2018 Motorcycle Cannonball

[Music] today we're kicking off motorcycle cannonball all of us here a big boost harley-davidson can't even believe that we're the send-off location we've been super excited all year thinking about this and it's finally here happy to be here I'd like to be finished with all this and get out on the road for this this time there's over a hundred people on the race the first time I went probably the most charming adventure there was twenty or thirty of us it felt like and it was pre fifteen it was all the hard bikes to do it on so I did it all three generations of motorcycles and for some reason the first time was the magic one it was the crazy hard one but I know I don't have the temperament of somebody that enjoys the wind in their hair I'm not an Easy Rider I just fret and stress and just a halt and nerves so I mean when people go hey is this thing fun and you got to be a sadist you know to do this to take your expensive baby and go across the country [Applause] [Music] hey Laney where we going for directions as he missed two of them [Music] the other half of that seats on is stubble right out of my pants it was all nicer than my name is rowdy T my telephone number well I tell you it's pure beautiful pure beauty the road the traffic gets a little tighter sometimes oh well we'll just go round broke and embalmer that's what we do second day of the Cannonball Run it's supposed to be clear today I don't know about tomorrow today's 260 miles we're going on a 1916 Indian Power Plus mechanics are Harley mechanic so I don't know how all this is gonna go I tell you that's the new piece regnal just a little weight a little up if you're the guy in the back and he misses a turn it's like this you know hope he's looking in the mirror and you can catch him pulling language on the road hell I don't know where we're going I dismounted the man [Music] [Music] my name is David Nutter and we are located here in beautiful Bennington Vermont at the Hemmings Motor News vintage vehicle display beautiful day here we're happy to have the cannonballs stopping for the Cannonball Run and we really look forward to seeing who ends up the winner in Portland Oregon yeah you don't see this many old bikes there once back I think it's wicked cool so the 1911 Excelsior for horsepower 30 cubic inch belt drive no transmission no clutch [Music] whoa I've got some people out on the course right now and unfortunately we've decided to cancel for the day it's not because the rain it's not because of the cold it's simply that the roads are unsafe right now yeah safety first you can't you can't yeah jeopardize hundred twenty people so I think safety first I think it's a good call is what it is you can't control the weather you want to see my rain gear it's the slickness of the Rose the washout the gravel the debris that's happened overnight with hurricane-force rain disappointing because I wanted to make every mile every day but I get it it's a safety issue but the cold and the safety wise I think they made the right call trying to ride on wet streets with coaster brakes with some of these machines and really begun the challenge we have rain days it's inevitable when you're running for 17 18 days it's gonna rain so basically what we tend to do is we're allowed to get on our truck for a certain amount of miles to avoid any flooding I'm gonna walk right in the mission that we were running get here for for a while but it looks like my fill port actually lost the fitting first time doing cannonball so I'm sure I didn't lock some stuff down or make it a few miles today so making progress [Music] oh my god you're beautiful we're in Bowling Green Ohio Sun came out about an hour before he got here and you could see there was this massive cloud who's beginning of a front that went all the way to the Atlantic Ocean I mean unfortunately it took down New England for us pretty hard and it should be good from here on in come on a 28 Indian scout so far it's going good Mike's done good today with lose the bolt day and I lost three of them and but he's able to fix them Here I am made it straight to see them out and running instead of sitting in a museum collecting dust cannonballs pretty expensive you know in a wedding they throw rose petals everywhere well we do the same thing but with hundreds [Music] [Music] you have just enough time to load them in get your bike fire it up are you ready to go hardest thing is when you have a two tents decision to make and it's all on the next page it's got that gap in there and you make your turn and you haven't gotten to that one and you're like oh right there there's nothing like a motorcycle party to see Detroit Henderson's stores unbelievable I should be at work as you can see don't tell the kids where I'm at this is where is that right [Applause] summer this guy we're here at Karstens harley-davidson in Winamac Indiana today five the motorcycle cannonball we're here for a late lunch beautiful lunch they put together a great