[ScramblinGraham]

Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap – Motorcycle and sport car tourism serving Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap, Cherohala Skyway, Moonshiner28, Devils Triangle, Diamondback, Blue Ridge Parkway, and more.

Anyone ride the dragon? Im 7hrs away and am seriously considering a trip this summer to try to tame the Dragon. The Tail of the dragon is a stretch of highway that winds through the mountains 11 miles long with 318 turns. Its supposed to be the best stretch of road in the country for motorcycle riders.

 

[S Jax]

it's over-rated and always busy (should do it once though)....but, there are 100s of miles of roads in the same area that are very fun and you can have the road to yourself.

 

[ScramblinGraham]

Yeah, i read somewhere that there are around 1050 visitors a day in the warmer months and about 50 a day in the winter. Sounds pretty busy but it still looks like a hell of a road. I'd like to do the loop that includes the Cherohala Skyway.

 

[S Jax]

Motorcycle Touring on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Great maps, shows great routes that are less traveled. Serious peg scraping roads in Tenn/NC area.

 

[aldntn]

I first rode it in 1973 on my CL350 Honda. Great, fun road, no traffic. The road is the same today and you can try to pick a low traffic time; but you just have to accept that there may be a lot of traffic. Get a T-shirt for braggin rights and ride other great roads in the area.

Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap – Motorcycle and sport car tourism serving Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap, Cherohala Skyway, Moonshiner28, Devils Triangle, Diamondback, Blue Ridge Parkway, and more.

 

[rider]

Don't ever let a chance go by,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Ogre]

Avoid weekends!

I made this vid last year...hard to hear my narration but I give my advice for avoiding the dreaded "parade ride".

 

[RikkiFromTheSaddle]

I was one hour away from it a couple weeks ago and the cold rain stopped me. Just wasn't ready to ride in the rain on that SOB.

 

[Hawkeye]

I've driven it three or four times. Never done it on a bike.

If you go, do it mid-week and during the day. Much less traffic.

And:

BE. CAREFUL.

WAY more careful than you think you need to be. For most of the road there are NO runoffs (like, you go off a cliff or right down an embankment about 6 inches from the pavement edge), there are TONS of blind corners, and people ride / drive it like TOTAL idiots - crossing the double yellow, carrying way too much speed, etc. It's a hell of a lot of fun, but you HAVE to respect it or you'll be in for some trouble.

Last time I drove it I watched a guy in a brand new Audi S4 carry too much speed into a corner and go off the edge and almost down a huge embankment. Then his exhaust caused the leaves and underbrush to catch fire, and within a few minutes his brand new modified S4 was nothing but a smoking shell. The road was closed for an hour or two while the fire department and the wreckers did their thing, but no one was hurt.

You MUST respect the road, and expect other people to be total blazing idiots on it.

 

[ScramblinGraham]

There is an event up there a couple of my buddies with Groms are going to on June 9th-11th. Smoky Mountain Crawl, the Dragon will be taken over with Groms, Ruckus' and 50cc Honda Dirtbikes. One more thing thats pushing me to get a Grom.

 

[RikkiFromTheSaddle]

There is an event up there a couple of my buddies with Groms are going to on June 9th-11th. Smoky Mountain Crawl, the Dragon will be taken over with Groms, Ruckus' and 50cc Honda Dirtbikes. One more thing thats pushing me to get a Grom.

I totally want one!!!

 

[ELVISTO]

I went over in 2013, checked in at Washington DC , hired a bike from Eagle Rider and we motored down thro the Smokey Mountains and stayed at Deals Gap Resort, we did the Dragons tail a few times, but like's been said , lots of great roads in the area, a fantastic holiday in a very beautiful part of the country,

 

[starvmarv]

I go to the Diamond Back at Little Switzerland, NC....an amazing aggressive road, not as busy and not that many cops; there are also many hidden challenging roads right off of blue ridge parkway that is not for the faint of heart. Those are the best roads as not many people know about them. I have three favorites I will not mention (my secret roads ) but I'll be nice enough to say, look on Google maps and look at the roads that branches off the parkway.

 

[ScramblinGraham]

I actually went and rode the Tail of the Dragon this past weekend. A bunch of my friends ride Honda Groms and the small bore event, The Smoky Mountain Crawl, was this past weekend so i tagged along. It was by far the most fun I've ever had on a motorcycle. A friend that has been before was telling me about other less popular but equally fun roads around there that I'm dying to ride. The Back of the Dragon and the Green Eyed Snake i think were two that he mentioned. If you go on the weekend, get on the mountain early. At 9am its not too crowded and you can get some good runs in. I really wish i had bought a GoPro before i went.

 

[dkaplun]

Did it this weekend, but on a KTM. Amazing. Totally worth doing. But do it on a weekday so there are less idiots on the road. And as a side note, met the fella above me who was riding a totally fun looking UE.

 

[ScramblinGraham]

Pics from last weekend at the Tail of the Dragon.

 

[Mokerson]

it's over-rated and always busy (should do it once though)....but, there are 100s of miles of roads in the same area that are very fun and you can have the road to yourself.

I've ridden the Dragon a number of times and I don't know if I would say it's over rated. Over crowded, yes, under maintained, maybe (depending on the season), but over rated, I wouldn't go that far. While there are a number of really fun rides in and around the area, there is a reason that your willing to travel 7 hours to ride the dragon - the same reason it gets so crowded - it's a fun and challenging ride. As a few others have commented, if possible try to catch it during the week, stay away on holiday weekends and try to catch it out of season if possible. While I have been during the week and on the weekend and have had some really great runs through I've also had some that were really kind of terrible (excessive traffic, crazy Miata drivers, unauthorized tractor trailers blocking both lanes of traffic in a blind curve), but it almost always has a fun vibe and you will get an opportunity to meet tons of other motorcyclists. As so many others have pointed out, there is still some really good riding in the area even if you don't spend all day running back and forth in the gap. I would agree with the original poster though, if you get the opportunity you should run it at least once. My .2 cents anyway.

 

[Randomtone]

It’s a really pretty area, probably at least 4 hours from where I am in Atlanta I’ve trailered up many times on my Vespa. I’ve only been there once on my Scrambler as part of a 4 day camping trip. Like other have said there is no lack of really nice riding up there.

 

[dean_park]

I’ve done the Dragon about 4 times. Once on a Suzuki SV650, then on a SV1000, then a Honda S2000 (two extra wheels) and finally the Scrambler in 2017. That was over a 10 year stretch and every year it does get more crowded. As others have said, there are a lot of roads around there, so you’re not really going just for that road; go for the region. Also as others have said, mid-week is best during the peak summer months, but it’s still definitely worth doing.