Rest day Sturgis

Hi Well we have had our rest day. It was not really a day of rest, more time to make sure we were capable of completing the ride, with necessary repairs and such happening in all area , workshops, car parking lots etc. Our two biggest tasks were to fix our broken clutch basket and repair the brakes that had failed the day before. The brakes were completed, however the complexity of the clutch meant that this had to be machined in a CNC machining center. The parts arrived back to us at 10.30 Pm, and we discovered at 11.00 pm, that they were not correct. Sort of a waisted day, hoever we assempble the remanent fo the broekn clutch and decided to try thi on the day 8 . This was less than ideal, however we had little choice. Christina is having fun, and toured thetown a little, while we worked on others bikes to get them prpepared for the race tommorow. While our clutch is not a show stopper i am surprised that this actually still functions. See what tomorrow brings.

Day 7 To Sturgis

All We left Murdo at 7.00 for the 280 mile ride into Sturgis, throught the Badlands, via the Black Hills into Mt Rushmore. It was quite a ride, and the bike was not going well. It broke down 4 miles from the start with a dropped inlet valve collet. These are unique and i was looking at another trailer ride. As it happens the H/D pins fit straight in and a pal stopped an had these in his kit. So 1/2 hr latter i was going again. The rear brake then came loose, and as we were nursing a blown clutch basket this was going to put strain on the box and clutch. The ride through the national parks were worth the trip, although a little hard to do with a weak box, and no rear brake. At the 200 mile mark the exhuast baffle blew out, so i am sure our neighbours know how this sounds know. It is not the noisest machine, but it is loud. The bike is getting a full owrk out, and is actually getting stronger. We Finshed the day within our time slot and again recieved the full milage. Our score is respectfull and we are in 51 place. There is a rest day tommorow and we will repair the brakes and clutch. Others are busy doing motors, and there are many apart, or the second has also failed. I'm sure ours is run in know, and will be getting stronger. Unfortuanty i cant say that for the box. The pace is so fast, no time to do anything. I planned to take the outfit off and had to allow two days to do this. One to cahnge the tyres and the next to remove the sidecar. After the bikes are brought on the back up, it could be 8.00 or 9.30 pm and this doesnt allow much time to repair them for a 7.oo am departure the next day. Sleep is precisous. Must go.

The race is off.

We have just completed the third day of the ride. I wish i could find time to do more, but the pace is fast, deadlines extreme. We are struggling  with the hills.  They call the range the Never ending mountings and this is quite realistic.  They just go. The scenery is beautifully, however not when the blizzards and winds blow. We started strong on day 1, however 40 miles we lost our throttle cable. IT was something that we couldnt fix on the side so we were on the pick up. The start was amazing, rode through a cavalcade of people and this has been repeated most starts or finishes. The good news is that we were not last on day 1. Paul on his Vello dropped a valve, and the poor old triumph model p, made 9 miles. There were quite a few who failed to make the start and are still Whit us getting there bikes organised. We overhauled the bike and repaired what we could for the next day. We decided due tot he weather and the hills that we would try this solo, with the chair. The bike was running strong, 40 + miles / hr. The conditions were extreme and at one gas station the bike blew backwards in gear due to the wind. I do believe the right decision was to leave Christina in the support vechile. The clutch gave way at about 40 miles. This was a little problem as it is tuff to ride through and up hills without the clutch. I called for pickup, and decided to find a safe collection location. The result was a total of 7o miles for the day over all the Ski resorts and hills. IT was amazing country if you could see this. The total distance for the day was meant to be 310 Miles, so we were in the sweep and arrived at 9.30 pm. A quick unload, and we rebuilt the clutch, valves, chains, maggy, replaced the lost bolts, and had this back running at 3.00 am. The third day was the most difficult, as we had a boat ride on the ferry and this was 300 miles away. There was no way we could make this at 35 MPH average on time. We headed out, and were collected 1 hr after the leaving. The good news is that this was basically a time pickup rather than a failure. It doesn't matter, we having fun. Our bike is cool and tonight Willie Davidson and his wife Nancy were at the function at the museum. Willie was snapping photos and Nancy loved the sidecar. Especially the leather animals in the tauna cover. Had the Iron Indian Riders from South Carolina up here tonight, Its a small world. They were looking for us, and have some more cards coming so we can hand these out. I think we are about 59th or 60th in the listings , but there were many today who have problems. This just reminds us all of how tuff the men were back in 1920 when they originally rode.

