Pioneer Award Open Debate and Information

[rwm]

Sounds like a great idea. What about Motorcycle Cannonball bikes - with mods made for this event - like front brakes and lights?

take off the mods.

[pete reeves]

I agree. We need to do what we can to encourage owners of early bikes to bring them out into day light and ride them .Creating a category such as the suggested pioneer award could go some way towards achieving this. I find it strange that despite the size of our club that we do not hold any road runs specifically for pioneer bikes like the Sunbeam clubs Pioneer run Steve Slocombe has mentioned. Perhaps the club could consider staging an event along the same lines as this each year. I feel this could do more to bring these bikes out of hibernation than simply giving the owner an award because his bike is old enough.
I have had the privilege to ride my bike in the pioneer run for the last eight years and I can tell you that the reward is in the taking part. It’s likely that in holding this event, The Sunbeam club has done more to promote the riding of pioneer bikes than any other organization.
The formula for this event is quite simple, all bikes taking part must pass scrutiny by a dating committee, If successful the owner will receive a certificate and the machine will be registered as a pioneer Motor cycle, the committee will only issue certificates and register machines that it feels are genuine and were manufactured before 1915.They specifically mention in the rules that 1915 models will not qualify even if manufactured in 1914.The reason they gave for this cut off date is that they felt motor cycle manufacturing was still in its formative state(pioneer) up until 1915. The first pioneer run was held in 1930 just 15 years after the 1914 cut off date so it’s likely they had good reasons for choosing this date. The run is only over a distance of about 50 miles and the route is not too difficult for theses early machines or aged riders to complete, But despite this one gets a sense of elation when travelling down county lanes surrounded by bikes of a similar age and you feel you have achieved some thing when you finally reach the finish line. The only award given by the club is a dated medallion to the owner of the machine after completing the run. On the face of it having a Bike registered as a pioneer is not such a big deal but in reality it allows the owner to take part in this special event, and adds authenticity and value to the machine.
Pete Reeves. 860

[Slojo]

Peter

Ride motorcycles? What a novel idea, a good one at that.

I like the idea to "earn" a pioneer medallion or whatever the "acknowledgement" is. A bike of certain qualifications competing in such an event as described above only will become eligible for Pioneer status. The above mentioned leather fob hanging from the handle bar is harmless and also a good idea. Unfortunately, drilling two holes in my gas tank to mount the century medallion on the 09 caused it to leak fuel all over the rest of the bike.

Joe

[talbot-2]

This is an example of a "leather fob" for displaying a "Century Award" on ones 100 year old motorcycle. Received the award at this year's Rhinebeck meet for my original paint 1908 Indian, single, battery ignition. And yes, it does run. But I am still looking for a pair of replacement "28 X 2 1/4" tires for double clincher rims so I can ride it.


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[Tommo]

If you look as this issue from the clubs perspective and not the members you beg the question of "How does this benefit the Club ? "
If this award was made very prestigious it would make members want to achieve the award and if that desire to achieve the award was strong enough and the said member did not have a machine that qualified, it would make that member go out and try and find a machine that would qualify.
Therefore in my view the award should go to the owner of the machine and not to the motorcycle itself.
In deciding a cut off date consideration should be made as to how achieveable the task is and I think maybe the pre 1910 date may be setting the bar a bit high but it would make the award very prestigious.
No matter how this award is structured it will drive the price of bikes that qualify up, quite dramatically probably.
For the club to benefit the award needs to be achieved somewhere were it makes both the club and the machines owner feel all the efforts been worth the effort and the whole procedeure needs to get some serious media coverage.
Maybe the Pebble Beach event or the similar motorcycle one that is held in that area.
I've got more than one pre 1910 machine that would qualify but to get me to display and ride one of them in the USA the presentation needs to be special and something owners of these type of machines really aspire to achieve.
Hopefully this sort of event would encourage the owners to bring these machines out of hiding and if some form of yearly bar was added to the award the machines would then be seen at least once every year and maybe then the desire by the owners would be to try and achieve as many bars as possible and the club would get a spectacular yearly display and demonstration.
Just some thoughts from the other side of the world.
Regards, Tommo

[talbot-2]

What is the status of the possible proposal to have a "Pioneer Award" for pre-1915 motorcycles?