museum great atmosphere and we got a lot of people out here checking us out and so a great day on a motorcycle cannonball I'm an absolutely fantastic date man you gotta love it but this is the Midwest you know this is porn steak Chevrolet Ford harley-davidson Indian what am i doing on a BMW yeah there was one stretch about 20 miles on a freeway with about 60 miles an hour we tucked in just a draft so we yeah that worked out pretty good in that route planners they drew it a series of 90-degree turns through cornfields which kept coming back over the railroad tracks [Music] it begun don't wanna miss that checkmark so I'm Keith Kaiser I'm the executive director of the antique Motorcycle Club of America where one of the major sponsors of this event the guys that I've talked to said today was a really hard day because this is the first day that they've really written this long in the Sun and in the heat it was a long ride with long straight roads so this was a pretty tough day we had a couple of riders go down today so you know these guys are just glad to be at an end but offender bracket broke and then the stand brackets loose I know what's going on up there broke my shoulder here they couldn't set it without an operation so I still got a floating shoulder bone I got four broken ribs by the spine and a bruised lung concussion other bruises road rash like that so well I won't be able to set the shoulder till both Texas it goes all the way down here we're gonna finish this run we're gonna finish it together he's really gonna perfect score I can't now cuz I nothin out but I'm gonna finish the run and get all the miles from here on out this is this is the only reason we came on this ride to collect these stickers so that we can put them on our bike the sticker means that we completed a stage within the prescribed time and without any penalties so we're gonna be in the phoenicians Ulm ohter cycle Museum today another 260 miles I think it is of fun open road for getting away from some of the bigger towns so I think that we're gonna have a really great ride today whether it looks good [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] bill barber at the National Motorcycle Museum Anamosa Iowa stop number six in the cannonball we have 520 bikes on the floor this morning constantly changing our inventory in and out the door all the time it never stops we have a new displays all the time and we go from 1901 through current models every kind of model you can imagine us European Japanese Olin but this is a third of a memorabilia on the walls because we don't end up wall space we constantly change that to cannonbaugh is great for the sport and we're all about ticketing sport the preserving history for future generations and I think it's vital with a cannonball it tells the story gets it out amongst people they see the bikes running and not just in the way in a garage and it's exciting for the public it's a beautiful 1908 Strep take Harley the single one only one known that's probably one of the highlights of the collection also very rare so it's got a good selection of American motorcycles plus an English size of brush superiors he's got a gorgeous vincent's he's got you name it he's got it a collection of a collection a question just came apart that's a hundred-year-old kiss and that's a stock 1917 Indian piston we got another piston hopefully we'd get all the debris out of the bottom end we're flushing it out with kerosene and we'll get a magnet in there so you can get it all out if we can piece it all together and see that we got everything then we'll put it all back together what's new piston kerosene this baby flushes it out cleans all the oil out and everything and then we can try to magnet the little pieces of the piston that during the lower end out without splitting the cases we moved up like up a position today unfortunately guy lot got a flat tire so right have to put our number firm grandma's lankey 13 Anderson in the first place in class two and a fourth place overall so we're pretty happy about that Anderson's are slowly creeping up into the top 10 and where they do really well is in the mountains so no panic in the pits everything's going good we're really happy things are working well close very international review from South Africa in the you different parts of the US so like one guy that drives the truck in the trailer his mission is to get here and get a good spot and get it all and get it set up to the extent we can so that if we come big problem we don't have to spend an hour or two you know towards the trailer for school it's all ready to go you know and it would kind of be nice to come back and just go to bed to sleep for 12 hours for this is simple enough right I mean this thing is it's incredible fun but it's really you have to keep on it I've learned you know you can't you can't stop by Starbucks and have a cappuccino you know if you do and then you have a problem later there's no full service station here I pump it for you