The night before the start

All We are at the start of the Biggest International motorcycle event in the world. We have passed the saftey check and also been briefed with the Route and symbols used. The public is amazed with our machine and that someone is going to be riding in  he sidecar. We have been doing laps arround the packing lot with our Flag in Full Flight. Tommorow we change the Kangaroo to the Australian Flag by popular demand. It looks like we will swap and change the flag sevearal times along the route. The bike is going well, had a few minor problems with loosing a bolt on the exhuast and also replacing the broken glass on the fuel cap. Reg this glass didnt work and we know have a hotel Card cut to shape and will know the number of Donimo's pizza soon. The bike seems to be going strong and we are certainly exciting being here amoungst some really neat prepared machines. We ahve just finshed the Gala dinner and again i think this was great. Jsut so many peope we know. The sidecar we doanted to the Organisers is going to be awarded to a team at the organisers discresion. It was well recieved and will be a coverted trophey. Anyway we leave for 210 miles tommorow at 7.04 am and 26 seconds. This is our starting time. I'm sure this is for logistics at the photo shoot  at 8.00 am. More later.

Video update.

We have been buys bee's since arriving in the USA.  The issues with customs allowed some breathing space for a few days and this resulted in some free time to put together a Video (DVD) of the pre-start. The Video is out for production know and is a short documentary of our adventure and the road take to date. This will be available shortly, but a little hard to sort out logistic while travelling on a bike. I am quite surprised at the quality and interest this has received to date and hopefully i remembered to acknowledge all. What most readers will find surprising is that we are belong to the Newport Folk and Fiddle Club back in Melbourne and recently recorded our first CD. Newport Folk and Fiddle Club have been great with the local community support and have supplied us with several copies of the CD to hand out to get our music to the broader audience. Well we have certainly achieved this and i hope that all are impressed with the results. The DVD will be available before the start. The title of our DVD is "The Invincible Adventure" and i hope that all that view this can enjoy this special event, along with our journey to date. We are moving to the start tomorrow and the vibe is really abuzz. Christina arrived and all is well. We are amongst like minded people who all talk our language. Must fly C

