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The road to Cannonball 2025

The road to Cannonball 2025

With the start of the new year the Wrecking Crew is embarking on a new project: The Cannonball 2025. A motorcycle endurance race across the continental USA, coast to coast, 3.500 miles in length. On vintage motorcycles, some of them up to a hundred years old.

Our Harley-Davidson J model, named "The Flying Turtle",

which we will be racing in 2025 hasn’t cracked the 100 years yet, but it isn’t far off either with its 1928 vintage.

The history of this particular J model is hidden in the murky depths of the last century, but we know that it entered the W&W fleet of V-twins by way of a couple of trade ins from Switzerland. It has been in use on and off ever since, and without giving any trouble. Which is all the more surprising ’cos none of us ever bothered to have a look see inside her innards.

But, with the extreme long distance on the horizon,

comprising mountain ranges, desert roads and miles of solitude that will have to be conquered in the three weeks and 3.500 miles to come we decided to tear down "The Flying Turtle" down to her last period correct washer, inspect everything and rebuild her just like Milwaukee intended her to be.

An epic quest, you could say, but our Wrecking Crew team are just the guys to handle it:

Paul "The Cyclery" Jung has done it before,

riding the "Cannonball of the Century" in 2016. He’ll be chief mechanic this time, in the headquarters' workshop during the 2024 run up and on the track in 2025, driving the support truck (help is only legal before the start and after the finish line of each stage). His experience as a senior AMCA judge might come in handy here.

Chris Sapper will be riding "The Flying Turtle".

He has plenty of Harley miles under his belt, and loads of wrenching know how in his muscle memory. So that he has the complete picture of what is going on inside his ride, and to know what to do if anything goes awry, he will be wrenching on the restoration project under Paul’s supervision from day one.

It’s still a few days until the starter’s flag drops.

We’re now busy dismantling, evaluating and measuring all the parts – and we’re filming whenever the Wrecking Crew is working on "The Flying Turtle". Every Wednesday there’ll be a short video update under the motto ’Wednesday is Wrenching Day’!

Click here for our YouTube channel (don’t forget to subscribe to get a notification when a new video is up.)

Short cut to the videos:

Episode 1: GET LIFTED: Wrecking Crew's Harley Davidson Model J 1928

E2: THE PLAN: a vintage Harley for the Motorcycle Cannonball 2025

E3: SPEEDO TO GO: Wrecking Crew starts dismantling of 1928 Harley J Model with Corbin speedo

E4: BYE BYE, TWIN TANKS! Wrecking Crew removes tanks of 1928 Harley Model J

E5: CHAIN REACTION: uncovering the primary of 1928 Harley Model J

E6: SCHEBLER BEAUTY Schebler DLX carburetor, perfect condition, rare

E7: MOTOR REMOVAL Wrecking Crew lifts 61 cu. in. heart of 1928 Harley

E8: GEARBOX removed by Wrecking Crew

E9: GEARBOX CHECK a deeper look inside

E10: THE TOOLBOX MYSTERY Is it just a metal can?

E11: WHAT THE WOBBLE Checking seat and hinge

E12: GAME OVER FOR THE SWITCHBOARD? Reaching a new tear-down level

E13: FIRST LOOK into the gearbox

E14: THE LONG WAY TO THE MAINSHAFT dismantling continued...

