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Ripley Rides The Dragon

Ripley

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Joined
Jun 15, 2005
Messages
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Location
Tomball, TX
First Name
Steve
Some pictures of me riding The Tail of the Dragon on Wednesday, October 12th, 2005:
http://www.knouse.org/gallery/thedragon

And on Tuesday, Oct 11, 2005 taken by MoonShinePhoto.com.
http://knouse.org/gallery/thedragon2

And a video of parts of my one of my runs just before noon on Tuesday, Oct 11:
http://www.knouse.org/movies/dragon.wmv (19MB)
[Note: This a different link. I combined both 50MB files into one 19MB file. The old links still work but both point to the new file.]

Freakin' awesome road!
 
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CycleCat said:
What? No sparks?! Go back and do it again!
No sparks in the pictures but ****, I dragged some stuff. The bolt through my Kuryakyn pegs no longer has a head and the exhuast covers are gouged some. I removed the forward pegs before I got on 129 but forgot about the Rivco side stand pad. In a couple of left hand turns I heard something dragging that sounded bad. I pulled over, found the problem and removed it.
 
WoodButcher said:
I fixed the links in this quote of the message. There was a comma instead of a period between www and knouse.
Thanks. Original fixed.
 
Ripley said:
No sparks in the pictures but ****, I dragged some stuff.

:bigokay: Go back and do it again anyway! :dude:

My dad and I made a big trip about this time last year. He on his Goldwing, and me on my Guzzi. We went up the Blue Ridge Parkway, rode Cherohala Skyway and the Dragon, visited the Barber Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham and just had some good grown-up father & son bonding.
 
CycleCat said:
Go back and do it again anyway!
Definately! Yes! It will be done! But I'm hoping to do it on an SV650S or a 599 or FZ6 with leathers & knee pucks.
 
Why is it that I find leaning a 800+ lbs bike over far enough to start dragging parts a little unnerving ? :shock:

Cool pics btw.
 
Well, the thing about the 1800 is that the pegs hit the road long before the crash bars do, makes for a lot of noise. The pegs on my wing are pretty ground down from just riding around here and there aren't that many curves. The other thing is that that 800+ lb bike will surprise you on how well is takes the twisties.
 
Desert Skies said:
Well, the thing about the 1800 is that the pegs hit the road long before the crash bars do, makes for a lot of noise. The pegs on my wing are pretty ground down from just riding around here and there aren't that many curves. The other thing is that that 800+ lb bike will surprise you on how well is takes the twisties.

Oh, ok, so the pegs are pretty low then...... I was wondering what hit first.

I have heard that before also in regards to the Wing being a capable bike in the twisties. Those vids were pretty cool, and showed that you can still have fun on the curvy stuff on a Wing. ;-)

Only you guys get to ride XXX miles to the favorite twisties spot, arrive in COMFORT, singing along to the darn CD player, and are STILL fresh enough for a long cruise through the curves......... where as I am wishing that my butt was made of steel and that my wrists stoped aching after XXX miles. I won't even talk about how I have to stop every 140 miles for gas either. :-( lol
 
TX_F2 said:
Oh, ok, so the pegs are pretty low then...... I was wondering what hit first.

I have heard that before also in regards to the Wing being a capable bike in the twisties. Those vids were pretty cool, and showed that you can still have fun on the curvy stuff on a Wing. ;-)

Only you guys get to ride XXX miles to the favorite twisties spot, arrive in COMFORT, singing along to the darn CD player, and are STILL fresh enough for a long cruise through the curves......... where as I am wishing that my butt was made of steel and that my wrists stoped aching after XXX miles. I won't even talk about how I have to stop every 140 miles for gas either. :-( lol

Yeah, life is pretty sweet. Funny thing is though, I can make more miles on my GS than I can the Wing, go figure...
 
TX_F2 said:
Why is it that I find leaning a 800+ lbs bike over far enough to start dragging parts a little unnerving ?
Tell me about it! :-D It's a real good idea to take the forward pegs off before pushing it that far - and as I discovered the wide kick stand plate.

I really want to get a SV650 or 599 to ride roads like that but I don't want to think abouit it to North Carolina - or even Arkansas; trailing it behind the Gold Wing is not an option; and trailing it behind my Jeep seems like cheating.
 
jetblue said:
Did you attend the '05 rally Michael ?
Texas was very poorly represented, big state....4 FZ owners.
If I missed ya', sorry.

That vid brings back the thrill, thanks.

naaa. sold my fz1 first of this year for a busa
put about 27000 miles on the fz1 in less that 2 years and about the same on my v-max

already put about 6000 miles on the busa in about 5 months or so.
later
Michael
 
My Dad has an '05 Goldwing, I have an '05 SV650S - for my first few hundred miles he was taking turns much faster than I. My comfort in two wheeled life returned quite quickly, and the huge chicken strips on the SV vanished. On FM969 outside Austin we went in pretty hot to one of the turns, and I saw my Dad rapidly slow down (enough for me to have to grab a handful of brake) - it was clear what happened. My Dad left the intercom to my Mom's helmet on, and heard her nagging to slow down :)

Dragon looks like a lot of fun, I'll have to hit it when I get back to the States. Good vids btw.

Anthony

edit: Ok, I looked at more pictures, a map, and various other comments across the vast intarweb. It's roughly 4 hours from Fort Benning, GA. I must ride this road. First 4 day weekend I get, the SV will hit The Dragon :)
 
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Just ride it. Its much better than hitting it. :) Ride the actual Dragon aka hwy 129 during the week. This road is only 1 percent of the nice riding in the area.

Enjoy,
Vaughn
 
heh, as luck would have it - according to svrider.com - the SV Rally will be in June @ Deal's Gap. A sign? Oh I think so.
 
Cool pics & video. I got to conquer the Dragon on my SV in September. :cool2: It was on a Tuesday (I think) which was nice b/c I could take it at my own speed w/o worrying about holding anyone up. Unfortunately, "Killboy" was not out there, only a couple of amateur photographers so I have no pics to share.:flip:
 
Big bikes on the Dragon :)

Here's my Dyna Glide Sport on the dragon in '04

Who says harleys don't handle?

IMG_5410.jpg
 
Dyna Sport said:
Who says harleys don't handle?
Not me. I chased a woman on a Dyna Low Rider through the hills of Arkansas last year for a while. She didn't hold me up, either. :shock: 8-)
 
I need to go ride someplace other than Texas... I was on some great roads up in NY but was too 'squidish' back then to realize it. :-D
 
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