cannonball

[oldbikers]

The wife and I went for a short ride yesterday and on the way home I kept passing old bikes and I do mean old going the opposite way after passing about 15 of them I came to a stop sign and waited for some to arrive it turned out that there were about 65 of them 1915 and older making a cross county ride from Kitty Hawk to Santa Monica, California a 17 day trip. You can go to there site and check it out they may be coming by your place.
http://www.motorcyclecannonball.com/

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Thanks Jim for letting us know. I will check out the link.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Jim I checked it out. Pretty neat seeing all those old bikes and all.

[biscuitsngravy]

Sure looks like a lot of fun. The organization of the event must have been a lot of work. Almost as much fun as Kawanow events! BnG

[macmac]

Lemme get this straight .......

65 bikes made in around 1915, and it is going to take just 17 days to cross the Country?

That's a good one........ LOL

It's gonna take more than 17 to fix them before they get 1/3rd of the way and another 17 days to fix them again 2/3rds of the way, and after that who knows.

This will be valve jobs, head over hauls, rings babbit bearing on the cranks shafts and all sorts of bearings, fluids and it's just laughable...... geeze.

[Top Cat]

That's a pretty interesting site oldbikers. Thanks for posting the link.

Mac, don't hold back buddy, tell us how you really feel.

[macmac]

I know what I'm talkin about. back then 5,000 miles meant spending 20 bucks to overhaul the whole engine. Some of those bikes have exposed valves and on some you manuall must stop every so often to oil the rockers even!

I am not saying it can't be done, or isn't worth the doing a bit, but it's funny comparing it to the ease we know.

They probably have to rebuild their spark plugs every 1,ooo miles too.

Maybe one guy will get real lucky and make it to Cal in 17 days, but most won't come close that .

We have a similar race up Mt Washington and most guys never get to the top. Thats just 8 miles.

[Cajunrider]

Did anyone notice how several had small puddles of oil on the concrete?

[oldbikers]

Mac they expect to break down they have crew members in pickup and safety guys on newer bikes with side cars. They have had several break downs but they just repair them and keep going yesterday was there 6th day and as far as I know there has only been one to drop out so far and that was a 1912 Sears he hit a pot hole and lost control totaled the bike and broke his arm in 2 places. When we saw them yesterday they had traveled almost 1000 miles in 6 days.

[macmac]

LOL, yeah so long as they can get parts and make parts, or plain make do, they will get there. It ain't rocket science. Too bad one guy is down with a dead bike. Probably that bike can be repaired with some attention to detail.

It just won't be cheap.

I am working on a OT project which ain't cheap. I got a Katria truck here, likely sold illegally, and today I found the water line. To fix it some welding has taken place, alot of torch work happend, and there is a serious investment in parts, but it can be fixed.

That Sears bike is no different. There is still guys around skilled in making any parts anyone wants. There is just 2 problems, one finding a guy who can, and 2 the costs.