My Deals Gap Vacation

Hey all, it's been a busy summer thus far and I've just now had time to sit and write a few lines about my trip of May 17-23 to Deals Gap and the tail of the dragon. I had a new chain installed in April not to mention two new Michelin Pilot Power Road 2CT tires. My buddy vanned his Honda 919 here to Arkansas from Colorado and we then rode in one day the 438 miles to Robbinsville, NC. We stayed at the Two Wheeled Inn, a great place, with each room having an attached garage to store two bikes. I've known this friend for 41 years now. We first met while serving in the Air Force in 1968. We were both discharged on the same day in 1971 in Las Vegas, NV. He had a Yamaha 650 styled after the Triumph 650 and I was riding a Kawasaki 500 Mach lll. We took off to California and then back across the US. We ended up at my cousins house in Lee's Summit Missouri. There we went our separate ways, me back to Arkansas and he back to Ohio. I eventually went back into the Air Force and made it a career and he graduated from college with a degree in Elec. Engineering. We've corresponded all these years and both have had motorcycles to talk about. We both turned 60 this year and decided to relive our youth and travel across the US again on our bikes. We headed to Deals Gap to see if us old farts could take on the Dragon!
The ride over was enduring to say the least. We could really feel it several hours into the ride. Surprisingly tho I didn't get any more uncomfortable than my buddy who had over $200 dollars worth of customization done to his seat, mine was still stock. We did find out that the VFR will eat up a 919! We did race a couple of times and the VFR always came out on top over the 919. We made it to the hotel in approx 11 hours time. I got 50 mpg one time with the wind at our backs but averaged around 45 mpg cruising at 75/80 mph.

The first day on the Dragon we flogged the bikes! The weather was just perfect, lows in the 50's and highs never getting over 75 with blue bird skies! We rode the Dragon four times the first day, just back and forth. That was on a Monday the 18th and there were a lot of people there that day. We would stop after each run and discuss our techniques grab a cold drink and go do it again. The Michelin Pilot Power Road 2CTs performed flawlessly!! I was dragging foot-pegs in some of the corners and on the edge of the tire and not once did I feel them slip. Not that I intended on riding that aggressively but once you get the rhythm and the feel of the road it's easy to go into a curve a little hotter than intended. Once doing so just keep your cool maintain a steady throttle and pull the bike on thru. The VFR will corner better than most people riding it and combined with those tires will safely get you around the corner. In fact I hit several curves a little hotter than intended and not once did I have any surprises from the bike or the tires, it built confidence. Once I got the feel of the bike and the tires in those tight corners I then started working on my technique, not so much speed but better riding. It was amazing! We were the two oldest dudes there on sports bikes and we were keeping up and in one case passing some of the younger riders. We rode like that all week all through the scenic routes, beautiful, just beautiful riding conditions. One day we rode the Cherohala parkway and virtually had it to ourselves, just a few cars and bikes. The curves are not as sharp therefore your speeds were greater. It was more of a graceful back and forth type of ride at speed, it was fantastic!
For two old dudes this was the most fun vacation we've ever had! Two old friends doing what they love. For a week we were 21 yrs old again!
I'm going to try and post pictures so bare with me.

 

Glad to see you ole' farts were having fun...... Nice write-up..... good to see you back from SEA as well (Mar 67/68)..........

 

Awesome! I was there in May, but I had a timid passenger so I couldn't really flog the bike too much.

Did you get to ride the 919? I've been thinking about getting one and wondering how it compares to the VFR for seating position. I was under the impression it would kill the VFR in a race

Jon

 

Nice write up and love the history between you guys.

Had an old Kawasaki 500 two-smoke, eh? Nice!

BZ

 

Yeah, I rode it quite a bit. It has a more upright position and with the right seat it is a comfortable bike. As I said tho in the write up my bud spent over $200 having his seat customized (jel inserts & padding) and it still got uncomfortable after 6/8 hours in the saddle. The 919 is way quicker in the handling department so much so that it startled me the first time I rode it. I started to lean on it and wholly do-do the thing DOVE into the corner so fast I had to pull it back up. Scared the dookey outta me! The 919's handle bars are more upright and almost straight across as compared to the VFR, therefore the quicker handling. The wheel base is virtually the same. It seems to be geared just a tad lower than the VFR and is redlined at something around 9,800 (if I remember correctly). It is very quick on the get go and will pull the front wheel off the ground without slipping the clutch, however the VFR has longer legs and will catch it and leave it behind, I did it several times to my buddies amazement. He didn't think the VFR could out run his either. Head to head the 919 will come off the line quicker but it doesn't take long and the VFR will eat it up. The 919 is a really good machine and easy to work on due to the accessibility. The 919 like the VFR will run forever with minimal wrenching. The quicker handling will take some getting use to tho!

 

Awesome write-up, kat!
The Dragon is next on my list of "must do" rides.
Hoping to scratch it off the list next summer!