got a little bit of gas here i manufactured a little bit of my own gas and we'll make it fortunately i was carrying some gas which will make it the 18 miles per second [Music] we're here at the Indian motorcycle factory in Spirit Lake Iowa the home of Indian motorcycle and we're welcoming all the motorcycle cannonball errs here's they come in as their stop for the day it's an amazing group of people we've got beautiful weather the sun shining we've got food and lots of hospitality for everybody and we're just happy to see all these beautiful vintage motorcycles it's just amazing and it's such an honor to have them come to Spirit Lake and our 600 employees here are just you know they've been waiting they've been on pins and needles today to see everybody 'welcome cannonball errs we're in beginning stages party are you ready what brought me down look at the bottom 50 things they're all overdue will be put together it's spiritual it's beyond anything anybody does with motorcycles today you know Irwin G cannonball Baker was the guy he did this couple hundred years ago on the same machines with Mill Road and he did it in the last time they named this run after him well and the guy admits a sidecar said I put this Indian bride Bell on and if you put that on a Harley he says you're gonna have trouble hopefully next time you see me I'll be riding this instead of working on it I've been riding along for 40 miles and it just felt like I started to worry a bit so this is the whirring low oil in the gearbox or the primary always the whirring in my head I pull over check it and it's definitely in my head [Music] gonna be the biggest issue we get up to 90 and the bikes running hot they don't like the hot very much so go back that way wrong Portland wrong Portland I just left that what you need to remember three things when you run the cannonball patience patience patience you do it all on these bikes and not alone a lot of fun in a group like this then yeah well I'll tell you with 300 miles to run today it's it's not only the miles it's the heat I think it's gonna be in the 90s that is really tough on these guys it's tough on all of us I mean shouldn't wear this black stuff and you get overheated stating you gotta stay hydrated and electrolytes all that but on top of that you know the the bikes the way to run it off I think it's gonna be a challenge get in the oil right making sure they got the right amount if they don't pump too much and they're checking it all the time this is a long day we're not really in the middle of [ __ ] nowhere but you can see it from here get Carly I think we did about 315 miles I started an hour and a half behind the chase truck because this morning my magneto was dead so we quickly swapped it out but it took an hour and a half so I left at 9:00 and I wasn't gonna rush it but the bike cruises at 65 so I just cruised a skip lunch and eventually I caught up with everybody that was a good feeling because it was pretty lonely the first 80 miles until I saw the first bike as we get farther along I'm gonna have to stand farther and further from you because you're not cheating he's not changing his shirt on the whole cannonball the sooner I get the miles docking abettor you know cuz it's just so long gonna mean you're riding for eight hours so 1928 Indian scout had a little bit of damage on the headlight the front fender and the rear rack I could have kept going I just had a really fun day just 300 comments through 17 or something I can go back out now and do it never come on like I'm ready I look at this this is your time see how it's got this little blip it fits into groove on the rim well Fletcher tire has no Belton in the sides so when they come loose or dead low and they'll cut spit it off the rim and then they'll just tie up like a rubber band and stop you and that's what happened then he hit the ground away out of her he's at the hospital right now we get it checked out he hit his head and spit his knee up real bad luckily they landed mostly in the ground crab wire on their dad so everybody's question of where does the crab wire on the bikes this year Flint's a fisherman he's uh he knows quite a bit about how to repair things stay alive and she just done every cannonball so he's gotta be on the road every day right yeah actually convict about the looks like out Bimini we're Indian people that's what it's all about he's got it done right you're ready to ride take a lap [ __ ] yeah we're in Pierre South Dakota and headed to Sturgis for a rest day okay but try and ride after the rest day in Sturgis with two days I don't know if I can I'm gonna get out the parking lot take it on the road suit I got I'll tape myself up I've got a substitute rider keeping us in the race right now if I could do it I'm gonna do it it might be three days white before we'll get back in it and I will ride over the finish line [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] whose judgment transmission that lates worse than anything so the gas