It's a bucket list item everyone should do once, but having done it, the only reason to do it again is simply as a route to get somewhere else. I've never ridden the Norton there, but it would be a damn sight easier than the two nearly-600 lb. 318 turns in 11 miles means it's tight, slow and technical, and the larger and heavier your machine is, the more of a wrestling match it is to exceed the 30 mph speed limit. I've said this before and I'll say it again The Tail of the Dragon is a novelty. Riding back up that way on Saturday to have lunch at the Resort at Deal's Gap, we decided it was way too crowded and took other routes. Police, as well as the now-innumerable hero cameras park at every turn. We rode down through it on a Thursday, and the crowds were thinner than on weekends, when hordes of everything from minibikes to half-ton baggers populate the road. The last time was a couple months ago on the way to northern Georgia, to ride the better roads of the region. I have traversed the section of US 129 known as The Tail of the Dragon (more commonly referred to as The Dragon) five times now, 3 times headed south, twice north.