My 101 Scout Cannonball Build

[gharper]

Trust me, keeping the Princess happy was an added challenge! It was great having her do the nagivating from the sidecar though, it allowed me to concentrate on the road, especially in traffic!

[d_lasher]

I will fluff the pillow and check for peas every day then.

Dana

[joe fxs fxr]

‘Remove Peas’?

The princess and the pea. Old fable about keeping a princess comfortable in her bed.

[d_lasher]

‘Remove Peas’?

[gharper]

Hi Dana,

Looks like you're well on your way,! Great job building the bike too, you're amazing!

I like your check list, it is important to have one so nothing gets missed, that's why pilots use them all the time! I have 2 comments for you:
1. I see you've listed "adjust the oil meter" a couple places. I assume you are referring to the mechanical oil pump feed rate. I would caution you about that because it's a tricky thing to get right and easy to get wrong. Hopefully by now any ride you go on you can check the oil level after each ride and the oil level should be about the same. Of course oil consumption varies greatly with speed, temperature and load. Hopefully you've worked that out and are pretty consistent. When you drain the oil while gassing up, measure it if possible. Watch this amount and then only adjust the pump if you are CONSISTENTLY running high or low and then only a small amount. Avoid the temptation to adjust if it seems a bit off all of a sudden.

2. You mentioned "repack the wheel bearings" on the rest day. Do you not have hubs with grease zerks on them? I was able to build up all 3 wheels that way and filled the entire hub with grease. Yes, a lot of wasted grease but all I needed to do was hit each zerk with a pump or two and it was good. Hope you don't have to take both wheels off and disassemble the bearings to do that! You may very well not wear out a tire so the wheels may not need to come off at all.

3. Looks like you are running Coker tires, but I can't be sure. Regardless, inspect the tires carefully each night, not just for pressure but wear, damage etc. You may not need to replace a tire at all. On my Chief sidecar rig, I'm still running the original front and sidecar tires, with over 5500 miles on them. Of course, the rear has been replaced 3 times, but you aren't dragging a sidecar!

Attached is a copy of my check list, for whatever it's worth. Note that in addition to keeping the rig in good order, we had to be sure the "Princess" was set to go in the Princess sidecar as well, another part of the endurance challenge!

Good luck Dana, I'm confident you will do well. Remember, its an endurance challenge, so slow and steady wins the race!

Gene
DAILY CHECKS FOR 1924 CHIEF.docx

[chuckthebeatertruck]

13 days. . .

good luck and gods speed ;-)

[d_lasher]

Did a 140 mile test run today. Everything went well, no issues at all. Knock on wood. Checked the oil level when I got back and it was a hair to high so I leave the oil meter where it is. The plugs looked good and clean and the carb seems right on. All in all I’m really happy with the run today.

One very small nick picky thing was the left footboard seemed to slope away from the bike and it my foot would want to slip away. I made the brackets from leftover steel and I might have screwed up the measurements. So I’ll look at that tomorrow.

Chris, you have my dream bike. When I’ve got enough money saved up, That’s my next project. If I can find one.

I think you give me too much credit when you say it’s very purpose built. I think it’s more a random walk every weekend in my workshop.

Thanks everyone for the great ideas for my todo list, keep the, coming if anyone thinks of more.

We leave California for the cannonball in 13 days.
Dana

[C.Flint]

Dana- the bike is looking good, very purpose-built and ready for some real mileage! I would add to your check list…nightly charge odometer (I use a Garmin) and emergency bicycle headlamp if you use one. Consider a sheepskin seat cover or pad, it does make a difference. 1DE38F71-FF72-4A03-AA25-0595B4E1B38F.jpeg See you in Michigan soon. Chris #82

[pisten-bully]

Dana, great list and I would only add 1) snugging up manifold nuts, 2) check lights and bulbs, 3) check spokes

[PaulCDF]

Thanks for sharing this Dana. Great list so nothing is missed.
I like the idea of a bicycle GPS speedometer and odometer might try that on my 741 when I get that far.

[d_lasher]

A few years ago, pre-pandemic, I stumbled across gharper at a swap meet in Colorado and he had a few words of wisdom for me running the cannonball. One of his suggestions was to have a checklist of things to do on the bike every night after the day's run. That way you don't forget anything. Seems custom made for me because my memory is so bad I have a hard time remembering my phone number. So with that in mind here's my checklist...

Morning Check engine oil level Check gearbox oil level Fill fuel tank
Every gas stop Check oil level - Adjust oil meter Change engine Oil Add 2 stroke-oil to fuel
Mon-Wed-Fri-Sunday Check and adjust rear wheel bearings Check rear brake pads Check and adjust rear brake linkage Check read brake bolts Clean and lube chain	Tues-Thru-Fri-Sat Check and adjust front wheel bearings Check front brake pads Check and adjust front brake linkage Check and adjust Points gap Clean Mag's rotor and distributer Oil Mag's bearings Check head bearings Check sparkplugs - adjust mixture
Nightly Check oil level - adjust oil meter Change engine oil Check gearbox oil Check and adjust chain Check brake light and headlight Check critical nuts Check and adjust valve clearances Check tire pressures
Rest Day Change gearbox oil Lube all zirks Repack wheel bearings

What do you guys think? Have I missed anything? Just for reference each day is about 250 - 300 miles.

Thanks for all the help,
Dana

[d_lasher]

Did a bunch of little things this weekend.

I fabricated a bracket for a fire extinguisher, it can hold a traditional extinguisher as well as one of the new Element extinguishers. I saw a bunch of riders in the chase using them. They look pretty cool, weigh less and take less room. A couple of youtube videos gave them high marks for putting out fires.

I got a simple bicycle GPS speedometer and odometer mounted on the handle bars. I hoping I'm allowed to use it. I have a spare traditional one with the magnet and sensors, but I don't like all the wires and the mounting hardware seems liked a pain.

And, I put the numbers on the bike and got the map box mounted.

One last thing, found a place for 'Oscar' to go along on the ride with me.

Jason wanted some pics from everyone and their bikes for their profile pages, so I posted a couple of them here.

IMG_2653.jpgIMG_2622.jpgIMG_2627.jpg

Dana

[pisten-bully]

Go Dana!

[PaulCDF]

Good to hear your Dad is doing okay. Good that you two are close and you chose the higher priority of taking care of him.

"Love them while you got them"

[joe fxs fxr]

Glad your father's doing well. Hope you can get everything done OK.