1944 February Motorcyclist Motorcycle Magazine Harley-Davidson Indian WWII

Description: Yes we combine shipping for multiple purchases.Add multiple items to your cart and the combined shipping total will automatically be calculated. 1944 February Motorcyclist Motorcycle Magazine Harley-Davidson Indian WWII CONTENTSReport to Our ReadersBy Arthur E. Welch ...........Transcontinental Record MakersBy J. J. O'Connor..................Indian Military Transverse Twin. ... . . .Trailblazers Meet Again.................Connecticut "Pleasure" JauntBy Francis E. Richardson...........Service Men's GreetingsBy Louise Scherbyn..............Here's What They Say..................30 Years Ago by Van..................Stalling Around With Steele........What's Doing With the Clubs..........7The MOTORCYCLISTFebruary, 19446^JranicontinentciHRecord /f/zz/.wjOF THE EARLY DAYS OF MOTORCYCLINGHere is Retold the Saga of One of the EarliestMotor Ocean-to-Ocean Treks Made by Famous “Cannonball" BakerBy J. J. O’CONNORMotorcycle competition takesmany forms, ranging from a onemile speed trial against time toa transcontinental record run. There evenhave been ’round the world motorcycletrips, too, but these hardly could becalled “competition” for they were go-as-you-please affairs with no official su-pervision.Unprejudiced motorcyclists pretty muchagree that the toughest job a rider cantackle in a bid for fame and monetaryreward is a transcontinental record trial.It is a day and night grind, over allkinds of roads and in all kinds of weath-er, and the “pressure” is on the fellowin the saddle every minute from start tofinish. While that is true of all competi-tion, there is nothing that compares witha “trans” for the duration of that “pres-sure.”There have been many coast-to-coastrecord runs, in both directions, but theunquestioned champion in this form ofcompetition is “Cannonball” Baker, ofIndianapolis, now retired from the speedgame. During his active long-distancecareer Baker made over 60 transcontin-entals, many of them on motorcycles ofvarious makes, and the rest in automo-biles. It is safe to say that no otherliving rider has made a half dozen suchocean-to-ocean dashes, so that clinchesBaker’s title beyond argument.Baker started playing around with mo-torcycle competition in his home town,around 1906. dabbling in track racing atthe State Fair grounds. He won a racethere in 1908. at which President Wil-liam Howard Taft was a guest of honor,and later presented Baker with a silvercup. Baker is very proud of this, for itis the only time on record when anAmerican President took personal officialcognizance of motorcycling as a sport.Probably because of his immense phy-sique, Baker decided that he was notdestined to be a top-notcher in trackracing. In all likelihood, also, he did notlike the risks involved in sliding throughdust clouds on dirt tracks. At any rate,before he got cracked up, he decided togo in for long distance riding, for whichphysically he was much better equipped.So pretty soon we find him figuringprominently in long endurance runs and,in between times, setting inter-city rec-ords. Such records, incidentally, werefar faster than existing automobile rec-ords of authentic fact. Hardened byThis picture reproduced from Western Motor-cyclist of May, 1914, shows the ''Cannonball''all set and rarin' to go.dealers in the districts where Bakerchose to do his stuff.His endurance run experience and hissuccess with inter-city record making, ashe took on longer mileage jobs, gavehim the transcontinental record bug, andhe nursed it along carefully. With typi-cal carefulness he studied maps and gath-ered information on roads and weatherconditions. He also scurried back andforth across country, casually and quiet-ly, filling notebooks with data, learningshortcuts through towns, tabbing dealerswhere he could be sure of adequate serv-ice on the double quick, arranging forpilot guides where he felt them desirable,tough endurance runs through mud andmountains, Baker found something verymuch to his liking in setting inter-cityrecords, and he began to roll them uplike the proverbial snowball in numer-ous parts of the country. He was aptto turn up anywhere and the next youknew there was an inter-city record storyin the papers in that vicinity. All ofwhich was good publicity for Indianand organizing the myriads of details,that meant the difference between suc-cess and failure when he finally got un-der way.When his plans were complete, Bakerwent to Springfield and made a dealwith Frank Weschler of Indian to go forthe transcontinental record on a percent-age basis—i.e., so much per hour, for ev-ery hour clipped from the existing mark.This was the first time