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the dragon

4K views 22 replies 12 participants last post by  4 inch pistons 
#1 ·
friday me and my ole lady went for a ride stop in sweetwater for gas and after we left my bike started running like the chitty chitty bang bang it wouldnt idol and kept dying thought was going to have to get a trailer to haul it back home :eek: but wasnt going to do that if i could help it told her i would try to ride it back home well after we got out of town i opened it up and went a couple mile then pulled into another parking lot was running fine now stb told me when i opened it up a puff of black smoke came out of the pipes it wasnt bad gas cause we both fillled up from the same pump any way told her we was gonna go ahead with our ride so back to through sweetwater and headed to sweetwater valley farms to get some cheese and they got bout 40 different kind of cheese from there we proceeded to the dragon very vfew riders there and of coarse 1 stupied idiot passing in a curve and all the stores thru there are closed till march we went into robbinsonville thru murphy nc then thru coker creek and tellico tn and back home and the rest of the trip the bike ran fine
took it to the dealer saturday to have it checked out couldnt find anything wrong but they went ahead and changed plugs its still running fine and all in all it was still a good ride :D
 
#2 ·
Glad to hear all is now good with your XR. I have been on those roads hundreds if not thousands of times in a cager and a dozen times or so on a motorcycle. I don't care for the dragon much anymore as far as riding it but I do like hanging out at the store on the NC side and watch the different kinds of bikes that come and go.
 
#4 ·
Depends what you're looking for. I've ridden quite a few good roads all over the planet, but when it comes to my favorite technical road, the Dragon is still it. It just has so much variety all so densely packed into so few miles and no cross roads or residential driveways. And so many of the corners have such great visibility. And with so many corners so close together, one can have a lot of fun without going ridiculously fast.

For someone who enjoys technical sporty riding, it just doesn't get any better IMO. Best done on off days and off hours to avoid cops, traffic, slow pokes, and amateurs still learning to maintain their lane.

For most cruiser riders, I agree that the Skyway is a much better road as it's far more scenic and once you've got one corner down on it you've got them all down. It's actually a little too fast of a road for sport biking IMO as one could easily lose their life getting too carried away there. Seen it happen a couple times there. Not good.
 
#5 ·
i haven't checked the stats, but living near the dragon i hear of a lot of fatalities there. just from the news i think probably a lot more deaths on the dragon than any other road around here. i think some summers its close to 1 a month.
 
#6 ·
I've only ridden the dragon once, and I guess it's because of its reputation and all the hype, but I was kind of disappointed, there was definitely a big "that's it?" when I passed the dam on the Tennessee side...I enjoyed it, but if it had been anymore crowded, I probably wouldn't have...
 
#7 ·
friday me and my ole lady went for a ride stop in sweetwater for gas and after we left my bike started running like the chitty chitty bang bang it wouldnt idol and kept dying thought was going to have to get a trailer to haul it back home
Check your battery terminals that they're tight. loose plays heck with ignition system and I've heard it don't take much.
 
#10 ·
I am on the dragon quite a bit in my work truck through out the year and you won't beleive the idiots on that road. I don't think I have ever been on it in a cager when a motorcycle didn't pass me on the solid lines and it is not always sport bikes either.
 
#11 ·
friday me and my ole lady went for a ride stop in sweetwater for gas and after we left my bike started running like the chitty chitty bang bang it wouldnt idol and kept dying
I get that once and a while this time of year. It's rare but the last time I noticed some condensation on the engine. That's what I'm chalking mine up to. Any chance that could have been your issue?
 
#21 ·
I was on it a couple of years ago when they had it shut down for the rock slide on the TN side. Got there kinda early and rode it down to the slide and back into NC twice. It was just me and a few other riders on it that morning.
 
#22 ·
I have road the Dragon and the Cherohola Skyway every year at least once every year for the past 10 years.
What can I say , we love riding in the Smokies.
I agrea with Saddlebag on this one the Dragon is a blast to ride on off days very technical and a lot of fun. You just have to stay in your lane and watch the corners that are blind for on-comers. I like to ride it in early spring or late fall before / after the leaves, it helps visibilty.
I have seen a lot of wrecks on the Dragon but the only fatility was on the Skyway, 2 superbikes went down in a corner just ahead of our group.
The first guy just slid off the road the second ended up in the woods, he didn't make it. All we could do was pray and wit for the paramedics Way to much speed up there.
My experiance ...... Dragon:
a blast, loads of fun especialy on off days. Lots of coners. You can have a ton of fun at decent speeds.
Cherohola Skyway:
Another great road, fun to ride but you do have to watch your speed. There are several reducing radious cornes that you can carry to much speed into. Anyway if you ride this road fast you'll miss the best part which is the fantastic views from up there.
Next time I get down that way I'll have to look up the Triangle and the Rattler.
 
#23 ·
Done the dragon more than a few times. Highway 80 off of 70 between Asheville and Marion is 30 miles of the same thing only better. I like the dragon too. You ride for what you think is 5 minutes--stop at the end and discover it was 20 minutes. I also heard 34 deaths and many were not the bikers fault.
 
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