Has anyone ridden the Tail of the Dragon on a Harley?
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Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 63
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From: West Virginia
Has anyone ridden the Tail of the Dragon on a Harley?
A popular scenic highway in the Smoky Mountains, the Tail of the Dragon / Deals Gap, near Gatlinburg, Tennessee, has 318 curves in 11 miles. Im planning on going there this fall, and was planning on taking my Harley Davidson Sportster 1200, but after just getting a Suzuki DR-650 dual sport, and putting a few hundred miles on it, Im considering taking it instead.
What Im actually wondering, from anyone who may have been there, is if there are any dual sport riding areas, such as logging roads, fire roads, back roads, etc., where a person would not take a street bike. Ill be going alone, so Im not looking to do deep woods or hard dirt riding, but if there are any nice mild off road scenic areas to take the DR, that will cement my decision for sure. Too bad I cant take both, but my trailer will only haul one bike.
Any info greatly appreciated.
JT
What Im actually wondering, from anyone who may have been there, is if there are any dual sport riding areas, such as logging roads, fire roads, back roads, etc., where a person would not take a street bike. Ill be going alone, so Im not looking to do deep woods or hard dirt riding, but if there are any nice mild off road scenic areas to take the DR, that will cement my decision for sure. Too bad I cant take both, but my trailer will only haul one bike.
Any info greatly appreciated.
JT
Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 1,785
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From: Louisiana
There are a lot of dual sport opportunities -- check the web. See, for example http://gsmmotorent.com/gsm-dual-sport-day-trips/
Road Master
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 892
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From: Central Florida
Look for the Foothills Parkway-it is near the Dragon. There are some back roads off it. You can come from the other way also near Townsend....also check out the Cades Cove area -lots of 4 wheeling roads....not sure how crazy you want to get....The Dragon itself is an amazing stretch of road, but there are tougher roads in the area if you know where to look. The Dragon is just the most famous, not the best. But it's ALL GOOD up there!
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Joined: Dec 2007
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A group of us has made a couple of trips to ride the Dragon, and the Hellbender, and so on. One of us rides a BMW 650 GS, we have Road Kings, Dynas, and a Fat Boy. We all had a blast. Either bike would be fun for you, but the Suzy might be good to also do the dirt.
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Joined: Aug 2007
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From: Blairsville GA
There are thousands of miles of Forest Service roads all over western NC and northern GA. A DR-650 will do fine.
http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/prog...ohv_maps.shtml
http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/prog...ohv_maps.shtml
