Last Monday all the riders plus some came to Mike's to work on bikes.
Jerry had to work on his gas tank. He was looking for a leak in his tank. They removed the tank, then they put in gas to see if they can either rule out the leak or to see where it was coming from. I was used due to my eye sight, I noticed some fluid, but maybe wasn't from the gas. However, as he was checking and swishing gas all around, he forgot that the cap was off and gas was poured all over the garage floor - everyone evacuated, it made me laugh. I just said "well let me know when you need me again" and walked away.
Jerry enlightened us that they say "when you go to build your garage you need to build it twice as big as you'll ever need, but you better leave room to triple it"
Lots of people hanging out in the garage
Mary and me. I love her, she is so extremely supportive. She unfortunately won't be coming on this trip, but her absence will be noticeable.
Scott doing Scott things - soldering? For Jerry's tank
Everyone has to try everyone's bike - to see how it's driving
Zak and Steve supervising, making sure things are being done correctly
This arrow was placed so that when Larry notices his tire is flat he knows where the hole is. Unfortunately, he was drilling a hole in the fender and went a little too far.
This is a video of the discussion about how he got the possible hole
Everyone gathered to watch Larry start his bike
"Let's not start it and just look at it"
Larry driving off on the beaut
I decided to stain the side bags - they were a very light color. I am LOVING how they turned out.
We also worked on putting a LED light for the headlight. I painted some of the touch ups. Put my name plate on. I also put my fire extinguisher on
A picture Mike got from Mark Hill who was putting the engine in his Henderson
A video of Mike's bike being ridden!
Presley came to Nana and Boppa's so she needed to try out the bike
The numerous people it takes to get the kids all in for a picture. 5 year old, 3 year old and two 18 month year olds.
We got all the grandkids on the bike and looking/smiling - we did have to remove Nash, my brother in law, out of the picture
Jack attack!
I am just going to throw this out there, Scott is awesome. He knew that Mike has been working, along with myself and he reached out to me and asked if I wanted to plan some rides on the bikes to get more comfortable. We ended up going out last Thursday. The ride was super fun, I got to try my new camera and I learned that I was having issues getting it into 3rd gear, and sometimes 2nd. However, we were about to adjust that and it worked!
Then we made plans to ride on Sunday. It was another beautiful day. The ride went smoothly!
Mike and mom drove to New York Sunday to pick up Mike's Henderson, getting back Tuesday. Essentially the town is on the Canadian border, so a long drive. Some may say that Mike is a little crazy. Now he has Wednesday and Thursday to get that bike ready to go across the country - putting a box on, saddle bags, speedometer, etc. It sounds like people are headed over on Thursday to load all the things up. Well everyone excluding me because I am working all day (shucks). I did bring all my things over on Tuesday, so that anxious part is all done. Mom and I will fly to the beginning. The people driving to the start are leaving Friday - I believe stopping in Davenport and maybe even Springfield.
The adventure is coming real quick! One week and a day and we will be starting our first day!
Welcome to another blog post where I pretend, I know what I am talking about. If you came to actually learn anything about motorcycles, you won't get that here. I do my best with learning, but I am not at mom and Mike's every day.
Besides that, I don't know about anyone else on Team Butts, but my anxiety is through the roof. The start date is quickly approaching, and we will be leaving days before that. I do not feel prepared. I have been preparing - I got a new video camera to mount to my bike, along with the extra things I need for that, like a mount, microsd cards, etc. And in true fashion, I have had to remove a bunch of pictures off my phone move them to my computer to then move them to an external hard drive - that takes a lot longer than I care to admit.
If you have read this blog before, you know I struggle to get info from the guys about where they are in putting their bikes together, or what they are working on at the moment on their bikes. I typically get something like "stuff" or "well I'm trying to figure out wiring".
Love my mom - she thought it was only her head in the picture
This past Saturday I headed to mom and Mike's. For those of you that don't know, I only live about 25 minutes away. I got there and Larry and Scott were there. Scott had actually driven his 1922 Harley to Mikes. He told me it ran good! Here in Minnesota we had some strong storms the night before and it rained off and on during the day, but he made it without getting hit with any.