Pre-Start Mobilization

All We have come a long way from Newport to Kingston. It is 7.30 Am Sunday morn and today we have so much planned. The Facebook cannonball site has got people coming from here , there and everywhere to congregate on the town of Newburgh, which is about 40 miles south of where we are staying. Its funny how things seem to work out. I met Bill Nugent last season on the C/ball 1 and all i really knew about Bill was that he lived somewhere close to NY and had a finance background. Good things seem to happen, as Bill  bought a Harley Davidson Dealership in Woodstock which is where the hippie festival happened. The interesting thing is that the guys in the know are all heading to Woodstock to prepare for this race. Again i have landed on our feet, and am already running. Davenport swap (Which is the major flea Market) finishes today in Iowa and most guys packed up last night and are heading east to Woodstock. It threatened rain, so most packed up to avoid this. Our support  from Texas (Buck Carson) had trouble with a trailer tube on the 40 ft trailer and lost half a day on the 1600 mile cross state trip. I received a TXT last night that they were in Newburgh and arrived late, but have made the start, although the next txt was that they are also coming to Woodstock today. Jeff Decker (who is the H/D fashion and Sculpture legend ) for the vintage movement is also due in, as are many of last years entries, like Billy Campbell and Jon Szalay. All i can say is, well i am in the right place. I could say that this is because we are there, but it isn't. Bill has a full shop, and is known from last year with the dealership the second closest to the event. It makes sense, as the other shop closer is not that tolerant to the older machines and certainly would not want a troupe of characters disrupting the flow of business. Bill looks as this differently and roped off a section of the workshop , so i have been working on display for the last week. It is no problem, as we have also been on display at home back in Newport, but this is in a public environment and it makes you concentrate. The media is yet to pick up on this, but i am sure this will swing into gear early next week. Having a Camera around makes people take notice as well,a nd we are shooting a few segments for our  DVD. We have shot some really good film on the preparation, to add to our photos. I was a little concerned yesterday as i offered to collect Christina form the Airport. She arrives at 9.30 Pm after a longish flight. It is hard to get out of the airport, let alone find public transport. We are in a regional part of NY similar to Bendigo in Victoria, so it is a little hard to get transport. It took me 6 hrs to find public transport here and arrive at Kingston at 1.30 Pm. Anyway it turns out that Buck has to collect the English at a similar time, so we can ride together. Its amazing how these sort of things always seem to fall in place. I must say that Christina does not like my planing, as she is the organized one, but alas as long we don't forget her and leave her stranded! Maybe I'll Get the Texans to hold up a sign with her name ! Today i am taking the bike out to a lake, and going to put in the Fiddle and sit at the lake for an hour. It is really pretty, and looks like a nice place to relax. I need to take an hour or so for me time, so i can get organized as i doubt i will have time moving forward. It is going to get hectic, but what most people don't know is that we have been at this pace know for the last 6 months, with so much against us. It will work and if it doesn't we will make it work. Just have to remain focused and we can do anything. I cannot load photos on to our blog as i am in a hotel Foyer. I can load them on to Facebook, so if anyone wishes to be my Friend, i would like that. there are also some other sites i am posting on Facebook These are the Iron Indian Riders Australia (Club site) Motorcycle Cannonball  (Run site) Oh, must fly.

Dyno run

All As all the teams congregate upon Newburgh NY it is quite comforting to know that we are here, about 50 miles up the route and more importantly nearly ready. The English teams on those magnificent Rudges are flying in tomorrow. Buck and his Texas crew are pulling half of Texas over with them in the larger than life trailer. I had a text from Buck about an hour ago, advising that the valves on the trailer had not held, so they were awaiting repairs. Already in training for the cannonball. Christina is flying it tomorrow night and Ian Lihou is due to touch down on Tuesday. It will be good to catch up and have our team together again. We have been making progress out here. Despite the Custom-s deli ma in which we lost a full week, i read that others are flying there machines in and i pray that they don't have the issues we had. Our issue was quite simple. It seems that the staff were back-logged with clearances and it just had to go in order. Monday is a public Holiday out here so i hope the clearances go smoothly for the others. In fact it took 5 hrs of waiting in a Que to obtain our goods. There was not really another way around this, but all has worked out. We have removed our transmission again, and checked this out, and are using a semi fluid (grease) in the box to hopefully stop the leaks. It was interesting as the Head Mechanic at Woodstock Harley Davidson noted that the original spiral groove on the shaft was cut the wrong way, so despite all our efforts to correct this it was just poorly designed. It is amazing as i had spent countless hours trying to understand this and fresh eyes provided the answer in a matter of minutes. I guess that speaks volumes for the competence and skill level within the dealership. So much for the best of British Engineering. The gearbox will be our Achilles heel and luckily we obtained a spare from and old pal over in Scotland prior to our departure. This is neatly tucked away for safe keeping. We also changed the gear ratio and fitted a 53 T on the rear. It is hopefully set for sidecar load know and should get our speed up to a comfortable touring speed over 30 MPH.  We put the Jap on the Dyno today. Had some fun guessing its output. It ran 5.93 HP @ 2100 RPM with 15.93 Torque. As this is in sidecar ratio, it is about 20 % less than the solo figures, so these are closer to the  7.5 Hp. We also never got the motor to full revs, as this is quite a fresh motor, so didn't wish to race it over that. The motor is basically a veteran style JAP with a nominal 8 hp rating. Anyway we are close to the factory figures. Bill put his 29 JD on the Dyno after and this had 23 HP, but running a solo gearing, and is also IOE (inlet Over Exhaust ) and was running at 3500 RPM. I will be glad when Christina arrives so we can put some pictures up on. The sidecar chassis has been fitted and tomorrow we shall fit the body and trial this. It has presented quite well and the bike will get a full detail before we head to Newburgh. It is only a few days away. I look back at our photos , where we started and it seems like yesterday. I guess this is part of the journey, but we have almost made the start and for us this was the Goal. IThen what happens , happens. Again we wish to thank all those along the way who have helped out in kind, with time and work in kind and to our sponsors. It is quite a heart felt feeling to be here and without this help and support, i am sure we would not have been here. Stay tuned folks.

