My bike, how it performed and its condition

By any account the Cannonball is a tough ride. Mark Hill told me ” you will never work so hard and have so much fun and be so tired as on the CB”. He is right. I met and became friends with many people. I am proud to have been apart of the CB14 and to have completed it. Being a member of the “3938” club is an accomplishment but only a minor part of the experience.

I want to thank everyone who supported and encouraged me. My Wife Sara was always there and my families patience with me not being around for the last 6 months. Dan Emerson’s friendship and patience and our crew Karen Emerson.

Here are the people who helped support me, Peter Rooney, Heidenau Tires, Spectro Oil, Green Mnt Harley Davidson, Bearing Specialties, The Vintage Garage in Stowe, Vic Collette, Bentley Vaughn, Whit Hart, Virginia and David Pennock, Sue and Ken Kermes, Carlen Finn and Vince Feeny, Jane Campbell and Ted Zillius. The people I work with at Sisler Buildres who have picked up the slack while I was away for 3 weeks. There are more but this is all I can remember at this time. Thank to everyone who helped me.

OK. lets talk about the bike and what happened. Below are photos of the bike I posted earlier and I will post them again as the bike is loaded in the Van.

My bike is a 1936 VLH that I bought in 2003. The motor and trans were restored when I bought it. Through the years it has been an “around the town bike” and I have worked on it each year but by no means was it ready to go coast to coast.While on the ride the rear brake rod broke and was welded, the inner primary cover had a baffle that got caught in the primary chain so I tore it out, the front primary chain oiler is not working and I oiled the front and rear chains each night and adjusted as need. The rear chain and rear tire were replaced, the kickstand spring lost its strength and was replaced with a bungie cord. I lost a gas cap and my water bottle. It is amazing what little work this bike needed. The bike was brought into service at 7pm Friday night, the night before shipping. It had no preparation. Hence the bikes new name is 7 O’Clock .

Present condition. The valves are tapping bad and I seized the motor once so there is probably some scoring in the cylinder. On Saturday I noticed the bike was rolling hard so I greased each hub that night. By the end of the day Sunday it was obvious the hubs need a lot of attention. I am not sure they would have gone another day.  Dan’s rear brake broke on the way from the LeMay to the hotel.

Sunday 9/21/14. the last day

Hans, by the end of the day he had made his miles and was the #1

The Cossacks drill team doing stunts on hand shift old bikes, these guys are good.

a twin carb VL. It is hard to see but the normal intake is between the cylinders . Robert cut a new intake in each cyl for each carb. A very difficult job done well. He made a few mods to the valves and gearing . This bike road by me a few times and sounded Sweat

John Stanley and Terry Richardson. Both riding VLs and both with perfect scores. Two new good friends. Both of the bikes were prepared extremely well. Terry had something go wrong with his clutch in the last 15 miles. It would work but if he came to a stop it would slowly engage . The problem was all the traffic lights at the end of each day to get to the show/tell and today we had to leave the dealership and go thru 5 more lights to the Lemay Museum. John was able to nurse the bike and a few of us stayed nearby to block other bikes and cars to allow him some space.

Victor’s 1914. This bike has been across the USA a few times

Mike Carson’s motor was missing really bad so he stopped. David Lloyd also stopped to help. Mike found the rocker for the top of the push rod was missing. They walked back down the road and people in cars stopped to help and the roocker was found. Someone ran to a hardware store and he used a nut/bolt to get in. Mike had a perfect score

Gary and Linda did an amazing job

JT began following us on his Panhead in Georgia on day two. He left a few days later but could not stay away so drove 1300 miles straight and caught up to us in Colorado.

My wife sara made me amazing Energy Bars. I would have one in the morning and another in the afternoon

Dan and I before loading the bikes to be shipped home in the Van

At the LeMay Museum.

9/20/14

Karen, our crew chief . She was the greatest.

The Nera Car crew the night before the last day. They ran the entire day

Marlene, Frank , and Jimmy

On the 2nd to last day the spring on my side stand grew weak and would allow the side stand to slowly fall down which can be dangerous. At a fuel , someone who was following us gave me a bungee. You can not see it in the photo but I have it set up to hold the kickstand up and safely out of the way

one minute later the oil filter on his 1920 Henderson let all the oil out with the motor running. Someone screamed and we both jumped to hit the kill button. No damage.

