidson explained
The viral video showing a rider-less Harley-Davidson in Paris has finally been figured out
A video showing a Harley-Davidson motorcycle travelling down a French motorway, sans rider, has finally been revealed.
The incident took place in 2022 and subsequently went viral on social media after other road users captured video footage of the Harley travelling along the A4 towards Paris. A video posted by Le Parisien explains how the bike was travelling into Paris when a car encroached into his lane, and while the biker reportedly “gently tamped it down” (slowed down), nonetheless leaving the rider on the floor eventually ending up near the central reservation.
The bike, though, had other plans, and thanks to it being in a high gear at the time the rider was dismounted, continued to make its merry way along the road in the direction of Paris. It seems that the machine did actually fall in the incident, before righting itself and continuing in the direction of travel. Thankfully the rider was not seriously injured although did require hospital treatment after the crash, and it’s worth noting that the driver of the car quickly came to the biker’s aid.
Amazingly, Moto-Station reports that the bike was able to carry on along the road, completely riderless at this point, for a lengthy five kilometres, seemingly using the road’s central reservation and Armco barrier to keep it pointing in the same direction.
Harley-Davidson has since spoken about why the bike was able to carry on for such a long distance, explaining that the Dyna’s long wheelbase and low centre of gravity mean it has the perfect geometry and weight bias to carry out such a feat.
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
