Deals Gap Pictures

[highwayjamin]

Pearly Gate - Entereing the Dragon's Tale



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Jim & Kim at Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort



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The Tree of Shame (without a contribution from us)



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Pumpkin Center Motorcycle Resort / Motorcyle Fountain - This was a great place to stay!  Very reasonably priced, right where you want to be & the owner's were very hospitable.

[Bumblebee]

Nice. 

Next time I'm in the Smokies, I'm planning on going there just to say I did. There are lots of other good twisty roads in the area too.

For anyone who is not aware, Killboy is the resident photographer and considered the unofficial mayor of Deals Gap. Lots of good pictures every Wednesday except for the off season and even then there's a semi-regular update. If you ride the gap, he's probably got a shot of you and IIRC it's something like $5/picture.

http://killboy.blogspot.com/

[hockeyhawk]

That first pic is awesome, and the tree is interesting.

Ride Safe, DoubleH 

[fishmeister]

Really nice....looks like a good time! We have the same barber....

[ROJ]

Love the first pic, I've got to make that trip sometime, a friend did it with her dad and told me I need to get down there. It seems to me that the tree of shame is mainly made up of Honda and Yamaha parts, with a few other bikes thrown in for diversity (I think I spend too much Time in salvage yards).

[LOKi]

looks familiar. How did your tires hold up?

[LOKi]

Is that a big wheel frame on the tree? Props to the person who took that road on a big wheel.

[coffee_brake]

Good pics!
I wasn't aware of the Pumpkin Center, I'll have to give it a try.

Deal's Gap is pretty much a short afternoon's ride away from me, I really like the roads around the place. The "dragon" itself is over-policed and just too many bikes: too many squids who pass dangerously and rude cruisers who won't let you pass at all. But for hours around, there are just too many good roads to name!

Anyway, here's my last trip up, on the Concours...





Hope it was a blast!!!

[LOKi]

Good pics!
I wasn't aware of the Pumpkin Center, I'll have to give it a try.

Deal's Gap is pretty much a short afternoon's ride away from me, I really like the roads around the place. The "dragon" itself is over-policed and just too many bikes: too many squids who pass dangerously and rude cruisers who won't let you pass at all. But for hours around, there are just too many good roads to name!

Anyway, here's my last trip up, on the Concours...





Hope it was a blast!!!

Your lucky. I would love to live close to these roads. It's over 700 miles away from me. Almost moved to Asheville after Katrina. Company I worked for shut down for a while instead. 

Nice lean angle there. Not turning much tighter than that! You still have body English untapped but that's good for emergencies. Like when you need to turn just a little sharper.

[coffee_brake]

Your lucky. I would love to live close to these roads. It's over 700 miles away from me. Almost moved to Asheville after Katrina. Company I worked for shut down for a while instead. 

Nice lean angle there. Not turning much tighter than that! You still have body English untapped but that's good for emergencies. Like when you need to turn just a little sharper.

I'm beginning to learn how to hang off the side. This week on top of my normal tight-turn practice in the parking lot, I tried to lean off the Nighthawk and take the turns faster. I didn't know how before but a good friend and MSF instructor told me what to do, and IT WORKS!
I'm only off the seat a little bit, but it's a start! The Nighthawk is my best-handling bike; next time I'm up at the Gap area I'll try it some!

[LOKi]

Of course it works. If it didn't racers wouldn't do it.

[Sideways]

that looks scary with those hard bags on there, cool stuff!

[Bumblebee]

I'm beginning to learn how to hang off the side. This week on top of my normal tight-turn practice in the parking lot, I tried to lean off the Nighthawk and take the turns faster. I didn't know how before but a good friend and MSF instructor told me what to do, and IT WORKS!

One thing I did while learning the off the seat routine was to set a constant velocity and set radius circle around a point in a parking lot. Then without changing the power setting or bar position, I leaned into the turn then off the seat. The turn tightened up on it's own to the point that I messed up the turn point. After a few dozen circles each way I cautiously took it onto the road and into the local twisties. After that it was all refinement and fixing my riding posture which gave me much better overall control.


Always leave some capability in reserve just in case you really need it..or you find gravel in your path.

that looks scary with those hard bags on there

Leaning into the turn and/or getting off the seat allows the bike to lean less for any given turn radius. Less lean = more ground clearance and more turn capability in reserve.

[LOKi]

Found my picture. It was stuck in with the cruisers. They must have missed me on the second day. I went through again without the bags and was dragging the pegs. First time on this road and was taking it easy to let some slower bikes in front of me gain some ground.  yea yea. excuses excuses.


 

[LOKi]

highwayjamin

Have you tracked down your picture yet? The guys taking pictures on the side of the road sell them here:

http://www.killboy.com/

pic the day you where there and look under cruisers. I know there are a lot but that's where all the nighthawks end up. I saw about 3 others in that section for the day I rode through.