!914 Twin HD Cannon ball request

[Slojo]

"slojo and the ghost do the iron butt" now,that, i could sell to the network.

Lonnie

Cross country Iron butt? 1000 mile iron butt? Define "slojo and the ghost do the iron butt"

Lonnie I would love to do such a ride but am unsure if I am cut out for that sort of endurance day after day. Food, shower, sleep deprivation and me don't mix. I do not think of myself as an Iron Man, perhaps more so a mad man under certain conditions. I might be capable of stringing some days together at 500 miles per day on an improved Ghost. Several times in the past I have rode greater than 1000 miles per day on a !965 Pan Head and a !966 Shovel Head dresser followed by sleep.

1000 miles a day on an improved Ghost? Just one day, not more than one day. 1000/24=41.7 average MPH. Small towns slow down the average speed more than you would think. During Cannonball my average speed was in the upper 40's a couple times low 50's while maintaining 55+mph on the open road. It's doable.

Joe

[Slojo]

To much time has passed to offer any justice to this Motorcycle Cannonball report. Most everything that needs to be said or written has been, other than the prospective from my seat on the Ghost. I hope I can get the dates and locations right on the detailing of this journey.

Speaking of seats, the Ghost's hi bred half pan seat mounted to 1914 sprung base hardware has been perfect through out this entire run thank you very much Heathers Leather for the upholstery and Marc Massa for the half pan seat . The pogo stick and adjoining seat hardware are also performing flawlessly. I felt as if I was riding on a luxury cruiser.

Well on our way out of Clovis New Mexico with destination Albuquerque N. M. mother nature the sweet little old lady she is decided to throw a chunk of the Pacific Ocean at the Cannonball riders and their bikes. Dessert rain, hard rain the kind that floods roads and slows traffic no matter what you are commuting in or on.

Happily I can report that not only did the Ghost run through this inclement weather but it ran hard and fast. The fine running 66 inch motor (built for route 66???) ran perfectly the Pirelli tires channeled rain efficiently through the tread, my full face helmet kept my bean reasonably comfortable and the chassis tracked perfectly. I carried a rain suite in the rear trunk bag on the luggage rack the entire trip just in case. If only I would have put it on a little sooner.

During this rain run I over ran the newly altered course (front runner again). John Classin caught me at a fuel stop and turned me around due to the upcoming road wash out. While trying to pay for fuel I was unable to reach my charge card from my pants pocket with the rain suit on so.... a little help from photographer Felicia bless her heart for being a willing assistant. Ask and you shall receive and out came the card from deep in my pants pocket. My most enjoyable time of the day.

Turned around and back on course we were channeled on to some uncharted roads. While trying to make time I came across several slower rain riders. These guys were not going to hold up the Ghost even if they did have flat plate brakes magical starters and venturi less intake systems with gas guns. The Ghost prevailed and I was again out in front ahead of about eight late model bikes.

Next we were channeled onto the freeway who knows which one it was. It was high speed riding or look out for your ssa. The end of the day brought in a lot of drench tired riders all the bikes were "run hard and put away wet or broken"

The next morning it was off to Gallop N. M. The only significance I can recall of this day was the RED MUD this sticky stuff stuck to tires, inside fenders (for those who had fenders), bikes and everything else it came in contact with. Everyone on course rode through this stuff had proof of passage.

Arriving in Flagstaff was an un-welcoming committee. It was HOT when I arrived pit chief Chris was waiting for me, no shade was available so we performed our basic clean up and maintenance in the sun light. While focused on the bike a local spectator walked up, leaning on our folding chair he started firing questions at us. We tried to be social but our focus was the bike. Next thing we noticed this spectator disappeared, gone. A short moment later Chris reached for his communicator (black berry cell phone) only to find it missing from the chair pocket he left it in prior to our visitors arrival. The cell phone vanished just as our visitor, Damn.

This Flagstaff stop was the worst of all our stops as we were ejected from the hotel parking lot if we had a trailer. Relocating the truck and trailer a half mile away was just another inconvenience. We made the best of things.

Man do I miss the days of Cannonball. I can't walk past the Gray Ghost without stopping and studying its details. The Ghost now with near 5500 miles is still running great. I have been ridding it most every motorcycle ride I have gone on this year. Last trip out I picked up a nail in the rear tire. Fortunately the nail stuck into the tread parallel to the outside surface of the tire missing the inner tube.

I made a slight adjustment to the linkage on the dual leading shoe front brake and it improved the braking to excellence.

Man do I miss the days of Cannonball.

Joe

[Tom Lovejoy]

Right on Joe, keep this stuff coming - we are not tired of hearing about that grand event. I wonderd what you and the Grey Ghost were doing?

