just finished 6 days of riding

[knossos]

Hi guys. I just got back home after riding my early bikes for the last 6 days. The first 4 days were at the Alturas car/bike tour, then 2 days on the Moto Melee. I'll be putting up stories and photos on http://www.occhiolungo.wordpress.com this week. There may be a bit of info that will be of use to Cannonballers, maybe not! Feel free to ask if you have questions.

In Alturas, I was on my 1913 Premier, 500cc single cylinder belt drive. On the Melee it was the 1916 Excelsior, 1000cc V twin three speed. --made in late 1915!

The 4 days in Alturas were relatively easy, about 80-100 miles each day, with several hours available to ride the distance. My single as well as two other singles did ok, and the V twins didn't have any trouble. One mountain pass was tough at 6200 feet, big bikes slowed down to around 25-30 mph, and the single speed singles couldn't make it up and over. My 3 speed single slowed to 18-20 at the summit. Thankfully the chase truck stayed right behind me to block traffic.

On the Moto Melee, Day One was about 315 miles. I went full throttle the whole time, and rode from 8am to 8pm. I did have a 1 hour lunch stop and stopped for fuel 8 times. Average speed then is 26mph including all stops. This is a 61ci 3 speed with a fresh motor and brakes: top speed with the current gearing is about 58-60mph, maybe 63mph? But the vibrations at that speed would kill me and the bike. A single would have run out of daylight a couple hours before making it to the hotel, luckily it was the summer solstice and the sun stayed up late for me.

Day Two was about 200 miles, it took me from 8:30am to 5:15pm, with zero food stops and about 6 gas stops. There were stops totaling 1.25 hours for a broken chain and running out of fuel. That is an average of 23mph, including all stops. [Please note that this route was pretty twisty, and I expect that the Cannonball will probably be on straighter roads, which will give a higher average mph]

Your mileage may vary. But I'd suggest planning to leave as early as possible every day, and plan on a very short lunch and a late dinner for each day that you are riding. Don't expect that your average speed will be the same as your bike's top speed.

By the way, my butt does hurt a bit, but my back hurts worse. I'm glad that I'm somewhat in shape at age 40, and that my handlebars are the upright touring type. I don't know how many more days that my body could have taken on those 200+ mile twisty roads. Time for more situps!

It was fun as hell though, and I'd love to get back out there later this summer.

Regards,
Pete

[jurassic]

yeah pete, it sounds like the excelsior is working better every day. i remember seeing the bike years ago ,seems it had a cool story behind it.?? over 300 a day is amazing. i just watched the pete young interview on youtube.{not yet on our website} great interview, your last line summs it all up. "it'll be fun, but only a fool would attempt the cannonball ". i tend to agree. the more i ride my bike the more i am convinced that it is a foolish endeavor. not impossible,but very difficult for the unprepared,and unmechanical. i hope i never gave the impression that any part of this was going to be easy. it wont.one only needs to run across town on your bike to realize that. thanks for some much needed insight.