The Tail of the Dragon US129

[theMucker]

Yesterday I rode my R18 from Tellico Plains, along the Cherohala Skyway and the Tail of the Dragon. WOW! The R18 was fantastic.
And every place where I stopped other riders came over and asked about it. It got tons of compliments.
I got some great video, but it's in 3 parts and stitching them together is a pain in the bum.

 

[tommymck]

Beautiful. Looks like great weather also

 

[Dane]

Cool! I agree that it's a heaven to ride on the twisty roads. I see you customized a few things so that seat must have been a big help! Couldn't BMW have at least added in a little more padding to the stock seat????

 

[Svtweb]

What seat do you have on there @theMucker ? How do you find it comfortwise?

 

[theMucker]

What seat do you have on there @theMucker ? How do you find it comfortwise?

It's the BMW accessory "weekender seat" made by Mustang and it transforms the R18 into an all day rider for me. There was a gent at Deal's Gap who also had an R18, but he only has the stock seat, so he rode up from Florida on his HD.

 

[theMucker]

I'm not as fast as I was when I was younger and willing to risk the machinery. And the Tail of the Dragon is no place to be foolish. Still, the other riders and drivers on the Dragon were great. Most folks who realize that they're holding up faster vehicles pull out when they can, to let you by. Even a BMW Z4 and Porche Boxster were nice enough to pull over. I always thank them with a beep of the horn and a wave.
I've still gotta check out the web sites of the professional photographers to see if they got some good shots of my R18. I had the GoPro below the headlight and the video is great. Here are a few stills from it.