1926 Rudge Special Four-Four

I’m Andy Babister, from a small town about 30 minutes north of London, England. I’m enthusiastic about anything with a petrol engine be that old or new motorbikes or cars, and even more so anything that likes being driven fast on track. This year I’ll be riding a 1926 Rudge Four/Four 500cc owned and restored by my father in law Stu Surr who some of you will know as he completed the Cannonball twice before, once on this very Rudge in 2014 and in the race of the century event he rode his 2016 Triumph. Back in 2014, Stu was building the Rudge until the last possible moment and put her in the shipping crate with literally less than 20 miles under it’s belt since a total restoration. So it did miraculously well to score as many points as it did and this time we have plenty of time in hand to get ourselves prepared. Aside from securing some spares including a mag, gearbox, and to recon & assemble the spare engine, we are looking really just at preparing the bike for reliability with new tyre tubes plus checking/reconditioning various bits. Otherwise there’s not a huge amount to be done to get the old girl ready. Bit more power from the little 500cc would be nice if we can but the priority is keeping it chugging away. Anyway, it’s going to be huge fun to do this Cannonball together with Stu and the other members of our team John & Thierry, with this being my first time at the event (I had to drop out of my first CR in 2018 when my son came into the world), Stu’s third, John’s second, and Thierry’s first. All of us are really looking forward to The Cannonball, enjoying riding across the beautiful USA on an old motorcycle, meeting/making friends, and doing our best to complete as many miles as possible. Cheers!