9/19/14

A few days ago we went over the mountains. In one day we went over a 12,000′ and 2 10,000’+ passes. Everyone was concerned. My carb is a Linkert M41L. When we started to climb I leaned out the carb to get more air to it and the motor handled the altitude well. The next 6-8 days we went up and down and I adjusted as I rode. My concern was to not get it too leaned out. So I watched my temp readings and adjusted as I went. There was some time when the bike had a stutter at high speed (47 mph) but it ran cool and had power so I lived with it. My temp probe is on the rear cyl head bolt . I can move my leg or use my hand as a shield to deflect more air onto the motor. By moving my leg I can raise the temp probe 20-30 degr in 2 minutes and bring it down slowly. Once I learned about this I monitored my motor heat the entire ride. The afternoons were bad because they would get hot and the motors did not like the long hot rides. Remember, the VL motor has a total loss oil system and I was dropping my oil at night. The oiler seemed to work well but there was no oil getting to the primary chain. So each night I would take my primary cover off and oil the primary chain and rear chain. After a few days the chain stretched so I also would adjust the chains at night. OK, back to the heat and motors. At about day 12 I realized I would struggle most afternoons with a hot motor. So I began to drop my oil at noon and the motor ran better. I was pumping oil all day and so would also drop the oil at night. I also have been adding a syn 2 stroke oil to the gas to help with additional internal oiling.

Idaho

It was really cold this morning

Here is Panhead Billy. He rides his bike everywhere and has not slept inside in 20 years

9/18/14

they make BIG hay bales out there

Vinnie lost his trans filler bolt.

This is Open Range country. Cattle are everywhere and no fences to keep them off the roads

Bread and Puppet like stone formations

9/17/14

here are a few from out in Colorado. Many of my photos are taking while riding . That evening we stopped at Jeff Decker’s studio. Jeff made the bronze trophy that goes to the #1 winner. He has a small house that he uses as a studio and to display his amazing collection of bikes and mis. He has 2 Crockers in his collection!.

Kelly’s motor siezed 3 times today. We took it apart at Rick’s shop and it was not pretty. It took him two days but he ran again but stopped and brought it to the finish line in his truck

Rick’s shop in Utah

discussing 4 cyl

Jeff Decker

Jeff Decker

Jeff Decker

Jeff Decker

Jeff Decker

Jeff Decker

Jeff Decker

Jeff Decker

Jeff Decker

Jeff Decker’s Crocker

Vicki, our EMT. The best improvement they made this year was having her with us. She rode her bike all day with us and helped out when needed. I got too much sun/heat and she helped me. When Clyde drove off the road she was there and realized he had internal bleeding and saved his life with her experience and quick thinking. Clyde was in the hospital 4 days and then had to be driven home to Texas

DIVA !

Diva followed us for a few days

Scott, the redneck Dentist, He road a JD and had a few problems and worked hard to keep going

Here is Beanr taking trading photos at 47 mph

Where ever we went there were people taking photos and waving. It was a blast and lots of fun. I got good at riding with no hands and would throw my hands in the air for them if they had a camera. In the south there were lots of families with their kids, out west there would be a rancher in his pick up, and in all towns people on most street corners.

One day we were un Utah running a canyon and it was HOT. We got pulled over by a cop and we had to wait while a train car on a trailer went by , they were filming a movie

Handsome guy, lots of layers to stay warm

All photos are shot at 47 mph with a small point and click

Here is the mileage of when my motor seized

The BMW with flat bed trailer came soon after the motor siezed. I asked him to wait. I pumped the hand oiler and with time the motor cooled down and the piston freed itself and the motor started. Man, that was too close!!!

On the side of the road with others riding by

Buzz Kanter, American Iron Magazine editor

Jerry Weirland’s very clean front brake conversion on his early JD

He had his wife road the entire way 2 up

It was very dissapointing to not be able to ride my Henderson. It was just not ready. I brought two Zenith carbs with my and gave one to Doug Feinod and the other to Kelly to use. Felt good to have something from my Henderson on the ride.

