SR555 Ohio's Tail of the dragon

[alienpi]

It's a fun road. Every time I ride it the bike gets loose at some point. Never seen a cop on it.

Sounds awesome! I can't afford another ticket, i've just had really bad luck the last few months. Haven't had a ticket for about 10 years until this August, and then another a week ago. I will be there this wednesday afternoon!

[swingset]

555 is a fun road, but I wouldn't even remotely compare it to the dragon or even say it's the best road in Ohio...there are quite a few that are more fun IMHO. It's twisty, but it's haphazard and the banking is erratic, a lot of blind turns, a couple off-cambers, it's not a road that's easy to blast down carefree....and I've come up over quite a few hills or rises to find a harvester or tractor eating up the whole road.

A fun route if you're familiar with 555 is to take it south out of Zanesville, shoot east on 37 to 377, take that south into Chesterhill, down 555 to 676 and that over to Marietta. You skip two of the worst blind turns on 555 and trade it for 377 which has some cool vistas & fast sweepers.

[4DAIVI PAI2K5]

377 rocks

[RFM]

555 has too many blind corners. I want to go fast, look through the turn, and see what's in front of me. Crazy...

[CATAPLT]

Did the 555 last weekend, heard so much about it that I had to go and see for myself.

After sepnding pretty much every weekend this summer on 255/260/26/276 I was pretty unimpressed with the 555. The best parts of the roads (witch are awsome) are covered in half paved asphalt and gravel. Unmarked off camber turns over a blind hill.... eek! I won't go back to that road by myself anyway. Plus there is a real tight section of 255 that goes up a hill and back down the other side (you'll remember the section) that I think is as good if not better then anything on 555 even if it was repaved.

I will certainly be heading down to 255 again this weekend just like every.

[RFM]

Quote from my daughter. You should be kicked in the bag for how ghey that soundtrack was. Just sayin...

[drc32-0]

I wish people would quit calling Ohio roads "Ohio's Dragon"...they're not the Dragon.The Dragon was way too touristy for me...a good road,but touristy.

Yes...we have gravel in corners,blind turns and hilltops,less than perfect pavement and less than perfect sightlines,but we also DO have...close to no traffic,very few L.E.O.s and 55 mph speed limits with,as stated,very few L.E.O.s.

There is no southeastern Ohio dragon,and personally I hope it stays that way.

[MidgetTodd]

Quote from my daughter. You should be kicked in the bag for how ghey that soundtrack was. Just sayin...

OHH yeeeeaaa and she said my kick in the bag comment was inappropriate??? Sounds like she's learning from me.

[rawlins87]

Rode 555 from 78 to 669, was a fun time.

[jschaf]

Did 555 yesterday for the 5th time this year. Never did it without a slip or two in invisible gravel accumulated from the chipseal surface. 260 had a lot more gravel yesterday but at least you could see it & plan accordingly.

[4DAIVI PAI2K5]

any 2wheel slides like you got to see of me when we went haha?

[vw151]

Quote from my daughter. You should be kicked in the bag for how ghey that soundtrack was. Just sayin...

LOL, I was in a special mood when I edited the videos. By special I might mean drunk.

[vw151]

I wish people would quit calling Ohio roads "Ohio's Dragon"...they're not the Dragon.The Dragon was way too touristy for me...a good road,but touristy.

Yes...we have gravel in corners,blind turns and hilltops,less than perfect pavement and less than perfect sightlines,but we also DO have...close to no traffic,very few L.E.O.s and 55 mph speed limits with,as stated,very few L.E.O.s.

There is no southeastern Ohio dragon,and personally I hope it stays that way.

Woh dude, chill out. I don't think it's like the dragon either but everyone says that. I just figured I'd post some videos for comparison. I like 555, personally I think the roads get better when you get into WV though.

[SpeedTriple44444]

The dragon reference is way overstated. The last guy I went with on 555 who had ridden the real dragon many times said it was more challenging in some ways, due to the unpredictability. You people who are complaining about the blind turns making it less fun are missing the point. That's EXACTLY why it's a challenging road... you never know what is coming next. There are many times you come up over a rise expecting the road to continue straight, only to have it go 90 degrees right or left. The gravel just adds to the fun. It's a hardcore ride that requires concentration- especially the lower half from 7 to 78. Just south of 78 is the best stretch. If you're looking for perfectly banked corners where you have plenty of foresight to position yourself perfectly into the turn, 555 is NOT the road for you.

