Motorcycle Cannonball Miscellany

[HarleyCreation]

A three-speed contest?

Or how about a contest between branded teams on early 3-speeds? That would be exciting and stir the pot about who made the best early modern motorcycle.

Pope also made a 3-speed and so did Reading-Standard along with Indian, Harley, and Excelsior. Open it to foreign bikes too. When should the cut-off year be? 1918? That's when Pope folded its tent...

[wlwood]

Sorry for the delay, guys--new post up now at http://www.antiquemotorcycle.org/ind...t01returnid=97

I'll admit, we rolled in here late last night after a 99-degree day and I drank water and cooled down for a while, thinking I'd get a post up early this morning, with this being our one rest day of the ride. But then there was a car leaving for the laundromat and my one chance to get clean clothes for the rest of the trip. So I finally got around to writing this afternoon.

The good news is that I get a day off from the sweep truck tomorrow, and I'll be riding in a sidecar where I will finally get a chance to see motorcycles in motion, rather than broken down by the side of the road. The bad news is that it's expected to be in the upper 90s again.

Bill Wood

[Eddie G]

Why not sell the Chief to somebody that would appreaciate it. Then you could buy another Harley, I hear they're still making them.

[fillibuster]

Mr Wood, I stayed up late last nite, hoping to catch the day's report, then up at 5 (usual) hoping to read up before work. Snuck back to the computer several times before lunch, checked Kanter's site too. ALL US POOR WORKING STIFFS GOT SKUNKED!! ... finally just concentrated on work and .... now I'm home all grinning and happy, reading your report!

This has been a fantastic experience for me, and I'm not even on the ride! Thanks for bringing it, Bill!
Too many of my friends are "not connected", and have no idea how good this is.

[fillibuster]

There are very few pre 15 riders. This ride would only have 8 riders in it. Why not have it only 15 Harleys? The rest were left in the dust anyway. There was a reason Harley out sold Indians. The Indian company was on it's way out from 1913 on. They use the same trany for 25 years, a grinder tranny.

Mr Marsh, I won't take sides on Indian vs Harley, but you should be advised that there are 2 Indians that have logged every mile, albeit with different riders, which is a 100 pt deduction. I won' argue that they should receive equal credit to the HD's, since the spirit of the event is definitely in the solo rider. But credit is certainly due to the bikes as well.

must agree that the score sheet should be amended to show marque.

Need more on our German couple, video, more, more!!

[schmittm]

Rest Day in Hot Springs Arkansas

OK, here's just a quick update. Today was rest day in Hot Springs Arkansas, but there wasn't much resting, mostly wrenching. For everyone that wanted to know why Joe lost those 8 miles I can confirm that the magneto did, in fact literally, melt down. But that's not the end of the story, he burnt up a second mag coming into Hot Springs on Thursday evening, it ran right up to the finish line but would not restart. Here's a few pics; half of the German team (he's working on her ***), they're doing fine, SloJoe retiming the '14 after yet another magneto replacement, it started and ran perfect, and #14 Indian having a bad neck bearing day, races and cups were touched up at a local machine shop but bearing selection in Hot Springs was a little limited and oversize balls were not available so there is still considerable play in the front fork.
I'll try to get some more pics up tomorrow.
Mike

I guess the forum has installed edits to prevent any ethnic slurs, the *** was originall typed as the name of her bike, let's try it with periods between the letters: J.A.P.

[jurassic]

hi all ,the run is going so much better than i ever anticipated. computer time has been hard to come by,but we are trying our best to keep the updates. we are getting tons of killer film footage . we have a new photo gallery setup on the cannonball site. anyone that has pics to share or videos can contact the webmaster "alleydude" to get them posted. if at all possbile everyone should try and meet up with the run at any piont. bikes can ride along if you like. it will be something you will never forget.lonnie

[Dkgoz]

Lonnie,

This is the best thing to happen to antique motorcycling in a long, long time. Thank you for dreaming this up and making it happen!

Good luck to all the riders on the second half of the run.

Dave Goesling
AMCA9757

[HarleyCreation]

I agree this is a very exciting event even if you can't be there. Hats off to Lonnie!