[Slojo]

Tom
The Ghost and I are riding, often 150 mile runs per outing. This bike just keeps getting better as the miles rack up. Now with the brakes working so well and the front forks exhibiting no dive or extension from brake loads it can be ridden with a higher degree of safety in traffic conditions (which I try to avoid).
Joe

[HarleyCreation]

Joe,

It sounds like you enjoy riding the Gray Ghost ('14 Harley single-speed double) better than the Knucklehead, Panhead, or Ducati.

Have you discovered something about Bill Harley's early machinery that the rest of us don't know and the world has forgotten?

[Slojo]

Herb

I enjoy the Ghost as much or more than any other bike I have owned or ridden. Each bike exhibits different traits. The biggest smiles I have ever had concealed by a full face helmet comes from riding Ducatis, they just do things that normal motorcycle should not do. Nucks Pans Sportsters leather belt drive bikes racing on Barbers Motorsport Museum race track ("Century Race" don't miss it this year two laps) and every thing else are all a blast. I can not explain the draw this 14 has for my attention, I just cant get enough of it. The Ghost has caused for a Ducati like grin at least once during Cannonball that will be discussed in a future update, soon I hope.

Bill Harley could have introduced a front brake by 1914 for a drastic improvement otherwise he had it mostly figured out by then for the times. I can't tell you how drastic of an improvement the front brake and the modern tires are for this bike. The remanufactured chrome molly rear frame rails have stiffened the chassis to a point where the bike can be leaned deep into a corner and not wiggle at all.

I just returned from a ride to a local bike night, rack up another 60 miles on the Ghost. While leaving I was escorted out of South Lyon by a local constable, fortunately for me the cop was called off. There was three cop cars and three ambulances with lights and sirens, something else had greater priority than me tonight.

Joe

[chas]

HD brake's philosophy

Ah something I know from my HD days. Joe mused about why Bill Harley did what he did.
Dan Venne (Harley's Engineering's go-to development/release Engineer long before I got there) said it was simply because 'Bill Harley knew when you are stopping on dirt, gravel, ruts, mud - well the chance of dumping is greatly increases with a powerful brake locking'. That and American paving did not begin to exponentially grow until the 20's.
Even up to the 80's, Engineering's core philosophy was: "HD Shalt Not Make an Easy to Lock Ft Brake". In 1914 the Ghost was not intended to be a sport bike. Just tried-and-true over tough terrain (why they coveted the Jack Pine trophy).
Joe never toots his horn, but the critical point in any design goes back to 'an eye, a feeling, a KNOWING - what WILL work'. Pretty much everyone reading this know Joe personally. They know - that description fits Joe to a "T". Innovative-practical-reliable - thats Joe. I am frankly amazed that it needed such little shakedown. Would have made Bill proud.

[MMasa]

Speaking of seats, the Ghost's hi bred half pan seat mounted to 1914 sprung base hardware has been perfect through out this entire run thank you very much Heathers Leather for the upholstery and Marc Massa for the half pan seat .

Joe

Joe
MARK MASA, and you are welcome. Glad it softened the cross country ride for you.
Mark

[c.o.]

I finally took the time to read the "latest" Cannonball report. Thanks Joe, you paint a good picture. I'm another that will sign up for reports on the comings and goings of the "Grey Ghost"! Bill Harley would definitely be proud!

[Slojo]

Mark
Sorry Mark, I am in the habit of spelling names as they are spelled by others I know Brian Brien, Grey Gray, I have a friend named "Marc". The Massa Masa, just a mistake. The half pan is the most comfortable seat I have ever rode on for distance a little firm "butt" just the right shape.

Cory
Good to hear from you I miss our cannonball interactions, thank you for all your help. This article would not have ben possible without your assistance. I will be updating the Ghost activities (now with over 5500 miles) as time goes on and finish the commentary on the run across the country.

I added a pair of Rentz Lighthouse spark plugs (late teens early twenties)to the Ghost and they run good, these are interesting plugs although a little maintenance orientated. They come apart and that is one of their weakness's, hopefully this problem will taper off.
Joe

[Slojo]

Today while preparing the Ghost for this weekend's ride I decided to check the exhaust valves for proper lash. These exhaust valve seats have been a problem with what appears to be seat erosion.

The covers for the exhaust valve spring typically just screw and slide up out of the way. Not this time. The rear exhaust cover was just a little snug but never caused an issue with maintenance. This time loosening the cover was a cinch sliding it up was another issue. As simple as this task is the cover would not give, it would not slide out of the way exposing the lash cap.

The only alternative is pull the motor and remove the cylinder. This opens up another can of worms, scorched piston skirts. We all knew this was waiting to show its ugly face. Do you remember the tight .003 specified piston cylinder clearance and all the times it seized during cannonball?

