Beeming on the Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Run

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Photo courtesy John Landstrom
BMW Cannonball riders, left to right: Darryl Richman, 1928 R52; Eric Bahl, 1929 R63; Norm Nelson, 1928 R52; John Landstrom, 1928 R62.

I’ve crossed the country on modern motorcycles more times than I can remember. I ride my /2 BMW almost every day, and I have a small collection of prewar motorcycles that I ride around the neighborhood on sunny Sunday mornings. But it never occurred to me to ride a 1928 motorcycle across the country, diagonally nonetheless, until I heard about the Motorcycle Cannonball. The ride carried a certain mystique. Who are these riders? Why do they put themselves and their ancient machinery to this grueling test? Can they really be as crazy about old motorcycles as I am? Can my machine and body go the 16-day, 4,000-mile distance? I sent the check, made the hotel reservations and spent a few weeks going over my trusty 1928 BMW R62, which I have owned for 20 years.

My R62 is what I call a “gentle restoration” of a good original bike. The paint was done years before I bought it and most everything on the bike is original. I don’t think I have ever ridden the old girl more than 20 miles from home on any one trip. I had confidence in the bike, but for a 4,000-mile journey a partial tear-down and inspection was called for. I removed the cylinders and inspected the valves and pistons. The valve seats only needed a light touch-up, and I didn’t change the rings or any hard parts.

The only questionable part in the gearbox/final drive was one bearing in the final drive. The clutch can’t be removed or inspected without splitting the cases, so I just kept my fingers crossed that the clutch would hold up.

The other concern was the magneto/generator, something that can fail at any time and is usually not repairable on the roadside. After some research I installed a new electronic unit from Power Dynamo in Germany. It gave 160 watts of 12-volt power and made the bike easier to start. With everything back together I put 200 test miles on the bike and couldn’t find anything else that needed attention. A new electronic speedometer and route sheet roller and I was ready to go.

In early September 2014 I found myself on the beach at Daytona with 98 other crazies — Daytona to Tacoma, baby! I was amazed by the number of people and vehicles that supported the Cannonball. There had to be 200 helpers and 100 back up vehicles. Was I crazy doing this alone, just me and my BMW tool kit? I had friendly fellow riders with support vehicles and lots of folks willing to lend a tool or a helping hand, but for the most part I planned on fixing what broke with the tools I carried. Maybe I was just lucky, but it worked. Over the entire trip I never changed the oil, and never had any parts fail or fall off. I adjusted one valve, added a little oil every day and changed the spark plugs once. That’s it.

  • Published on Dec 11, 2014
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