CANNONBALL UPDATE: OUCH

'Endurance Run'; that's what the Cannonball website proclaims, and indeed it has proved to be. Like cantankerous old men and ladies, many of the 100 year old motorcycles have complained, broken, been repaired, and out of sheer cussedness, thrown off at least one rider thus far.  Youngest competitor Matt Olsen, who essentially created his Sears from a few original parts, experienced a wobble after banging through a pothole, which developed into a tank-slapper and threw him heavily onto the road.  Broken bones and abrasions resulted, but he'll recover completely.  He's a plucky fellow, and will undoubtedly resume his adventures on old motorcycles very soon - here's to a speedy recovery Matt!

 The chart below gives the list of motorcycles currently on the ride, and gives an idea of the percentage of machines which failed to complete any given stage, plus the 13 riders who have perfect scores thus far.  Anyone taking bets?

 Here's the story on Matt Olson's crash, from the Motorcycle Cannonball website:

"Scottsboro, AL~September 14, 2010 – Matt Olsen, Motorcycle Cannonball rider #85, has crashed his motorcycle while riding the Stage 5 section of the historical shore-to-shore run that is on day 5 of the 17 day adventure.

According to Matt’s father, Carl Olsen who is also a rider in the rally, the younger Olsen hit a pothole in the road and went into a shimmy on his 1913 Sears. Olsen had almost straightened his machine out when the wobble turned into a tank slapper and Matt went over the handlebars. His left forearm is broken in both bones, requiring surgery that his father reports he came through very well. Matt is in a cast which will immobilize his arm and wrist for the 6 weeks required to allow the bones to heal correctly. In addition to the arm, Olsen also has numerous face cuts and a “slightly broken nose,” but prognosis is good and there is expected to be no permanent damage. Olsen will fly home from Huntsville, AL to Aberdeen, SD tomorrow afternoon.

The 25-year-old Olsen holds the distinction of being the youngest man to have the title of Iron Butt Rider, having earned the title twice in one week. One title was for riding 1000 miles on the oldest Harley-Davidson, a 1936 H-D Knucklehead with 2-up and then again in the same week for covering the 1000 miles solo on a 1939 H-D.

The determined young man is in good spirits and insisted his father and crew stay on to continue the Cannonball run. Carl relayed a message from his son’s hospital bed, saying Matt was pulling for the rest of the Cannonballers. “This whole event is just awesome. The riders are all working together and helping each other to make as many miles as they possibly can and it’s revitalizing their spirit. Everybody’s in it for everybody else. I will definitely be back next year.”

It won’t be on the Sears, however, since the bike is reportedly totaled."

CANNONBAL: TRULY 'WHEELS THRU TIME'

First, an update from Patrick Hayes:



"We started Sunday morning on the reconstructed Premier. At lunch we abandoned and switched over to the Excelsior. There was another HUUUUEGE crowd at Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Vally.



Pete says the Premier never would have handled those NC mountains, even on its best day. Brutal roads but beautiful country. So we got mileage to lunch, but a dnf for the day.



The Excelsior now won't stay in third gear. Monday morning was another very mountainous ride. We opted to drive to lunch in the truck.



After some tinkering, we discovered the Premier had a flat tire! Very complex to repair, so we drove to th finish in Chattanooga to do more repairs.



We're in for a big dinner treat at the Coker Tire Museum tonight. Hopefully, the Premier will be up for a more sedate ride to Alabama on Tuesday.
Patrick"



And from Matt Walksler:

"Hi Paul,
Matt Walksler from Wheels Through Time here. I've been reading your updates on the Cannonball......great stuff.



Yesterday, we had the whole gang into the museum.....what a day. The mountains really turned out to be the "proving grounds" for those testing the capabilities of their mounts.



(By the way.....wonderful coverage of Pebble Beach! Looks like motorcycles might be a staple for years to come.
Keep up the great work!)"
Matt Walksler
Wheels Through Time Museum


And so it appears we have two correspondents from the Cannonball! Thanks Matt and Patrick!

CANNONBALL UPDATE: UNDAUNTED

The latest from North Carolina: I'm enjoying vicarious motorcycle rally miracles...the sort of fortuitous meetings and helping hands which make touring on an old bike an unpredictable adventure...




"Sorry for the radio silence. Pete wanted to post the news first to his blog and he was too busy as you shall see.



We did 65 miles on Day1 and snapped the crankshaft in half. We skipped dinner and worked into the wee hours doing a full disassembly and diagnosis. While working in Greenville, NC, two local moto cops came by to check out the bikes. We were chatting about our failure and discussing our need for a good machinist the next day. Five minutes later, the cop hands Pete his cellphone and says 'here's your machinist'. He knew a guy a few towns away and had gotten him out of bed to talk to us!



Day2 we skipped the start and ventured off to find this machinist. Turns out his is a vintage moto collector in his own right and has 100 bikes. His business is industrial repair and he has a HUUUUUUGE complex with all the equipment you would ever want. Business is closed on Saturdays. He calls his best journeyman machinist and tells him to get to work. Four hours later we have toured his personal museum and we have our precision parts in hand. Won't take any money except for us to give a good tip to the guy who came in on his day off.




Four hour drive to the next destination, skip that dinner and begin the delicate reassembly. 0100 this morning it made noise and we headed to bed. Up again at 0600 for final connections and adjustments and Pete started Day3 on time. The lead riders have like 350 points and we have 60. Today is flat in the morning but very hilly in the afternoon. Riders have an option to drop out and avoid the hills without penalty. We need the points, so Pete is planning the full day.



BTW, there were at least 7 engines in full disassembly last night and some who worked all night without ever going into the hotel that they had paid for.




Ain't this fun?

