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Cannonball Run

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‘a modern classic’

n Alan Stulberg

stretches his legs as

well as the legs of a

Brough Superior 11-50

n Modern blacktop.

Vintage bikes. Heaven

pre-1937

cannonball

endurance run

Settle yourself down for the ride of a lifetime as 100 riders take on a 4000-mile

odyssey across America – on vintage bikes up to 100 years old. It’s a tale of

iron butts on bikes worth their weight in gold. And all for the love of riding

Words & Photography: michael lichter

M

otorcycles are made to be ridden. That simple caveat

is at the heart of the Cannonball Cross Country

Endurance Run. But it’s taken to another level on

this 3,938-mile coast-to-coast run across America.

We’re talking about the kind of bikes that are so

historically significant – and so stratospherically expensive in some

cases – that you’d expect them to spend their days as museum

pieces or being cossetted in private collections as ‘investments’.

‘Run’ is probably an inadequate description of this event;

‘marathon’ is a more appropriate for what amounts to 17 days of

riding (and repairing) old motorcycles. Reviving the pioneering

spirit of the ‘early riders’, the Cannonball has become the ultimate

test of man and his antique machine.

This year was the third instalment of the event, with 100 riders

setting off from the sands of Daytona Beach, Florida and heading

north-west in the hope of reaching the finishing point in Tacoma,

Washington – all giving bikes worth up to £100,000 the biggest

thrashing of their lives.

The first Cannonball, in 2010, attracted 45 pre-1916 bikes and

ran from Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to Santa Monica,

California. Cannonball II in 2012 had 69 pre-1930 bikes from

Newburgh, New York to San Francisco, California. But this year’s

Cannonball III allowed bikes through to 1936.

The inclusion of these much more ‘modern’ bikes, made the

Cannonball accessible to many more riders. It also meant, as the

bikes would potentially prove more reliable over long distances,

that more miles could be laid down daily at higher average speeds.

So the organisers planned a longer route for this year’s run, and

for the first time ever, the Cannonball started on a beach with

n Peter Reaves’ 1929

Harley JD on the sands

of Daytona Beach

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n The run took in altitudes

from sea level to the

11,990ft Loveland Pass

n It was a real family

affair for Harley artist

Scott Jacobs and his

wife and daughters

On the Loveland

Pass, temperature

ranged from -2°C to

23°C in four hours

the waves of the Atlantic Ocean kissing the bike’s tyres as all the

riders and bikes lined up for a monumental panorama photo to

commemorate the start. Could there be a more appropriate place

than sands of historic Daytona Beach? A place where so much

motorcycling history has been made. Setting that up took quite

some time, but as soon as the shot was taken, the flag came down

and the bikes struggled through the sand to hit the road and their

first navigation point, 100 yards ahead.

The cross-country route sounds easy enough – modern road

surfaces, well signposted routes – but in addition to the sheer

distance travelled on extremely old bikes, the riders had to rise to

the challenges thrown at them by Mother Nature. They ranged

from the 35°C heat and extreme humidity of Florida to -2°C (plus

wind chill) in the mountains of Idaho. Added to that, it wasn’t

easy for the riders to prepare for the climatic conditions from day

to day, as none of the participants really knew where the route

would take them (other than the day when the organisers warned

the riders about Loveland Pass, where the temperature ranged

from -2°C to 23°C in just four hours.

The riders also had to plough on through heavy rain, and one

morning we all woke up to hail falling sideways, support vehicles

stuck up to their hubcaps and government flood warnings. On

that one occasion, for safety’s sake, race officials encouraged

riders to trailer their bikes (without penalty) to the lunch stop!

But what a way to see the USA – on two wheels, taking the back

roads through every one-horse town through some spectacular

scenery. No wonder riders from Japan, South Africa, France, Italy,

Spain, Poland, England, Ireland, Germany and Canada grabbed

this unique opportunity to see the States in all its raw beauty.

n Paul d’Orléans and

Ken McManus get high

n Even the Beach

Boys were there

n Iron horse.

Iron bridge.

Iron butts

The rules of endurance

Most people think of the Cannonball as a race, and yes, with

number plates clearly mounted on both sides of each bike, there

certainly is a competitive spirit to it, but as the name implies, this

is an endurance run. As such, riders are awarded points for every

mile ridden and the goal of getting to the finish at Tacoma with a

perfect score of 3,938 points (ie covering every mile of the route).

Points are deducted for various things like: breaking down on

course and getting picked up by an official chase vehicle; your

support crew helping you to repair your bike during the day (even

handing a tool over is regarded as outside assistance); coming in

past the 45-minute predetermined window in which you’re

allowed to cross the finish line; having a co-rider sharing a bike

(this results in an automatic 100-point penalty); or having a bike

that was somehow not compliant with the rules.

Some riders were interested in checking the standings nightly,

but for many, the points didn’t mean a thing because they were

simply looking for adventure, the fun and the personal challenge.

