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