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!!