making good oh when it does this will get hot in favor locks so it creates a back trusty steed time included 15 minutes for sightseeing walk that's that's like an extra five minutes so we can we got all the time in the world Badlands National Park I wish we had more time to stop and look around it's been beautiful so far though it's crazy yeah all the stops we got you know like five minute gas stop look bikes cool down for a second and get back on the road you know we don't really get to do much sightseeing and stuff so any chance I get I'll take it even if I got to make the old people upset ready I don't know like 20 more minutes we're going again right yeah let's tell Mount Rushmore a little proper Brooke okay [Music] none of us young guys know how to use this old old gas pump on the map they said they said four pumps here on the map to get in and there's only the two pumps or diesel and that other pump is get you try to follow all these bikes and two into one station with two pumps gas pump for old school motorcycles is that Lane Rose there's that oil fowl well it's probably two-stroke oil I've been running heavy two-stroke oil so I'd rather change spark plugs and burn something up the cervix got here you know I was 27 miles from town we're in Sturgis and I've never been to Sturgis first time in Sturgis looks pretty cool I ran hard all day I had I finally broke down finally dude I broke a fuel line got lucky didn't catch on fire I lost all the fuel in the fuel was dripping all over the ground so luckily I had spare fuel I didn't realize how beautiful this place was beautiful Main Street historic surges back in my hometown back in the hometown of the founder Lonnie isome right where the motorcycle cannonball originated from right here in Sturgis it's a great to be back great to see my family get to kick my dog for a minute and you know before we got to continue on the journey [Applause] on my 928 Henderson I hit that first hill going into Rushmore going way way too slow and I I pull the second gear going 20 and a 65 up most of that first hill and when I got to the top my towel Josh actually let me brag a little bit all right there you go I got my brand new freshly minted senior senior pass for the national parks of mr. kite I just made it by a month I'm a senior I'm a senior now god damn it I find myself in competition distributing and they've opened up their garages for us so we can clean up and and get help and Marty's model he helped us with a burnt exhaust valve but that's what we're doing today and we're putting on new tire double-tap seized up on me after you do it once it's just like a addiction keep doing I'm ready you're ready I said to nut-and-bolt my bike was really all it was I had a headlight mount that was broke which has been the only issue and I got that fixed this morning cuz chick again mixture last five plugs good a few leaks I just taught in the manifold though so we get there I thought we had everything good and took it up the hill and I don't know just don't have the power and I ain't sure what I've got after five days later after wrecking his motorcycle when we both wrecked he's got broken ribs and rub his shoulder and he's hopped over the motorcycle to ride 299 pounds today with a sling he's right I'm right we're all right that's how it works no matter what you got a big pile [Music] [Music] it's freezin just wasn't prepared for today thought I was still gonna stay in like this 60s at least but it feels colder than that it's just the honor system that you know it's the old style wasn't so long ago that this was always the way it was in New Jersey didn't want to check the credit card and check your bills and everything else I'm just confident and hoping that you take care of it we're in Billings Montana made it made it in time yeah first time the Thor's made the miles so on time that's good I made it through five repairs to valve jobs the compression release and let's see a rocker spring and something else I forgot oh my oil I'm broke [Applause] we can ask for a blessing for everybody today for safe travel [Applause] saij in Native American cultures for cleansing so we're gonna cleanse the mind and the body we're ready to go again after melting down and catching on fire and oh yeah we lost gonna take six guys to leather jackets to fire signature put it out rain that's what they say and I hate riding the ring but you know we can't control the weather we can't control the map all we can do is try to get there in one piece I'm not [ __ ] tough like you man I can't go out there in a [ __ ] hoodie and just be alright body to lay up I got a heated vest two shirts Columbia jacket liner and my leather it's been hard to start recently but we thought we got a fix last night but I think the clutch is slipping that's why it's not starting it's been a bear on a cold start what is it being a bear [Applause] well he lost an exhaust bolt clem exhaust manifold nut bolt so he had to draw up an aero nut off to the bag to fit on there