Night Train

Driving the Sprinter from Washington to Michigan re-enforces my awareness of American size, especially in Big Sky country. Montana is a unique place of geography with stunning vistas. The mountains give way to the high plains and rolling hills covered with grasses and grains. For those who live here, the rest of America must seem so foreign and difficult to relate to….

There is something haunting about a freight train whistle at 3 am in Bozeman, MT. Trains with an infinite number of box cars extending into the distance. Some trains so large that four additional locomotives are in the middle of the freight. All this gets me thinking about riding an antique motorcycle across the country and what it might have been like in the early 20th Century. Low horsepower, minimal suspension, poor or no lighting, marginal brakes and uncertain road conditions all contribute to the experience. There are several good books written by authors doing just that back in the day. One I have just finished reading is Riding the Continent by Hamilton Mack Laing. His trip occurred in 1915 and has recently been edited and published with some great period photographs. You can find more about the book here: http://ronsdalepress.com/riding-the-continent/

For us, the Henderson Deluxe is quite a step up in power, weight, comfort and safety. Of course, having a route planned over paved 2-lane roads with a hotel waiting at the end of the day makes this a different activity entirely! None-the-less, we will be working hard and keeping the machines going 250-325 miles each day through heat and rain (and COVID). I am really looking forward to rural America east of the Mississippi River; small towns, friendly people, wonderful scenery and the joy of riding a motorcycle away from urban congestion. Best of all? A great group of riders who share the passion for vintage machinery. Tomorrow I will resume with bike preparation, carburetors, lighting and luggage.

Go and Stop

One of the greatest challenges of riding antique motorcycles in modern traffic is managing shifting and stopping. This is particularly true if you ride bikes which pre-date standardized controls. For example, my 1930 Indian Scout has left-hand throttle, right hand tank shift, left-foot clutch (with heel on rocker to engage) and right-hand advance/retard for the ignition. This is quite different than our 1945 Harley knucklehead. The Milwaukee bike has right-hand throttle, left hand tank shift, toe down to engage clutch and left-hand advance/retard. This requires concentration! I also have reminder messages to help keep things straight:

Harley clutch reminder
Indian clutch reminder

The Henderson Deluxe has a non-rocker clutch which is closer to an automobile clutch. It is spring loaded so that the clutch is disengaged only when you are holding the pedal down. This means that it will suddenly engage if you mistakenly lift your foot off the pedal to place your foot on the ground for balance…major surprise at a slippery intersection! My technique is to put the sift lever in neutral before coming to a stop with the Henderson.

Speaking of stopping, old bikes don’t have very good brakes! For the 2018 Cannonball, we adapted a small Honda front hub so that we had a front brake. Most pre-1928 bikes had only a rear brake with friction material wrapping around a drum. For the 1928 Henderson, the factory front brake provided modest slowing until it got warm, then virtually no stopping. The solution? Adapt a 1960s era Norton hub and drum brake to fit. (The Cannonball allows such modifications for safety.) I machined a sleeve on the lathe that would fit in the hub with a 3/4” O.D. and a 1/2” I.D. to accept the Henderson axle. I needed to also machine spacers to center the hub in the forks. The biggest challenge was to make a strong brake arm to resist the rotational forces of braking but to allow up and down motion as the fork rockers move to respond to bumps in the road. The solution was to machine a bronze bushing to fit within the arm and over the stud in the backing plate. Add some grease to the bushing and drill/safety wire the retaining nut.

Norton brake in Henderson forks

This arrangement provides much better stopping and should give me better control and safety on the ride. I will let you know once we have a few Stages of riding under my belt. Off to Michigan now!