13 September 1948

mercurycrest

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Screen Shot 2021-09-14 at 13.51.48.png
 

TouringGodet

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On a number of occasions over the years, on a weekend near Sept 13, a few of us would gather in Mike Parti's backyard, to recognize the anniversary of the record. Mike would pull out his Rollie memorabilia and we would bench race. Mike had Rollie's little pocket calendar from 1948, that Rollie made notes in, about John Edgar receiving the bike, and Rollie preparing it, etc. Great times.

Well, what little Rollie did to prepare it. Snapshots from the journal are in the Jerry Hatfield book, and the bike was still in US Customs on Thursday, Sept 2. John Edgar took possession on Friday the 3rd. On Tuesday the 7th, Rollie rode the bike at Rosamond dry lake, the entry says in simple words, "Ran Shadow at Lake Rosamond, Good". They left for Salt Lake on Friday the 10th, arrived at midnight. On Sat the 11th, Rollie met John Edgar and referee Jack Williams in Salt Lake, and then later drove to Wendover, arriving there around 7 PM. Practice runs on the 12th, and the record on the 13th.
 
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bmetcalf

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Didn’t he fabricate that device on the rear fender to help him get prone? IIRC, didn’t he also lap the valves?
 

TouringGodet

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Not sure about the valves, but removing the front mudguard and front brakes, strengthening the rear mudguard (using Royal Enfield stays, I hear), and fabbing the device on the rear mudguard from an oil can, plus narrowing the handlebars, were all done in that week between getting the bike and going to Bonneville.
 
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