and they put a different one on there so it all fits [Applause] just couldn't get up to 1l the summit almost all the way to the top just like rush mark off the bike push I got over it and I got in on time I was I had two minutes to spare I dropped from first like Bing 60th like that the really early motorcycles like this 1911 they actually use a leather belt and the front pulley has what's called flagging so the leather belt rights on the leather pulley the rear sprocket in this case is made out of wood and it's also lined with a leather and legging so the leather belt lights on love it's leather on leather well we got another broken running too hot seized it up I had to mash the button or start max the brake could couldn't I didn't run today god damn it you're trying to burst me in public son of a [ __ ] I didn't make it tomorrow run like a wild Panther yeah yeah that's what I want you think you're in a hundred years old you wouldn't blow apart we ride him to the banks you're the only one left man it's up to me no it ain't up to you it's up to us he's my brother hey baby I was at in second position and I was on perfect points as a man you know about two o'clock this afternoon I was just cruising slowly down there oh baby 30 miles an hour in that town and my click near the the photographer one to take some pictures of me so we were setting that up so I was gonna ride close to him and there was a bang and I assumed I'd hit something but I didn't there was nothing there and I the front wheel locked up and about 30 miles an hour and I managed to steer over to the side of the road not the nice skid mark and onto the side and just stepped off the bike so that was very lucky the fork is broken and it's bent some things and I don't know where I would find another one on short notice there's not just got no way and the Cannonball you know it's above riding motorcycles than that but even more so it's about the people I've gotten to meet the beautiful people in the United States that are very helpful and thoughtful and I've got to know maybe a dozen of the cannonball errs that have been on various trips with me and they're just awesome people that a real pleasure and and when I tell people's stories about the Cannonball it's usually both the people that I've met and what they've done and the funny things that have happened between us and stuff like that so it's just an awesome can do group of people we build the motor and now the valve tappets are too long he's a new valve season down in there we got to pull the lip through south and putting about 30 thousands off of them and then put them back in meanwhile on my Indian I had to top off my oil and lube my chain going up over the top to put your big-boy panties on and here we go I like to really get in touch with today's news dress warmer than yesterday just in case so it's going to be a great day and looking forward to doing this highway to the Sun [Applause] laughs I think it's going out with a couple versions that says it takes all loop around the town they're back to eight goofy uh [Applause] [Music] [Music] I wish this was my backyard Oh No [Applause] you know we're crewing for four guys right now Clint rich Ryan and rowdy it took us three days to set it up the way it is which isn't much time we got milling machine little mini lathe owners clutches transmissions carburetors mags lots of oil sawzalls Pistons I mean you know we got it all we own ducts harley-davidson of shantou County and this is my daughter Kirsten year ago my dad was building this 1922 and he was actually thinking about possibly selling the bike and I approached him and said that I'd be kind of interested in giving it a whirl and trying the cannonball and so he was pretty excited to hear that and decided to start building the bike for me and it's been going great we make a great team I just can't say how how cool it is to be able to have this experience with my dad had an extra con rod because they had their male Rod break I had my female rod break so I was able to use the ones that are not music right now I think it'll be running tonight but I'm gonna try to preserve the bike for the last leg of the race just so if something goes wrong I can make it across the finish line where are you sleeping in this trailer lady's gonna be waiting for me at the finish line I'm gonna pop a ring on her at the banquet yep she's put up with a lot of [ __ ] getting ready for this so she's a keeper I don't know where we're at somewhere and wash it probably [Music] I don't even know where we're at but I can tell you it's windy I feel like I'm going super slow 7-horsepower it's not cutting it no no weld I know 10 but I'm at least 2 miles an hour slower normal I'm doing really good I've made it the wind was brutal I almost ran it almost ran out of gas I pulled it with 210 slug of a gal and left of my tank and Here I am I'll tell you I have feeling the next time I do the Royal Gorge I want the wind at my back not in my face that's what I want yeah