With a spare set pistons in stock the cylinders will be honed for .005 to .006 clearance tomorrow. The rods and wheels look great, although I will put them into the truing stand and check for run out.

The intake system looks perfect yet I am lightening some of the reciprocating parts to help control valve float. This operation should help the Ghost reach speeds above 70 MPH. For now, I will not have the time to do all that is needed to bring the Ghost up to my intended state of tune.

The cam follower shaft is slightly loose on both ends, repairs to this device are now in process. The early twins had this week point.
Photos to follow hopefully, Hey Cory !!!
Looking at the pistons it is amazing this motor ran and run it does very well go figure. Notice the discoloration from heat at the upper end of the connecting rods, pistons relieve heat any where they can.

Joe

[wlwood]

With the huge interest that this topic has generated over the past year and a half (more than 1,000 responses and more than 100,000 views), it's been suggested that we should find a way to preserve this and the account of the building of the AMCA Youth Program Essay Contest bike somewhere special in the forums. That way, they won't periodically disappear down the list of topics, only to be restored with a new post months later.

The idea we've looked at would be to create a "Legendary Bike Builds" area under the "General Restoration Discussions" part of the forum. It would start out with just these two threads, and users could not add new threads to it. Instead, the users of the forum could nominate other discussions if and when they reach "legendary" status (maybe 300 posts? 500? Or just a general consensus). That way, longtime forum users will always be able to find the valuable information about bike building (and all of the other associated stuff that went into the construction of these two machines) contained here, and new users can quickly get up to speed on the dedication and hard work that AMCA members put into their machines.

This would not end the discussion in these threads. Joe and everyone else could continue to contribute posts to the thread so that the topic becomes even more legendary as time goes by.

So what do you think? Should we create a new Legendary Bike Builds area and start it with these two threads? And Joe, how would you feel about being enshrined in a kind of Forum Hall of Fame?

Thanks for your input.

Bill Wood

[jurassic]

this is a good idea bill,the only problem is most of the pictures in both of these threads are hosted by a hosting site. when a members subscription to the hosting site is done ,all the pictures go away. i've loaded hundreds of great photos to help make some great threads ,but when i'm gone,so are all the pictures. if this site cant host its own pics then we wont be able to save alot of great info for the future.

[Slojo]

Against all odds.

The motorcyclists of the cannonball that persevered against all odds rebuilding their bikes including but not limited to the following items, motors, transmissions, frames, forks, magnetos, gas tanks, wheels, tires, bearings, stands, controls, handling issues, You name it, it broke or wore out. From the evenings and on through the nights teams worked all hours into the morning on their broken bikes to keep them in the event, Incredible! Unbelievable!

The past two days in my well equipped shop I have been working hard at preparing the Ghost for the upcoming weekends event. I will need a third day to finish off what I have started, hopefully I can pull it off.

New pistons to replace the scorched old pistons, exhaust valves faces stretched concave and a loose stud for the cam followers all required attention. With all these issues nearly resolved I struggle to comprehend how these determined riders with badly damaged bikes pulled it off, overnight in the dark of the hotel parking lots on the ground with a limited set of tools!

Upon inspection of my flywheels I was pleasantly surprised, they were exactly the way I originally installed them. Both shafts had less than .001 run out and the flywheels inspected in radial and axial directions run within .0015 total indicator readings, nice. All bearings and other related components also checked like new.

Now on to another issue, the bike build articles and this web site. First I am flattered that the club would like to open a special section for this type of article using Ryan bike build and my cannonball build as a foundation to promote similar documentary builds from other club members. I may not have the best foresight to establish a proper venue for this sort of activity, after all I am a bike builder amongst other things and not an author or web master. Lonnie has a good point as it pertains to photos, many of my photos have vanished from my article although I still have all the photos filed and available for recall.

I thought returning both bike build articles to sticky status, leaving them in the Parking Lot Chatter section was sufficient to keep them at the forefront of the readers eyes. Since "Old photos" relocated I have lost track of it, to busy doing other things. Perhaps some of the other members have better ideas.

Its late, good night.
Joe

[c.o.]

I'm sure the "Grey Ghost" will be tip-top by the weekend!! When you say photos have vanished, I hope none of what I posted are missing! I took a random spin through the last 110 pages and couldn't find any that fell by the wayside but I by no means re-ran the whole thing. If you notice that anything that I've posted is missing Joe, I will take a look and see if I can get them back up.

As far as possibly losing photos here down the line, I don't ever intend to let my photobucket go but I can't control what happens out there on the web. If it were easier to load photos here a photo hosting site wouldn't be necessary. Lonnie's Cannonball site was super easy to put a picture on. Maybe that application could appear here at some point. Then a person could possibly over time replace the pictures so the saga of the "!914 Twin HD Cannon ball request " will remain here for good.