My first accident in 18 years of having my M endorsement. Can’t say I was riding aggressively or speeding excessively or riding tired or distracted. It truly was the “perfect” patch of gravel to get caught on. I’d say in hindsight what I think got me was “target fixation” where I saw the gravel and went right into it, rather than making the quick correction to steer just a few inches on either side. Though the suddenness made lightning quick corrections tricky. Additionally, if I was truly riding hyper-aware, perhaps spotting the gravel driveway in the woods would have alerted me to trouble ahead. Just very glad I was wearing appropriate gear, likewise the bike’s engine case guards and saddle bags saved it from worse damage.

You are a hard working man Ivan. I'm glad to see you took a little time to kick back and enjoy yourself. So glad your brother came out of that accident without any serious injuries.

Thank God your brother is smart (runs in the family) and wore proper gear for those unavoidable freak accidents. Scarry that he hit his head on that spill. Finding a cold solder joint on an OEM bulb....classic Ivan. Great series!

It shows how important it is to always wear some protective devices when riding a bicycle. Also shows how important it is to always keep some repair/diagnoses equipment with you when you are hitting the road. Excellent video, appreciate it!

I'm happy to see the people and machines were unharmed for the most part. Things could have much worse. Riding gear of quality is a must for me. It is good to see that you make time to enjoy some decompression time.

More beautiful scenery! Great that your brother and his bike didn't suffer much. Of course, you had to make an electrical repair and carried the means to do it :-) Nice video, Ivan!

Like the saying goes "Dress for the slide, not the ride." 😬

Great series of videos. Thoroughly enjoy (especially the roadside repair). Stay safe. Glad that your brother is fine.

I'm glad your brother is okay, that could have turned ugly really fast. As always another great video.

NC215 and BRP: Awesome riding! Many other great roads in the area, so more trips indicated!

@Pine Hollow Auto Diagnositcs, hey Ivan, my folks (may they R.I.P.) used to travel to Blue Ridge as well as Cherokee for some of those views, it's especially nice in the fall with the color changes. It looked fun taking a bike through there, your bike sounds good too, if I didn't know it was a bike, I'd think it was a quiet, smooth running 6 cylinder sports coupe. I'm glad that despite the "incident" your brother is ok and it just wouldn't be a proper PHAD video without needing to get out the DVM & a soldering iron! 😂

Looks like all the protective gear did its work, including the crash bars - which certainly saved the case but also likely his left foot and the cooling fins on that Bandit...

Haha Ivan, i really knew you would not go without your trusty tools on the rides!! Perfect diagnosis and repair out in the field!! Great job riding in the twisties! So glad your brother all okay! Most important! Great video! Thanks for the scenery and outlook on the rides! Love it!

Nice to relive all those roads I and my friends bicycled and rode in our Healey car club years ago. Brings back fond memories--stay safe!

Stuff happens quick on a motorcycle, glad your brother was geared up and Ok. A slight tap of the front brake on gravel is not good, I know first hand. Awesome series on your trip and the grand finale a repair. Great video Ivan. ✌🏻

Just shows the importance of wearing the right gear. It's also good that he did have the protection around the engine otherwise it would have been a towing event involved due to cracked engine covers. Been there done that. 🙁 Also you have some pretty nice biking roads there. 💯

Love the trip. Beautifull scenery glad that no one got hurt very much. Paul

Awesome trip, awesome fix, glad no one got hurt!!

Phew! I bet your heart was in your mouth for a coupla seconds as you saw your brother go down in your rear vision mirror! Great relief he was ok. Good to see you having fun on your bike, & you even got to repair it without having to take it apart & get yourself all greasy & dirty! Cool photography Ivan! I don't even ride motorcycles (only pushbikes), but it was entertaining vision regardless. Geez you seem to be able to lean that bike over real far mate! - close to the limit!

Fun looking twisty road, very nice scenery. Good thing your brother survived from the accident without broken bones or other damage, broken bike can be always fixed and helmets and shoes replaced. Nice to see that old H4 bulb living on with some soldering, amazing that it still works. When I had cars with H4 bulbs, had to replace them multiple times :D

Great video . Glad to see your bro was ok ..

You always dress for the slide, not the ride. I'm glad his injuries were minor. I was hit head-on in 2004 which knocked me TF out when I ricocheted off the roof of the car and I woke up face down in a ditch just as EMS arrived. Thankfully I survived and I'm back in the saddle. Thanks for another great video.

