I love how he kept up while staying in his lane.

The fact that the camera bike is being held up by the other bikes while riding safely says something about the skill levels here.

Anyone can cut a lane. It takes more skill to keep it in the lane. Funny how you were right on them and they had to keep cutting... Rookies.

I used to ride this road all the time back in the early to mid 70's. Started out with a '73 CB350, later rode the dragon on a CB450 and a BSA 650. I lived in Blount County, the Dragon was maybe a 1/2 hour away. Sometimes I'd cruise through Cades Cove in the Smokies and take the then open one way Parson's Branch Road over to the middle of the Dragon. I had the road mostly to myself. People hauling boats to go fishing on Fontana Lake used it, and I'd first become aware of the road while working for a lumber company back then that sometimes trucked lumber over to Robbinsville. The pavement on the Dragon was sometimes in poor shape, and if you were hauling something like roof trusses or 18 foot long lumber, you *had* to use part of the other lane just to make the turn at a few spots. And some of the curves were reverse banked! If you didn't anticipate those, you'd be scraping pipes and pegs on the pavement. I changed the exhaust system on my CB450 to get more Dragon clearance. The whole place was pretty much a quiet, primeval type wilderness. You had a real sense of awe and wonder at the very steep river gorge going down to Calderwood Lake. Spectacular scenery and peace and quiet. And just look at what it is now! When I was riding there, I had no cell phone and was usually going solo with a backpack and supplies strapped onto my sissy bar. If I ran off the mountain playing road racer I was on my own. They might have found my bones and my bike years later.

I had a friend who was a professional racer. He was riding up near Lake Berryessa, in Napa, CA.... He was in his lane taking a left hand corner, when his head was just over the center lane. His bike and body were in his lane, but his head encroached into the on coming lane. A car came around in her lane, but right on the double yellow line. She was still in her lane, but very close to the yellow line. Her left front bumper caught his helmet right in the forehead... Total speed was 80 mph (him 50, her 30 mph), He died immediately and she had a dented front fender... Think about it when you ride like those two riders did, they were terrible inexperienced riders. People say, "I have been riding for 30 years", well they have 1 year's experience 30 times over... Those two riders were the 1 year's experience only abilities. RIP RC.

How is that fun to ruin all the corners by basically going straight down the whole thing and Still being slower than the guy behind you?

Never go over the double yellow, never.

Duck feet and bad body position first ten seconds of the video LOL

Oh look, a pair of YammieNoobs

i honestly love how youre keeping up with them and youre staying in your lane, then you pass them and blow them away haha i love it! these douches need to stay off the road..

I like how they do the leg dangle at 35mph to slow down like they’re moto gp! 😂

I LOVE that you held your lane and they couldn't pull away at all lmao

Besides being dangerous, personally I think it's more fun if you stay in your lane and not try to straighten out the corner! Hopefully when these guys crash they don't take someone else with them!

Did I just see the Rossi leg dangle ? ....... on the road ? ........WTF!

The bad part these two guys had two more buddies doing the same thing back behind them and they were even slower

A pair of future Hood ornaments

I was going to ride the dragon this summer. Know what? So many people told me it's a crowded boiling hot frustrating ride full of knuckle heads like these. Or endless slow moving campers, trailers and such. Nah, I'm heading to the Pocono mountains instead. Ride safe y'all.

If you cant maintain your lane im not impressed

I absolutely love to ride, but it's a shame how so many people just get bikes to look cool, and fail miserably. It's beyond obvious these dudes haven't been riding long.

These guys give sport bike riders a bad name.

Absolutely atrocious riding, and one of the reason I tend to stay away from this area. You see it all the time. You can't tell idiot riders like this anything either.. They know everything, till they end up dead or seriously inquired.

I about lost it when dude stuck his leg out. Rossi wanna be

Very good video...never ever use other line...it is the golden rule...if you cant keep yourself on your own line, it means you are not able to ride that fast...so slow down and learn how to do it ...

