This year September 11th, in addition to being a national day of tragedy here in the US, it was also the day the 2016 Motorcycle Cannonball Run leg 2 began in York, PA. York is only about 90 minutes from my home so it was a no brainer to go and check it out.
For those of you unfamiliar with this the Cannonball Run it is a timed cross county event of 100 year or older vintage motorcycles. So this year the run is with motorcycles built before 1917. Starting on
Every motorcycle over 100 years old
the 10th of September The Cannonball Run is going from Atlantic City to San Diego. If you go to their website you can get a lot more detail, in case you are interested in running the next event in 2018.
Phil, from the DawgHouse Motorcycle Radio show, and I arose early (3AM for him 4AM for me LOL) in order to be there before the motorcycles began departing. BOY am I glad we went to the event. We got to see vintage bikes that you might only see in a museum, if ever. For example, I saw two motorcycles that I had not seen in person before a Shaw and a JAP.
By 10AM all the bikes that were going to make the start were on the road. Attrition on this ride is high. In talking to some of the participates we learned that about 90 of these vintage motorcycles departed Atlantic City the day before but nearly 30 were unable to make the time hack in York. That group included one bike that burned to a crisp shortly after the start.
You can also tell by the pictures below that there is a lot of maintenance that occurs. One of the motorcycle mechanics said that they begin the preparations for the next day as soon as the bikes are cool enough to touch. He also said that while the vintage motorcycles in the Cannonball Run might be easy to work on, there is not really that much in spare parts and a lot of creativity is required to keep them running.
It was a wonderful morning walking around looking at these 100+ year old vintage motorcycles and seeing what goes into them to keep them running. I have a new respect for all those folks that participate in this event!
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- Worked on all the time!
I JUST WANT 2 RIDE!! 