One of the best examples of latter was Shinya Kimura’s Team 80,

who signed up for their third Cannonball with a 1915 singlespeed,

twin-cylinder Indian, the second oldest bike on the run.

Shinya, one of the world’s most celebrated custom bike builders,

shared riding duties with his friend Yoshimasa Niimi, who came

from Japan just to ride the bike on alternate days and work

n Sadly, Ken Smith’s

1928 Harley JD failed

to complete the run

Stage Fri, Sept 5 – 140 Miles

Stage sat, Sept 6 – 250 Miles

Stage SUN, SEPT 7 – 224 Miles

Stage MON, SEPT 8 – 237 Miles

Stage TUES, SEPT 9 – 199 Miles

Stage WED, SEPT 10 – 291 Miles

Stage THURS, SEPT 11 – 244 Miles

Stage SAT, SEPT 13 – 311 Miles

1 Daytona Beach, FL to Lake City, FL 2 Lake City, FL to Columbus, GA 3 Columbus, GA to Chattanooga, TN 4 Chattanooga, TN to Clarksville, TN 5 Clarksville, TN to Cape Girardeau, MO 6 Cape Girardeau, MO to Sedalia, MO 7 Sedalia, MO to Junction City, KS 8 Junction City, KS to Burlington, CO

‘Turn right out of the alleyway’ is

the first instruction and so it goes

on. Riders are given basic

directions. No street names,

no town names. A stern test.

From Florida into Georgia,

Tennessee and Kentucky riders

pass farms with cotton exploding

from their pods and tobacco

drying in smoky roadside barns.

Competitors graze the Midwest briefly,

crossing the Ohio River into Illinois and

the Mississippi a couple of hours later

out to Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Another grey, cloudy day with occasional

heavy rain on the plains. Also one of the

longest days, and the hardest on bikes

with a record 14 picked up by the sweep

trucks and 30 not receiving full points.

Leaving Junction City in heavy fog, the ride

keeps getting better and 10 miles from

the Colorado border the sun appears.

An elaborate dinner in a rebuilt old west

town is followed by a rest day.

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n Kevin Waters scored

maximum points with

his 1931 Sunbeam

n A 1915 Indian in a tunnel.

Just imagine the noise...

n Ireland’s Tom

Hayes rode a 1923

Model F Harley

n Peter Reaves

engages Easy Rider

mode on his ’29 Harley

FROM ACROSS THE POND

British riders on this year’s Cannonball

included Stu Surr on his 1926 Rudge, Kevin

Waters with a 1931 Sunbeam Model 9 and

returning Cannonballer Peter Reaves riding a

1929 Harley-Davidson JD. Kevin and Peter

maintained perfect scores, riding every mile

in the prescribed time.

Kevin finished fourth overall on the 493cc

single he had rebuilt for the Cannonball. He’d

put 1000 miles on the fresh motor near his

home in Norfolk. He had to replace one nut

with a spare he just happened to have with

him. Apart from that, at the end of each day

he just filled up with fuel, topped up the oil,

greased the rockers, checked cables, chains,

and tyre pressures.

Peter knew what to expect and his only

problem was the sticking float valve in the

carb, which he believes is a ‘standard thing’

on an early Harley. Stu experienced

overheating issues with his 500cc, fourspeed,

four-valve single. He’d cobbled this

bike together five years ago to ride around the

country lanes in Lincolnshire – which is not

quite like riding over the 11,990ft Loveland

pass or the desert-like Salt Flats of Utah.

During the hot afternoons, heat from the

cylinder fins caused fuel vapourisation – and

almost seized the engine. But nothing

dampened his spirits and he aims to be back

for another Cannonball.

n An overheating 1926

Rudge failed to dampen

Stu Surr’s spirits

closely with Shinya to keep the bike running. This meant

removing the engine from the bike on two occasions, including

splitting the cases for major repairs on their second go. Shinya and

Niimi, along with Shinya’s wife Ayu, had just an old American

van packed with parts as a support vehicle and hotel parking lots

for workshops, which isn’t much when you consider that many

teams had big trailers fitted with complete machine shops.

Somehow, Shinya and Niimi would be

at the start in their big woollen sweaters,

oil-cloth jackets, high lace-up leather

boots and jodhpurs with the bike ready

and running. However, they did have

one breakdown that couldn’t be repaired

at the roadside, causing them to miss

some miles, so Shinya has decided he’ll

be back for Cannonball IV in 2016,

determined that his bike gets ridden

every mile across this big country. His

attitude earned Team 80 a special ‘Spirit

of the Cannonball’ award in Tacoma.

It’s amazing to consider the value of

the Cannonball bikes. Any one of them

could justifiably reside in a museum, but

it was part of Motorcycle Cannonball

Run founder Lonnie Isam’s original

intention to get these quality bikes out on

the roads where they belong and to let

people see them in context.