Takes an idiot to cross the yellow line on the Dragon

When I learned to ride, it was with a group of older riders. They introduced me to riding according to "the way", something that was published in sportbike magazine quite a long time ago now. They also had a jar in the garage of one of the guys, if you crossed the double yellow lines (even just your upper body while leaning) that was $5 in the jar towards BBQ and road trips, etc. It was a couple in that group that told me about deals gap, I used to take trips up there to ride it and the cherohala skyway and many other beautiful roads in the area. Haven't been back there in probably close to 15 years because of how busy it got.

Eurgh, by now I've read half a dozen comments saying exactly what I'm about to say, but I need to get it out of my system: These idiots will hurt someone with this cutting corner crap, AND, they're laughably slow. I don't mock slow riders, I think everyone should ride at whatever they feel like and/or are comfortable with. That being said, watching this motogp ballet crap cutting corners while going slow is infuriating. And also hilarious, considering how you were smoothly tagging along while keeping to your lane on your smaller (but torquier) engine. Eurgh.These guys.

Having ridden the dragon and having been an expert WERA sprint and endurance class winner, I see no reason for seeing how fast one can go on a public road.

When he did the Rossi dangle, I was done with these squids. 🤣

Superbly handling machines like the GSXR being wasted by cutting the corners , why ?

I didn't see any of this BS up there this past year but it's part of the reason I don't like riding the gap on weekends. So many other roads in the area that are just as much fun and don't have all the idiots so thirsty to finally get that knee down they are turning to sand. The challenge of DG is to use the limited space in your own lane to maintain a steady speed and not touch the brakes. If DG was in Mexico, that steady speed would be around 45mph. Also, as someone else has said, it's better to just back off from idiots like that and not ride their ass. If they had hit somebody there's a very high chance they would have taken you with them. Sure, it feels great to show them that the blazing pace they think they are setting is really a sleepy cruise through the woods, but it's not worth your life.

Their leans are sick, but going into the other lane for even a second is just crazy.

With thousands of miles of excellent mountain roads in America, I would never ride a road populated by hoards of inexperienced hot doggers.

Why ride that road & try to straighten up the corners??? Flicking it around like you did looks much more fun.

That paint they use for the lines is slippery as hell sometimes. Not very smart.

I like how their cutting the corners and trying to hang his leg like rossie and dude its just casually right behind them

Whoah! Look at how much faster they could go by using the whole road! Oh, wait...

I live in Western NC and have used this road to get to TN all of my life. I've seen a few of these scraped off of the trees by the paramedics. Its atrocious that they dont revere anyone else's lives (women and children!) over their own thrills.

I ride the pacific NW with plenty of twisties and I might bleed the lines a little underestimating how steep the angle is here and there; but I feel shame when I screw up like that. That said, oi. Dude, bleeding a little is fine, but straight into the other lane with no hesitation despite traffic? Those guys are gonna end up needing to be pried out of some truck’s grill. X-/

I know this is an old video but it is awesome. Having visited it 8 times in the last 11 years i can tell you are cooking... cracked me up how they were squidding out and you maintained your lane discipline and not only kept up but smoked them.. great ride and great video.

I rode a KTM 390 for the first time today, and just by the sound I thought you were on a KTM. What a fun bike!

Years ago my wife and I were riding in that area and she asked to go to Deal's Gap. She had heard me talk about thee Dragon Tail and she wanted to see it. When we got there, she asked if we were going to ride it and I said "No way". She then asked why and I pointed to all the crotchrockets parked there and told her they were the reason I would not ever chance riding it, especially with her on the back. I almost got killed a couple of times the last time I rode it. Once was when a crotchrocket rounded a curve and an excessive speed and I was only doing about 20 mph at the time. He barely missed me and I almost went into the side of the mt. The next time was when 3 crotchrockets rounded a curve and excessive speeds and were on my side of the road. Two of them ended up colliding and I ended up waiting on the side of the road with numerous other bikers until the ambulance showed up. Those crotchrocket riders are freakin nuts.

This is exactly one reason I will never go back to the dragon.....way to many people even cars crossing over the lines...

Rookies with sport bikes is usually the best natural selection you can get. Especially if they CANNOT ride!

