Video is optimized for broadband access.
Wide-angle lenses used to record video straighten the curves
out. For a truer sense of twistiness watch the mirror dip .
At a Glance
Whether you’re an aging boomer taking your
Harley out on the open road for the first time or an experienced
belly-shover about to flip the dial on his trusty ZX9R, there
are a lot of reasons to point your wheels toward the Feather
River Canyon. With its true surface, consistent camber and fine
sightlines, this riverside DH has none of those nasty surprises
that can cause a novice to piss their chaps. And yet there’s
enough bite to the frequent S-curves and sweepers to keep the
interest of those who like riding a little closer to the edge.
Engineering is not only great on the side to side, it’s refined
on the up and down as well. Apart from one sharp, doodle-dandy
climb up Yankee Hill after the straight wheatfield flat and
foothills north of Oroville, the grades along the river are
never steep. Rather, the road moves gradually from high, essing
cliffside sections to low, sweepier, waterside segments.
Frequent changes in elevation and numerous bridge crossings
provide changing perspectives on scenes that range from barren
rock to thick forest to dramatic granitescapes around Grizzly
Dome and Elephant Butte Tunnels. Unless you ride it on a busy
summer weekend, this road’s Remoteness scores high as well with
little development and no speed-zoned towns to interrupt the
flow. Now if only those crotchrockets would get a move on.
Submit your Rating / Review:
Rider Reviews:
'Just rode this DH and loved it. IMO, due to the Scenery and nature of the Twistiness I found it more enjoyable than DH2. The tunnels really sealed the deal for me. Although traffic can be a little heavy, excellent visibility makes for bountiful passing opportunities if you're willing to cross the double yellow. Trip computer reports an average speed of 68 miles per hour, in traffic. Pavement quality was very good, and there was little to no debris on the road for my visit.' --Chris Barbour
'I think this may be the only time I disagree with y'all. This DH was one of seventeen DH's and eight TE's we did on a recent five day ride. This was the one we were looking forward to out of all of them, and we were a bit disappointed. We rode this on a Wednesday and found that we spent more time in construction traffic than riding. I realize that you probably did not contend with construction during your evaluation ride, but this was frustrating. Also, we got stuck behind a ton of pylons who did not seem to feel it necessary to use turn outs. The CHP speed tax collectors seem to really love this place for revenue collection, because we saw more on this DH in a few hours than we did the other four days. CA 36 was another story. It should get a much higher rating. (ED NOTES: 1) you can't blame the DH for maintenance work done on it, Rick. 2) the best part of 36 undoubedly has some of the best riding in CA, north or south, but the middle, primo part that everyone remembers is split between two DHs (we don't know you're not going to take DH44, after all). If that section was a DH by itself, whole different story but because it's not, the less-primo east and west ends of 36 bring down the numbers on DH6 and DH11) ' --Rick Brown
'Nice road, but I preferred DH7 (we rode them back to back). Still a great road with great scenery and nice turns. ' --Ron Leonard
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