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Vintage bikes pre 1929 on tour


rocketraider

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That race is kinda cool. A few years ago they made their first stop at the local HD dealer near me. I spent all morning there looking at bikes and talking to the guys. Those first couple of pics in the article show flat tank Nortons. I have one of those in Canada almost identical. The exception the bike I have was a purpose built race bike.

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5 hours ago, prewarnut said:

I'm not a bike person but like to learn. What is the significance of 1929?

Probably just an arbitrary cutoff year but the Great Depression ruined a lot of bike manufacturers same as car manufacturers. So I'll guess it's limited to pre-Depression bikes.

 

Me back hurts just thinking about riding several hours a day on those hardtail bikes!

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This was bittersweet for me. One of my work buddies was a huge vintage motorcycle fan and owned a 1942 HD military bike among others. Jack would have loved this, but pancreatic cancer took him the same year I retired. He took a 1959 DuoGlide cross country in 1991 with his 12 year old nephew riding double.

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6 hours ago, prewarnut said:

I'm not a bike person but like to learn. What is the significance of 1929?

I believe it is an arbitrary cut off date. This event started back up in its current format I would say probably 10 -15 years ago. At that time the cuttoff date was earlier. I dont remember exactly but it was late teens or early 20's.  I suppose they have expanded the years to allow a broader scope of motorcycles. 

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29 minutes ago, TAKerry said:

I believe it is an arbitrary cut off date. This event started back up in its current format I would say probably 10 -15 years ago. At that time the cuttoff date was earlier. I dont remember exactly but it was late teens or early 20's.  I suppose they have expanded the years to allow a broader scope of motorcycles. 

Yes it is arbitrary, but 1929 does mark the end of the Harley "J" series bikes with their IOE engines.  Similar to the "brass-era" ending being set at 1915 or other events being capped at 1927 because of the Model T Ford.

 

The Cannonball arbitrarily changes their years regularly, not so much to "evolve" but to vary the challenge and the interest level.  They've done pre-1916 (brass-era) and pre-1937 (the year Harley introduced the OHV Knucklehead) as well as the current cutoff. 

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