than a transcon-tinental record job was put on a businessbasis with a definite compensation pro-vided for, according to the measure ofthe performance. Previous coast-to-coastspeeders had been quite content to gettheir expenses and a special price ontheir machines, from the factory. Somedid not even get that much.This was in the spring of 1914. Indianfixed up a current model Indian two-speed for Baker, just the way he want-ed it, and shipped it to him at San Diego,Calif., which he had chosen for his start-ing point. He also did something no pre-vious “trans” rider had done—he got anofficial F.A.M. sanction for the trial, toinsure his time being recognized as au-thentic and his record accepted for thebook. In addition, he also arranged forAssociated Press checking and picturesat important cities en route. Gas, oil,parts and pilots were awaiting him at pre-arranged points.In addition to his percentage deal withIndian, Baker also had bonus arrange-ments with the manufacturers of everysingle item of equipment he used, andeverything he wore on his person. Gas,oil, tires, chains, lights, carburetor,speedometer, clothing, goggles, puttees,shoes, watch, gloves, batteries, plugs,handlebar grips, brake lining and whatnot. All were in on pay-off contracts,based on Baker setting a new recordand the extent to which he broke the oldone- This set-up indicated his rare de-gree of business acumen, not usuallyfound in motorcycle record-makers.After his machine was uncrated in SanDiego, Baker spent threq days puttingthe final touches on it. It was a stockJ0^ Indian wanted it that way—exceptfor double size gas and oil tanks. Soineof those “final touches” were things hkethis: taping and shellacking the lea*sPnngs of the cradle fork and frameto prevent them breaking when hittingchuck holes at high speed; shellackingot all nuts not castellated; taping of allpins, joints and fuel connections and, lastof all, a 15-pound sheet of boiler plate,bolted to the frame under the motor toserve as a shield against flying stones,rocks and other obstacles which mightsweep the muffler off, or punch a holein the crankcase. All these little trickswere the fruit of long experience, in hav-ing things go wrong and figuring thebest way to prevent them happeningagain.Finally came the Great Day, Sunday,May 3, 1914. The F.A.M. officials werethere, the press was there, the movieswere there and, likewise, a bunch of mo-torcycle riders. The Carnegie Libraryon F street was selected as the startingpoint. It was raining when the boys be-gan to gather early! Then it stopped fora little while and the movies groundout some film of a pre-start. Then itdarkened again and it looked like morerain but Baker wasn't bothered. He waswell used to riding in the rain.With all the preliminaries and fare-wells disposed of, Starter Charles FullerGates, squeezed his finger on the triggerof his trusty starting pistol, right on thedot of 9:00 a.m., the timers’ watchessnapped and Baker was on his way toNew York. His schedule called forabout 3172 miles of riding, and it ac-tually proved to be 3362 miles. His routetook him through California, Arizona,New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Miss-souri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Vir-ginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, intoNew York, 13 states all told. It was avery direct course, bearing slightly northall the time, and is the accepted trans-continental tourist route today betweenLos Angeles and New York.Baker’s schedule called for making therun in 17 days. Had this been followedhe still would have lowered the old rec-ord by a comfortable margin. The markhe was shooting at was a transcontinen-tal from San Francisco to New York of3071 miles, by Volney Davis, on an In-dian, in 20 days, 9 hours, 1 minute, madein July, 1911. As it was, when he rolledoff the Jersey ferry onto Forty-secondstreet, New York, at 12:10 a.m., Friday,May 15, Baker had covered 3362 milesfrom San Diego, in 11 days, 12 hours,10 minutes.Baker traveled 291 miles farther thanDavis and lowered the latter’s time by8 days, 20 hours, 51 seconds. However,Davis traveled more or less leisurely, tothe extent that he did no night ridingand was not shooting at a schedule. Helikewise did not have the cash contractson a time basis which Baker rode for.and naturally these were a powerful in-centive to make the fastest possible speed.Incidentally, Baker’s time was over aweek faster than the existing automobilerecord.Davis’ mid-summer trip gave him bet-ter weather breaks than Baker enjoyed,even though the latter followed a moresoutherly route. In addition to snow, rain,heat and cold. Baker had plenty of toughroads and mountain