For some of you that seem to be reading this forum with already preconceived ideas of what the outcome should be, it is meaningless to even try and explain something as you will inadvertently pull my words out of context and make your own statements in any case.
For the rest I can just say do not be lazy and read everything twice before you comment on it.
As far as this thread is concerned I merely made a comparison between bikes being used in ways they were not intended to. The Dakar at the start of this thread was used hard on roads with rough surfaces and possibly loose stones etc. The result was the forks failed.
HPN fit forks to their bikes to cope with this type of road conditions and even worse. The result is that the bikes are not the best doing high speeds on highways especially when you combine it with a off road tire like the Desert and overload the bike with luggage. I recommended that we fit more road bias tyres like the T63's or TKC80's but Philip insisted on the Michelin Deserts. Delays from HPN for parts gave me little time to test the bike after it was completed and Philip did not want to postpone his departure date. Our conclusion was that most of the roads north of Namibia will not allow you to travel at speeds of more than 110km/h and the bike was exceptionally stable and comfortable at these speeds especially in really difficult road conditions. The recommendation was that speeds should stay below the 130km/h mark.
As far as the persistent head-shaking is concerned after fitting the TKC's, I can say this; riding a 1989 R80GS for a few months earlier this year it also tend to be flopping around like a leave at speeds over 120km/h. This is not that uncommon when riding with bikes with tall suspensions especially fitted with the high off road type mudguards in front.