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The Cannonball 2014 - September 5 - 21

20774

20774

Liaison
Staff member
20774 said:
Well today was the start of the run from Daytona Beach, Florida, to Tacoma, Washington...nearly 4000 miles, ending on September 21. Bikes built before 1937 are eligible. Information on the run is here:

http://www.motorcyclecannonball.com/

Our forum liaison, Darryl Richman, is running his 1928 R52. His bio his here:

http://www.motorcyclecannonball.com...ro&pid=55&sid=93:52-Darryl-Richman&Itemid=109

Darryl's blog will be up here:

http://www.vintagebmw.org/v7/cannonball_blog
Click to expand...

Excellent! I followed last year and will do again this year... If I only had the time and $$$$$ to do this myself ;)
 
Not to mention having a motorcycle that falls into the year category!!

Looks like everyone has finished both stages so far, so not much to separate riders/bikes. I guess as time goes on, longevity will come into play as people can't finish a stage.
 
Jim,
Thanks for sharing the update and photos. It pleases me greatly to see Eric healthy and happy after all he has been through. The photos are awesome btw.
 
Looks like Darryl is running in 4th out of 6 bikes in Class I after 6 stages...originally it appeared there were 11 bikes in this class. It also appears that so far people are finishing all the miles of each stage.

Today's Stage 7 takes them to Junction City, KS, where there will be a rest day tomorrow.
 
Tough luck.
Ken Smith's 1928 HD JD up in flames
No injuries, that's good
Sorry for your loss guys, you must be devastated.

Go Shatzi II!!!
 
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My sister is crossing Kansas on way back to TX...said she saw a large group of old bikes near Topeka. She is the chatty one, so approached two riders to ask what was going on...Italians and no English:laugh

She found another rider and got the scoop...then left me a lengthy voicemail last night about her experience. She said they putt-putted out of the parking lot at a very slow pace :whistle
 
Erik

Unfortunately, Erik's had bike issues that he was unable to repair and is out but he stayed around Friday in Junction City to help other riders get work done for the Saturday start. I went up Friday and stayed around to see the riders off yesterday morning, 38 degrees and fog. It was a thrill to see the bikes start off on their 318 mile ride. I'll be putting some rider interviews and pics on my podcast in the next few days if anyone cares to check it out at http://www.longridersradio.com


jdubick said:
Here are some pictures of our friend Erik Bahl of Huntsville Alabama from the stop in Chattanooga. They all act like they are having a lot of fun. The stop was at the Coker Tire Museum in Chattanooga. Some of the pictures are of the museum.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/...073741853.100001754329423&type=1&l=90a22623f9
Click to expand...
 
I believe it was a machanical issue

But he is hanging in and should finish. I think he had some sort a "get off" issue as well but recovered and completed that particular stage in which it occurred. Now Norm Nelson riding the Jack Wells "Shatzi 2" ('28 BMW R 52) machine is currently running 2nd overall. The first place machine is also a class 1 and limped across the stage finish line yesterday with a possible transmission problem. Latest word on that is the bike was repaired and started today's stage with no issues, I hope it holds together and is able to complete its perfect run. It seems that the Class 1 (500CC and lower displacement) machines are fairing much better than the bigger bikes this time around, a greater percentage of them remain in the rally with 3 stages and about 700 miles to go. Regardless of the displacement BMW's seem to be the dominant machine during this Cannonball Rally.

I receive extraordinary updates from the Jack Wells team every day.
 
Posted on another forum:

He said that between the clutch and tranny there is gear that's held on by several small screws. Those screws sheared and put Darryl out after 70 miles for yesterday and none today. There is a work around in place and they expect to be on the road again tomorrow and to finish.
Click to expand...

Isn't that the usual situation...a 0.99 part causes you to grind to halt! :banghead
 
Darryl just posted to FB they have a fix and he'll be back tomorrow.

Go, Darryl and his team!

Voni
sMiling
 
I hope Darryl's OK with this...he posted this to the Yahoo /2 website. Obviously he's very busy, so he's had little time to communicate. Here's what he said about the "gear":

The gear (not really a gear, but looks like this one - the Germans call it a Kupplungsklaue, a clutch claw) that is on the transmission input shaft and meshes with the teeth in the middle of the clutch plate is a problem on my bike. It's shallower than stock. I actually came home from Germany this summer with 5 of them, in three different widths, but they all stick forward more than the one that came with my bike.

After the last Cannonball, this "gear" was highly worn and needed to be replaced. A machinist I know cut off the teeth and machined a ring with new teeth that is attached with 8 set screws. It worked for about 3500 miles (including break in/test miles), but the screws sheered on yesterday's leg and left me stuck.

Last night we installed the thinnest of the gears I got in Europe. The clutch teeth are 4mm thick, and this gear meshes on about 2-3mm of that. We tried it out last night and it seemed to be ok, but this morning, very shortly after the start, it was clear that it wouldn't work - the gear managed to get in front of the clutch plate and out of mesh. So I rode in the truck to Lewiston today.

The machinist had given me a second ring and another set of screws, so we've installed that now. The bike shifts fine again and, based on the previous experience, we believe it will get me to Tacoma. But clearly this is not a long term fix. That will have to wait until after the CB.
Click to expand...
 
142 miles to go and I am on the edge of my seat

It looks as though there is a BMW starting today starting out today in First place in the 2014 Cannonball Rally with a 142 miles to go! I have my fingers, toes, arms, legs and eyes crossed for a successful final leg of this years Rally for Norm Nelson and Shatzi II. What an accomplishment for Team HMS 23 and all the competitors. I see that Daryl is hanging in there and may get to run the finish line also. I haven't seen anything on John Landstrom, any updates on his ride?
 
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