Sports cars and Sports bikes have ruined "The Dragon" 11 mile stretch for locals, and the average bike rider. Accidents and death statistics on this stretch of road have dramatically increased in the last 5-10 years. Sports cars and Sports cars can buy time at local tracks, and race to their hearts content.

Holy shit all that and buddy keeps dropping a foot. You really found a pair there...

I agree! Thanks for staying in your lane.

Well done fella. What a couple of prize plums!

It's amazing how the camera rider was just as fast WITHOUT having to cut the corners short.

This is like those people that play chicken in traffic.

Riding like that, they will be dead soon or take someone innocent out. They barely missed that one car by a foot, not to mention the guy kept putting his foot down, WTF! Learn how to ride!! If they had an experienced riding coming the other way at high speeds, it would have definitely been head-on at some of those curves. Every example of WHAT NOT TO DO riding the dragon or any public curvy road.

It’s already been said many times here, but I can’t resist: I love how you stay in your lane, yet they are still holding you up.

would my k1600 with paniers have any problems on the tail or should i remove them?

Go ahead...cross a double yellow line... You'll be the next Yammie Noob!

In Germany there's wellbachtal b48 johanniskreuz. I've seen amazingly and probably dangerously fast riders, beyond what I imagined possible... And there can be had a debate about speed but these really good riders did not cross the line. I kicked myself when I noticed myself crossing it even one hand long. Another rider doing the same got me sweating a bit every time. Front wheels colliding slightly across the line would still mean you both go down. These Dutch guys also waited for 20sec or so, until they could over take me safely with a big gap no oncoming traffic and proper distance to me. These clowns could not even start to get good, if they were halfway on the way to becoming fast theyd necessarily crash into oncoming traffic. There is no point in curves if you don't ride em.

old saying : "stay in your lane, or lay in your stain"

Respect to the cammer stayed in your lane the whole time honked to get them to let you by then proceeded to show them how it's done.👏🏼

There's probably many old-timers on full dress tourers that would dust those noobs...

I have a similar video on blood mountain of a dude & his girlfriend/wife riding two up on an ST1100 & coming inches away from hitting a truck head on around a blind corner from that type of nonsense. No excuse.

That's what us older riders call, becoming a hood ornament.

Good show. Which KTM is that?

Well done showing them that you can enjoy a spirited ride while staying in your lane, keeping everyone safe. Sad that the video had to end with you stuck behind the slow car. I wonder what happened between you, the slow car, the 2 riders and that double yellow line when the recording stopped... lol

I'm sure they thought they where the shit. ( Never mind the 690 comfortably puttering along without a problem :-) )

Well done cameramen. Teach them rookies that if you don't respect that double line on the tail the dragon will bite you hard.

Looks like a great road, as long as you catch it when it’s quiet

Pretty bad riders. If you can't stay in your lane, you are over your head.

I enjoy bikes and the people who ride,..being safe is cool,..those others,..well you got what you deserve

How fast were they going anyway?

That is an asinine invitation to a head-on collision.

Clowns like this is why I don't ride the dragon anymore.

Great video of how not to ride. Slow and no idea of how to corner how to move dum and dangerous.

The good thing is that riders like that usually get taken out. Natural selection at it's finest. Funny how the cameraman can keep up with them and stay on the right side of the double yellow. Totally negating their "faster race line bro......"

Used to see this all the time when riding Mt. Palomar. A lot of folks could use with some coaching at a track day. A humbling experience for many road warriors who think they are king of the hill. With some encouragement from Dave Emde, I raced for a few seasons and won some California regional championships. After he died on Old Julian highway in what would have been a nothing burger crash on the track I dialed things back on the street quite a bit as I had young kids at home. But on two successive weekends I had guys like this blow the double yellow and come at me head on. If I didn't have the racing experience I probably wouldn't have been able to avoid them. Decided to switch to dirt bike riding - not risk free, but at least my kids grew up with a dad.

It's all about that race line, nah mean?

I’m cringing just watching this.