Arrival

All After nearly a week of frustration our bike has finally got clearance from customs. The bike was to be delivered into the Harley Dealership last Thursday, so it was awaiting for our arrival. The plan was to have our bike at a show to support Brian Dawars at the Local Kingston Film festival on Saturday,  then take our bike interstate to Davenport so we could attend all the pre-start functions at the meet. We received our Bike in store at 8.30 Pm Wed night, basically 7 days late.  I must say that the Customs agent here has been great, considering i have called him on the half hour, every half hour for the last 4 working days, and on the 15 mins each other half  on his cell. I dont know what went wrong, nor do i care. It has really tightened the deadline, and we are critical to get there know. We have a few days know to unpack and get our bike back together. Then a few days to sort this out and trial this on the roads. We have donated a Traditional Wicker sidecar to the race organisers and this is on display at Davenport. Its a pity we could not have attended, but considering the confusion and drama with customs, we have to remain focused on our Run. We will have the bike back together by Friday, and should be mobile by then. Will be good, as i sort of missed it. Anyway i hope all are well around the world. Please tune in to face book, or the numerous blogs that are online. http://cksamericanadventures.blogspot.com.au/ Ian Lihou, has a good one if you wish to follow this. http://southerncrosscannonball.wordpress.com/ Cherio} Chris

Sunday 26 th

All Took the time out today to do some tourist stuff. Went to the Old rhinebeck airshow. WOW< this  is a blast from the past, with Aeroplanes and flying machines that are straight out  of the movie "those magnificent men in there flying machines" They highlight for me was seeing the 1909 3 cyl Anzani Radial motor fitted into a Bleriot plane fly down the runway. I have a video, but alas am stuck in a hotel foyer with out the tools to download. Davenport Swap meet (which is the non official start ) of the Cannonball run is on Friday, and we are still fighting US customs for our Machine. This is getting silly as they seem in-competent, and just wish to push paper. I have been promised to have the bike and goods released on Monday, but one can only wait and  see. We still have a chance of getting to Davenport with the bike, but will need to leave first thing Thursday Morn to drive there. It will be tight. Lonnie Isam has received our Donation of the traditional sidecar as part of the sponsorship of the Cannonball ride, and will be displaying this at Davenport. Our team is arriving in next week, so hopefully i can have all sorted so we can start the party. Hope all is well

Saturday 25 (Film Preview)

