On May 26 I traveled to Robbinsville, N.C. with my son and one of my brothers for three days of
riding in North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina. We trailered our bikes down to
Robbinsville from the Northeast and stayed at Dragon's Rest Cabins. The bikes we rode were my 2013
ZX-14, my son on a 2004 ZX-6R and my brother on a 1985 Goldwing.

The first day (27th) consisted of a trip up and down the Dragon, a trip out and back on the Cherohala
and a second trip up and down the Dragon. What a fantastic day apart from a minor mishap on The
Dragon for my son which resulted in only cosmetic damage to his 636 - nothing Gorilla tape couldn't
fix. The weather forecast 24 hours out showed an 80% chance of rain; instead we had wall to wall
sunshine throughout the day - God is good! Traffic on the Cherohala was pretty light which allowed my
son and I to rail through at a pretty good pace - good enough for me to rash the lower right fairing
and send sparks my sons way on several occasions - giddy up!

The second day consisted of Moonshiner 28 from Deal's Gap down to Wayah Rd to Hywy 64 to 76 on into Georgia and South Carolina. We then took 28 on back to Robbinsville. We got pretty soaked by some heavy rain in the afternoon but had a great day anyway.

The third day consisted of US 129 to the Foothills Parkway. On the run up The Dragon we were passed
by 30 to 50 Vipers going in the other direction. The sound of all those big V-8's was just
fantastic. From the Foothills Pkwy we took Wears Valley Rd to Little River Rd. I have been on Little River Road on previous occasions where the traffic was terrible; on this occasion it was a great ride without a great deal of rolling road blocks. At the end of the day my son and I did one last run up and down The Dragon.

Prior to the trip I dumped the Metzeler Sportech M5's that came on the bike in favor of Pirelli
Diablo Rosso Corsa's. I've run Pirelli's on my 636 (track bike) and really like them. On the 14
however the wear rate is quite high - I'll be lucky to get 3k miles out of them. I'll probably switch
back to the Metzelers since the wear rate on them was much better and the grip was quite good for a
tire designed more for sport-tour.

This dragon-like bug wanted to take my lunch

Awesome pics!! There's nothing better than riding with your son!
Congrats!

Mad

Nice pics!!!
Thanks for sharing..., going back again this year in September - Can't wait to try it with the bike at stock length....

* Last updated by: zx14beast on 6/3/2015 @ 11:37 AM *

Damn nice, looks like you guys had a great time. I'm jealous. Thanks for sharing.

My 82 year old dad, on his 650 Ninja, a buddy on his 2000 XX, and me on my 03 XX were on all those roads the week of July 4th. Dad and I have been going down to the Dragon since about 1989-1990, when we read about it in Motorcyclist (I think). Last summer, dad (lives in Chicago area and me in Mpls) rode to Calif and back.
So, YES, father and son or daughter riding is great. Dad and I started yearly rides of some kind in 1983. Lotsa stories of course. He was about 48 when we 1st started these trips. Now he's 82 and you better be fast to follow him throught the Dragon!! Great memories. And good for all of you that get to ride,,,,with anyone or even no onee.

Oh, I just jumped the CBR1100XX ship to a new 16 ZX14..

ominousone

Really cool...very much on my bucket list of rides...right up there with seeing Isle of Man TT live...thanks for sharing!

Great to finally view this thread.I've yet to take the to the dragon and really need to make a better effort next year as I'm looking forward to the trip as it's lil closer from my Va/Tn location.

Nice photos there ! I've been on very same roads and they are some of best roads ever !

Gotta head back to Deal's Gap real soon, loved the experience the last time I was there.

Same here, Will. Last time I was up there was me and 2 buds in 2015 riding the entire Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway to Deal's Gap. Skyline Drive has a lower speed limit and is kinda boring compared to the more mountainous terrain the BRP runs through, but I will say, next time I want to ride the BRP slower, make more stops and try to take it in better. I had ridden a very short section of the south end of the BRP back in the 90s, so that 2015 trip was my first time riding the whole thing, and we kinda treated it like a race track ... very fast and very few stops. Like kids who feel like they're never gonna get another chance. And, heck I guess that feeling wasn't far off since now it's been over a year and a half, and hell we might not make it there this year either. Getting old is one thing ... getting more and more responsibilities is another. Bah! Dammit!