If I am remembering correctly, I believe we started right away with putting the chain guard on the 1920 J, it wasn't lining up perfectly with the holes and some of these areas are tiny then you have to get bolts and nuts in... AND THEN TIGHTEN THEM. Then of course we had to make sure the nut wouldn't hit the chain. It wasn't hitting the one it was closest too. Well we were putting the chain on that goes to the back tire and we came to find out that the chain was getting stuck. The clutch bar thinger, it was too close to the chain so we had to figure out a way to fix that. It wasn't the foot clutch but the mechanism that the foot clutch controls which then actually controls the REAL clutch.
Scott, Mike, and I trimmed the bushing on the transmission cover using the Bridgeport mill. Naturally, I got to use the new machine, so I again felt super cool! I am always grateful for the amount of opportunities I have in my life. One being the riding of motorcycles across the country 2) all the cool tools I get to learn just for the hell of it!
This same day, Scott let Larry drive his bike. I got a video of it, was hoping to get a video of Scott riding - but he snuck away.
Mom and I were on a mission to find something that was misplaced -- mom is dedicated. This happens every year
While I was at work one day I got a video of the bike I will be riding running! After the test drive, there was some more fixing to do. The oil pump was leaking in 3 places. They had to tighten up the fittings. Tightened up the clutch spring, adjusted the idol, centered the headlight by adjusting and bending the bars. The push rods for the rear cylinder were rubbing on the cylinder so they took the rocker towers apart to reposition the rod towers.
They also noticed that the ammeter wasn't reading correctly, but it still seems to be changing. They also calibrated the speedometer.
On Thursday I headed back over. Right when I got there I took it for a ride! I know I have mentioned this before, but if you are new here I will explain. When I learned old ass motorcycles and mostly the suicide clutch, I drove this same bike. But only around the block a few times. Then once my Indian was ready that is what I drove. Now there is a big difference between the Indians and Harleys are this point in time.
We got our number plates! And....Mike broke the nicely placed cover for the taillight. Mom and I glued it back together :)
Harleys have a right hand throttle, the shifter is on the left side of the tanks and it goes furthest from the driver is 1 then N, then 2nd, lastly 3rd which is closer to the rider. And lastly, the foot clutch is "toe to go". So the clutch is engaged when the toe part of the clutch is down.
On an Indian, the throttle is on the left side. The shifter being on the right side of the tanks and it goes from first gear being closest to the ride, then N, 2nd and 3rd being the furthest away from the driver. The foot clutch toe down is disengaged and engaged then is hell down.
As you can see, they are way different! At least in the driving aspect. I do have to admit, that driving the Harley is easier. Shifting isn't as touchy and the Harley has it marked where the gears are, were the Indian is by feel. And for 3rd gear I really had to bend down. However, the Harley is taller for me and more top heavy. I can barely get the kickstand up -- I have to move up onto the tank to reach.
It was time for the box! First, I had to decide which box I wanted. Because this bike doesn't carry a lot of gas, I went with the box Mike used for it when he rode it in the 2021, he had made an extra tank to put gas in, then had it jimmy rigged way of getting into the tank. They originally had some steel in the box to reinforce it. This made the box extremely heavy, so we did try to "lighten the load" by removing parts of the steel that we didn't need. It allowed me again to use more cool tools. I got to use the plasma cutter and a grinder to grind the sharp areas. We had to come up with how to attach the box to the luggage rack. We got that figured out and we put foam to hopefully protect the paint. We tried to make it easier for the saddle bags to be connected and not rubbed for the 4000 miles by the box.
I then set up my handlebars. I put the speedometer on the other side then what Mike had put it on, put on my route chart and a Saint Christopher thing that Larry had gotten us all before the 2021 Cannonball. Lastly, I put it on my bag that I put on the handlebars, I put ear plugs, wallet, phone, ChapStick, and glasses. We got the box connected to the luggage rack. It is fit to me - as it has a back rest.