Hi All, Had a call from the customs agent who advised that little could be done till Monday am, and asked that i put confidence into the customs system that i have yet to see. I wait with anticipation but without taking delivery of the machine little can be achieved over here. We are loosing days with much work still to do. After spending the morning catching up with social media, we made our way down to Woodstock Harley Davidson. Golden Slipper Bill Nugent had arranged for a short ride starting from his Dealership into Kingston Film Festival, where Brian Dawars was screening his film "White Knuckle". "White Knuckle" is a film about three of my idols from the 2010 Cannonball ride, and it was quite fitting that all the stars of this film were present with their bikes. There were approximatly 50 machines of various years that rode from the harley dealership, including an Indian Spirit, an Atlas Norton, and a UL 1200 Flathead Harley. Bill had his 1913 Sears on display for this film and had decided to ride his 1928 JD...... Last time I was over in the USA I replaced the rear tube and changed his tyre as it was flat. Well talk about similarities, on start up the tyre again spun and the tube stripped the valve. We changed this in about 45 Min's and it completed the ride effortlessly. Sean Brayton and Jon Szalay were also both there and it was certainly the highlight catching up with old pals. Alicia and Steve Barber were also present. Alicia had supported Jon across the country during cannonball 2010. Www.wickersidecars.com and Steve Barber who rode his 1915 across in 2010 was also present with his machine ready and running strong for 2012. Again the Americans made us feel welcome, with many promotions of the 2012 start and invitations to view our machine at Woodstock if the USA customs ever release this. It was a real pity that we couldn't have our bike on display for this festival as it was a great opportunity that was missed. The cannonball 2012 has received a huge plug from all and this is gaining pace over here. I am staying in a budget motel and have not figured out how to load photos on to the blog from my phone yet, hence the lack of images. On the home front, a Business name has been logged, and our site is almost up and running. We are offering Wicker Sidecars to the market and have another design finished. This is a Golden Slipper style and will suit the mid to smaller machines. It is quaint and will certainly add to the functionality of a period veteran. If you wish to view our web site it can be found on www.wickersidecars.com

Shipping

All Friday 24th August. The bike shipped on the 21st August and i left 2 days later to meet and collect the bike the other end. It has been shipped direct to Woodstock Harley Davidson in NY. If you are local to this area, please feel free to drop in to the dealership and say hi. For those of you who have seen Brian Dawars film "White Knuckle" which outlines the 2010 Cannonball run will have seen Bill Nugent. Bill competed in the 2010 Cannonball run on his 1913 Sears and this is proudly displayed at Woodstock Harley Davidson. Bill has been a perfect host while we all await the logistic to finalise and our bike to be delivered. The plan was to have the bike arrive a few days before i arrived, however this has not eventuated, and hence i am wondering around awaiting our the delivery. The good news is that the bike is in the right country, and is in transit. I trust that it will arrive on Monday and we can commence re-assembly. I don't have a camera , and am travelling so am unable to load any photos for anyone. We have picked up a Us phone so if anyone would like to contact us, please email us for the number.

Tanks a lot

It was decided to spruce the Invincible Jap up with new tanks and also a tool box. The main reason was for reliability. Although the original tanks held fuel the 4000 miles across the USA would certainly have tested them. The tanks wer made by John who specialises in producing reproduction fuel tanks. I can honestly say that the service and professionalism of John was far beyond our expectations and these were promptly produced and delivered in a record time. They functionality and special requests were taken in to account and for once the job was done on time (in fact under time) and below the budget. As this bike is being built for a specific purpose it was decided to increase the oil tank and fuel capacity slightly and this was done by increasing the width by 3/4" overall. It is not noticeable, and increases the capacity of both the fuel and oil to a practical level. In fact Invincible offered this width on the sports models. The tanks were fully welded (TIG) and pressure tested before being delivered. There was minor felting and finishing required, however the tanks were painted without any filled and are real testament to John's ability to deliver quality work on time. My pal actually commented that it took more work to surface coat the tanks that it did to make them. While i don't know if this true, it did take some time to get the pin stripes and decals on. I cant wait to get these back on to the old Girl and see how they present. The tanks were clear coated by Stan Muncha at Melbourne Dustings Sidecars. Stan specialises in period correct dusting's sidecars and has over 50 yrs experience within the repair and restoration of vehicles .

Photo shoot

All With a planned  shipping date drawing closer than close it was decided  that we should  get  a photo shoot of the bike prior to departing. We rode the Invicible Jap  around for 30 mins prior to loading this in to the truck for delivery to the photo shoot. The bike is running well, some minor issues with oil and gearing, however this is basically as we will be at the start, providing all is recieved with the shipping. Phil Smith has been involved in motorcycles for many years and we had  agreed to a shoot prior to our departure. For those of you who are local we can thoroughly recommend Phil's Professionalism , patience and dedication to his art. Our team was all suitable impressed with the quality and the fact that each picture was brilliant. I have only posted a few, but there are many more. If you are interested in contacting Phil you can find his details on http://photosmith.com.au/

