Sunday 9/10: It’s Not Goodbye, Renata. It’s See You Later.
Sunday, September 3rd
Stage 3 – Concord, NC to Alcoa, TN
Today, Renata’s Cannonball journey came to an end.
As we were traveling to the Wheels Through Time Museum this morning we got a very promising phone call: The restoration shop at the museum probably could help us with machining a replacement exhaust valve. We brought Renata there with great excitement and optimism, hoping we could have Renata up and running as soon as tomorrow. Sadly, it was not meant to be.
After tearing apart the engine, the damage was too great to be fixed overnight. The biggest issue is that the valve seat was very loose in its fitting, and the valve guide was worn out and cracked. The loose valve seat may have even caused the broken valve, if the seat came loose while the engine was running. Fixing all of this would have taken 4-5 days and required us to stay in one city instead of following the race. The delay would have put us out of the race long enough to be disqualified. This obviously was sad news for the team.
But as one door closes, another one opens. While talking with owners of Wheels Through Time, Jonas asked if they had any road-ready motorcycles that could be sold. At first they said no. But a few minutes later they changed their minds and directed us to a 1937 Harley-Davidson UL that the museum had purchased just 6 weeks before, which was running and ridable. We consulted with several other Cannonball staffers and riders about the quality and value of the Harley, and did a lot of discussion back and forth about whether or not it made sense to do this.
There’s a lot of risk with this plan. Everything we’ve done to prepare for the past year has been for a 1928 Italian Moto Guzzi, not a 1937 American Harley-Davidson. The Moto Guzzi is metric, while the Harley is standard (or imperial). All of the tools we brought were for the Guzzi. And the spare parts. And the shop manuals. And usually you’d want to ride a bike for months before this kind of a race so you find issues in advance – We’d get only 1 or 2 test rides on the Harley.
The Harley could break down two days into the trip. But, on the other hand, so could any other motorcycle of this age. And we had had enough issues with Renata already to know that she might not be more reliable than a Harley that we’re just seeing for the first time.
The other advantage to the Harley is that there are dozens of other Harley riders and mechanics in the race. They’ll have tools. And knowledge. And spare parts. Cannonball is very collaborative, and other teams are helping each other out constantly. Everyone has been rooting for us to find a way to stay in the race, and they’ll be stoked to help us work out the kinks on this bike.
We consulted with the Cannonball race organizers to confirm that we could swap bikes. We’ll end up losing 1,000 points (which is a lot), but still get to continue in the race. They would rather find a way for us to continue participating than for us to go home.
Talking it through with Jason Sims, Cannonball race organizer
At the end of the day we weighed all of our options and decided that continuing the race with the Harley was the best way forward. Renata is going to be left behind temporarily at the museum, and we’ll come back for her this fall. We fully intend to enter her in Cannonball again in a future year, coming back with more knowledge and more spare parts.
So, see you later Renata. We’ll be back for you soon. And now, we’d like to introduce you to Salvatore (Italian for “Savior”), our “new” 1937 Harley-Davidson UL who will proudly carry the Team 36 badge for the remainder of the race.
Salvatore, a 1937 Harley-Davidson UL
Tonight we will have a late night as we rush to get Salvatore ready to race tomorrow. We need to do a thorough check-over of the bike, add all of the race-required safety equipment, and do any maintenance it may need. After all that I’m sure Jonas will want to ride it for a few miles to get a feel for the new ride.
Stay tuned… Team 36 lives to race another day!
Pulling a few important bits off of Renata before leaving her at the museum
Salvatore loaded in the trailer