My friend's wife who followed us through 555 on her FZ6 was completely rattled when we stopped at 555 and 78 to take the pic in my av. Her comments were "the guy that designed this road has one brother with a tow truck and another with a mortuary".

[vw151]

The dragon reference is way overstated. The last guy I went with on 555 who had ridden the real dragon many times said it was more challenging in some ways, due to the unpredictability. You people who are complaining about the blind turns making it less fun are missing the point. That's EXACTLY why it's a challenging road... you never know what is coming next. There are many times you come up over a rise expecting the road to continue straight, only to have it go 90 degrees right or left. The gravel just adds to the fun. It's a hardcore ride that requires concentration- especially the lower half from 7 to 78. Just south of 78 is the best stretch. If you're looking for perfectly banked corners where you have plenty of foresight to position yourself perfectly into the turn, 555 is NOT the road for you.

My friend's wife who followed us through 555 on her FZ6 was completely rattled when we stopped at 555 and 78 to take the pic in my av. Her comments were "the guy that designed this road has one brother with a tow truck and another with a mortuary".

Well stated, I totally agree. 555 is fun for all of those reasons. As long as you aren't one of those people that thinks the street is their own personal race track you should get through it fine. I just try and ride the corners and lug the straights and have fun. It certainly is a challenging road. There are many of those down in that area though.

I think since I have the camera I may try and make some more videos of the roads near Columbus. Although I don't disagree there are arguably better roads in KY, WV and other parts of OH it's nice to know what roads are near Columbus, since that is where I live. Anyway, I'll try and post some more vids of 26, 78, 541 and others as I get time and get on more rides with the camera. If nothing else it's kinda cool to see what everyone is talking about.

[MidgetTodd]

There's this one in Cbus with some seriously long high speed sweepers, just cant think of it right now.

[MidgetTodd]

Oh yes, 270.

[vw151]

Oh yes, 270.

Haha, I can't imagine how boring a video of my air cooled ducati trying to go around that road would be........and he's going 135......... and he's still going 135.........ewwww look at that his oil temp is pretty high.

[myhondas]

I have run the 555 and the dragon this year. Both have their pros and cons. For me, the only down side of the 555 was finding amish droppings in the middle of a turn. Man, you hit that crap and it could be all over and smelly too. Didn't find that much gravel in the turns this year. Lot of grass though. I ride a 96 vf750cd magna which just loves twisties and sweepers. Bought a camera for the bike and taped the dragon. Next chance I get, I'll do the 555 on tape.

here's the dragon video.....and yea, I went over the yellows a few times, but only when I could see ahead that it was clear.

http://s564.photobucket.com/albums/ss89/myhondas/08212210TOD/?action=view&current=123810.mp4

Edited September 20, 2010 by myhondas

[InyaAzz]

555 is in shit shape. Much better roads in south Ohio.

FYI, I've run it twice in the last month and I've run into LEO in the lower half both times.

[MidgetTodd]

Thats because they profile down there and you look like a criminal.

[Disclaimer]

+1, if you run into LEO you should ride with Black Tod. He knows his rights and plays his race card real well. Besides, who picks on a guy who rides with his baby?

[InyaAzz]

Thats because they profile down there and you look like a criminal.

but...I would think the ass less chaps would only give me away as I was riding AWAY from the LEO??? I need to rethink my gear selection.

+1, if you run into LEO you should ride with Black Tod. He knows his rights and plays his race card real well. Besides, who picks on a guy who rides with his baby?

Black Tod was invited (yesterday), but he had some white women to turn out.

Priorities.

[Disclaimer]

Yep, that sounds just like Tod. Maybe next time.

He still nursing that papercut on his finger that he keeps whining about like a sissy girl? (C'mon Punk, I know you're lurking in this thread)

[MidgetTodd]

Black Tod was invited (yesterday), but he had some white women to turn out.

Priorities.

So you were down here yesterday and didn't swing by and drop my gun off??