Effie Lives!

Pat and I drove up to see Effie at Steve Huntzinger's a few days ago. It was funny, cause I walked in and asked him where she was... I seriously didn't see the bare frame sitting in the middle of the floor in front of me! There it was, bare naked, every part off to be examined and rebuilt to make the trip across the country.

We went over what he found. The frame had a crack in it near the bottom. Same with the forks.( Though they were more just worn.) Apparently, water had gotten into the frame and froze, cracking the metal. The bike was from Michigan when Pat got it over 25 years ago, so that makes sense. Steve will fix both problems. So glad we took it to him to go over. I wouldn't have wanted to trust a 95 year old, cracked frame to go 3,300 miles! The handlebar has a crack too, so we will replace that. If not, if the bike fell over, it might break completely off... a bad way to end my cannonball attempt. Again, thanks to Steve I will have every chance to finish the race as possible.

He showed me a seat pan that we are going to use instead of the old, hard bicycle style seat. This one will have plenty of padding, a gel underneath and a sheepskin on top. Will still be a hard ride, but every little bit helps.

He already started on the motor, replacing the old pistons and valves. Thank goodness! he will also make me a replacement set of gas tanks, the same size. We think the old tanks would leak and crack with the vibration. My motor and trans looked pretty good. The gears in the trans looked REALLY good. While the lifters and pushrods looked worn, the trans was great. I wish she could tell me how that happened.

We spent at least and hour or two going over ideas for lights and brakes. Decided on 21 inch wheels to replace the 28 inch 95 year old wheels.

Things will go back together pretty quick I hope... Our plan is to go back out the end of May and ride the bike. Need to break the motor in while Steve is around to help me learn what I need to know. Every bike has it's little things you need to know about starting, running etc...

It's getting pretty exciting!