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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.

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:

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.

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!

One of the projects that was undertaken when preparing Lydian for the Cannonball was to make sure the frame was up to the task. These four-cylinder motorcycles were used hard during their day…many as Police bikes. They were smooth and fast and able to out-perform many automobiles of the 1920s and ‘30s. Primitive roads, minimal suspension and rapid speeds means powerful forces fed into the forks and frame. So, more than 90 years later, I wanted to be sure that we could go straight down the road with the suspension working as it should. The parts were disassembled and laid out for inspection:

First up: fix the front forks. When we looked closely at the major and minor forks, it was clear that all was not right. In the photo below, you can see that the forks had suffered…bending back and hitting the head stock of the frame. Once straight, proper geometry was assured.

Next up: foot boards need leveling. When you are riding day after day, it is important to have flat, level foot boards. Ours needed some straightening and welding to give proper position and feel:

For the seat, I removed the original pan with its cracked leather and substituted the old-style Harley seat which I had used on the 1917 Henderson. With its springs and sheepskin cover (provided by Frank Westphal), comfort would be as good as a rigid rear end can offer.

Today we worked on packing and loading tools, spares, generator, cooler (for beer) and work lights. Hopefully the nightly maintenance will not be too demanding. Tomorrow, we will load in both the 1917 and 1928 bikes. Almost ready to start the drive to Michigan!

Unlike the Detroit-era Henderson four cylinders with their inlet-over-exhaust valve arrangement, the Chicago-era bikes were side-valve “flatheads”. The engineering of combustion chambers was evolving rapidly in the 1920s and particular accolades are given to Harry Ricardo, a British engineer. He developed a combustion chamber design that minimized pinging (aka, knocking) with improved fuel turbulence and combustion, smoother operation and greater horsepower than previous designs. Numerous motorcycle, automobile and airplane companies licensed the Ricardo design including Schwinn for the Henderson Deluxe. Finding some cylinders with Ricardo chambers in good condition was accomplished my our engine builder, Mark Hill of 4th Coast Fours.

The assembly of our ‘28 engine incorporated some enhancements used to overcome certain design weaknesses. Most importantly, we need to assure reliable delivery of clean oil at adequate pressure to the crankshaft, pistons, rods and transmission. The oil pump was modified to provide additional lines to an external, spin-on filter cartridge and to the main shaft of the 3-speed transmission. That main shaft was line drilled with oil outlets into the shaft bearings. Here is a picture of the rear of the engine showing the shaft and gears:

The crankshaft is supported by three main bearings but this engine got “special treatment” as shown here with Carrillo rods and custom bearing shells:

Next up, frame repairs and preparation.

Here we are. After three years, it is time to ride old bikes with old friends down 2-lane back roads in rural America. After the 2018 Cannonball, the 1917 Henderson (aka, Bluebird) received an oil change and was allowed to rest for 2.5 years. The distraction? Our 1928 Henderson Deluxe motorcycle – which we had planned to ride in the 2020 event. You know what happened…COVID de-railed the timing which was a good thing as our engine was not complete at 4th Coast Fours in upstate NY.

The goal with this blog is to bring you along from Sault Saint Marie, Michigan out to Myrtle Beach, SC and then down to South Padre Island, TX. You can read about the ride and see the planned stops at the Cannonball website: https://motorcyclecannonball.com

We are finishing last minute bike adjustments and packing the Sprinter for the drive from Seattle to Michigan over the next few days. While on the trip across the upper mid-west, I will share some details and photos of the ‘28 Deluxe (aka, Lydian…see if you get the connection) as she was made road-worthy. Here we are during some initial break-in miles on the lovely Vashon Island.

I look forward to the ride…feel free to share!

That was a beautiful ride through the Columbia River Gorge. Twisty roads lead us out from The Dalles. We crossed metal-grated bridges over the river several times and ended with the familiar comfort of deep green forests at the Skamania Lodge. (side note…I gave a lecture here at a Neurology meeting some 20+ years ago!).

Blue Bird sang sweetly all the way across America and we were part of a group that received “perfect miles” medals. And to have the top finishers represent Harley Davidson, Indian, Henderson, Norton and Triumph manufacturers is outstanding.

To finish the Cannonball endurance run, you need a good bike and good people. We had both including the support and camaraderie of the 4th Coast Fours team (thanks Mark, Tanner, Loring and Kevin). My greatest thanks go to riding partner Vern Acres, van driver and caretaker to all, Shelley Acres and especially to Nancy for always supporting these crazy passions. Here we are at the finish grounds:

Now…let’s start planning for the next Cannonball in 2020!