climbing, as well asdesert sand. At times he took to the tiesuntil he overtook a freight train, whenLanrani e ^JivcnMILITARY MODELLEFT—This head-on view shows the massive op-posed cylinder heads with cooling fins and sparkplug locations. Each piston has its own carburetor.BELOW—Right side view of the Indian MilitaryModel showing shaft drive and oval fork girderswhich are controlled by extension springs withhydraulic damping cylinder between. Side-valveunit has 27/b" bore and 3V4" stroke.ABOVE—Left side view of Indian Transverse Twin shows the rocking heel and toe gear changepedal controlling the four speed box. Gear ratios are 5.10, 6.45, 10.09 and 14.20 to 1. Power istransmitted through a handle bar controlled single-plate clutch. Front and rear internal expandingbrakes of 8-inch diameter are provided.Descriptions courtesy of "Motor Cycling." These photos and specifications were released inJuly, 1943, and therefore do not necessarily describe present models.10The MOTORCYCLISTFebruary, 1944HI, YOU SERVICE MEN—This month we’re going to ask you allto send in the names of your buddies whonever receive mail. Just write to any ofthe Motor Maids, or to your associateeditor, and we’ll have a letter speeded onits way.GOODGreetings from Fayetteville, NorthCarolina! Since my husband is locatedhere in an army camp and 1 lived in SouthLincoln, Mass., it didn’t take me long todecide where I wanted to be so I boughta trailer, rolled my Junior Scout insideand hit the southern trail. I had a lovelytrip, now and then a glance at a passingcyclist. I’m parked in a nice trailer siteonly about a half-mile from town andabout seven miles from camp. Every onein this clan seems very friendly. This townis very pleasant and it does seem good tobe able to escape the cold northern cli-mate and maybe be able to ride the bikemore this winter. There are two motor-cycle shops in town so it shouldn’t belong before I get acquainted.It won’t be long, we know, until youhave the Axis all licked and to all of you,good luck and God Speed home.Vera MacLennanFayetteville, N. C.It’s been a long time since I’ve addedmy two bits worth to these columns butyou know how busy a person can be.And especially with AWVS, GSO, USO,BGL, and just plain working during theday. I can see these codes or rather let-ters have you guessing but as space does-n’t permit me to write them out in full,you’ll just have to drop me a line to findout what they stand for (well, that’s oneway to get you fellows started in writingto a sister motorcyclist anyway.)It’s been terribly cold here in Kansaswith a big snow last week of six inches.But it was a beautiful snow, all soft andfluff}’ and not that miserable wet kind thatpacks so hard.Incidentally as a result of that snow-storm, I now have the flu and am con-fined to my bed for a few more dayswhich lets me catch up on my letter writ-ing. There is always some good in every-thing, isn’t there?The boys at the Air Base and WinterGeneral who have always been used towarm weather are sure cursing the snowand then some of them are really thrilledTed Fonts—motorcyclist enthusiast ofPalisade, Colo.over it as they have never seen snow be-fore. Imagine that, fellows, in our ownU.S.A, who’d never seen snow before?I had a very nice Christmas this yearand I surely hope you did, too, in thebest way you could. How about writingme about it? ’Course it wasn’t like theChristmases I've had before but consider-ing all, it was nice. I went to the U.S.O.Christmas night and I guess the boys fromaround the camps here really appreciatedwhat we hostesses did for them. I knowone soldier said, “Gee, next to being homewith the wife, this is the next best thing,”so why wouldn’t we be happy, too? Soyou see, fellows, your “one and only” isdoing her part back home and still beingtrue blue to you.If this letter doesn’t sound so newsy,please blame it on the flu, but I don’tlet a little illness bother me from tryingto do my part any more than you fellowsare on that tough job you’re doing. Hop-ing this year will be a happier one foryou all.Virginia Faulk119 Buchanan StreetTopeka, KansasHow’dy fellows! May I come into yourfoxhole a moment? It has been very coldin Ohio throughout December and Janu-ary so I haven't been doing so much rid-ing on my Harley-Davidson. I have ahabit of putting on all the clothes I possi-bly can and the group I ride with do razzme. But it is cold riding these days and Iguess they forget I'm quite new.In September 1 drove to myabout 120 miles from Columbus ivsquirrel hunting. Next to my cycle, I lovemy rifle. Maybe I could shoot a Jap ortwo if I got close enough to one.A few weeks ago I had the misfortuneto have my nice shiny gas cap stolenwhile I was