June 2013
President Gene Walker 5531 Lardon Rd NE Salem, OR 97305-3248 (503) 428-6641 (503) 371-4363 Treasurer Tom Ruttan 3761 SW Olson Ct Lake Oswego, OR 97034 (503) 638-1746 tgruttan@earthlink.net
Vice President Gary Kelley 20000 NE Jaquith Rd Newberg, OR 97132-6694 (503) 537-0802 (503) 860-6442 garyk@amcaotc.org
Secretary Shannon Kelley 20000 NE Jaquith Rd Newberg, OR 97132-6694 (503) 537-0802 (503) 784-0760 shannonk@wildriders.org
Visit us online at
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May Business Meeting Minutes
Gary called the meeting to order at 2:05.
Attendees:
The meeting was attended by
Chuck Hodson, Jackie Colwell, Norlene Wolbert, Tom Ruttan, Nils Olson, Paul Wright and Gary & Shannon Kelley.
Correspondence:
We received membership renewals and Riverside Run registrations.
Treasurer Report:
Tom Ruttan presented the May financial report.
Five renewals have come in. Two drops. Expect more renewals at June BBQ.
Old Business:
Preparations for the 2013 Road Run continue. Registration is open. See the website for details.
We will plan a lunch stop in Detroit on one of the routes.
We’re
looking at the other Detroit restaurant (Cedars as a backup). W
e’
ll also check out likely lunch stops for our coast route. Norlene volunteered to do Thurs/Friday dinners, and pick up doughnuts Friday and Saturday morning. Shannon will find out how early doughnuts can be picked up. Need to source ice. We need volunteers to fill these roles: Sweep truck and trailer (3-bike) Coffee/Tea/Juice Friday and Saturday Morning Daily snacks / Cooler stocking, icing Filled positions: Road Captain - Tom Krise Thursday/Friday Dinner
–
Norlene Wolbert Morning Donut Pickup - Norlene Wolbert Registration and Run Packets - Bruce Reichelt Drinks/Saturday Banquet - Shannon Kelley Wagon Master - Gary Kelley Awards MC, Prizes - Gene Walker
New Business:
June 8 BBQ at Tom and Stephanie's in Salem. This is a good time to catch up with friends, pay your annual dues, and have input into road run choices. OTC Elections will be held. Nominations are open now and at the meeting for all of the officer positions. Please consider a position, and giving a current officer a break. Continued discussions on where to hold our 2014 National Road Run. Harrisburg, Silverton, Prineville, and Joseph have all been discussed. We need to make a decision in August.
Announcements:
There’ll be a v
intage car and motorcycle show at the museum July 20. Contact TomR or Gene for more details. On June 1, the museum opens for summer displays. Call to volunteer as a docent. Meet people, talk about the vehicles. Good way to support antique vehicles. Gary adjourned the meeting at 2:37.
Oregon Trail Chapter June 2013 Visit us online at
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Tom's Ride and BBQ
Tom's annual event is scheduled for June 8, 2013. How many in your party? Please RSVP for menu
planning! Tom Krise & Stephanie Schmidt, 1615 Court St NE, Salem, OR 503-364-3112/503-881-1699 chiefrider1953@hotmail.com
Directions to Tom's:
From 1-5 north: Salem Exit 256 (Market St) west (RIGHT TURN) 17th Street, south (LEFT TURN) Court Street west (RIGHT TURN) to 1615 Court From I-5 south: Salem Exit 253 (Hwy 22/Mission St) west (LEFT TURN) 17th Street north (RIGHT TURN) Court Street west (LEFT TURN) to 1615 Court From Highway 22 east: Hwy 22 becomes Mission Street in Salem 17th Street north (RIGHT TURN) Court Street west (LEFT TURN) to 1615 Court From Highway 22 west: Once across the Willamette River, go FORWARD onto Center Street 14th Street north (RIGHT TURN) Court Street east (RIGHT TURN) to 1615 Court Hauling vehicles: Park at Court Street Christian Church parking lot at Chemeketa St. and 17th.
Ride & BBQ Itinerary:
9:00 -9:45 Unload bikes & park in front of house; conversation, coffee & cookies 9:50 Rider meeting, start bikes 10:00 Depart on ride 1:00 Retur
n to Tom & Stephanie’s
2:30 OTC June Business Meeting Elections are being held for OTC officers for a two year term.
It’s been several years since we’ve
elected new officers. Take this opportunity to grab the reins and get involved.