After you pass them I felt so worried because there are numerous cars on the opposite lane. I hope they did not crash.

Sadly bikeless now. But I still remember the overheard conversations at Hartside Cafe (Cumbria, UK). "ooh my swing arm was flexing" or "Christ that was wild, we were flying" etc etc. Only you check their tyres and there's chicken strips a mile wide either side. Yeah, mate you were flying🤣🤣🤣

I love how you are totally keeping up with them while they cross the yellow line.... like they're not even really going fast just being dummm

Not safe, when a car appears -> nirvana

Hey Boys, are you from Hong Kong? Australia? England?

I used to live there. I've hot footed up/down 300+ times in all kinds of cars, trucks, and cycles. Rule #1 make an easy 1st pass to know for sure there is no debris or vehicles stuck (I've seen both... you've been warned) Rule #2 stay in your lane Rule #3 stay in your lane Rule #4 stay in your lane Rule #5 stay in your lane Rule #6 stay in your lane Rule #7 stay in your lane Rule #8 stay in your lane................................ Tips... increase seat time greatly by running from Tellico plains, over the Cherohala skyway, and down the ToD 😉

Dude wearing the backpack made me laugh with his Joey Crotch Rocket knee down and failing to have proper upper body posture. Had he rode with correct posture he would not have needed two lanes

Would like to see how they would handle the lost Swift driver coming around the blind corner in their lane...

First and second rider, are they still a live?

I’m no biker but pretty handy on a mountain bike - middle rider sticking his foot out for balance screams he’s a novice

riding that close to them also puts you in danger as when one of them gets inevitably hit, he's coming straight at you....

Having ridden that road a bunch of times on a bunch of bikes, I will say they always had a clear line of sight when they crossed the yellow. Still stupid, and completely unnecessary. They did stay in their lane when there was oncoming traffic. However, you showed them how to do it properly. Great video!

Here in Bhutan we have roads like this everywhere, stretching 100s of kilometers. I think this road is lot safer considering here we also have to look out for gravels, animals and fallen chunk of rocks. So why is this road so dangerous?? is it the speed? We do an average of around 38-40 miles per hour here. BTW Have been riding a ninja 250 for 8 yrs, still love it

I'll stay away from the dragon as I tend to stay away from douche bags.

Been there once. After watching this, I may never go back.

camera guy was just as fast and bearly ever crossed the yellow....winner

Was it max risk ?

Funny part is the idiots could not keep up with the guy NOT wanting to die by driving in the other lane...

I have heard about the Tail of the Dragon for years. Can anyone suggest something similar on the west coast?

The phrase " a danger to themselves and others " comes to mind.

You drive here for the turns and then cross the lines robbing yourself of the turns. Brilliant.

I read an article where a Sheriff was quoted as saying if you wreck bad enough to need medical attention, it will be over an hour in most cases before EMT's can get to you due to the location and road itself.

It would be funny to drive a rental Tahoe and see how Much of these you can "collect" before the engine gives up.

Last year while riding with a group out of Akron, one of our Harley riders lost control in a left hander and ate grass and dirt. Later, while waiting for the ambulance, I asked the Sheriff if they had to come out for youths on sport bikes crashing into the woods of WV. The Sheriff said "No, we never see sport bike riders crash. It is always guys like this." He pointed at the older fat Harley rider moaning on the ground who put ape-hangers on his dyna. True Story.

Where is this road??

Nothing wrong with that. I've done it a few times [flew over from the UK]. If there's no oncoming, taking the line isn't an issue....but tbh, that road is a lovely, picturesque stretch which shouldn't be rushed.... problem is the United States is devoid of twisty roads and all manner of road mutts descend on this place like it's the Holy Grail. It's a fun stop but the best roads around there are the Parkway & Cherohala Skyway..... these roads are truly gobsmacking incredible! Great place, great history... just don't treat it like a race track & you can return as long as the sky remains above our heads, as long as you're sensible.... remember you have nothing to prove, & going 'quickly, with haste' should be reserved & not squandered in places of natural beauty. Enjoy it. Enjoy being there.