attending a neighborhoodmovie. Now I have an old galvanized cap,the new type, and it looks terrible. Chromeaccessories have almost completely disap-peared from the shops and to keep whatwe have, we really need a padlock.A flock of big scores to all of you fel-lows and here’s to a victorious year.Josephine FoldenColumbus, Ohio111It looks as though the man power short-age has really hit these columns. So I’llcontribute my part hoping to help a little,as a former Harley-Davidson booster.Today with this war ranging all aroundhometo gous everywhere, I know most of us arc alllongingly looking back to the sport ofyesteryears and ahead someday when thefinal victory has come to rest with theAllies and all of you boys return to yourhomes and it will be then the road willbeckon once more for all of us. Onceagain we’ll climb aboard to exploreregions near and far. Many of these tripswill be lands which in pre-war daysseemed unattainable. I, for one, am eager-ly looking forward to a jaunt into aforeign land. I’d like to hear from someof you fellows who might add a fewpoints of interest for such a trip.Keep up the good work, each hour isdrawing you nearer to a victory which ispredicted for 1944.Joseph N. NugentBox 145, Wethersfield, Conn.111Again, here is just a short line lettingyou boys know all is well and that I’llgladly help to send those letters to youas some of you already know. I’ll continueto do my best keeping your service post-man busy so write in from where ever youarc and I’ll do my best. Good luck.Mary GoodmanDes Moines, IowaWe have around 30 boys in the servicesfrom Muskegon and here’s hoping manyof them will read these few lines. Ourservice flag hangs in our motorcycle shop,the stars of which form a double V andone gold star at the bottom. Eight or tenare overseas and we are glad to hear fromeach of them. Our present gang is quitenew—that is, in addition to a few of theolder ones who are not in service. Wehave about 25 new riders and more tryingto get bikes.Our girl’s club hasOur President—v is secretary and I ami penny raffle every14 members atis Ella Doult,present. (___Marian Lambert io otreasurer. We have a _______jmeeting night and we generally take in 65to 75 cents on that. Our dues are 50 centsmonthly. We also held a series of cardparties and dances to raise money to helpfinish our room in the new club housewhich has been built in the last two yearsat the bottom and to the right of Mt.Garfield. Our building is 30 x 60 with themain floor as a dance hall and the clubrooms are in the basement. It is beingfinished in knotty cedar wainscoting withcelotex tile board ceilings and the wallover the wainscoting is light colored wallboard. When the boys come home weanaan J goodgoingomeLOUISE SCHERBYNhope they’ll find this one of the best clubhouses in the country.Dan, friend husband, is working 8 hoursdaily at the Continental Air Test besidesworking from 8:00 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. inhis motorcycle shop. In between timesince March, 1941, he writes three or fourletters every night to the boys who havebeen called to the colors.We have only one machine just nowfor the two of us but we each take ourturns at the controls. Not so long ago,our present gang took a 100-mile trip toLudington, Scottville, Baldwin and Ne-waygo. That was my last trip. With nextspring our hopes are that the Axis willhave been blown off the earth and motor-cycles will once again roll freely with allof you boys back for the first big hill-climbs and club gatherings.Mrs. Gay RaymondMuskegon, Michigan111Here I am saying “hi!” to you fellowsagain in Uncle Sam’s uniforms. TonightI have been re-reading a few back num-bers of the Motorcyclist. Not too farback, just '39 and ’40 when I first startedriding and attending motorcycle meets.Aren’t we all dreaming for that great daywhen we will again have meets? Manyof us will have that brand new job withall the post war improvements and othersare shining up the old ones now and get-ting ready to ride that long, long trailagain. Sometimes I wonder will we everwant to call it quits even for a little while?Oh, well, it’s winter time here now andwe must dream until spring and peaceand I hope you fellows won’t be confinedto dreams any longer than that either.My thirty-fifty has had a thorough over-haul job, a new coat of white and blackpaint, and as many shiny chrome gadgetsas I could find to put on it. So there'snothing more to do but just dream forbetter times and an early victory. Keepyour chin up and we on the home frontcertainly would love to pat each and everyone of you on the back. Your big sister,Emma MehanMechanicville, N. Y.

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