Modern Air Filter – Seat Back rest – Removable rear fender flap

Paul Kosma tackled 3 upgrades to my 1919 Cannonball Motorcycle – I had been studying how to install a modern style air filter, which would also help me if we run into rain and bad weather. The factory design was NO Filter, just a scoop style diverter housing. Paul made me a custom intake pipe with a 4 screw flange, which fits my M18 Linkert carburetor. It uses a K&N 3 inch X 3inch Filter with a 1.75 inch flange.

 

 

 

Next, Paul designed a back rest that would bolt on my Messinger seat frame without altering any of the original framework. We used a late model back rest pad from my 2006 Street Glide.

Last, Paul cut about 7 inches of my rear fender off and fabricated a flap with nuts welded on the underside. With 3 bolts, I can remove the lower part of the rear fender and the rear tire rolls out easily when the bike is on the rear stand. That alone will cut my rear wheel removal time in half 



 

300 mile test day

My next trip was planned out as a 300 mile test ride – This would give me the experience to see what 300 miles in 1 day would feel like – I spent the Friday prepping the motorcycle for the trip. We left Olive Branch Saturday morning at 9:15 am. This trip had only 1 back up “Wing Man” Mark Cantrell rode with me on this test run. We followed highway 57 to Pickwick Lake, then to Cherokee Alabama. Then we got on the Natchez Trace for 75 miles to Tupelo Ms. We ate lunch at O’Charlie’s in Tupelo. Then we followed highway 6 across to Oxford, crossing highway 7, north to Holly Springs, then on to Olive Branch, Mississippi. That total trip was 325 miles – We arrived back home around 5:30 pm
 

2 Day Mississippi MINI-Ball Test Run

I put together 2 different test run trips for my 1919 Cannonball Motorcycle, before the start of the actual event in September. My first trip planned, was a 2 day trip around Mississippi. I mapped out a 500 mile circle; place an overnight stop point in the middle.

Lisa & Kimberly about to run down the road together

I invited a few close friends to join me. Mark Cantrell, Willard Gargis, Ed Dacus, Shane Dorton, Roxanne Spencer, Bob Kenney, Les Cooper and CCM Cannonball Riders #25 Scott Byrd and #54 David Lloyd signed on and the 2 Day Mississippi MINI Ball was on. We left out of Olive Branch Mississippi on Friday morning, around 10 am, after breakfast at Hazel’s restaurant. We rode down Old Highway 78 to Holly Springs. Fellow Confederate Chapter member, Pat Jones rode his Honda Dream critter bike with the group on that first leg of the journey. After running through the Holly Springs National Park, we cut across to Oxford. After that, we cut back across to Pontotoc. Down to Houston Mississippi for lunch, then we went south to Sturgis Mississippi. I had pre-arranged a museum visit at Craig Vech’s BMW motorcycle shop / museum Friday afternoon. Vech showed us around his shop, museum and parts department. When we left his place, we spent the night in Louisville, Mississippi.

Early the next morning, we left Louisville, heading to Clarksdale Mississippi, to meet a couple more friends for lunch and continue home. We met Johnny Whitsett and Bill Walters at the famous Abe’s BaqbQ, located at the Crossroads in Clarksdale MS.

Nice looking Spark plugs after 220 miles

Vech's Museum in Sturgis, Mississippi

When we arrived back in Olive Branch, we had traveled 460 miles over 2 days –

AMCA Texas Road Run – Kerrville Texas - April 2014

This year in April of 2014, several of the Carson Classic Motors 2014 Cannonball Riders decided to attend the AMCA Texas Road Run in Kerrville Texas. Jon Neuman (Numo) headed up the event. Not only was Jon a CCM rider, he also took on the responsibility of leading the way for a national Road Run. Anyone with any aptitude understands the enormous task to pull off a successful Road Run – Jon had a Great team of Cherokee club members who jumped right in and help tow the load. Top that off with Mr. “Master of Ceremonies” himself, Steve Klein, and then bring nearly 150 antique motorcycles to Kerrville Texas and you have what goes down in history as one of the most organized Road Runs ever!

Mike & Buck Carson, Jon Neuman, Greg McFarland, and myself, 5 of the 8 CCM 2014 Cannonball riders, along with several Confederate Chapter members enjoyed this weekend of Texas Hill Country. We used this event as a test train for our Cannonball machines.

I had just re-installed my motor from a 1,000 mile inspection – My 1919 Harley ran very good that weekend and logged just under 500 total miles. I also got to experience some roadside repairs. On the first day of the road run, my rear brake backing plate was rubbing the edge of the drum and causing the rear wheel to drag. Mark Cantrell helped me pull the rear wheel, while we were at a gas station fuel stop and I place a thin shim washer inside the drum, which gave me another .004 clearance of the drum and backing plate. The motorcycle ran great the remainder of that day.

Buck gets close to the Ground

Mike Carson - What he calls a POWER NAP!

I rose early on day 2 and went out to prep and maintain the motorcycle for another day of riding. I have a check sheet of items to check off when going over the motorcycle. One thing I noticed, was my back tire was slightly low on air – I had been running 34 lbs in both tires and the rear tire was 28 that morning. I pumped the tire up to 34 and began our day two of the Texas Road Run. At lunch that day, I checked the tire pressure and saw it down to 31 psi. I knew there had to be some sort of very slow leak, and realized pulling the rear wheel again that night was probable. That was about 1pm, so getting back to the hotel seemed a safe bet. Around 3pm, I began to feel the bike getting loose in the rear. We pulled into another gas station and when I saw the rear wheel, I realized the leak had become larger – It was flat. I was riding with Calvin Burnett and Peter Guldan that day. As you can see from my past post, Calvin has been deeply involved with the preparations of this bike and the path of getting her ready for the Cannonball. He also has challenged me to plan my spare parts and tools for a run like this – I will never forget Calvin’s response when we surveyed the options. We were only about 20 minutes from finishing day 2, we were clearly ahead of the sweep trailer – The easy route would be, call the sweep trailer and get it back to the hotel and fix the rear tire so that I would be ready for day 3.

This Carson Bunch sure like to nap on the side of the Road?

I was in full Cannonball mentally – Calvin asked me these questions:

Well, do you have a spare inter-tube with you? I said, yes

Do you have the needed tools to change the tire here? I said, yes

Do you have an air pump? I said, yes

Then he said, “Crap”, let’s do it here

It took us about 45 minutes to 1 hour to completely pull the wheel, break it down, put the new tube in and re-install – One of the things that made it harder, the rear fender is a fixed fender with no hinge. Getting the rear wheel out is a bit tricky, because you have to lean the bike over on the side and wedge the wheel out – You will see in a later post how I address this issue.

This Texas test run gave me some “hands on” road repair time, so that the concept “Ride, Wrench, Repeat” could be fully experienced!

A couple of OLD Timers

Bike Line up with Texas Hill Country as the Back Drop

Little rest Stop!! - MIKE, you are standing too close to Buck!!

2014 Confederate Chapter 5th Annual Scooter ride

Our Confederate Chapter puts on an annual Club Scooter ride each spring. This year’s ride was our 5^thannual Scooter ride – We had around 100 scooters. My Grandson, Zeke has ridden several rides with me. This year, we woke up to rain and chilly wind. After Breakfast, the skies slightly cleared, and we took off to see if the thunder clouds could be dodged.

Here are a few GoPro Videos