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.