!914 Twin HD Cannon ball request

[chas]

That's very interesting to hear early engineering records survived past the AMF era (if I read you right) only to be lost later on.

Can you recall what was the earliest material you ever saw there? Anything go back before 1910? Before 1908? How about racing engines and proto stuff that was never produced?

Herbert, I was told by two managers there when the company was sold the lawyers made the new management trash all the old engineering records. I was concerned with only frame necks so I never looked for anything else. Never looked for the pre-teen stuff, but I believe there was some pre-WWI material from the volume of binders. Never looked for racing stuff either. Sorry.

[c.o.]

Herbert, I was told by two managers there when the company was sold the lawyers made the new management trash all the old engineering records. I was concerned with only frame necks so I never looked for anything else. Never looked for the pre-teen stuff, but I believe there was some pre-WWI material from the volume of binders. Never looked for racing stuff either. Sorry.

So there may be hope yet!!! I still can't believe that a new owner would be so indifferent to company history as to trash such documents!

[c.o.]

That's my new favorite picture!!! Thanks for posting it!!!

[Chris Haynes]

So there may be hope yet!!! I still can't believe that a new owner would be so indifferent to company history as to trash such documents!

I had heard that is was AMF that trashed that stuff.

[flat-happy]

i still bet that no one would be stupid enough to actually throw it in the trash. i'll bet one of the executives or maybe a worker further down the line took the stuff home with him and has since passed away----could be they are afraid of admitting it publicly. maybe some day a lot of literature will surface. maybe someone will find several old boxes in an attic and get the stuff to a motorcycle lover somewhere. i have a book that my trash man gave me years ago---about 150 pages of supposedly everything harley printed on motorcycles from 1910-1930. a lot of great info on adjustments and maintainance. he found it in a dumpster at a local harley dealer about 35 years ago. most of it isn't even copyrighted.

[Slojo]

Oblique design Oblique riding.

Angles angles angles.
It’s late and I have been jamming numbers on paper and into the calculator for five days straight.
Tomorrow is another day to test yet another attempt to generate the tool path. A determination was made that the easy approach was not going to work. A different approach was necessary in order to prevent tool interference.
The math is good, now to make the machine understand and process the math is another issue. If this fails a CAD generated file is my back up this will have to wait until Monday.
I am anxious to get back to a productive operation. This frame repair process has stalled my productivity for too long. The fun will begin when just the right chips start flying. Thanks for hanging in there while I resolve these issues. Think of this past week as a little down time on the side of route 66.” It is not the destination it is the journey”. Happy New Year All.
Joe 1-1-2010

[c.o.]

There's a pile of us rootin' for ya Joe! Happy New Year as well!

[LouieMCman]

Hey Joe, there's a full page picture of you after winning the Century race in Walnecks this month, check it out.

[HarleyCreation]

Joe has certainly got an exciting project to pass the winter with.

His machine shop expertise and dedication to these early jobs is amazing to behold.

[Slojo]

Friends Motorcycles Ice Food = Fun

This weekend was spent away from the numbers and all other mandatory responsibilities. Saturday was spent in Novi at Cycle World’s Motorcycle show. You should have seen the Ducati static display and the in-door Ducati stunt riders performing their antics on Ducati Monsters. Forget descriptions allow your imagination to run wild they were absolutely fantastic.
Today I actually have an even better excuse for my lack of productivity. Several friends and I joined together for some Michigan motorcycle fun on the ice. Typically ice racing is on an oval track similar to dirt track racing left hand turn only. These guys have studded their tires on both sides to enable them to turn left as usual and right also.
We had about eight guys and five bikes a fire pit and approximately 1.5 miles of road course including a dozen turns and two separate but connected ovals. The ice was in excellent condition. Art and his trusty Honda Quad seen to the snow plowing.
The fastest guy on the ice today was Kyle he carried the number one plate in AHRMA class C hand shift for 2009. Kyle tripped the GPS at 80 miles per hour, he is truly a great rider and fun to race with. I broke seventy on Art’s KTM. After sampling three bikes I determined that riding Art’s KTM was like cheating.
Arts wife, Motor Maid/Miss JIff Lynn prepared an excellent lunch for us all and afterwards back to the ice for more fun. All went well today, the worst incident was Kyle’s chain fell off, no damage resulted. A good day on the ice beats a good day smashing numbers.
Speaking of smashing numbers, I did work on the part program this morning and resolved some of the issues. After all the time and effort spent I am convinced that a solution is forthcoming.
If Cory is still out there assisting in posting photos there are a few simple shots of our ice activities following. Art and Lynn are doubled up on the cheater bike, I am in the Power Rangers costume.
Do you remember what was said about Motorsicklitis? Did I mention Ice racing? It is a great fix! Enjoy the ride.
Joe 1-3-2010

[c.o.]

Bring on the pics Joe Glad to hear you've been outside to get some air........

[c.o.]

[Ohio-Rider]

Ice racing! Thanks for the memory’s Joe. I have lots of memories of dashing up and down the Detroit river, seems like a life time ago now though.
…..Steve

[Slojo]

Steve
Ice racing on the Detroit River? Never heard of it and lived outside of Detroit all my life, had to have been fun. The road race style ice track was great fun.
Today was spent on the part program for the rear frame fork legs again, one week and still unsuccessful. I placed a call to my friend Mike who I once worked with as factory Okuma sales and support representatives 15 years ago. We determined the machine may be limited by cutter compensation restrictions that prohibit operation in the manner currently being used. Tomorrow hopefully I can get around the restrictions if they exist. If not then there are other options available to resolve these issues.
Currently the part program appears to be doing two thirds of the process and tomorrow the other third will be tested with a program modification. The current issue is a change of quadrants. During cutting operations the tool size must be compensated for and when the tool changes quadrants it’s compensation must also be changed. This will resolve one more of a few remaining issues. Mike says he has had issues like this in the past that have taken similar amounts of time to resolve. Sorry for the delay of progress.
Joe

[Chuck#1848]

That's gotta be a blast

Great photos of the races Joe,
What lake were you on racing I have an older brother that lived in Novi for a while but now resides in Honor Mich. out side of Traverse city between big platte and little platte lakes.
I grew up less than 1/2 mile directly south of Detroit we could see.......and smell the rouge plant from our back yard.

Steve,
Where about's on the Detroit river did they race at? I don't ever remember hearing about this either was it a bunch that got together to tear up the ice?
I remember going to boat races in the summer in Wyandotte on the river but honestly can't recall anything about the river ice racing although I still remember seeing some ice racing on tv but that was in the northern part of Michigan