New Electrical System

When, its been a few weeks since my last post, but that doesn't mean we haven't been working. Putting test miles on the rebuilt motor and transmission. Now starting to design and re-wire a complete new wiring system. The goal is to build a Bullet-proof wiring system. Electrical issues can pop up anytime, so after some great debate, studying and think-tank ideas with the Best of the Best, I have come up with a simple wiring system that will have all of the components I need ensure a trouble free system.

First I mapped out all the different things in the wiring system and how I could conceal everything in one easy area, then I decided to design a small custom box that will house all of my electrical switches and wiring.

Then I made a mockup cardboard box to house all the components.

Now, off to my sheet-metal guy. Will update with complete box and new wiring harness.

 

Building A Hard Tail

Hard Tail is a term used to describe a motorcycle without rear suspension. Most all of the Cannonball motorcycles are known as a hardtails. Mix that style of motorcycle with 4100 miles in 16 days and you will find the need of another sort of hardtail to endure this event. My daily driving vehicle is a 2007 Honda Element. This SUV has a real cushy drivers seat. In the discussion of preparing my body for this event, many changs in lifestyle have occurred. Physical training, bicycle riding, diet changes, and several other things have become a training pattern to prepare myself. One of my mentors asked me one day how I was preparing my "rear end" for this ride. I told him all of the above things. He challenged me to another concept, which made me laugh when I first heard it, but after a few days, it occurred to me that he was seriously giving me some advice that could make a big difference in my physical conditioning.

Being the extreme minded individual that I am, we went straight to work on this concept. I found a used Honda Element drivers seat and stripped it to the seat frame. Then, we fabricated a custom mount to install a solo pan motorcycle seat.

 So, for the last few weeks, this has been my drivers seat in my 2007 Honda Element. I get quite a few odd looks when someone sees this seat.
You know that feeling when someone looks at this seat set up, then looks back at you and has that odd look and then walks away. I have seen a few of those looks. My wife says, "That's the end of her driving this car!

Updates since the Barber Vintage Weekend

It has been a few weeks since the Barber Vintage Weekend festival and I have been very busy making progress toward the 2014 Cannonball Run. Here are some of the latest updates. Finally able to get you caught up on the progress. Several new topics listed below:

The clock keeps rolling closer. I just checked in on the calendar count-down icon on the blog, 289 days until the start. September 2014 will be here before you can realize it. Lots of progress has been made in many areas. While we were at the Barber Vintage Festival Weekend, most of the Carson Classic Motors Cannonball team met together for our 1^st team meeting. Riders, Mike and Buck Carson, Steve Simpson, Brent Mayfield, and myself, along with crew members, Bob Huffman, Theresa Prosser and Scott Byrd met together to start officially planning the logistics and game plan. Also in attendance at that meeting were 2 more Cannonball riders from the Cherokee Chapter, located in Texas. Jon Neuman and Greg McFarland had secured 2 rider slots from Lonnie Isam for the 2014 Cannonball Run. They had with them, Shelby Withrow and Jessie Law as their support members. They presented a plan to join up with the Carson Classic Motors team and share support and expenses. Mike Carson approved that presentation plan, so Team CCM now consists of 8 riders plus support personal.

Back to my research and design of my machine that will carry me across the USA, several new items have become reality and are now installed and helping me document and diagnose how my motorcycle will execute on the road.

Digatron supplied me with a digital temperature panel with custom made sensors to read exhaust and head temperatures of the motorcycle while putting 250 to 300 miles per day. Paul Kosma fabricated a pair of custom copper temperature leads that fit under the sparkplugs. These hold the head temperature sensors – EGT sensors are placed in each exhaust pipe to record and monitor the Exhaust Gas Temperature. All four of the sensor leads are routed up to the control panel.

After much research, on devices that can help track specific data I need, I decided on the Garmin Edge 510 – This device is not a mapping device, but accurately monitors many things I need to track. Any GPS mapping device is against the Cannonball rules.

Naming the Bike

My Good friend, Jim Cole has been helping me design and build special parts for the 1919 Harley Davidson Cannonball Motorcycle. We spend a lot of time in his machine shop. Jim made his living using machinery and is a very talented machinist and tool maker. His work can be seen all over my motorcycle. Jim and Connie Cole have a very special daughter named Lisa.