The Bonneville Salt flats

Interstate driving in Colorado. I was going 47 mph and the trucks pull 3 trailers at high speeds. That was not fun.

My inspiration

Working late at night I forgot to put a cotter pin back in the clevis pin for the clutch rod. It came out a few miles into the ride the next day.

I ran around to 3 shops and found a nut and bolt to put it back together. I ran like this for the rest of the ride

9/14/14

At each show and tell many people show up riding all kinds of things

His right side tank came apart. Got the motor held together

Beautiful country

Thomas from Germany

Works shops, trucks and trailers,

When we pull into town we fill most hotel lots . People brought all kinds of trucks in order to haul and maintain their bikes. We brought a van and have a 10×10 tent. There are large RVs pulling long trailers with full shops. The Carsons from Texas brought a long trailer with a machine shop in it. Most people have at least a trailer. Many people have brought lots of tools and extra parts and there are lots of extra motors that were built and brought as a back up. A few nights ago Oz pulled the motor out of his JD and replaced it with his back up motor.

Juergen comes to the CB14

A few years ago I restored a 1949 HD Servicar. I collected parts for 10+ years and finally made the time to restore it. When it was done I had it judged at an AMCA meet. The standards to have a bike judged is the bike must be the same as what it was when it was new. This means every nut and bolt needs to be correct and any parts that are rebuilt or replaced must look new. Also many parts that are being made today are not exact duplicates of the original parts and will not pass judging. The restoration was tough and the bike did well in judging. When I planned to buy a Henderson I had to sell the Servi to finance the Henderson.

A person from Germany, Juergen, called and he was in the country on business so he and his wife came by and looked at the Servi. He did not buy the bike but we became friends and he brokered the sale of the bike to someone in Germany.

Juergen is a fanatic about bikes and old bikes. He has several bikes stored around the USA so when he is here on business he can get one of his bikes and go for a ride. His bikes in Germany are at his home and are set up as a museum for people to look at and learn from.

So Juergen got the Cannonball bug and decided he would come and ride along with us for a few days. His schedule would not allow but at the last minute he flew into Milwaukee and met his friend Peter and they came down in Peter’s airplane and we got to spend time together one night. The next day they followed us in the plane and met us at lunch

My 1949 Servi car

This Thomas from Germany. Juergen is friends with him, small world. He surpised Thomas when we walked into the restaurant and said hello to them

Andy from Germany

This is Dennis Sharon from Connecticut. He is riding a BMW. one day 5 minutes before start time his float fails and he can not start. He walks over and signs in and then goes back and takes out the float and solders it and makes his time for the day. The next day the float failed again. He drove for awhile using his petcock as the float and then said enough. He hitchhiked 3 miles back to a small town and goes to 3 service stations until he finds a soldering iron. He repaired the float, hitch hikes back to his bike and still gets in on time that day.

Juergen, his friend Peter and son Lucas

Here is Juergen.

Juergen. I am dressed for a cold morning ride

Stage 8 Saturday 9/13/14

Saturday, the day after our rest day. It was 37 degr in the morning and very foggy. The fog stayed with us for 1.5+ hours. It was hard to see. I hung behind a group and the guy in front of me had an orange helmet and it was like a beacon for me. We had a hosted lunch by a town. We rode 311 miles . I was concerned but pushed my speed and made it in time

We were hosted by a nice antique recreated village. Felt bad cause we left out mark under most bike

Some worse than others

Here is mine. Many of the bikes have an oil line that discharges oil to the primary chain and the oil sits in the primary cover and then drains out. MY oiler is not working and I have concern aboput it. Each night I take apart the primary cover and use lots of chain lube and some old motor oil on the chain. When i look under mine it is good to see the oil but I would like to see a good bit more.

1915 Indian. This is the 3rd time on the CB for this bike.

We have been riding all back roads and this is the 1st “welcome” sign I have seen . My r

Paul is taking a few photos.

He has his lab in the van

Sweet Moto Guzi

Early morning