June 2013

President Gene Walker 5531 Lardon Rd NE Salem, OR 97305-3248 (503) 428-6641 (503) 371-4363 Vice President Gary Kelley 20000 NE Jaquith Rd Newberg, OR 97132-6694 (503) 537-0802 (503) 860-6442 garyk@amcaotc.org Treasurer Tom Ruttan 3761 SW Olson Ct Lake Oswego, OR 97034 (503) 638-1746 tgruttan@earthlink.net Secretary Shannon Kelley 20000 NE Jaquith Rd Newberg, OR 97132-6694 (503) 537-0802 (503) 784-0760 shannonk@wildriders.org

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. Were looking at the other Detroit restaurant (Cedars as a backup). Well 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: Therell be a vintage 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.

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Oregon Trail Chapter June 2013

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 Rider meeting, start bikes Depart on ride Return to Tom & Stephanies OTC June Business Meeting

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 Henrys 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 years show was attempting to start and ride a 1908 Thor Model 8 single cylinder, direct drive, moto cycle. Thats 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 members 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.

9:50 10:00 1:00 2:30

Elections are being held for OTC officers for a two year term. Its been several years since weve elected new officers. Take this opportunity to grab the reins and get involved.

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Oregon Trail Chapter June 2013 A minor setback given the reward we were seeking, but an educational process none-theless. 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 owners manual. Ok, manly men dont 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 popIt 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 startsYou 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 8s 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 1880s through the early 1900s, 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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Oregon Trail Chapter June 2013 These early manufacturers just assembled all the parts, painted them by hand with a brush, wet sanded them between coats of paint with kerosene and pinstriped them to suit their taste and their brand name and then sold them to an eager public wishing to have a motorized thrill. In 1899 Oscar Hedstrum hand built a tandem motorized bicycle to use as a pacer for board track racing. In 1901 Hedstrum joined forces with George Hendee and built three prototype motorcycles. They called it Indian. These three machines were then shipped to Aurora Manufacturing in 1901 for Aurora to take apart, make castings and patterns, make necessary improvements to the early design and start producing parts for the New Indian Moto Cycle Company. In 1902 the first 137 Indians were produced. This 1908 Thor is built from the same parts, from the same factory as these early Indians. Not until approx. 1909 did Indian manufacture their own forgings and motors. And now you know the rest of the story.

Upcoming Events
Check out these upcoming antique and vintage motorcycle events. See our Events page for additional information.
Date May 26 June 1 June 8 June 8 June 6-8 June 14 - 15 June 29 Event Ishi Chapter Show and Swap Chico CA NWVCM Museum Opens for visitors Every Sat & Sun, 9:30AM to 4:00PM through September 29, 2013 Tom Krises Ride and BBQ Salem OR. OTC Business Meeting Tom Krises House Missouri River Road Run Great Falls, MT Fort Sutter National Meet Dixon Fairgrounds, Dixon, CA 2nd Annual All Club Rendezvous 8:00 am to 4:00pm at the Museum Brooks, OR.

Hope You All Enjoy

Editors Note: Id like to thank Steve Klein and members of the Cherokee Chapter for sharing this great story and video of an antique coming back to life.

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Oregon Trail Chapter June 2013

Visit us online at amcaotc.org

Oregon Trail Chapter June 2013

June Business Meeting Agenda

The July Business Meeting is being held at the Texaco station in Brooks Saturday, July 13, 2013. Topics well discuss: Review of June meeting minutes Treasurers report 2013 2015 Officer Elections 2013 Road Run Final Planning New Business Business Meetings are where we discuss issues important to Chapter operation. Your thoughts are needed to make decisions for the future. As always, we hope to see you there.

Wayne Stevens Memorial Ride

August 5-9, 2013 The Stevens family would like to extend their apologies for Idaho burning last year forcing us to cancel the ride (shit happens). Please join us this year. On Monday, we will leave Stevens & Sons at 10:00 AM and ride (via Idaho City) to The Ashley Inn in Cascade from where each days ride will begin, then return to Boise on Friday. Routes will be 75-125 miles per day covering many of Idahos most scenic mountain communities and highways (and maybe a few miles of smooth as a babys butt Idaho dirt roads. ) Thursday nights dinner will be provided at Rons cabin, all other meals will be on your own, but well point you in the right direction. When making reservations at The Ashley Inn, mention Stevens or antique motorcycles to receive a reduced rate. Ask Ron about limited camping at his cabin. Other motel or camping accommodations can be made by checking with the Cascade Chamber of Commerce. If staying overnight in Boise google Boise motel, location should be near I-84 and Broadway Ave. Lots to choose from. Contacts: The Ashley Inn (www.theashleyinn.com) or (866) 382-5621 Cascade Chamber of Commerce (www.cascadechamber.com) or (208) 382-3833 Pat Stevens (208) 344-0726 Ron (208) 859-0276 Tom (208) 392-4316 Stevens & Sons: I-84 exit 54 (Broadway), turn north toward the mountains and take the first right exit to Federal Way. At the stop light, turn left on Federal Way through a second stop light, then left on Victory Rd. Take first left and immediate right onto Denver. At the end of the road, turn right and go through the tunnel. Please let us know you are coming. We dont want to leave you behind!

Historic Documents
Documents from OTCs early days are available on the websites Trail Gazette page. Included is a list of charter members, early meeting agendas, and Newsletters #1 and #2. If this proves popular, Ill continue to upload documents as time permits. Be sure to take a look at how it all started and Contact Us to let us know what you think.

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Oregon Trail Chapter June 2013

NWVCM Swap Meet

The NW Vintage Car & Motorcycle Museum is holding its annual swap meet July 20, 2013 8:00AM to 3:00PM at the museum in Powerland, Brooks, OR. Spaces: 10 X 20or 15X 15 $ 25 Commercial Vendor Spaces: 10X 10 -- $25 10 X 20 --$50 300 first come first served spaces available. General admission is $5.00, kids under 12 free. Free parking. No non-car or non-motorcycle merchandise allowed. For more information: Motorcycles: Doug Towsley 503-351-0518 or Tom Ruttan 503-638-1746 Cars: Don Peterson 503-246-6939 or Mike Bostwick 503-245-5444 Visit the museum website for additional details.

Member Classifieds
1951 FL, 3 speed and reverse with 1941 sidecar. Very nice outfit, runs great, fresh rebuilt Linkert, interior of sidecar in nice shape, spare tire on the sidecar. Email gene@roguehawg.com for more information and pictures or call 541-944-7641. 2 Scouts for sale. 45-inch in a 741 frame. Needs finishing with wiring and misc stuff to get it running. Painted a beautiful, $1500.00, 2-tone blue. 52-inch in a 741 frame. Has vertical twin front forks and wheel, TT warrior rear wheel and Jr. Scout tanks. Contact Ben Beberness, bbeberness@aol.com

Editors Note:
Deadline for articles, advertisements or other submissions to the Trail Gazette is the 20th of the month. Send submissions to garyk@amcaotc.org

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Oregon Trail Chapter, AMCA 20000 NE Jaquith Rd Newberg, OR 97132-6694