1925 Jap takes to the Road U tube Overview

All The event start draws near, we are still in Australia three weeks from the start. Much still has to happen. We are pleased to anounce that shipping is arranged and the bike has been running strong. The bike departs early next week, via Air, and is being delivered to Woodstock Harley Davidson in New York.   Bill Nugent  who rode a 1913 Sears in Cannonball 2010 will be there to help us sort out the logistics and re-assembley of our machine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdkt1_Y6V7M Invincible JAP Cannonball 2012 entrant #16 We have had many people drop over to view and see this over the last few weeks. Steve Martin from the Newport Folk and Fiddle CLub managed to shoot a quick u-tube clip. Please take the time to view this, as it says much more than a few pics. We are all looking forward to the start line and catching  up with old and new pals.

Quite time (exhaust)

We needed to quieten the Invincible Jap down. There was little chance that the current exhaust system would go UN-noticed in the USA so we decided to build a muffler. A good pal was tasked with this and the photos below show the basic steps. It was decided to fit an original style Invincible Jap muffler (Similar to a J Harley) but turn this 90 degrees on its side, as this was really the only place we could locate it. To keep with the style of the period, we pressed the JAP logo into the front of the muffler. I must say that i was a little hesitant at this, as i thought it might be a little over kill, but it certainly does not look out of place. The machine used is a Power hammer, and these are really cool machines to use. They have a fixed anvil on which a movable hammer oscillates about 3500 / Min and this stretches or shrinks the metal. They are a use full tool for sheet metal construction and anyone skilled enough to master this machine is always in demand. The photos show the construction better than words. Once this muffler was fitted the slip in tail pipe can be moved laterally to set the back pressure and obtain the required note on the bike. It has gone from a high noise to a deep dull Boooob de da Boooom, Boooom de da etc. It actually sounds quite neat. The finished result is a neat custom muffler that certainly doesn't look like and afterthought. More importantly it actually works better than anticipated, with the period appeal and can be altered to tune quite easily....... I hope that those reading this Blog can take note of the muffler when they view this machine.

Update report 7 weeks pre start.

Team 16 Progress update report. We have the bike running , registered and insured, but there are still some technical issues that need to be addressed. 1. Exhaust Noise. 2. Carby 3. Maggy 4. Sidecar set up. 1. The Exhaust is just a little on the noisy side, while it would pass our liberal noise requirements in Australia it will not pass the stringent requirements of the USA. Also i am a little over trying to make noise as we wish to enjoy the country side ambiance, without wearing earplugs. We are planning on fitting a silencer and tuning this to a reasonable reduction. If you look at the first photo, you will see that the pipes are totally unrestricted straight out (Drag way ) style. 2. The Carby currently fitted has been borrowed from a pals running Indian scout. This has to be returned and as such we have to get ours up and going. We will wait till we get the Maggy sorted and tuned so we then have only the Carby to sort out. 3. The Maggy that is running on the motor is a selected used magneto and has not been rebuilt. It is okay to run and could be reliable, however we have two Bosch magnetos being overhauled at present and these should be completed over the week end. These have new brgs, re-wound coils, re-magnetised, new reco points, custom made slip rings and advance - retard breaker rings. The Jap runs a 50 Degree ACW or LH rotation magneto, which differs to the more common 45 Degree CW Harley Davidson unit. This has been quite a task to sort out a Maggy and i would like to do a full blog on this if time permits. 4. Sidecar sort out.This is something that we have to get on top of once the bike is running. The sidecar bolts on well however until we can get this outfit on the road and trial the alignment and handling we cannot be certain. All i can say is that there is much adjustment in this outfit, unlike an Indian sidecar so this probably will mean many trip wires. We still have a lot to learn about this. I will post some updates as these tasks are completed. We are keen to get this out on the road. It is starting to become fun, as the hard yards are nearly over. More later.

Fire in the hole.

Hi

It has been a few weeks since we have updated our Blog.
Basically due to late nights and so much to do to get the daily chores completed so we can play motorcycle.