Lisa loves to hang around the shop whenever something is going on. She is very smart when it come to mechanics. She listens very well to us talking about specific mechanical issues. Then later, she will come around and repeat what you were saying and even asked more detailed questions concerning the ideas we were working on. Lisa is probably the next person that gets as excited about my 1919 Harley Davidson motorcycle as I do. This Cannonball event has become a focused challenge for me. With the time and effort Jim has been willing to offer with the machining of special parts, and the energy that Lisa has for my motorcycle, it only seems normal to name the bike “Lisa” and ride it in her name. After the Lord placed naming the bike “Lisa” on my heart, I asked Jim about it. He approved the idea and we worked toward a day when we could surprise Lisa and show her.

Jim, Connie and Lisa came by my shop one night after having dinner. Lisa didn’t know that we had her name painted on the front fender. John Clark from Texas supplied me with a VL Harley Davidson fender.  Jon Neuman delivered it to me at the Barber Vintage Weekend. After getting home, I sanded and painted it to match the rest of the bike. Ricky Neal painted the matching stripe and lettered the name “Lisa” on the front of the fender. I had it installed when they came by that night. I even had the bike up on the lift when Lisa came in the shop. She could not see the top of the fender.

We all got our cameras ready when I told her I was letting the bike down off the lift. She looked the bike over saw her name immediately!! – There was No fooling her - The pictures we captured that night say it all – she whole heartedly approved!! - Now, my newest surprise came when Lisa told me she wanted to ride on the 1919 Harley before the Cannonball Run!! I told her we must get the approval from Jim and Connie on that one - We will see??

 

Securing the 55 gallon drum of oil – 

Lisa Rossmeyer Wade, owner of “Southern Thunder Harley Davidson” in Horn Lake, Mississippi has become a very close friend to me and our local AMCA Confederate Chapter antique motorcycle club. Over the past few years, she has hosted several of our club meetings, catered dinners, taken us on after hour’s dealership tours and allowed us to have antique motorcycle display shows at her Dealership. Months ago, at one of those meetings, she showed me a sealed 55 gallon drum of Harley Davidson 50 weight oil she had in the parts warehouse. She made an offer to sell the new drum of oil to our club at a very special discounted price. At the time, I wasn’t yet secured as a rider in the Cannonball run and 55 gallons of oil seemed like “Oil Over-load. Now, fast forward to being on Carson Classic Motors Cannonball team with 8 riders traveling 4100 miles and the new idea of 50 weight oil seemed like a needed commodity. I wrote Lisa a letter and re-visited the idea of that drum of 50 weight oil. She called me back several days later and told me to come get the drum of oil. Southern Thunder Harley Davidson was donating the oil for our team in the Cannonball run. Here is another example of the great sacrifice many people are making which allows this event to become a reality.

Thank You Lisa Wade & Southern Thunder Harley Davidson – 

We will think of your awesome contribution each day as we pour 50wt oil in our machines!!

 

Back from Barber Vintage Weekend

Well, the 1st calendar deadline was met. I took the Cannonball bike to Barber, running!! My monthly calendar has some specific dated deadlines, one consisted of taking the complete motorcycle to Barber Vintage Festival and ride it on the race track after we completed the Century Lap. What an Awesome experience of riding a motorcycle on the Barber Motorsports Race Track!

Saturday, we had Tech Inspection on the paddock for all of the Century Lap riders. We have a team of club members who inspect the 100 year old machines. My riders this year were Dale & Matt Walksler, Paul Ousey, Ronnie Cox, John Menefee, Joe Gardella, Kevin Grubb, Jack wells, & Dan Fluegeman . This years start was the finest one we have ever had in the nine years.

 

Then, our checkered flag finish was the highlight on the event! John Menefee was riding a 1913 Indian twin and in the lead. Dale Walksler was right behind him. I raised the checkered flag as they were coming to the finish line. In my mind, I just knew John was going to win. In the last 8 to 10 feet, Dale raised up on his 1912 Harley twin and just flew past John and won by 1/2 tire!!! When you look at the finish line picture, there is NO way anyone could plan this. It was the most awesome finish ever!

 2013 Barber Race of the Century Riders

1st – Twin Dale - Walksler - 1912 Indian Twin - #1
2nd - Twin John - Menefee – 1913 Indian Twin - #3
1st – Single - Kevin Grubb - 1913 Rudge Multi - #7...
2nd – Single - Paul Ousey – 1913 Harley Single - #11
Joe Gardella - 1913 Harley Twin - #2
Dan Fluegeman – 1913 Excelisor - #10
Jack Wells – Abington King – No Jersey
Matt Walksler - 1913 Harley Twin - #4 - DNF
Ronnie Cox – 1913 Harley Single - #8 - DNF

 

 

After the Century Lap, the Cannonball Motorcycles got to ride around the track 2 laps. I already had my 1919 Harley on the paddock, ready to go. We had a great turn out of past and future Cannonball riders.