Ivan, Always nice to have a reasonably capable tech with you. LOL. I pray your brother came out of that minor incident unscathed.

I had a feeling you were going to tell us someone dropped their bike. I nearly did the same back in the day on freshly laid down stones on a steep country backroad with a stop sign at the top of that steep hill. I had to do a lot of foot shuffling to keep from dropping the bike. Happy to hear no serious injury. 👍

I used to ride my Stratoliner on gravel 😂. I'd stand on the floorboards and post like I was on a horse. Great fun!

Envious for sure. My YZF-R1 has been sitting idle for a month due to work or rain (mostly rain) Riding, hiking or camping have been thwarted by downpours and mud. Would be great for kayaking. I have the rain gear and all but just can't get in the mood to put it all on. Glad you got to got out.

Thank you for slipping in some diag and repair! PS. Glad you did not have to check in to the crazyhouse after that Volvo nightmare. 😉

Nice vacation. Looks like you were traveling alone to and from. In today's atmosphere, that is a scary adventure in itself. Glad it ended well.

Cool trip. I was just on the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Shenandoah mountain ranges in April best time to go, weather is perfect. I stayed at pisgah inn. Great place to stay

Darn tootin you better make it back to Pa. We love ya here.

Hi Ivan. Great roads for a biker ride. I found on a long trip got stiff in the shoulders I would put my chin on the top middle of the bars and feet on the back foot pegs and slow down and relax a bit but keep an eye on the mirrors on the Honda CBF excellent stress relief. I’m enjoying this anymore 👍🇺🇸

Tail of the Dragon. That is one twisty road, sort of made me queasy. I dumped my PC 800 5 years ago at an intersection out in the country. Dry road but there must have been a little sand and BAM! One instant I was upright starting a right turn and maybe 2/10ths of a second later, I was on my side. Helmet and visor looked like your brother's. Tore the laces off my right shoe. My front tire was somewhat underinflated, which I am pretty sure contributed to the tire losing grip. Decided that was enough, also I was 70 then.

Love the ride. Did the tail several times. Feels fast in video.

Reminds me of one of my trips up north in Minnesota. We got to ride ATVs. In and out of swamps and hills and trails near Ely and park rapids. One ☝️ of the guys got a little crazy trying to jump off a slab of ice into the water. He ended up with cracked ribs from going over the handle bars as he was trying to pull back and jump it. That was the only bad part of our trip. Sadly we had to go home so the guy that was sore could get his ribs checked out. He told me “ yep I broke 3 of them. Gotta be careful things can get out of control pretty easily.

Glad your brother's ok. I would cringe watching those wet roads going through the curves. I remember riding my little Yamaha 125 Enduro (1971 vintage) in the Philippines. Off Base Trail riding was great, but getting caught in the rain during the rainy season or the dry season (ya it rained in the dry season, just not as much) was not fun unless coming back from trail riding. Wearing a "T" shirt, jeans and safety shoes in the rain meant the rain hit your arms like knives! Fortunately no cuts or blood loss. This was near the former Clark Air Base before the volcano wiped out that area.

Glad your brothers okay I have been down twice in my life both times were about thirty years ago one of them the helmet look very similar to your brother's but through a greater distance of the helmet.. it knocked me out.. 100% saved my life... And the second time a helmet wasn't important that all my head never even came close to hitting... Washington State like most states are required.. but required or not I would 100% where when whenever I go to Florida or through South Dakota I still wear my helmet... And bring since it's 90 degrees up here today I still wear my jacket and gloves.. As we all should

That looked like an awesome road to cut up! Glad your bro is ok! At minimum always wear a helmet, I’ve know at least 5 people that have walked away because they had a helmet on, the rash marks you see on a helmet make you question everything, and I’m in Illinois where we don’t have helmet laws.

Took my 09 street glide to the tail of the dragon 2010. I about wore holes through the exhaust and foot pads on that nearly new bike. Lots of fun. Riding in Florida .... Watch that sand on the pavement its as bad maybe worse than gravel. Ask me how I know

I live in Georgia, I used to love to ride Suches and Blood mountain, back when I had two legs.