It was not supposed to be this hard or this crazy. Stage 15 was to be 303 miles through the rolling hills of Eastern Washington. Well yes, that part was true but the headwinds were brutal. These under-powered cycles had to work extra hard to get through that constant roaring and pressure. On some stretches, it came more as a side wind in which case the bike was on a constant angle of lean. The only solution for me was to tuck into a racers crouch. This is the view:

The winds caused all sorts of ruckus including drifts of onion skins and hundreds of bruised onions rolling on the shoulders of the two lane road. Some riders adopted an attitude and this one is clear:

The route had one stretch of 120 between fuel stops. With the strong headwinds, I had to stop and use my spare gas bag with a gallon to top up the tank just to make it to The Dalles. This is along the Columbia River near the Chateau St. Michelle winery:

Boots are now tired…Stage 16 has only 51 miles to reach the grand finish at Skamania Lodge; then the boots can rest.

 

On the short list of places for riders and bikes…the special roads that make you say “yes, that is why we ride”, the Going to the Sun Road is one of top three. When we set out in the morning, Jason Sims informed the riders that the road was finally open (after the severe fires) but that there was an alternate, easier route available with an 11 mile/point penalty. No thanks…we said “let’s go”. So we bundled up with the “live long and proser” gloves:

Somehow, the forces of the universe aligned, the sun came out as we went through the Teton Valley and the mountains beckoned. As we headed toward Glacier National Park, Vern and I connected with Andrea Labarbara on her Class II single-speed Henderson and we formed a three bike train. Like  precision  speed skaters we swept through the virtually empty twisties on the route to the park. We were careful to avoid the free-range cattle on the roadside. Once in the park, the steady climb brought us to Logan Pass at 6600 feet (picture credit to AMCA site).

Wow. Shafts of sun and distant cloud bursts. Grizzly bear foraging in the brush not 30 yards from the bikes. Crystal clear mountain streams. Smooth road with spectacular sheer cliffs on either side. Linkert carb dialed in so the power delivery was smooth and the elevation caused no problems. This is why we ride. (The rain and hail at the bottom was not even enough to dampen spirits).

At the end of the day, it was great to visit with local bike enthusiasts (a shout out to the Montana Legends) and to do maintenance without having to do repairs. Stage 14 should be cold in the morning and then warm up as we get to Spokane, WA.

Some years ago we started taking longer, more adventurous sailing trips on our sailboat Little Wing. The mantra for sailing couple marital bliss was “warm, safe and dry”. Yesterday was the motorcycle challenge which was “cold, (potentially) dangerous and wet”.  It started out cold and got colder. We saw a low of 37 degrees so thank you Aerostitch for the fine riding gear.  And while it did not pour rain, we did ride up into and through a cloud which seemed to surround everything with suspended precipitation. The riding however was beautiful with rock formations, dark evergreen forests and mountain creeks meandering beside the roadway. Here is a borrowed picture taken on a sunny day:

Elevation? Yes sir! King’s Hill has a long relatively steep climb to the summit of 7393 feet which is difficult for these old bikes. Most are not geared to pull that peak and most need considerable carburetor adjustment to be lean enough to keep running in the thinner air. I made some preliminary adjustments in the morning thinking I would do the usual tweak while riding if needed. Well, tweaks were needed but I had not taken into account that I couldn’t feel or turn the low and high speed jet needles with cold weather gloves on….and I wasn’t going to stop on that hill! Blue Bird accepted her mission and we slogged over the top in second gear at 34 mph.

The down hill run was a blast but this is where we were reminded of the potential dangers associated with riding antique motorcycles. My friend and fellow bike collector, Byrne Bramwell had stopped to get gas partway down the mountain and while going 30 mph on a smooth surface, felt the front of the bike lurch, wheel briefly lock, and had to use all of his prior motocross skills to keep it upright. The wheel was cocked at an odd angle and it was clear that so-called minor fork had broken. While heartbreaking for someone in contention for an overall win, Byrne will not be able to complete the race as this is not a simple repair and there are no Henderson dealers nearby (or anywhere). We are all grateful that he is safe and the bike ultimately fixable.

A really nice description of Stage 11 is also available here: http://antiquemotorcycle.org/. The plan for Stage 12? Dress for even colder and wetter riding as we take on the Road toe the Sun in Glacier National Park,