Patrick"

Thanks Patrick! Keep the reports coming!

MOTORCYCLE CANNONBALL, PART 2: EARLY CARNAGE

From the Motorcycle Cannonball website:

"With the blessing of perfect weather, the Cannonball got off to a roaring start, leaving Kitty Hawk at around 10am, Eastern Standard Time.  Almost all of the riders got off to a good start, but Bill Nugent was unable to make the start for undetermined reasons.  We will get you details when we have them available.

The biggest casualty of the first stage was Pete Young's Premier, which suffered a catastophic crank shaft failure which, unless a replacement 1913 Premier crankshaft presents itself, will most likely take Pete out of the Cannonball.  No one wanted to see this happen to Pete, and to have it happen this early in the event made it all the more sad.

(Note: that's a front brake!)
Many of the riders had fuel issues, needing to stop for gas supplied by the support crew.  One of the stations the Cannonballers stopped at actually ran out of gas itself!  The support crew has been credited with being right on top of every issue that came up, and already has proven invaluable. 

Though there were several roadside issues to deal with, everyone was in high spirits, and reports of riders helping riders were the norm. 

Felicia promises to get me some pictures and more information just as soon as she can get to a WiFi connection (and take a well deserved break).

Stay tuned, it's going to be a bumpy ride!"

Let's hope Pete can borrow another bike, or even fix his 1913 Premier!

Patrick Hayes Notes (and thanks again for the on-the-spot reportage!):

"Mayhem at the start at the Wright Brothers Memorial.  Nobody anticipated 2,000 spectators!  Park Rangers had a tough time keeping the road open.  Fantastic madhouse.   We had people drive in from five surrounding states just to see the start.  Now we will see how many make the run to Greenville.

BTW, the guy with the green flag is the MAYOR of Kitty Hawk."

MOTORCYCLE CANNONBALL RUN

The Motorcycle Cannonball is a cross-country 'endurance run' featuring pre-1916 bikes, in the spirit of Cannonball Baker's record-breaking 1914 jaunt, which took 11 days.  'Cross-country' as in across the United States; yes, the premise is outrageous, and that's where the fun begins.  The riders are collecting in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to begin their theoretical two-week run over 3300 miles, averaging around 250 miles per day, over the fairly flat terrain of the southern US (to see their route, click here).

This ride has been planned well over a year now, with Lonnie Isam responsible the complexities required to feed, house, and manage the riders.  As you can imagine, with such old machinery (and a few old riders!), the cast of characters, mechanical and human, changes weekly, and it was anyone's guess who would actually fire up their engine on September 9th, 2010, and set off on a loooong ride.

The possibilities for mechanical carnage are endless, but the intrepid entrants have come generally well-equipped for the task, typically with a rolling workshop/trailer and multitude of spares - whole engines, wheels, frames, the lot.  Early motorcycles are simple, so an engine swap will take only a couple of hours.  Changing a frame, maybe four.

If you're getting the notion that the entrants are generally well-heeled enough to take a couple of weeks to ride an old bike around, with an entourage of mechanics, spares, masseuses, and a fancy-damn truck...you'd be generally right, but not all of them are well-heeled.   Most importantly, they're all intending to ride 3300 miles on 100 year old motorcycles!

I have many friends on the ride, and will rely on their first-hand photographs and notes for occasional updates on the progress of this puffing, chuffing, smoky circus.

  If you're using a drive belt, better bring a spare, as they're notorious for stretching and breaking.

Chabott Engineering means Shinya Kimura!  Shinya is riding a blue 1914 Indian.

Plenty of room for troubled machinery on this rig; that's 8 front wheel clamps!

 Note modern wheel rims and tires, plus bicycle mechanical disc brake - all encouraged

Our hero; Pete Young on his 1913 Premier.  Patrick Hayes, who is keeping Pete company and driving his truck, says:
"I think there are just over 50 registered with perhaps 45 ready to start.  There are a few bikes that arrived and won't operate.  Pistons and clutch bits laying about the parking lot.  One guy with an Indian twin spent 5K on an engine rebuild and spit out an exhaust valve in the parking lot!  I've just driven Pete's truck from SF.  I'm having a real hard time imagining these heroes tackling the eastern mountains and western deserts.  Actually, I'm in awe that most of them start.  Forget the regular runners.  There are pristine museum pieces here and their owners fully intend to try the full distance.  There are bikes here worth over 300K and they are just going to go down the road.

My only source of info on the owners is the reg list available on the website.  Look at my photos and find the guy who registered and then got a California vanity plate with his rider number!!  Now that is PLANNING.  You should see some of the trailers and tow rigs out here.  With Pete's truck I look like the Beverly Hillbillies."

 Indian with a few modern touches, but very few indeed.  It's still a 100 year old motorcycle.

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about...if you're bringing a trailer, bring a lathe, and a welder, and some spares, and a massage table, and perhaps your therapist too.

Fred Lange's trailer includes a lift!  For the man who makes these bikes every day from scratch, I would expect nothing less.


Advanced planning - registering your machine with your Cannonball entry number!

Yes they smoke a little, because they need oil to run, and the tolerances are kept loose...

Some detail on the Militaire; a museum piece to be road-tested over two weeks.  Rare!

Matt Olson spent months prepping and restoring his Sears.  Note the Triumph twin-leading shoe front brake!  Note complete lack of brake on comparable Sears!

Yes, there was a LOT of this in the parking lot; clutches, gearboxes, and whole engines being fettled.  Like I said, they're pretty simple beasts, meant to be maintained by enthusiastic farm boys

 Some of the gang on the Kitty Hawk pier.

Many thanks to Patrick Hayes and Pete Young for the photos!  Keep track of Pete's exploits on his blog: http://occhiolungo.wordpress.com/