 

Cannonball Riders – Past and 2014 Riders

Paul Ousey – 1925 Harley JD
Buzz Kanter – 1929 Harley JDH

Jim Petty – 1927 Indian Chief

Joe Gardella – 1913 Harley
Buck Carson – 1929 BSA
Jack Wells - BMW
John Landstrom - BMW
Mike Carson – 1924 Harley J
David Lloyd – 1919 Harley J
Steve Simpson – 1928 Harley JD
Jon Neuman – 1926 Harley J

Paul Ousey, Buzz Kanter, Jim Petty and Joe Gardella are 4 of the only 10 people who are competing in the 2014 and have ridden in both previous Cannonball Runs.

Here is a movie clip of the Cannonball Motorcycles  

 

Going Back Together

Time is Sneaking Up - Less Than 365 Days!

I am positive that I can't be the only rider who had the thoughts on this past Thursday, September 5, 2013, "In one year from today, we will be in Daytona Beach, Fl about to take off on a 4100 mile journey". Of the 100 riders, 60 of them are experienced Cannonballers. 40 of us are rookies.1st timers to compete in this awesome adventure. I remember getting accepted as a rider with Carson Classic Motors (CCM) this past May. We had 1 year and 4 months until Showtime, now we are less than 365 days. Time is Sneaking UP on us!
As I write this entry on September 8, 2013 - Next year on this day, we will be 3 days into the 2014 Cannonball Run, pulling out of Chattanooga TN, heading to Clarksville, Tn.

My Cannonball notebook, known as my "Blue Book" mentioned several times in this blog is getting more and more notes and updates. Several weeks ago, I misplaced this book and began to have panic attacks about what happen to it. Then, I got a call from a friend stating he had found it in his shop, just where I had left it weeks earlier. Maybe I should make a copy of the book every couple of months. I did write a note inside the cover to please return this book if found. With my return address and contact information.  There are 12 calendar pages in the back of the book that serve as the final 12 month count-down months. It has dated detail check points and goals listed. Some of those goals listed are:

On the 1st of every month, I will document and write in my current weight.
On the 30th of each month, I will write in total bicycle miles ridden
October 10, 2013 - Motorcycle should be together, running and on the trailer to Barber Vintage Weekend.
December 31, 2013 - 1,000 miles on Cannonball Motorcycle - Engine & Transmission #1
March 1, 2014 - Spare Engine and Transmission complete and installed.
May 31, 2014 - 1000 miles on Cannonball Motorcycle - Engine & Transmission #2.
June 30, 2014 - Original Engine and Transmission #1 installed.
September 5, 2014 - Be in Daytona Beach Fl - Ready to GO

Stumbled upon a very cool video series on Netflix this past weekend. It was called "Long Way Round". 2 fellows, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman ride BMW motorcycles from London to New York (19,000 miles) in 115 days - It was a 7 part mini-series. This documentary makes the Cannonball Run look like a ride through the park - Look it up on Netflix, or search the internet for the complete video series. It is worth watching.

Still working on many items in the shop - Here is a little video on small clips, combined into one video of several things doing into this motorcycle.

 

After seeing the actual route of the 2014 Cannonball Run, brakes have become my greatest concern. Several of the western days are going to see some amazing altitudes. Climbing and descending. I was very happy with the choice of adding a VL front drum brake, but now studying a better rear brake setup. David Kleptz ran in the original 2010 Cannonball and his 1915 performed perfectly. I contacted him months ago and he has been super helpful and sharing a great deal of information and advice. When we last discussed rear brake options, he recommended I used a better rear brake than the original 1919 band shoe over a drum setup. He shipped me a rear brake drum he designed to fit on his 1915 Harley J model rear hub. He also allowed me to copy the design to use on my J model. It requires a Panhead front brake drum and a fabricated backing plate. You mill out the brake drum center and weld in a cogged spine from a sprocket. This setup offers a great stable rear brake and maintains a vintage original look - Thanks David Kleptz for all of your advice and coaching - I would never be where I am today in this project without your help!

Until next time..................