Great update article from Bill Wood. The mechanical gossip is top notch. Crazy about the Caterpillar con-rod nearly fitting Szalay's 1911 Harley. Bill Harley must have been planning ahead on that one.

The heat sounds pretty intense and causing running issues too.

Bill, if you encounter any of the Harley belts going up steep hills, can you find out what their techniques are? Are they slipping them for clutch effect or what? Thanks!

I too noticed how the term "J A P" is being censored. Not appropriate here since there was a English "J.A.P." brand (J.A. Prestwich) -- and not always with periods either.

[Eddie G]

I agree, thanks Lonnie for getting this together. I was with the cannonballers from the day before the start Until the Wheels Thru Time finish & had a ball. I know this is a once in a lifetime event-even if there is another, there can only be one first time. I can tell that there was a tremondous amount of work to pull this event together, not many would attempt it. Personally i like the format,class 1,2 & 3. Something for everbody with miles making up the score. I wouldn't change a thing except i would try to go the entire way with them. If you can meet up with them, DO IT. you won't be disapointed.

[aka HAWG]

you said it - once in a lifetime (only 1 first time )

I passed up davenport to go to kitty hawk to watch the start, followed to greenville NC to watch them come in and then meet up with them in chatanoga TN, to watch them leave on the tuesday

only regret is the 14 "X" was not ready even to ride around kitty hawk just to live the experiance

way to go lonnie now I need to find an `17 thro 29 machine for the next verson of the cannonball run

aka HAWG

[Somer]

I spent a few days "running with the pack".I t was awesome!
As Iget PIX uploaded,I'l post them.
Such a great vibe .Here is a picture of a bunch of 15's coming down the Natchez Trace.The rumble was awesome.

[Somer]

Two nights before this Excelsior had its guts all over the floo at Dale's.The next day he blew of the some covers and the rocker. We went back and found them and he was up and running!

[Tommo]

Herb,
As nobody from the Cannonball is answering your query about belt slip I'll try and answer it from my experience of riding belt drivers over many, many miles in varying conditions.
First and foremost BELT SLIP is something you try and AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Once a belt starts to slip it glazes the drive surface and slips all the more and this then leads to the need to apply belt dressing in an effort to stop the dreaded belt slip.
You are now in the dog chasing it's tail situation because as the belt dressing wears off the belt starts to slip so you're back applying belt dressing and on and on the cycle goes.
I gather as much speed as I possibily can as I approach a hill and hope and pray my momentum will carry me over the top and if it doesn't you start pedalling to assist the engine in getting to the top.
Riders of belt drivers know this pedalling as "L.P.A." ( Light Pedal Assistance) and you will find this term in many of the very early veteran motorcycle handbooks of the period.
The old guys who rode in all conditions always wore a coat with a large external pocket in which they kept a fairly large quantity of Fullers Earth. In the rain the belt slips very easily and to overcome this the procedure was to throw handfulls of Fullers Earth down into the front pulley in an effort to sop up the water and provide a sticky medium to stop belt slip.
From experience I know that this method is very successful in stopping belt slip in the rain but I also know just how hard it is to remove the resulting mixture that sticks to everything from the engine back on your motorcycle.
In an earlier post I mentioned that it is relatively easy to adjust your gear ratio so if a hill appears to be too steep to ascend with your flat country gearing you would stop and adjust the front pulley so it gives you the lowest gearing possible, shorten the belt to maintain the correct tension and attempt your climb that way.
With the vee belt drives that I'm most used to you would carry two or three different short lengths of belt that you would either put in or take out so that you maintain the correct belt tension when you are changing the drive ratios.
Herb is this the sort of thing you wanted?

[fillibuster]

Thanks Tommo, but I'm only familiar with variables on v-pulleys where one one side slides left to right to change the pitch diameter. How is this done on flat belts (somewhere I read that flat belts are an American persuasion)? Pictures or schematics would help (anybody), it'll be a while til I get back to Davenport to study it closer. ... good on the "fullers earth"! .... thanks again tommo!