Off To See The Dragon...
After my post about my last little incident I needed an excuse to create a new post. Well, that and I needed to put new risers on the bike. The perfect opportunity arose when a friend in Tennessee offered to help me with the work!
We meet outside of Athens, TN, and had lunch with his wife at the Country Patch, a meat and three joint served cafeteria style. Mmm, good!
After lunch we rode to Bikers Rags, an apparel store in Knoxville. In addition to the best supply of biker wear I've found the owners have amassed a great collection of vintage bikes.
As you enter the store you're met with a 1939 James motorcyle. I'd never heard of a James much less seen one. Cool bike! In 1951 James was bought by AMC and production ceased in '66.
Here are some other bikes in the shop:
The Honda Dream above is the bike that Honda used to invade America. The BSA below is a military model from 1953. This model was first produced during WWII and production continued for some years after the war.
The Sears bike above was sold via catalog in the 1960's. Sears purchased inexpensive Italian bikes and put a "Sears" badge on the tank.
The bikes in the picture above and below represent just a small part of the store's collection.
If you ever find yourself in Knoxville, TN, check out Bikers Rags. It's a good way to spend a few hours!
We returned to my friend's house in Athens and after dinner with his family we retired to the garage for some work on my bike. I had purchased adjustable risers from my Honda dealer earlier in the week and we set about installing them on the bike. The pic below shows my buddy doing what he does best and me doing what I do best, takin' pics!
Since there's not much for four hands to do I must admit I did the bulk of the picture taking. In fact, my only contribution of any substance was figuring out an easy way to remove the throttle cable. After giving all the slack would could to the cable it still wouldn't get out of the groove. I figured something thin would fit between the sleeve and cable and allow us to remove the cable. A zip-tie did the trick!
The next morning we woke to an overcast sky with temps in the high 30's.
Before leaving Athens we met up with a mutual friend who rode up from Chattanooga. After he had an incident at the Waffle House too risque for this blog (if you know him ask him) we rode to The Dragon.
Deals Gap, better known to motorist as The Tail of the Dragon, is a playground. There are 318 curves in a mere 11 miles with no side road traffic to ruin the ride.
Riding in from the north you pass the Calderwood dam. A pull out shortly after the Dragon begins provide a nice overlook of the dam and lake.
The overlook provides a convenient place to stop on the way back across the Dragon. We rode it three times before heading to the Cherohala Skyway.
In many ways, the Cherohala Skyway was my highlight of the trip. While the Dragon is an exercise in technical riding where you cannot lose your train of thought the Skyway, in comparison, encourages you to lose yourself in thoughts.
The Skyway skirts the mountain ridge across the top of the following photo.
The road was ours on this late winter day.
Our ride ended in Tellico Plains where we split up and rode home separately. While studying a map of my return route a "friend" told me the location of my next gas station. Sadly, I arrived a little too late to get gas. Maybe they'll be open the next time I pass through...and I will pass through again!
We meet outside of Athens, TN, and had lunch with his wife at the Country Patch, a meat and three joint served cafeteria style. Mmm, good!
After lunch we rode to Bikers Rags, an apparel store in Knoxville. In addition to the best supply of biker wear I've found the owners have amassed a great collection of vintage bikes.
As you enter the store you're met with a 1939 James motorcyle. I'd never heard of a James much less seen one. Cool bike! In 1951 James was bought by AMC and production ceased in '66.
Here are some other bikes in the shop:
The Honda Dream above is the bike that Honda used to invade America. The BSA below is a military model from 1953. This model was first produced during WWII and production continued for some years after the war.
The Sears bike above was sold via catalog in the 1960's. Sears purchased inexpensive Italian bikes and put a "Sears" badge on the tank.
The bikes in the picture above and below represent just a small part of the store's collection.
If you ever find yourself in Knoxville, TN, check out Bikers Rags. It's a good way to spend a few hours!
We returned to my friend's house in Athens and after dinner with his family we retired to the garage for some work on my bike. I had purchased adjustable risers from my Honda dealer earlier in the week and we set about installing them on the bike. The pic below shows my buddy doing what he does best and me doing what I do best, takin' pics!
Since there's not much for four hands to do I must admit I did the bulk of the picture taking. In fact, my only contribution of any substance was figuring out an easy way to remove the throttle cable. After giving all the slack would could to the cable it still wouldn't get out of the groove. I figured something thin would fit between the sleeve and cable and allow us to remove the cable. A zip-tie did the trick!
The next morning we woke to an overcast sky with temps in the high 30's.
Before leaving Athens we met up with a mutual friend who rode up from Chattanooga. After he had an incident at the Waffle House too risque for this blog (if you know him ask him) we rode to The Dragon.
Deals Gap, better known to motorist as The Tail of the Dragon, is a playground. There are 318 curves in a mere 11 miles with no side road traffic to ruin the ride.
Riding in from the north you pass the Calderwood dam. A pull out shortly after the Dragon begins provide a nice overlook of the dam and lake.
The overlook provides a convenient place to stop on the way back across the Dragon. We rode it three times before heading to the Cherohala Skyway.
In many ways, the Cherohala Skyway was my highlight of the trip. While the Dragon is an exercise in technical riding where you cannot lose your train of thought the Skyway, in comparison, encourages you to lose yourself in thoughts.
The Skyway skirts the mountain ridge across the top of the following photo.
The road was ours on this late winter day.
Our ride ended in Tellico Plains where we split up and rode home separately. While studying a map of my return route a "friend" told me the location of my next gas station. Sadly, I arrived a little too late to get gas. Maybe they'll be open the next time I pass through...and I will pass through again!
posted by MotoPhoto at 9:08 PM
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