Oldfeller--FSO wrote on 02/11/14 at 20:16:34:


You can outrun Ducati Monsters on a Savage?

..wait.. whats that.. water cooling? Go on... do tell?

By and large the best sport bike up in the mountains is any 600cc four cylinder state of the art sports bike ridden by a competent younger rider.  

They stay in second gear all the time and just wick it up and down and concentrate on hard on their late braking ....

They got the brakes -- and they have 100 hp to wick up and down gently with their wrist.  

They balk whenever their front wheel goes up coming out of a turn or their rear end comes up (and jumps over) whenever late braking hard into a turn.

This scares the shite out of me riding so close to the edge, so I will quit playing with them when they start to get erratic.   I know a hurley can wreck low-side "safely" because of hitting hard on the frame, so I always pass them on the inside of whatever sort of turn we are on.  

Hurleys can just wreck themselves low-side in the next turn and go on about it, I am generally well past them on up the road at that point anyway.  
Litters the road some for the guys coming up behind though ....

Sports bike guys can suddenly go sideways during braking and whack you with the rear end if you try to go outside them.  Or re-point themselves right at you if you try to go on the inside and their butt rides up on hard braking or slides over due to too much throttle.  

And they can then EASILY accelerate right into you if they are mis-pointed some ....

The good ones are just a flash in the rear-view mirror and whooosh they are on past you like you were sitting still.

The good ones get a respectful nod for a job well done -- and we never make it easy for them.


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But that guy on the white goldwing gets my extra especial respect -- I have never ever passed him yet and the reverse is certainly not the case.  

He is vetty vetty vetty Gooooood with that goldwing .....  

I make it as hard as I can but he still goes past me on my very first bobble.   Best I have ever done is to hold him off for like 5 turns.

I think he is the local dude with the current low time on the Dragon round trip run, up turn at the bridge turn and and come back down.


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That has got to be hell on the male ego, to have fat 'ol fluck on Granny's old single cylinder pass you, and then here come 3 others that do the exact same thing to you.  

Gots to rile you up some, it does.

The only one that looked like he actually stopped looking for a fist-fight was the guy with the pretty girl in that little red European sports car.  

We had all passed him and a couple of other things after him and had gotten to the overlook and had gotten off the bikes and were taking off helmets when he screeched to a stop on the other side of the road and got out.   Started walking across the street to us when he suddenly counted heads and saw what, four of us and only one of him?    

And we were grouped into a whole bunch of other bikers (always lots of bikers taking a bit of a breather at the top of the hill overlook).  
Odds certainly didn't look good fer him picking a fight with 15 bikers all turning to face him.

Lancer and I had our helmets swinging loose from the chin strap in our right hands and Lancer always looks ready what with his bald head and scrappy demeanor.  

And MM was already laughing at him, what with him coming over to get his butt kicked yet again ....

Dave answered you himself about 3 posts up.

Always make a habit of going back up to your last post and reading everything down from there.  If you don't you'll miss stuff.

oh.. right.. the rain! LOL



That Dragon run looks fantastic. Maybe one day I can go there.

Pull up the area on google earth for the satellite's view, magnify so you can see the details of the road, and follow the Dragon from Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort to the end of the 11 mile run.  It is an impressive road and quite a challenge to ride.
TRY IT, YOU'LL LIKE IT.