Sunday, 17 July, 2011 Dr. Jan Waclav, organizer of an annual Indian rally in the Czech Republic sent me the following leaflet telling the story of the 1911 TT

Fri., 15 July, 2011 I finally got the flywheel off the crankshaft of my Dondolino. My friend Erik Green, proprietor of Works Engineering in Brooklyn, had a proper hardened 5/8 X 18 bolt from a puller that we used in the tool Jerry Kimberlin had made to thread into the flywheel hub. We hit it with two different pneumatic impact guns he had and it didn't budge. We heated it with the oxy-acetalyne torch: nothing. While periodically shocking the flywheel with a hammer, we used a 1/2" breaker bar and a 36mm box wrench with long pipes over each and pulled on them until we broke off the bolt. So, we removed the puller tool and set the whole driveside crankcase half, flywheel and crankshaft up in a 150 ton press. This involved stacking up a bunch of spacers under the flywheel, which touched the flywheel on it's perimeter at not quite 180 degrees. Definitely not the ideal setup. We pressed on the end of the crank and, I swear, one could see the flywheel flex. Finally, when I was sure the flywheel was going to break, it let go with a tremendous bang and the crankshaft ejected downward. Amazingly, nothing seemed to be damaged any more. The tapers of the crank and flywheel aren't that bad and I'm sure can be lapped. It looks like it's going to be a bit of a challenge to get the sheared key out of the crank and I'll have to check that the crank's not twisted, but I think it all can be used again. I'm really impressed with the strength of the flywheel. I can't say I recommend this method, but it did work and nothing (and no one) was hurt, proving once again that brute force and ignorance made this country great.

10 July, 2011 While I still haven't got the flywheel off the crankshaft even with an improved puller, I decided to pull the motor out of the frame and split the cases. I thought this would make it more portable and give me access to the crank to maybe try to cool it while I heated the flywheel. It appears that the gearbox is fine and I can't see anything wrong with the crankshaft other than it's welded to the flywheel. The crankcases don't look too bad and I think they're worth trying to weld and re-machine. In the photo of the drive side crankcase with the broken rod, you can see the big aluminum ring and the extended cyl. studs that thread into it. This was done sometime in the distant past to repair a crack in the case. In the photo of the timing side case, you can see the front, upper case bolt that took a direct hit from the broken rod. I've since cut, ground, and drilled this out of the case.

A Québéçois racing in the 1911 TT?

On the face of it, the birthplace of Jacob DeRosier (or DesRosiers), Indian factory 1911TT race team member, would seem to have little bearing on his ability to put a racing motorcycle into competition. However nationality is a cherished element in the imagination of historians, academics, and journalists linked to motorcycle culture. In my brief exploration into the nationality of Jacob/Jake DeRosier at the request of Dave Roper, I was party to some rather illuminating correspondence on this matter.

The life of Jacob DeRosier after the turn of the 20^th Century is widely known and part of public record. The specific circumstances of his life, prior to 1900, is less clear, and this is where some controversy occurs. Open participation, on- line resources either related to the Indian marque or DeRosier in particular, have him born in Canada in 1880, which as we can suspect might not necessarily be meticulously researched from primary sources. In private email exchanges, and I will paraphrase, Jacob DeRosier was said to be: born in Ontario, Canada near the Quebec border, in Quebec near the border of Maine, in France, and emigrated to the USA, and my favorite, born in outer space. These various observations were put forward by persons linked to the 2011 TT project and the entry of the Canadian built replica Indian race machine. After quickly consulting my own modest moto library, general consensus, with the exception of T. Rafferty who referred to Jacob as French Canadian, from historians Glendinning, Carrick, and Shilling refer to Jacob DeRosier as American. Nationality within motorcycle culture is a contested territory especially when world records and championships are at stake.

It could be argued that French is the language of speed and motorsport in Canada, one has only to think of the families’ Villeneuve and Duhamel for confirmation. To add Jacob DeRosier to this list is very tempting, if not essential. However, place of birth and nationality are not necessarily equivalent and in the case of the Québéçois motorsport families, international careers served to blur this distinction. Yet, place of birth does play to the imagination no matter where a sportsman or sportswoman engages in competition “away from home” and is an essential enrichment for spectators, journalists, and historians alike. The confirmation of Jacob DeRosier’s birth place therefor, cannot be left to conjecture.

In May of this year Maggie Humberston , of the Springfield Musems in Springfield MA, through perseverance and expertise has come the closest to verification of the birth place of Jacob DeRosier. In an email she makes this assertion:

“I think I’ve finally got it, by process of elimination! The birth record of Joseph Jacques Desrosiers of St. Ulric, Quebec (right next to Baie Des Sables) baptized 10 December 1879,legitimate son of Alphonse Desrosiers and Georgina Ratte”

It must be said that digital mediation of physical archive material for the most part, led Humberston to this conclusion. Nevertheless, enthusiasm and an intuitive intelligence is a far more powerful research tool. Her further research reveals the marriage record of Jacob Derosier to Melvina Castonguay on Oct. 28, 1899 in Fall River, Mass. and lists both sets of parents, as Massachusetts records from this time period do.

“As an aside, Jake DeRosier was an uncle by marriage to Woodsy and Frenchy Castonguay, the 1930s Indian racers. His first marriage didn’t work out, but he had two children, a girl born in 1900 and a son several years later. We haven’t been able to track what happened to them”.

A Québéçois in competition at the TT in 1911 seems closer to a matter of fact than the product of romantic imagination.

Bill Rodgers July 2011,with thanks to Maggie Humberston

5 July, 2011 Sunday 3 July, my brother Doug and his wife Amy hosted a Tiddler Tour from their house in Haddam, Ct. We had 28 bikes participate: 7 Hondas (1 of which was a cheater), 6 BMWs (5 of which were cheaters), 5 Moto Guzzis (1 of which was a cheater), 2 Bridgestones, 2 Bultacos, 1 BSA, 1 Ducati (cheater), 1 H-D Aermacchi, 1 Ossa, 1 Triumph (cheater), and 1 Yamaha (cheater). Some of the cheaters (post '67 or bigger than 350) were more egregious than others, but no one gets turned away. Rider ages ranged from early 20's to 80. My '53 Airone Sport was again the oldest bike, but there were two other Airone Sports, a '54 and a '56.

Doug again laid out a superb route, 85 miles in the morning (east of the Ct. River)and 54 miles in the afternoon (west of the River). Challenging roads, beautiful scenery, little traffic. It started raining at the end on the morning loop and I barely got wet, but some of the stragglers got soaked. It rained through lunch and then stopped and, while some of the afternoons roads were wet, most were bone dry.

I led a morning group of Doug Boughton (CL 72), Leif Gustafson (TW 200, amusing cheater), and Phil Turkington (CB 450, beautiful cheater), all excellent riders and we had a spirited ride. In the afternoon Bob Bendix (BMW cheater) and Mike Peavey (beautiful '54 Airone Sport) and I rode together and the ride was slightly more subdued owing to the wet roads and the fact the Mike and I switched bikes for a while. This was the first major ride for Mike's Airone, which he had recently bought off ebay and, while it need a little sorting, he considers it a definite keeper.

Amy (and a few neighbors and participants) out did herself with food, libations, and entertainment including fireworks that evening. A great day.