So, I’ve done the “tail of the dragon” a dozen times, ten times in the miatas, once in a retired P71, and now once in my E250 camper van we converted, we named jean Claude damn van. 235,000 miles on the 4.6 V8. She hung on a lot better than I thought possible, and was a riot! I had to pay killboy for a hi res photo!
Nice photo, but please don't cross the center line.
Cooter said:Nice photo, but please don't cross the center line.
Did I? I don’t think I did. I did hug that line pretty tight though, as there was a car parked near the photographer so I was giving the shoulder as wide an area as possible.
I understand what your saying though. I had a several of those (I’m not sure what they are called, dirt bikes with street tires?) coming in the opposite direction well over the line in my lane. Definitely make you nervous.
Well your tires are very clearly at least ON the yellow line in the photo posted. I suspect that's what Cooter is referring.
Supermoto's is the term for dirt bikes, slightly lowered, with sportbike tires.
z31maniac said:Well your tires are very clearly at least ON the yellow line in the photo posted. I suspect that's what Cooter is referring.
Supermoto's is the term for dirt bikes, slightly lowered, with sportbike tires.
Clearly, but I didn’t cross it. I know better than that!
Wait what? My 92 Safari with a SBC is named Jean Claude Damn Van.
I feel like I am way more likely to be taken out by a non-car-enthusiast on a plain old straightish road than by a car enthusiast who is on a mountain road specifically because they are a car enthusiast and happened to touch a yellow line. Somewhere in there is a commentary on picking your battles. Glad you had fun in your sweet van!
I got to drive it once in a 4 cyl. Plymouth Voyager. I had an absolute blast!
Mrs. Salty, her sister and her brother-in-law, however, not so much.
Their screaming really took away some of my enjoyment of the moment.
There is a ton of talk about this on the moto sites. Trying to not turn this into a fight, but if your tires are on the line, you are over the line. Body, mirrors, etc. I've been nearly run over a few times on two wheels, and rear ended once at a stop light. It can really get your blood pumping when you find three tons of vehicle coming at you in your own lane, especially if you are dragging peg already. I tell this to non-enthusiasts, as well, but I would hope it is better received by enthusiasts, as they understand the consequences. The Dragon ain't no joke, and there really isn't any margin for error to begin with in most turns.
Cooter said:There is a ton of talk about this on the moto sites. Trying to not turn this into a fight, but if your tires are on the line, you are over the line. Body, mirrors, etc. I've been nearly run over a few times on two wheels, and rear ended once at a stop light. It can really get your blood pumping when you find three tons of vehicle coming at you in your own lane, especially if you are dragging peg already. I tell this to non-enthusiasts, as well, but I would hope it is better received by enthusiasts, as they understand the consequences. The Dragon ain't no joke, and there really isn't any margin for error to begin with in most turns.
I understand where your coming from, and I don’t want to start a pissing match, but as I said, there was a car parked on the side of the road, and I gave the very real obstacle a wide margin of safety, and I hugged the line, where I could see no one was approaching. Contrary to popular belief, not every single one of the 318 corners on the dragon is a blind corner.
Now, I could be totally wrong, but it seems like if your going so fast to be dragging peg already, it would seem like you are far past a safe speed anyhow, and don’t have anything left to tighten your corner or slow the bike down quickly without having to stand it up. I’m not saying that’s worse than what I did, but I don’t feel hugging the yellow line to avoid people parked on the shoulder in a left hand corner is as bad as it sounds.
I don’t take the dragon lightly; I’ve pulled up minutes after someone was killed and had to watch his buddy find out that he was gone, and sit and wait for a fellow who had to be airlifted out because he laid down his Valkyrie and slid across the road and into the front of a Miata.
Maybe we need to both drive with more safety in mind, and not go so fast to where we hit the yellow or drag our pegs...!
joey48442 said:Cooter said:There is a ton of talk about this on the moto sites. Trying to not turn this into a fight, but if your tires are on the line, you are over the line. Body, mirrors, etc. I've been nearly run over a few times on two wheels, and rear ended once at a stop light. It can really get your blood pumping when you find three tons of vehicle coming at you in your own lane, especially if you are dragging peg already. I tell this to non-enthusiasts, as well, but I would hope it is better received by enthusiasts, as they understand the consequences. The Dragon ain't no joke, and there really isn't any margin for error to begin with in most turns.