"Thesee roads ar these best for spiritted riding"...is so true. What TOTD toursit miss is...there are dozens of great roads in the SC/NC/TN/KY/WV area, basically all of Appalacia. I bought and picked up my 1999 VFR850 in Knoxville,TN and had to get home to Northwest Indiana...8 hour ride on the interstate. I gave myself all of Saturday to just ride and overnight in Lexington, KY for an easy 4 hour interstate run home Sunday. I had an elaborate plan but the second I got lost due to no signal, I just said "Watever, I need to go mostly North and a little West." I spent 11 hours of actual saddle time, 10.5 of it twisty two lanes, by just picking 3-digit or two-digit-plus-a-letter roads. NONE disappointed. None. A few in KY had some serious subsidence issue on the downhill side but I was not riding 10/10ths. You almost cannot go wrong with and idea of a general direction and no road marker with less than three characters in that area.

I've been riding on the road since 1975 and have ridden a crazy amount of miles. Have I been down? Hell yeah. Many times. Things happen fast, even when you aren't riding aggressively. I'm glad it was nothing more than scrapes, scratches, and a few broken pieces of plastic. Ivan, do you ever see yourself on a Harley Ultra? Keep the videos coming.

I knew it! you cant even go on vacation without doing a diagnostic. 🛠🔧🤣

This is exactly what happened to me..only gravel on a newly paved section of road at a blind corner. My Sportster's back end fishtailed a couple of times but I never went down, probably because I was only doing 25. I thought for sure I was going to lose it however.

That 3 cylinder engine sound is mesmerising 😍....

Great scenery looks kinda like here in Washington state thx Ivan

Loose gravel and wet leaves are always a point of caution (ask me how I know) good to see it wasn't any more serious.

Ivan, those twistys took me back 40 years to my younger days just cruzing around country roads on a 1976 CB400F Honda. Nice little inline 4 banger that would leave a KZ400 in the dust. I miss those zen moments. Glad your brother is ok and damage was minimal. Do you EVER go anywhere without diag tools?😁

The best thing is that every body is able to talk about their adventure.

Enjoyed the video!! When I was divorced, for a few months I dated a Doctor's ex-wife. He worked the emergency room in a hospital close to the NC mountains. She said he didn't like to see fall come because of all the motorcycle riders who were brought to the emergency room.

I had to chuckle ivan, a break down... slightly ... well ok one beam lol. Ive never had a bulb do that, but god knows how old that bulb was. The soldering iron has proven Itself. :-D Your yamaha didnt seem to have any real fault.

Man that could have been so much worse!! Glad everyone is OK. Is the audio and video out of sync for anyone but me?

When you ride it's not "if you go down" it's "when you go down". I grew-up on a small gravel road riding my little motorcycles.

I am glad you did not focus most of your riding on the Dragon. You got to see some very nice backcountry and you could still see more if you had wanted too.

Is why I no longer own one, the spills took the toll, loved riding, Had a Harley Sportster. Glad your brother was ok

Tunnel was sooooo cool! Sorry about your bro, gotta spend a few bucks to be safe! Front tire is important!

Wet roads worry more than gravel. They feel like black ice where the tar rises to the top. Been down a few times on that.

Good thing he had engine guards. My friends and I use a Sena for talking to each other while riding. Plus I can listen to tunes with it.

How do you possibly decide what tools to bring? Did you have an idea that you would be checking the headlight? It seems like it's near impossible to pack tools in a car, and end up having what you need. thanks!!

love those roads

Ivan the bandit looks like a big bike. Is it the 1200 cc? Glad your brother is OK. I think most people would dump a bike in that situation.

What tires did you mount on it ? ? At the time, I used Conti K112 rear and RB-2 in front. .

Glad your brother was okay. The helmet saved his head from bad lacerations. The scalp can bleed like crazy. His footwear also looks like it saved him a lot of pain., leather torn down to the steel shield.

Street bikes and Gravel is a no-no ! 🚑

Glad he’s ok. !

Yeah.. you really have to anticipate that kind of thing, which will be easier for you to do now I'm sure. Also, sudden reactions on gravel will make it even worse. Usually what dumps you is a sudden panic and you grab the front brakes while in the corner. We have to learn to only use rear brakes in sketchy corners with gravel or sand.. and even then you can still slide out. You just have to not panic and lock your brakes too hard; but there are no guarantees on two wheels. :)

Sweet sound of a tripple and it's strong low end torque

in the rain downhill you said "brakes have a 3 second delay", now that's scary. is that because of the rain and pad friction material or is it due for hoses and caliper rebuild, collapsed hoses make for non-fun times.

