Harley-Davidson Museum Hosts Cannonball Run Exhibit

What's it like to ride coast-to-coast on a 1914 Harley-Davidson at a top speed of 25 miles per hour on today's roads? Over a 16-day period this past September, Bill Rodencal, Harley-Davidson Museum Motorcycle Restorer/Conservator, joined 70 other antique motorcycle racers in riding from Kitty Hawk, NC, to Santa Monica, CA, to find out. On October 22, Bill will share stories from his cross-country adventure at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee. Hosted by Jim Fricke, H-D Museum Curatorial Director, the program will feature Bill's experiences and photographs of the motorcycles, people and places of this amazing journey.

The world's first Motorcycle Cannonball Run kicked off its coast-to-coast journey in September, 2010. Unlike other cross-country races though, this one was run on vintage metal. The brainchild of Lonnie Isam, Jr., owner of Jurassic Racing in Sturgis, South Dakota, the event required participants to ride classic pre-1916 motorcycles such as Pope, Sears, Flying Merkel, Indian, Triumph, or Harley-Davidson's Silent Grey Fellow. The machine must be powered by an original engine: updates could be made for safety's sake, but the core of the motorcycle must be 95 years or older.

This year's Cannonball route ran 3272 miles, starting on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, in Kitty Hawk and finishing in Santa Monica, California. For results and more information, see: www.motorcyclecannonball.com/

Admission to the H-D Museum event is $8 per person for Museum Members, $10 per person for non-Members. For more information, see: www.h-d.com/museum.