Isam’s dream seemed far-fetched to

some, who questioned whether anyone

would really want to sign up their rare

and valuable motorcycle for nearly 4000

miles’ worth of on-road abuse, plus all

the costs involved to get these bikes

across the country. But as in 2010 and

2012, the fears were unfounded and

Lonnie stopped taking entries after

filling up in less than a week!

This year the first-year-of-production

Harley-Davidson Knuckleheads were

eligible. These are clearly valuable

machines that may not appreciate all that

wear and tear, but in the end seven were

signed up for the run and they were impressive to watch as they

barrelled down the highway, often at speeds of 65mph and more.

Many of the bikes on the run were able to hit speeds like this, but

more remarkable was how many were able to sustain such velocity

over many miles, notably the Knuckleheads, the Henderson Fours

and the Brough Superior.

Among the Knucklehead-mounted contingent were two very

refreshing entries – chopper dudes Sean Duggan and Bill

Buckingham. In sharp contrast to all of the other antiques on the

run, these close friends from Southern California both ran

‘Invader’ style spindly-spoked wheels, pull-back ’bars, rigid frames

n Shinya Kimura

exemplified the

spirit of the run –

even in pouring rain

many riders

were simply

looking for

adventure, fun

and a personal

challenge

Stage SUN, SEPT 14 – 250 Miles

Stage MON, SEPT 15 – 278 Miles

Stage TUES, SEPT 16 – 289 Miles

Stage WED, SEPT 17 – 299 Miles

Stage THURS, SEPT 18 – 257 Miles

Stage FRI, SEPT 19 – 284 Miles

Stage SUN, SEPT 20 – 244 miles

Stage SUN, SEPT 21 – 142 miles

9 Burlington, CO to Golden, CO 10 Golden, CO to Grand Junction, CO 11 Grand Junction, CO to Springville, UT 12 Springville, UT to Elko, NV 13 Elko, NV to Meridian, ID 14 Meridian, ID to Lewiston, ID 15 Lewiston, ID to Yakima, WA 16 Yakima, WA to Tacoma, WA

West through Missouri, the Cannonball

transitions into the seemingly endless

Great Plains, through Kansas and half of

Colorado, until reaching the Rocky

Mountains in Golden, Colorado.

After rising to 11,990ft above sea

level to cross the Continental

Divide at Loveland Pass, it’s lunch

in Leadville, Colorado, the highest

town in the States.

A climb over the 10,424ft

Tennessee pass. A week

earlier, it snowed at the bottom

of the mountains, but it’s a

gorgeous sunny day today.

Onward west through the saltscapes

of western Utah and a

stop at the Bonneville Salt Flats

for a second dramatic

panoramic photo.

The barren Utah landscape at times

seemed lunar. Rain and general cloud

cover (and California wildfire smoke)

didn’t help. In late afternoon we cross

into Idaho and the sun comes out.

The Cannonball rolls on to the barren

landscape of Nevada and turns north to

Idaho – more rivers, mostly greener

surroundings – with just the Cascade

Mountains left to cross.

After riding through 12 states and back

down to sea level, competitors roll into the

impressive Lemay Museum, to finish

Cannonball III with a backdrop of Puget

Sound and the Pacific Ocean.

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‘Dottie Mattern, one

Of the four female

riders, turned 70

during the trip’

n Route took

in the Rocky

Mountain

Motorcycle

Museum

and long springer front ends – and both had kept their bikes under

wraps, not posting any photos as all the other riders had done

prior to arriving in Daytona Beach.

keeping the spirit alive

The Cannonball is about keeping bikes running, how everyone

helps each other, sharing knowledge, parts, time... even loaning

motors and motorcycles between teams. It’s about the places

passed and visited along the way.

It was endearing to see father/son teams like Mike and Buck

Carson (1924 Harley-Davidson JE and 1936 Harley-Davidson R,)

Ken and Matt McManus (on identically-painted 1936

Knuckleheads) and Dan and Robb Kraft (1934 Harley-Davidson

VL and 1936 Harley-Davidson VLH).

Of the four female riders on this year’s Cannonball, Dottie

Mattern turned 70 during the course of the trip aboard her 1936

Indian Scout. But she wasn’t the oldest rider – Victor Bookcock

turned 71 on the oldest Cannonball bike, a 1914 single-speed

Harley and Mike Bell was the one who carried the torch as the

oldest rider at 72, riding his 1923 Harley-Davidson J.

The Cannonball was every bit the epic adventure we hoped it

would be. Trials and tribulations took their toll, yet 72 very

satisfied and exhausted riders crossed the finish line in Tacoma.

The winner’s trophy was presented to Hans Coertse at the awards

banquet, as his 1924 Indian Scout was the oldest bike in its class

to run every mile. Almost all the 105 riders who had started were

at the banquet with their families, crew and support staff – it was

some celebration. But while it may have seemed like they were

celebrating the finish, it was really a celebration of the journey.

n 72 riders eventually

crossed the finish line

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