Cherokee Chapter Vintage Show
Steve Klein - steve@steveklein.com
This simply falls in the “Category of Fun” and I “Thank You All in Advance” for allowing me to
share it with you! Cherokee Chapter Smithville Vintage Motorcycle Show and Swap Meet in Historic Smithville TX (an hour east of Austin) this last weekend was a
great gathering again… as usual. The weather
was simply wonderful, the RV campground was almost full and we held a great Bike Show. I will not divulge who won Best of Show until our next newsletter in about a week (but his name rhymes with Henry Nicar.) Henry just completed
restoration of “a drop dead, absolutely beautiful, as perfect as one can be” 1948 HD FL Panhead. We all know Henry’s talents and none of us were
disappointed with his latest work. Plenty of photos will also be included in the next newsletter for all to enjoy. One non-
typical thing that happened at this year’s
show was attempting to start and ride a 1908
Thor Model 8 single cylinder, direct drive, “moto cycle.” That’s right “moto cycle” as they were called then. This machine represents “The Giant Step” up from bicycles to what would eventually
become a motorcycle. I recently acquired this very correct, all real, and very original 1908 Thor a few months ago. I just had not had the time to tinker with it or start it until The Smithville Meet. As one would guess there was no shortage of
“Bystander Mechanics” all offering advice and a
large gathering of vintage motorcycle enthusiasts all full of wide-eyed anticipation while Greg Nelson and I prepared to start this 105 year old machine. As one knows if one has a pocket knife and a metric adjustable wrench (Crescent brand) one has all they need to start a vintage motorcycle. We poured gas and oil into the tanks, robbed a 6 volt battery
from a member’s tent lantern and
Greg Nelson ended up
being the “Designated Pedaler.”
We soon found out that the unmarked filler caps on top of the two tanks were not what we thought they were. What appeared to be the gas filler was in fact the oil tank and vice versa. So we removed the two lines beneath the tanks, flushed both tanks out with clean gas, flushed out the carb, drained the crankcase and started over.
Oregon Trail Chapter June 2013 Visit us online at
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A minor setback given the reward we were seeking, but an educational process none-the-less. You see the small tanks are sandwiched on either side of the top bicycle tube frame, but were inter-connected and baffled inside just to confuse us. Hmmm. Oil in the carburetor and gasoline in the crankcase was just not going to work very well. Note: You would think we would have looked in the ow
ner’s manual. Ok,
manly men don’
t need directions! They just need spark, air and gas. After a few pedal rotations the little Thor roared
to life. It did not sputter. It did not pop…It
Roared! A throaty 2.5 HP Roar!
Before watching the videos… I ask that you close
your eyes for a moment and envision that 105 years ago, all your friends had a horse, a bicycle or walked to wherever they needed to go. But you
have a motorized “Moto
-
Cycle.” There are no
roads, only horse and wagon trails across the wide open country side. There were less than 45 miles of paved roads in all of America and those would have likely been brick pavers. You have to buy your gasoline at the local Drug Store in the nearest town in a tin can or mason jar at the whopping price of about 2.5 cents a quart. Be careful not to spill any of this precious new liquid. Then you would have to strain it in cheese cloth to keep any foreign particles from clogging your carburetor. (The first gas station in America would not open for another 5 years and that one was many states away). Now watch the video. As you can see, Master Mechanic Greg Nelson, Georgetown TX did get the carb tweaked just right. The left handlebar grip is the throttle and
the right grip is the ”Tuner”. The right grip
connects by a series of rods and bell cranks to a small delicately machined, arched piece of metal
called “The Tuner” that makes contact with the “points” on the exterior of the right side motor
crankcase. Yes the electrical contact for the motor is exposed to all the elements of the day. I am sure riders in 1908 had to scrape a bit of mud off at times.
I mentioned previously that this is a “Direct Drive” machine. That simply means no clutch hub
and no belt tensioner. It is chain drive from the pedal crank to the rear wheel and chain drive from the rear wheel back down the other side directly to the engine sprocket. When it
starts…You Go!
In order to stop the machine one needs to either stall it or reach below the seat and pull a brass pin (the key) out of between two copper contacts between the battery and the coil. A shocking experience that I am sure the Government would not condone well today. But well worth the thrill of being able to ride anything that was motorized in the early days of motorized transportation.
Remember…. Henry Ford was still not producing
automobiles for many years yet and most likely was paying attention to these early attempts and advances in motorized machines. The video shows Greg riding
around…… and
around and around the Smithville TX City Park grounds. One also should know while watching Greg zip past at 25-30 mph that the only brakes early riders had were the very small bicycle coaster brakes; yes push backwards down on the pedals and coast to a stop just like your Schwinn when you were a kid. This may be another reason
that only two of these Model 8’s are known to
exist in the world today? We all need to understand that if Aurora Machine and Tool, Aurora Illinois had not been manufacturing bicycle forgings, castings and machined parts for the burgeoning bicycle
industry from the late 1880’s through the early 1900’s, this machine would not have evolved.
Aurora made virtually all the parts for many
newly formed “moto cycle” companies such as “The Californian”, “Merkel” and “Indian” among
many other newly formed brands.
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