That xs750 did very good in the gravel

I'm surprised you you didn't get it sideways on the dirt road ha ha

I only ride my Enduro klx250 up there or MX off-road. Glad he is ok.

Why do the brakes have a three second delay? Old school pad compound on wet rotors?

Ivan, what is a 3 second brake delay? never heard of that.

Ivan: next time.. rig up a mic in your helmet and you can talk while riding, and basically do a podcast narration while on the road. Just think of a good theme to talk about. It makes it even more fun to watch. Nutnfancy (he's a gun guy) does it sometimes. I know you just feel like riding most of the time; but on a 14hr trip, just talking for one of those hours can give you something to do. You could talk about the automotive and diagnostic industry all day I'm sure. You could tell stories about some of your worst case studies, etc. Or you could just talk about politics and economics, etc. It doesn't matter what it is.

I love to ride to, but I don't have a bike anymore, glad to see that no one was hurt. You should that break delay fixed.

I would have preferred to have done that in the XL-7 lol. You stay dry.. Your chance of falling off is reduced and you could have slept in the back on the side of the road!

Ivan, I noticed in all 3 videos that you occasionally ride in the middle of the lane. That's where all the cars drip oil. Isn't that not good?

Good times!

That is really nice that they use car style light bulbs

Invention of a pine hollow diag bike and trailer is in order for all your motorcycle customers 😁

You need to get a 4-1 exhaust, that bike would sound amazing!

I would love another bike! Too many distracted people in thier cars. I live in a small farm town, and even these folks are always looking down at thier phones while driving. 😮

Time for some dual sports. Why try to only ride the paved roads ? Give the Smokey mountain 500 a try. Bald Eagle state forest near you has a lot of unmaintained roads that dual sports love. I found it to be rocky and hard on rims, if your too fast. There is the Mid-Alantic BDR that runs close to you. Glad to see some gear was used and your brother will be fine.

Next time in a tunel, try to find the resonnant frequency of it through rPM change In the time, it was 3700 that it would happen 🤣

I high sided on a road that drops off like that, and got thrown over the edge….I have titanium in my spine now….but I still ride and I don’t high side anymore!

It's not a matter of if you fall, but when.

Thank god he had that helmet on, or he would have rang his bell pretty good, I bet.

Your camera is very grainy and fuzzy, I've spilled once or twice, luckily at low speed 😅

Happy your brother escaped unharmed 😁👍

That's funny..got your testing gear along .. so. What are your priorities in life again😅

Thanks for sharing the trip Ivan, this was great! You like those curves(as most of us REAL males do) , You should try a close to home back way to Carlisle (Rt. 94) just for fun some weekend! It almost makes some of those roads You were on in this series look straight. 👍👍🇺🇸

ATGATT!

Every rider should keep in the back of their heads "it's not IF you go down it's WHEN you go down". You may control your bike BUT you can't control weather or other drivers.

Haaa ! ! ! a hidden switch ☺

H-4 bulb ? ? 50 / 55 watts or the way brighter 80 / 100 ☺ Or just 55 / 80 excellent . . . . A tip. . . With my XJ 750, I had a intermitent fire cutting out and cannon effect, , A friend in France told me that if all wiring was ok, try redoing all solders ion the ignition module. .many of them had a curious dark ring around the wire. . Once done, installed, I left for a ride and tadam! ! ! No more cannons effect and curiously, this engine always became more and more vibrating past 4,000 rpm. . this too was cured 🤔 by the new welds. .

No central reservation preventing a head on collision just some yellow paint.

I hope it didn’t rain on the entire ride back.

If the vstrom is wearing road tyres it really doesn't have much of an advantage if any on the gravel roads. Not that you needed ground clearance on that gravel road the vstrom really doesn't have a lot anyway, it strikes me as a sports tourer with an "adventure" skin grafted on. I suppose it has a skid plate bolted underneath, that's got to be useful for something? :D

I'm not sure there's anyone else out there, riding their motorcycle, with a soldering iron in the luggage... :)))

In Georgia

Just a reminder: Make sure that you clean your hand oils off of the headlamp bulb!