good day though man it's always a good thing that was windy that wind was terrible yeah made it made it 130 miles in three hours is not easy we kept doing calculations and we hadn't no roof or anything to go wrong made it with ten seconds to spare at the time at the last hundred miles I laid out flat on the tank kind of like Rolly free and my ass in my back and my arms are killing me but there's a great day next year we should go backwards we should go from the left coast to the right coast right we end up in the right spot for in The Dalles it's been a horrendous ride when they called it an endurance run this was the endurance part we still got 55 4 miles no countin your chicken still you would drive in the finish line let me tell you I can't believe I didn't I didn't think we had a prayer getting out of New York and look where the hell we are right now I'm about I'm doing mental cartwheels here but I know I don't look it but I really am thrilled to be here the last but the last ten miles was euphoric yes it was like a wound in my helmet I'm imagining a fantastic welcome we have people cheering full blocks away I wrote across America i brough to ssj100 that is like total peak experience we have to thank bud Ekins for thinking of the idea and Lonnie Eisen for making it real they've transformed the antique Motorcycle scene in the United States and around the world people talk about this I travel all the time in Italy and Germany in send in Glyndon everybody talks about the cannon ball because it's such a challenge to them you know completely different than anything anybody else does and it's amazing we did it wow what a widow would arrive would arrive you missed it we're at the bridge of the gods so all the waiting on is a few bikes to come we're heading over it's gorgeous what a fricking roller coaster I mean just insane I mean super super successful everybody made it safe that's the biggest key and you know how excited to party and have a good time [Music] [Music] again first time through the finish line for you took four four tries to do the whole thing all over Friday [Laughter] what a cool journey quite the ride [Applause] it feels really good the Wolfpack riders did an amazing job we captured four of the top ten spot so I'm like really happy that Andrea came in third in overall on the 1913 Henderson Brian penis my son came in seventh and crazy as you know Frank Westfall he will never go away he was in fifth place and I'm just happy that all our riders are in safe and we'd placed four in the top ten so and the first woman to complete the cannonball with all the miles successful son and I he koude with me in 2016 cannonball and decided that this year we would ride bikes together so we built to 1916 Harley simple pretty close so they've got the same speed and we ran side-by-side across this continent father and son it was fantastic and of all the possible stickers that could be accumulated between two bikes you only missed one it's so much work and then all the sudden it's over whichever route we've taken on the cannonball this is my fourth time it's still amazing to be on the back of a motorcycle for 17 dates an old motorcycle 70 days nothing like freak out we always wanted to do something big I mean you want to do something big with these antique motorcycles other than just push them a quarter in the corner and let dust settle on them you want to do something big and this is this is this is why we do the cannonball this is big I thought they'd heard of the initial six day trial thought that was hot this is the International 16 day trial cause it's a fantastic tell the joy yourself when we come back I'm Jessie law and I'm number 25 and a half the bikes number 25 and I'm riding half of it I was a little bit support and a little bit ride and we had a great time I couldn't ask for better friends and a better time put me in a good light that's not asking for much Menno rose she drinks her a lot of all she's a snot slinging [ __ ] but I like her anyway she got me here got me there it's exhilarating it's amazing accomplished years of work goes into this I didn't make every mile but I made it to the finish my god that's something [Applause] [Music] then you guys weren't kidding when you said this would be a life-changing experience I want to thank everybody here that's made this possible even the sweepers so thankful for everybody and one person in particular that made this possible that put up with a lot of Hell for me to be here and I'd like to introduce you to her for a second can I have you up here Maddy just for a minute I just have one question [Applause] that's all thank you guys so much you till next time

Channel: MotorcycleCannonball

Views: 1,012,407

Keywords: harleydavidson, hendersonmotorcycles, indianmotorcycles, motorcyclecannonball, acemotorcycles, 2018motorcyclecannonball, videobyjj, photobyjj, indianmotorcyle, america

Id: q3nBn-wYpJA

Length: 59min 38sec (3578 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 12 2018