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Close call on the Dragon ride

bjt

bjt

Very Helpful Member
We had a nice scenic ride to the Tail of the Dragon and a very nice ride through the Dragon. I would highly recommend this ride to anyone. :doorag: :2thumbs: We ended at Deal's Gap and had a nice little lunch and bought the obligatory Dragon t-shirts. We were circling back to Gatlinburg through some more nice winding roads. The man who rode down with Bruce (Director) was right behind me. His name is Noukone. We were going up an incline and around a left sweeper when a motorcycle going way too fast was coming down. He crossed the double yellow line just ahead of me and passed by VERY close on my left. :sour: I was slowing down and looked back. Noukone had slammed on his brakes and turned hard left as this motorcycle was heading right for him, head on. :yikes: The biker just barely avoided hitting Noukone's right fender and passed about three other Spyders on the right going off into the gravel. :shocked: No one was hurt, the biker regained control without crashing and we all made it back without further incident. :2thumbs:
 
Last edited:
bjt said:
We had a nice scenic ride to the Tail of the Dragon and a very nice ride through the Dragon. I would highly recommend this ride to anyone. :doorag: :2thumbs: We ended at Deal's Gap and had a nice little lunch and bought the obligatory Dragon t-shirts. We were circling back to Gatlinburg through some more nice winding roads. The man who road down with Bruce (Director) was right behind me. His name is Nucon (sp?). We were going up an incline and around a left sweeper when a motorcycle going way too fast was coming down. He crossed the double yellow line just ahead of me and passed by VERY close on my left. :sour: I was slowing down and looked back. Nucon had slammed on his brakes and turned hard left as this motorcycle was heading right for him, head on. :yikes: The biker just barely avoided hitting Nucon's right fender and passed about three other Spyders on the right going off into the gravel. :shocked: No one was hurt, the biker regained control without crashing and we all made it back without further incident. :2thumbs:
Click to expand...
This is exactly why I refuse to ride the Dragon, or any of the other popularized roads. Can't control these idiots. Glad for all your sakes it wasn't a semi. These roads were fun 35 years ago.
-Scotty
 
Considering the Spyder is 5 Feet Across the bow... It's a double duty scary thought. A motorcycle out of control might be able to swerve a few feet and miss another motorcycle, but the Spyder is like a car.

I'll have to remember that when I'm riding. By the way, does everybody take the middle road in your lane or what? Ride center or left or right on the road? Comments.
 
captainryder said:
I'll have to remember that when I'm riding. By the way, does everybody take the middle road in your lane or what? Ride center or left or right on the road? Comments.
Click to expand...

Centre of the road for me. Took me a few days to get used to that, but I LOVE MY SP','DER. two weeks and 1000km.
 
captainryder said:
By the way, does everybody take the middle road in your lane or what? Ride center or left or right on the road? Comments.
Click to expand...

On the group rides, people seem to be all over as far as lane position goes. Some are in the middle, some shade the left and others shade the right of the lane. It seems haphazard, probably due to each riders tendencies and riding experience. There are some riders here that have had their Spyders for less than a week.

I heard that a BRP video and / or the owners guide suggests a staggered formation (left then right then left then right ...) while riding in groups. That does make it so much nicer as you can see what's happening farther up ahead of you and you get a 'heads up' of what riders may be doing (turning, avoiding obstacles, braking) 4 or 5 Spyders ahead of you instead of just the Spyder directly in front of you.

I personally try to ride staggered from the rider ahead of me just so I can see what's ahead of them too. If they are towards the left, I am towards the right and vice versa. If they are in the center, I adjust in either direction, whichever one gives me the best view of the road ahead.
 
Staggered left/right is pretty much the standard motorcycle protocol for group rides. I guess the stagger would be not quite so wide for Spyders though, but as Brian says it does increase your sight lines while riding.
 
bjt said:
We had a nice scenic ride to the Tail of the Dragon and a very nice ride through the Dragon. I would highly recommend this ride to anyone. :doorag: :2thumbs: We ended at Deal's Gap and had a nice little lunch and bought the obligatory Dragon t-shirts. We were circling back to Gatlinburg through some more nice winding roads. The man who road down with Bruce (Director) was right behind me. His name is Nucon (sp?). We were going up an incline and around a left sweeper when a motorcycle going way too fast was coming down. He crossed the double yellow line just ahead of me and passed by VERY close on my left. :sour: I was slowing down and looked back. Nucon had slammed on his brakes and turned hard left as this motorcycle was heading right for him, head on. :yikes: The biker just barely avoided hitting Nucon's right fender and passed about three other Spyders on the right going off into the gravel. :shocked: No one was hurt, the biker regained control without crashing and we all made it back without further incident. :2thumbs:
Click to expand...

I would have needed a change of underwear after that !:yikes: then a few drinks once I got home!
 
Glad I missed seeing this happen. I was about 20 back in line behind a slow spider which may of been a good thing. Glad it turned out ok, it could of made a great day real bad
 
bjt said:
We had a nice scenic ride to the Tail of the Dragon and a very nice ride through the Dragon. I would highly recommend this ride to anyone. :doorag: :2thumbs: We ended at Deal's Gap and had a nice little lunch and bought the obligatory Dragon t-shirts. We were circling back to Gatlinburg through some more nice winding roads. The man who road down with Bruce (Director) was right behind me. His name is Nucon (sp?). We were going up an incline and around a left sweeper when a motorcycle going way too fast was coming down. He crossed the double yellow line just ahead of me and passed by VERY close on my left. :sour: I was slowing down and looked back. Nucon had slammed on his brakes and turned hard left as this motorcycle was heading right for him, head on. :yikes: The biker just barely avoided hitting Nucon's right fender and passed about three other Spyders on the right going off into the gravel. :shocked: No one was hurt, the biker regained control without crashing and we all made it back without further incident. :2thumbs:
Click to expand...

I was further ahead in the pack and did not know what had happened until we stopped further down the road, where Noukone told me about the incident. He is a new rider, but a very experienced driver, and his reactions no doubt saved him and the dummy on the sport bike from serious injuries or worse. :thumbup:

Bruce
 
Hey Bruce, do you have Noukone signed up on SpyderLovers? He is a great guy and would be a valuable member to the forum. Plus, he could regale us with his harrowing tale of surviving the Dragon. :D
 
bjt said:
Hey Bruce, do you have Noukone signed up on SpyderLovers? He is a great guy and would be a valuable member to the forum. Plus, he could regale us with his harrowing tale of surviving the Dragon. :D
Click to expand...

Hi Brian, I have encouraged Noukone to sign up on both forums, but I don't think he has done so yet. He told me a while ago that his wife looks after all the computer stuff for him, so I am not sure how comfortable he feels about using the technology. I will keep after him, though. You're right, he is a great guy, and would certainly be an asset to the forums. :thumbup:
Cheers,
Bruce
 
Each time I hit the Dragon, both cops were tied up with rockets.

I crossed the yellow line a few times myself though. If you baby the corners, it taxes the hell out of the tires. I really pushed the :spyder: around some of those turns. Got her on two wheels a couple times before my passenger threatened to jump off the back.

What a great test for the new bars though! It was fun but I have to admit that I was envious of the kneedraggers out there. I'm want to throw a 600cc Honda around the corners on the surrounding roads next time.

Tennessee is on my destination list permanently now- not for the Dragon but for the surrounding roads.
 
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