Tail Of The Dragon 2013 Ninja 1000 - Full Road

2013 Ninja 1000 ABS w/ 19k miles bone stock. Q3+ Rear 32psi and Sportmax GPR300 Front 30psi. I put a total of ~400miles on it in 24hrs.
1st Solo Run of Tail of the Dragon
Road Takeways:
1. You never know what's coming around the next corner. With that in mind you need to plan for someone coming into your lane, so ride accordingly.
2. It's a road that has so many corners in succession that it doesn't give you that FOMO feeling. You know you can quickly pull off if you get tired or need to create space. It's 25-40min of non stop corners!
3. Riding it first thing in the morning was amazing as we didn't see anybody on our way up and very few on the way down. It does get crowded later in the day as you can see from the video.
4. The banking is definitely appreciated and allows you to go much faster than you'd otherwise think when looking at the corner curvature.
Teaching Takeaways:
1. Take time to warm up your tires and get adjusted. 0:45-3:00
2. Don't take any crazy unnecessary passes. There are many pull offs for people to let faster traffic pass. (although there's passing, look ahead to make sure there's enough road to safely pass)
3. You'll notice the riders at 5:35 are not using their brakes to go into the corners. They are braking before the corner and setting their speed through the corner. This is perfectly fine for the pace they were running. If you aren't willing to use/don't know how to properly use a higher level technique (trail braking) then you need to understand where your pace limit is.
4. Trail braking - You can slow down all the way until your vision allows you to see/process (Vision) where the corner opens up and then you can switch to maintenance throttle or accelerate. (Throttle control) If the corner tightens up more you can gently close the throttle and start to apply brake pressure as needed. This is where your practice in a parking lot comes into play. Don't go crazy trying to push 90-100% on the streets.
5. Tires - This was done on a decently squared off Q3+ rear tire and a sportmax GPR300 front. This is a $73 tire... on a 1000. Tires vary greatly but no amount of fancy equipment beats skills, knowledge, and experience. It's almost never the equipment which is the limiting factor (to an extent obviously).
6. If/when you are able to pass others do so in a respectful and safe manner. Too slowly puts you and others around you at risk if the situation up front changes. If you cross the double yellow you should do so as quickly as possible and ONLY when you can see and know you can make the corner before someone else will be coming in the opposite direction. Imagine someone much faster than you, coming in the opposite direction and ask yourself, "Could I make it in time if someone were to pop into the road now?" This is common sense and you cannot ride beyond your limits in these scenarios.
7. Body position - Scraping pegs on some of these banked roads can become easier as the bikes suspension compresses and effectively lowers the bike even more with the more force you put into the corner. Keeping the bike upright as much as possible will help keep you safe from scraping pegs or hard parts.
8. Changing gears - You can see I'm staying in 2nd gear for a majority of the road. I could be switching between 1st and 2nd or if I was on a 600 (in between the powerband) 2nd and 3rd but that would be more so to practice shifting. It's a common track technique to practice in 1 gear and don't shift. This allows you to focus on other things better like the steering, throttle, and brake pressure and most importantly vision. There's also clutchless upshifting and downshifting with 1 false neutral mid corner as well.
9. Lane Position - As you can see you want to practice lane position because if you are faced with oncoming traffic and your head/body is close to or over the double yellow then you will get hit. Roads like these are heavily traveled by visitors who frequently cross the double yellow or ride over it. You do not want to get caught close to it or put yourself into a situation where you have no escape route.
So much can be taken away from the video if you analyze each section individually.
All footage was submitted by anonymous riders who want to help share knowledge with fellow riders to become safer. Always follow all state and local traffic laws when motorcycling.

[@MJT-DA]

Thats not a 2013 ninja 1000. The 2013-2016 didn’t have a gear indicator. Also the dash was different

[@danbuysbikes2763]

It was my rental bike and listed as a 2013. I guess it was wrong in the description 🤷‍♀

[@MJT-DA]

@@danbuysbikes2763 lol they messed up bike time if they're calling a 2017 ninja 1000 a 2013. I wish it had one at 2013.