Questions about Stage 12 - Springville UT to Elko NV

In all of my studying the route of the Cannonball 2014 Antique Motorcycle Run - from Daytona Fl to Tacoma Wa. The official Cannonball people have only released the cities and stops for the route. My map on this blog is only my guessing at the proposed route. Some of the stops are easily routed with Google maps. You can take off the "Avoid Highways" and it will route you without using major highways.Stage 12 really has me guessing - Springville Ut. to Elko, NV is connected by a direct major Highway 80 and the distance is 277 miles. If you check "avoid highways", then you are re-routed down US 50 to US 93 and up into Elko, NV. That route is listed as 443 miles!!! What a day that would be. Many people have seen this entry on my blog and question me if it is correct. No one has stated this is the route we will be taking - only my playing with Google Maps.

I once did the Natchez Trace with some friends on Late Model Harley's. We pulled onto the Natchez Trace at Nashville TN at 7 am and rolled to Natchez Ms that evening at dark. It was 440 miles. We did not speed much over the speed limit, however, we also did not play around with stopping and site seeing. Our goal was to run the entire Trace in one day. It was a September day after daylight savings time.

Lonnie Isam's announcement also has noted that the ride will pass by the Salt Flats in Utah. This would be the most logical stage of the run to stop at the Bonneville Salt Flats. So, with that information, the lower US 50 to US 93 seems incorrect. We will have to wait and see what the Cannonball officials tell us when they release the official route. We will keep watching! Hope I didn't scare too many people!

Better Map Details

Better Details of the 2014 Route

Cannonball Antique Motorcycle Run

September 5 - 21, 2014

Let's See the Map!!

 

Lonnie released a rough draft of the Route for the 2014 Cannonball Antique Motorcycle Run.

I plotted pinpoints on the known cities and areas he listed. This is not the exact route, but very close.

 

 

This map is displayed in my office so that the realization of the ride stays right near me

A Change in Lifestyle

So much attention has been focused on getting this motorcycle and parts list on track for a 4100 mile ride. With almost a completely restored 1919 Harley Davidson ready to start breaking in, now I have a spare motor, transmission, generator, carburetor, wheels and many other parts ready to put into action if needed. My detailed logbook, known as the "Blue Book" has many chapter sections of notes, to-do list, and thoughts. Every time I think of anything related to completing this journey, it goes into this book, under the proper section. There is also a section listed as "Fitness" in this blue book. This chapter is intended to monitor the path I need to follow that will help my body get ready for "A Trip of a Lifetime" It's one thing to prepare and restore some 94 year old metal and iron, but a totally different thing to get a 55 year old person physically and mentally ready to endure the elements encountered on a ride like this.
For the last month, I have been getting up at 4:30 to 5:00 am and walking my neighborhood. Covering about 2 or 3 miles a day. My dogs have really been enjoying it, because I take one of them each day with me. The plan was to get a month or two of physical walking under my belt and then advance to a more physical activity after that. Many years ago, I was deeply involved in weight and strength training. That also included running 3 to 5 miles outdoors and on a treadmill. Considering my age, I decided to look into bicycling as a new form of physical training.

The story of finding this Fuji Cross Town 26 inch road bike is really a neat unfolding series of events. While chasing parts for the Harley Cannonball motorcycle, I also began to watch Craigslist, and local sources for a used road bicycle to ride. I had arranged for a local club member to lace and true my new and spare motorcycle wheels. Everyone knows it is a unique art to lacing and truing wheels. I had several new rims, hubs, tires and spoke kits. This included the wheels for the Cannonball bike, a spare set of wheels for that event and even another set of custom rims, intended for a future 1934 Harley Davidson VLD Bobber. The job I needed of lacing and truing wheels was a big job, consisting of 6 complete wheel rebuilds. It seem to be a larger task than my local club member was willing to tackle. He backed out of the job on me, leaving me with "what to do now"!

My friend, Johnny Whitsett informed me about an older fellow named Henry, who owned a bicycle shop in Southaven Mississippi. Johnny said he was an expert at lacing and truing wheels. Henry has been in the bicycle business for nearly 60 years. I called him and described the project. He told me to bring a couple of the wheels down to the shop, drop them off and let him look at them.

A week went by and Henry called me one morning a said, He was worried about scratching the powder coating on the rims when he was lacing the spokes. Then he asked me the Big question, "if you want to come down to the shop and help me, I think we can do this together". That was all I needed! A chance to see lacing and truing with my own eyes. ( Many of my club members had already tried to get me to do the work myself - Yea, Right!!) On Friday, I went to Henry's bicycle shop and he invited me in the back to the work bench and explained how to get started. He even had me masking tape the rims to help against scratches.