I understand where your coming from, and I don’t want to start a pissing match, but as I said, there was a car parked on the side of the road, and I gave the very real obstacle a wide margin of safety, and I hugged the line, where I could see no one was approaching. Contrary to popular belief, not every single one of the 318 corners on the dragon is a blind corner.
Now, I could be totally wrong, but it seems like if your going so fast to be dragging peg already, it would seem like you are far past a safe speed anyhow, and don’t have anything left to tighten your corner or slow the bike down quickly without having to stand it up. I’m not saying that’s worse than what I did, but I don’t feel hugging the yellow line to avoid people parked on the shoulder in a left hand corner is as bad as it sounds.
I don’t take the dragon lightly; I’ve pulled up minutes after someone was killed and had to watch his buddy find out that he was gone, and sit and wait for a fellow who had to be airlifted out because he laid down his Valkyrie and slid across the road and into the front of a Miata.
Maybe we need to both drive with more safety in mind, and not go so fast to where we hit the yellow or drag our pegs...!
I would agree to both. If you are dragging peg on the street you are way beyond what I would call a reasonable margin of safety. And yes, I used to ride 40k+ street miles and multiple track days. And if you are on the line, you are essentially over the line (This is not 'Nam Smokey, there are rules).
I'm not the only one who was hoping for a big long train of van after van, am I? I need a van.
To be clear, I have dragged my pegs a total of 4 times on the street in 30+ years of riding. Never at the Gap. Once was misjudging a corner in SW Wisconsin about 30 years ago (and it was a wakeup call). One was gravel at the apex near Galena 8 years ago. The other two were collision avoidance.
But pegs, kickstands, exhausts and especially running boards get dragged most every day out there. The place is a huge squid magnet, where too many are concerned about chicken strips and a great shot from Killboy.
Cooter said:To be clear, I have dragged my pegs a total of 4 times on the street in 30+ years of riding. Never at the Gap. Once was misjudging a corner in SW Wisconsin about 30 years ago (and it was a wakeup call). One was gravel at the apex near Galena 8 years ago. The other two were collision avoidance.
But pegs, kickstands, exhausts and especially running boards get dragged most every day out there. The place is a huge squid magnet, where too many are concerned about chicken strips and a great shot from Killboy.
True that. I was more worried about running over killboy!
That probably wouldn't have been a photo you would want to buy. 
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
I'm right there with you. This is not the thread I was looking for...
I want a road trip van.
Cooter said:That probably wouldn't have been a photo you would want to buy.
Or the greatest photo ever!
llysgennad said:
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
I'm right there with you. This is not the thread I was looking for...
I want a road trip van.
Building a campervan was one of the coolest things we’ve done. I bought a retired 2010 e250 with 231,000 miles for 1500$, and outfitted it with a full size bed, carpet, simple galley with sink, roof vent, portapotty, and a deep cycle battery and charger. Probably have 3k in it total. It’s awesome.
BTW, I would be totally up for a "Grassroots Vanners At The Gap" trip. There are quite a few of us here with incredibly varied builds.
In reply to joey48442 :
That looks great, really...groovy, shall we say. Well bought and built. I am torn about the actual build direction I want to go for the 4 of us. Camper van like yours, or a really comfortable distance-coverer.
Wait, are you sleeping crossways in that?
In reply to joey48442 :
Love the name.
mazdeuce - Seth said:Wait, are you sleeping crossways in that?
I am... barely! I put the mattress in sideways above the wheel wells but my head and toes would nearly touch. So I trimmed the inner wall a bit and that frees up about 5 inches total. I was nervous about trimming that it would weaken things but then I realized conversion vans do that all the time.
joey48442 said:mazdeuce - Seth said:Wait, are you sleeping crossways in that?
I am... barely! I put the mattress in sideways above the wheel wells but my head and toes would nearly touch. So I trimmed the inner wall a bit and that frees up about 5 inches total. I was nervous about trimming that it would weaken things but then I realized conversion vans do that all the time.
Oh, and I’m just over 6’ Tall
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