And here’s the tale of the epic 2016 "Cannonball of the Century"
The tank inside the tank
One of the outstanding parts on our 1928 J model is of course the tank, or rather the twin tanks, in many ways typical for American motorcycles of the 20s of the last century.
Back in the day most motorcycles were using total loss lubrication systems. The engine oil was not recirculated, but delivered to the engine and just got used up after doing its job of lubricating the moving parts. Some of it was dribbled onto the primary chain via the breather and from there into the primary cover.
So how was the supply of oil to the engine organised? The first Harley-Davidsons up to 1914 did not have an oil pump, with the lubricating oil being gravity fed (drip feed oiling) to the engine via an adjustable needle valve. From 1912 on hand oil pumps were available, to be used when the load on the engine was higher than usual, as on long full throttle sections, steep inclines or when the sidecar was fully laden with your mother-in-law.
In 1915 Harley for the first time brought a mechanical oil pump to market, the "automatic oiler". It was factory preset for a sufficient oil supply in regular conditions. It still wasn't a circulation system, but under oiling wasn't a problem anymore. It was a big step though. Hand pumps were still in use, but the rider didn't have to worry all the time if he was starving or flooding the motor with oil. Too much oil is almost as bad as too little: power loss, oil slipping by the rings, oiled up plugs and caked valves weren't unusual.
What does all this mean for the tank construction? The Harleys of this era had their oil tank and the hand pump integrated into the left hand gas tank. The main part of the gasoline lived in the right hand tank, the space in the left side not used for oil was for reserve. The oil compartment in the left tank had two functions then, it served the mechanical pump and the hand pump with the precious lubricants.
What's the condition of our "Flying Turtle's" tanks post removal? We're happy to report that the Flying Turtle's tanks are in great shape, considering their age. Still, we'll have the right hand tank cleaned and coated, for some added protection.
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Removing the Corbin Speedo
„A good speedometer is not merely an accessory, it is a positive necessity for every motor vehicle" We’d definitely confirm this from today's perspective - in 1925 this sentence was apparently a newsworthy insight. And it is no coincidence that the quote comes from a technical manual published by the Corbin Screws Inc, New Britain, Connecticut, USA.
The Corbin company emerged from the American Hardware Corporation, founded in 1878, and manufactured not only screws and bolts of all kinds and for all purposes - from ovens to dog leashes - but also vehicle accessories. In addition to complete brake systems, from around 1910 these were primarily speedometers for cars, trucks and motorcycles, at times also under the brand name Corbin-Brown.

In 1928, the year our J model was built, Harley-Davidson motorcycles rolled off the factory line without speedometers. If you wanted to know how fast you were barreling down the roads on your murdersickle, you had to dig deep into your pockets: in 1918, a speedometer without drive cost 12 dollars, with angle drive cable, road gear sprocket, brackets and all the trimmings it quickly came to 25 dollars - that would be around 500 of today’s dollars. Back then this was quite steep - today a Corbin speedometer is a "hard to find" object, a better word for very expensive: if it's a working Corbin speedometer you want, you can expect to pay well into four figures. If you can find someone to sell it, that is.

Technically speaking, the Corbin speedometer is a "governor type speedometer" that works on the principle of centrifugal force: a flexible cable transmits the speed via a pinion on the rear wheel into the speedometer, where it moves the pointer against the resistance of a spring. Or in the words of Corbin sales literature:"The Corbin-Brown Speedometer is built on the centrifugal principle of physics. Its centrifugal governor has four balance weights so sensitive that they respond to the slightest variation in speed. This centrifugal principle of the Corbin-Brown Speedometer is the same as that applied to the regulation of engines. It insures absolute regularity of revolution."

In a 1918 catalog, Corbin praised his own speedometers as particularly reliable and insensitive to temperature changes, electrical fields or shocks caused by uneven roads or railroad sleepers - not least because they consisted of "few, large and strong parts". The speedometers were offered in different versions: with a maximum indicator to document the maximum speed reached; with an odometer that went up to 100,000 miles and with all accessories to connect the speedometers to the rear or front wheel. They were also available with mph and km/h dials - the latter is the case with our Model J. It is therefore conceivable that it was intended for export to Europe.

As already mentioned, Corbin speedometers are extremely sought-after items today. For owners of historic Harleys such as our Model J, however, it is usually also important that these measuring instruments work reliably. We’re happy to say that we have put together a selection of spare parts that are essential for the operation of a Corbin speedometer and which we are presenting here.
We can’t rule out that we will have to use some or all of these parts on the way to rebuild our Flying Turtle. But that's still a little way off.

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