2023.09.21 Cannonball content
When my dad had stopped to help Jared with his flat tire, the wind blew his JD off the rear center stand. It turned out the stand had lost a nut and lock washer. The result of the tip-over was bent handlebars, a bent fender, broken pivot screw on front brake lever (at left hand grip), and some scrape marks on the rear top box. Luckily the rear rack was already broken otherwise this may have broken it! Nothing that took the bike out of commission though he had an annoying rest of the ride due to the rear stand not being reliable. The front fender was already pretty beat up so there was no harm in bending it back into place. He was able to get another rider to help bend the handlebars back to a state good enough for use.
The aftermarket front brake lever broke at the pivot screw rather than the lever itself so we drilled into the broken remains of the screw and then turned it out saving the thread. It being an aftermarket part used metric screws and I had bought a few spares and different lengths when we first fitted it to the motorcycle, so luckily we had those along for the ride in the support trailer.
My dad's approach to tools and spare parts is similar to the approach I use for building a travel tool kit. He set aside most of the tools and spare hardware used when building the motorcycle over the past half a year, and then loaded that into the trailer. Meaning there's literally a bucket of nuts, bolts, and washers from the garage along for the trip. That bucket of hardware came in handy for finding a replacement nut and lock washer for the rear center stand.
The excess oil is from the timing chest cover, we sealed it as best we could but it's still leaking profusely and on the list of things to address more permanently after the trip. For now the oil pump is adjusted perfectly to offset the oil loss. The worst of it is that the oil makes the rear brake less effective than it already was.
Unfortunately the Peugeot Griffon, one of my favorite oddball underdogs, is out of the event. The crankshaft appears to have had a failure that permitted the piston to travel part way out the bottom of the cylinder, a piston ring expanded when it wasn't restricted by the cylinder wall anymore, and the top end locked up stuck on that piston ring at the bottom of the stroke. Don is going to get started on pulling the motor to send back to France for a rebuild. A notable feature of this motorcycle is the unit construction of the engine and transmission being in the same cases same as most modern motorcycles.
One of the Harley-Davidson Model JD bikes ground through some gears today, pieces of those gears are in the sludge on the shop rag next to the bike. Her support team had swapped a different gearbox into the bike in no time at all.
When my dad had stopped to help Jared with his flat tire, the wind blew his JD off the rear center stand. It turned out the stand had lost a nut and lock washer. The result of the tip-over was bent handlebars, a bent fender, broken pivot screw on front brake lever (at left hand grip), and some scrape marks on the rear top box. Luckily the rear rack was already broken otherwise this may have broken it! Nothing that took the bike out of commission though he had an annoying rest of the ride due to the rear stand not being reliable. The front fender was already pretty beat up so there was no harm in bending it back into place. He was able to get another rider to help bend the handlebars back to a state good enough for use.
The aftermarket front brake lever broke at the pivot screw rather than the lever itself so we drilled into the broken remains of the screw and then turned it out saving the thread. It being an aftermarket part used metric screws and I had bought a few spares and different lengths when we first fitted it to the motorcycle, so luckily we had those along for the ride in the support trailer.
My dad's approach to tools and spare parts is similar to the approach I use for building a travel tool kit. He set aside most of the tools and spare hardware used when building the motorcycle over the past half a year, and then loaded that into the trailer. Meaning there's literally a bucket of nuts, bolts, and washers from the garage along for the trip. That bucket of hardware came in handy for finding a replacement nut and lock washer for the rear center stand.
The excess oil is from the timing chest cover, we sealed it as best we could but it's still leaking profusely and on the list of things to address more permanently after the trip. For now the oil pump is adjusted perfectly to offset the oil loss. The worst of it is that the oil makes the rear brake less effective than it already was.
Unfortunately the Peugeot Griffon, one of my favorite oddball underdogs, is out of the event. The crankshaft appears to have had a failure that permitted the piston to travel part way out the bottom of the cylinder, a piston ring expanded when it wasn't restricted by the cylinder wall anymore, and the top end locked up stuck on that piston ring at the bottom of the stroke. Don is going to get started on pulling the motor to send back to France for a rebuild. A notable feature of this motorcycle is the unit construction of the engine and transmission being in the same cases same as most modern motorcycles.
One of the Harley-Davidson Model JD bikes ground through some gears today, pieces of those gears are in the sludge on the shop rag next to the bike. Her support team had swapped a different gearbox into the bike in no time at all.