We are pleased to attach the U-Tube Video of the First fire up of the 1925 Invincible Jap.

Motorcycle Cannonball 2012 No 16 First Fire up (Invincible Jap )

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUdgyqgoaVY&feature=youtu.be 0:36
Motorcycle Cannonball 2012 No 16 First Fire up (Invincible Jap )by Chris Knoop

Again we apologise for the poor pictures, however this was taken on a phone.

Who would have thought that this was possible a few years ago. The bike started easily and after three kicks. It is being run on one float bowl of fuel and there is much not connected to make it run, like the advance and retard.

I hope that you can enjoy this milestone.

Again we would like to thank all those people who have helped us to achieve this goal in such a short duration. Without you all it would still be in pieces.

New facebook Page

Hi I guess that social media and content will be the way that most people will keep up to date on the daily activities of the cannonball ride. Our intention is to update this page on a regular basis on the day to day activities. My support rider and Mechanic "Ian Lihou" has found that he prefers Facebook and has set up a social page. Please take the time to like or view page as he will be updating this also on a regular basis. Ian has many interested people and will find a slightly different audience than we have on our blog. The page can be found by Typing in the following name. Southern Cross Cannonball Coast to Coast 2012 http://www.facebook.com/#!/SouthernCrossCannonballCoastToCoast2012 Hope some find this interesting. Rgds

Festival Time

Hi For all those interested we are presenting a film and talk about the 2010 Cannonball run at the Newport Folk Festival on Sunday 8th July. http://www.nffc.org.au/docs/festival-poster-2012.pdf We are planning to launch our bike at festival, and have a noted motorcycle identity who will present and open our campaign. If you are local and wish to see what this about please come and enjoy the week end at the festival. The film presentation will be the Australian Premier Screening and we still await the film with anticipation. This event is wrist band entry as per all the events at the festival, and all entry costs are put back into the community. There will be motorcycle parking outside the venue which is the Community Centre in Mason st in Newport. I would suggest getting there early as this venue holds approx 50 ppl, and will be first in, best dressed. The Invincible will be on display and hopefully completed for this event. This is a great atmosphere, with many completing venues and intersting things to see and do. Well worth bringing your family and making a day of this. Hope to see some of you if you can make this. This is the Flier below. White Knuckle (Film/talk) Chris  Knoop, NFFC member and  lifelong avid motorcyclist will present the Australian premiere of the film White Knuckle by Brian Dawars.  This film is the story of the 2010 Motorcycle Cannonball ride across USA on Vintage pre-1915 machines, personalities and events that unfold. Chris was involved with the 2010 ride as support crew and actively worked and helped with the repairs, trials and tribulations.  He had such a fantastic time on the ride that he had to return.  For 2012 Motorcycle Cannonball ride, Chris has entered a vintage Australian Motorcycle  which he has virtually rebuilt from scratch.  The bike is a 1925 Invincible Jap made in Swanston Street, Melbourne, and has a a period wicker sidecar also made in Melbourne. Chris’s wife Christine will be along for the ride in the sidecar.  The motorcycle will be on display for the festival. See film trailer on YouTube :: See a video of Chris' bike on YouTube. Newport Community Hall, Sunday 1-3pm Entry: Wristband or $5 at door.

Moses Basket (Wicker seat)

Again the cart before the horse. Got the sidecar body back from Dave B, who is a wiz at wood work. Dave fitted the inside of the body out, and secured this to the chassis. We wish to thank Dave for his work, and design input as this is much appreciated. Some interesting design features were incorporated like the tilting front of an early hot rod. This has been incorperated so we can roll the side car up to gain access to the working parts of the bike should maintenance be needed. We all know this will not be the case. Anyway this needs to be surface finshed (coated)  and then off to the for the interior fit out. It should be noted that this was not the body we intended to fit to our 1925 Invincible Jap. It was going to be a Bullet style however time constraints meant that this was not possible. The bullet design is now completed and available to market should anyone be interested.  Zepplin Bullet, was not completerd in time to be fitted. (Darn it as it is sweet)