On the 2021 Cannonball, Jim (a friend of Mike's) and his wife Dawn made Larry, Mike and I these cool plaques that have our names on it with out number and a motorcycle drawing. Anyway, we were able to take Mike's off and I was able to take mine off so I can put it on the new box I'll be using. It was cracking slightly - so I asked Scott what would be the best way to fix it. Apparently, and I didn't know this but before he got into the cool old motorcycles his hobby was wood crafting.
Scott and Beth were working on Scott's box - he made it himself!
So once I was leaving mom and Mike's I went to drop off my plaque with Scott. We thought of multiple ways to fix it, not knowing exactly what we wanted to do, and not wanting to wreck it. Scott just pulled it apart slightly and put wood glue in then clamped it to stay together and that worked well. I did tell him that I could have done that - but I appreciate his willingness to help!
We are hopeful that Mike will get his Henderson next week, with a week until go time and that we will be able to get it all TransAm'd ready with a box etc.
This is Randy, you've met him on our earlier blogs. I had sent some vinyl Harley things to our friends in Kansas. I also included many stickers of my face. It was posted on facebook - so then Randy wanted some! Obviously, I sent him tons.
Time is approaching quicker than we all anticipated. We will be leaving for the East Coast in less than a month and we will start our adventure on the bikes in 4 weeks.
Will we get everything together in time? Yup. Will it be a stressful time and likely a hot mess? Yup.
I made some decals for Scottie's bike. I went a put them on last week - I think they turned out awesome - but they look better in person. I'm also biased, so whatever. That same day I bought some new striped overalls because Randy is the best, and I really liked wearing them on the 2023 Cannonball - in case you guys all were dying to know.
I put the guys' names and numbers on some long sleeves for them, along with Team Butts on the front. I'm crossing my fingers that they stay intact 🤞
Apparently, Mike took apart or looked in the generator of the J and it had some shredded metal at the bottom. I think we are glad he caught that. I also think he told me what caused it - but I had worked my 12 hour shift and therefore I cannot remember what he told me. #worstwriterever
Mike's Henderson is still hopefully going to be finished in time for the TransAm. He is confident that he will be riding that and I will be riding his 1920 J. We (mostly Mike) has been working a lot on that, because one of us will be riding it for sure. I went over this week to help with some small putzy things.
I padded the shit out of the battery box - that will not be bouncing around. No siree.
On the taillight I also made sure that the glass around the lightbulb and the red part won't be rattling. As many of you know, these old bikes don't have much for suspension, so they feel every single leaf on the ground you go over. On the Cannonball in 2023, I lost the red part of my taillight, the decompressor rod, and my horn just from vibrations. Mike's headlight fell off on one of the cannonballs.
We worked on the headlight of the J (so maybe he lost in on the 2021) and Henderson. We worked on some electrical for the J as well.
I asked Mike why we put things together, just to remove and put it together again. His response was pretty logical; I will give him that. He said something along the lines of, 'when I am waiting for parts, I put things together so I can figure out what I am missing or need to make because there is always something'.
I did use the sander (not sure if that's what it's called - there is a picture of Mike using it) for the first time and left with all 10 fingers, so that is a win. Mom took some pictures because I usually take all the pictures and well... I do try to do some things, if they let me.
I'm not sure where everyone else is at with their bikes. Unfortunately for you all, I will know a lot more about what's going on with my machine versus theirs. If you have read these before, you know it's hard to get good information out of the guys. However, we will have Scott and Jerry and they will tell me more of what is going on. For now, I haven't seen Jerry and I only went to Scott's to put his decals on - he did have it running though! Oh...he got new pockets....and he wanted to get them sealed into the motor. To be honest, I asked Mike what that was and I forgot now.
We did take out the backseat of the Van so we can have more space. We have 5 riders and some crew - so lots of belongings to bring along!
Oh! I designed some stickers for Team Butts; they arrived the other day, I was definitely too excited to get them from my mailbox, but ohhhwee! I cannot wait for ya'll to see them.
Lastly, I did put together a map showing how our route will look in terms of locations. As many of you know, we don't know what the exact route is until we get it that morning.