 

Henry showed me the very detailed art of lacing the inner and outer spokes. After a few minutes, it clicked in my brain and understood how to lace the spokes. Lacing is one thing, truing the wheel is another thing! After a few minutes, we had both wheels laced and snugged up tight. I actually laced the 2nd wheel with Henry coaching me. While Henry and I were lacing wheels, I also told him about my quest for a road bicycle to help me get in shape for this upcoming event. I inquired about any used bikes he might have around the shop. He pointed to a few rough old bikes in the corner of the shop. Nothing I would want to actually ride. That was about all he said concerning bicycles.

After lacing these 2 rims at Henry's shop, I went home pretty excited about this new procedure I just learned. I pulled the red custom rims and hubs up on my work bench and started to lace these two rims. Henry told me if I wanted to lace those wheels at home, I could bring them over to his shop on Saturday and leave those with the ones we already laced. He would true all 4 of the wheels the next week.
About 1 hour later in my shop, Here were the results:

So, Saturday, I go back to Henry's shop, with the red wheels to let him inspect my lacing skills he had taught me the day before. He looked the wheels over and, "boy, you did good". As I was about to leave, Henry said, "David, I want you to take that bicycle right there out in the parking lot and ride it around for a few minutes and tell me what you think about it". He pointed to a bike setting right next to the door, ready to ride.

This was the Fuji Lightweight 26 inch frame road bike with 24 speed Shimano trigger shift levers, front shocks with anti-dive, and a Gel padded seat. The bike was Awesome!

As I was driving back home in my Honda Element with a brand new Fuji road bike tucked in the back cargo area, two things occurred to me:

There is a reason Henry has survived 60 years in the personal family bicycle business. He wasn't a pushy salesman, he was actually quit clever. He listened to me when I described my plan to find a used bike, and actually had exactly what I was looking for sitting right in front of me when I came back to the shop. I already knew what a new bike was going to cost if I went down that road. My original plan was going to be finding the guy who bought a brand new bike, rode it for a year and hung it on the wall. Enter David Lloyd to sweep it up for half price!!

Number 2 - Henry taught me something I will carry with me for the rest of my life. How to spoke a 4 cross pattern wheel. That alone was worth spending my money with Henry and his small bicycle shop.

So, for the last few days, I have been riding my new bike, putting miles on it, continuing down the path of preparation to Ride in the 2014 Cannonball Antique Motorcycle Run next September. 4100 miles - Daytona Fl to Tacoma, WA in 16 days. - More to Come - David

Timken Tapered Neck Bearing conversion for Harley J models

I have been asked by several people to expand in more detail the work required to convert a J model Harley roller bearing neck to the tapered Timken bearings we installed on my Cannonball Motorcycle. I would be more than happy to share the details we experienced while machining these cups. Plus, I will include some detail photos of the project.

As you will see, the factory cups for the fork neck on early J model Harleys (1911 - 1921) held 40 - 1/4 inch (.250) roller balls. 20 balls in the upper cup and 20 balls in the lower cup. These balls get wear and develop flat spots on the rollers, which cause a sloppy front end, speed wobble and just stiff turning. For the Cannonball project bike, we decided to install Timken tapered roller bearing in the neck of this 1919 Harley. This conversion is quite common on motorcycles with the ball bearing necks, but no one we found offered the proper cups to fit an early J Harley.

After knocking out the original cups with a brass punch and hammer, inspect the neck and clean all edges.

The factory measurement for the neck height is 5 1/4 or 5.258. At this point, we also decided to install a complete VL I-beam front-end on this bike. All components will exchange. This also allows me to install a front drum factory VL brake setup without any modifications.

Here are some detail shots of the actual bearing cups we machined to hold the races and tapered timken bearings

Timken Race Part # 15520 - sug retail $8.43

Timken Tapered cone bearing Part # 15590 - sug retail $16.28

Here are the measurements for the race holders - Top and bottom cups are exactly the same.

Use a threaded rod with large washers to squeeze the cups into the neck.

Here is the VL fork installed in the J Harley neck with tapered neck bearings.

Hope this is helpful. I have not ridden the bike with this frontend yet, but plan to have it back together in the next few weeks, so we can start to test and adjust it as we continue to press forward on the Coast to Coast Run in 2014 - Thanks