Hans Coertse ’ s rare 1924 Indian Scout motorcycle had to be completely rebuilt .
Coertse ’ s aim was to be ready to test the bike in the annual “ DJ Run ”, a Durban to Johannesburg classic motorcycle rally that happens in the first week of March every year . “ If I could run at least part of the DJ , I would know what to work on and would have time to get ready for the Cannonball Run ,” he explains . However , the DJ attempt was disappointing . “ I realised that there was a problem with the bike ’ s performance during the trip from Hillcrest to Nottingham Road ,” says Coertse . Then the bike began to heat seize . “ We packed it in , went home and stripped the Scout again . We found that a misaligned sleeve and bore was the fundamental problem . So we rebored it , got new pistons from a world-renowned Scout expert I had met at the swop meet in Davenport , and tried again .” The bike still had no power .
4 . Being resilient and not giving up is critical
Many hurdles had to be overcome in the run-up to the Cannonball . The complicated rebuilding of a new handlebar was just one of the problems Hans Coertse faced .
Even shipping the bike to the U . S . proved to be a challenge .
Coertse had to keep a constantly watchful eye on the old bike ’ s critical systems .
“ It got me very down ,” Coertse admits . It was one of his two lowest points in the Cannonball Run experience , but he powered through . “ I ’ ve done four Comrades marathons and this race was also personally important to me . I know you need to put that goal up there , focus on one thing at a time , solve it , and move on .” “ When you have set clear goals , the apparent obstacles that get in your way should be analysed individually and resolved , and should never be allowed to cloud the vision of your goal .” “ It ’ s when you deal with accumulated obstacles that you become demoralised .” He and Wallace looked more closely at the pistons . There appeared to be a 3,8mm difference in compression height . They rechecked . The piston was indeed wrong . The world-renowned Scout expert they had consulted about the bike had been wrong — by 3,8mm — and the only other place they knew they could now source the right pistons in the remaining time was Australia , and there were only 10 weeks left to go to the start of the race . Once the new pistons were in , however , the bike immediately began to perform better . “ We ran it on the rolling bed dynamo at Ekerold Yamaha in Pietermaritzburg and within 20 minutes , mechanic Leon Els had the bike set to peak performance . It was really quite amazing . He found the optimal timing and fuel-air ratio settings , both of which are critical . “ We got it to where it was producing 13,5 horsepower . The factory measurement for that bike when it rolled off the production line in 1924 , was 13,5 horsepower . But that was measured on the flywheel . We were getting that on the back wheel .” The bike was now even better than new . After that it was a few weeks of riding to get used to the bike and get the engine run in , and then it was time to ship it to the United States . But even that apparent formality gave them problems . “ It took a week to prepare the bike and get it through customs here , and on to a plane ,” says Coertse . This included getting a Carnet de Passage certification that guaranteed that the bike would be returning to South Africa . It required a R22 000 deposit with the Automobile Association . The U . S . customs , however , did not recognise the Carnet de Passage and insisted they pay for another , or return the bike to SA and reinitiate the whole process with the correct permit . “ We paid ,” says Coertse wryly . In the end , it took two and a half weeks to clear U . S . customs .
5 . Competing
It had been a long , frustrating journey to get to the race , but if Coertse thought the worst was behind him , he was about to learn how mistaken he was . “ The race was a personal lesson for me ,” he says , “ in the amount of non-stop concentration it took for the 16 days .”
40 | Issue 2 | Capital