I first became aware of Bantam racing from a magazine article many years a go but I can not for the life of me remember which magazine and when ?
I have the Motorcycle mechanics articles from April 67 and July-August 72 but I'm certain it was later than this ( I am only 49 ) So can anyone else remember any magazine articles concerning building a bantam racer , probably from the late 70,s early 80,s or even later ?


Paul

I found this link, which has a few Bantam articles.
http://www.pigfarmerbikemagazines.co.uk/mag-index-b.html
Cheers,

Andy

Thanks for the link Andy and welcome to the forum

the couple of racing articles he lists are from the 60,s , I was hoping to get a lead on an article from the early eighties possibly ? I just can't remember when exactly . I do know the article struck a nerve and has stuck in the back of my mind ever since .


Paul

Sorry the link wasn't more help. Thanks for the welcome .

Hi Paul
I recall there was an interesting article in Motor Cyle News, circa 1974 -75, about the Bantam Racing Club. This was by one of their reporters (John Nutting I think) who rode Pete Styles' Bantam to a win in a Novice race at Snetterton.
Can anyone fill in the details on this ?
Regards
Chris

Hi Paul!
Roy Bacon has written a lot of books on Brit and Foreign motor cycles and he wrote an interesting article -- or it might have been a book -- called "Racing On The Cheap" where the Bantam 125 racer was the chosen machine and the BRC the club as the means for a penniless youngster to race at reasonable cost. That was in the late `60s... That was when we had No Fairings (Streamlined modesty skirts and that crap) and thousands of articles appearing in the magazine telling how it should be done. Roy was very exact in everything he did, which made any of his articles or books worthy of attention.
Someone MUST have that "Racing On The Cheap" article stached away somewhere -- so get it out and get it copied whomever you are!
Great days. Icarus-1 Bantam´s cost was never counted but Icarus-11´s was (parts straight out of a MC breakers or bits of kitchen ware!) and it was just over 40quid ready to race -- well participate then. It was quite special in its tendency to oversteer -- or if you´d rather, "Flop" into corners -- and then be hard to drag up to vertical again.... That´s if its piston hadn´t seized by then or elongated its gudgeon-pin holes....
Those were the days of a furtive figure in dirty Barbour MC coat wandering the pits with vernier in hand trying to measure other Bantam´s port timings whilst the victim of a practice piston-scuff was working on his piston.
Wonderful days to remember -- Brands Practice particularly...
Sorry! Got carried away again...
...Go well and keep well...!
Watch out for the force of gravity though -- even a dropped Bantam cylinder barrel can hurt the tootsiea and if it comes to the complete engine -- Owww!
JayBee.

Paul are the articles you speak of - just for interest? as any tuning tips will be well out of date and of little use. Ref 175 tuning data I'm just about to do one on Jimmy's 175 motor which was the only 175 to win a championship race this year(and loads last year) and is worth copying! Classic Racer #100 has an article on my bike..125 water cooled and reed valve. Regards Mike

Just for interest Mike , The article in question planted the seed many years a go to possibly one day go Bantam racing .

I have the Classic Racer article on your bike and as it happens I have just purchased a water cooled 125 engine from James Cook that needs a gear cluster and the barrel re-jacketing , on the understanding that I sell it back to him if I do not race it . But I would still be interested in a 175 article if only to cover all the base,s .

I will keep an eye out for Roy,s book John , I'm a great believer in keeping one eye on the past


Paul

Paul the earlier article is about the bantam(002) i was generally using at the time and is bike now ridden by Phil Betty(re-framed004)-but now un-recognisable as It is a far cry from a SMS (Scutt-Miller-Styles) 'std' looking bike. However the engine was Tom Millers first reed-valve engine 1 exhaust port 2 transfers 1 inlet and won the bantam clubs bantam championship in 1987 (and the 125 open championship on 17" wheels) The #100 article was a later 2 exhaust 4 trans 1 inlet reed valve Tom motor which i converted from piston ported and 6 transfered which worked very well but after many years use is worn out and no longer in use. Gordon Russell practised on it and wrote the article...

Looking at all those extra transfer ports, reed valves and things -- maybe Roy´s book is out of date!?
... I certainly am.
...Most upset was I when my mentor (and engine tuner) said you must have a fairing because everybody else has got steamlining now and its worth 3 0r 4 mph more...?? (What, I asked, with 8400rpm when the wind was behind -- REALLY??).
... First time thus incarcerated at my jinx circuit Snetterton I felt horribly enclosed ... Every time out in practice I could hear all the clattering engine sounds like a shaking iron-bucket, full of loose screws and bolts... Really stressed me out so much that in the 1st race I crashed at the Esses and a piece of my left knee was scraped out by that damned fairing. Can still feel the agony 40 years on... Plus I didn´t wake up until Monday morning and wanted to continue the race... DAFT! Should have been committed but I reckoned the rest of the world was loony and I the only one sane.
...What I reckon you need now is a NAKED Bantam Class because that is how we started -- less skirts and frills and fancy engine internals. Attraction being that it´d be the less costly Class of all racing MCs. And think of it:- If they are allowed to race in among the other ponsed up ones and a Naked Runner beats a Pansy-Frocked Bantam how that´d rouse the ranks and build the attraction!
...You´d then have 3 classes:- 125, 175 and the Naked Bantam Class.
...See the Avitar pic -- 1968 at Mansfield, Cadwell*** ... was that not a beautiful sight!? Sigh! Sigh! Sigh!
...Cheers!
...Watch out for the force of gravity -- its likely to pick on you!
JayBee.
***in the lead and winning and all.... Sigh! Sigh! Sigh!

Something like this JB ?

If anyones got a plunger frame going spare I wouldn't mind giving it a go


Not to sure about the BTH mag and that pipe though .

Paul

Fantastic PaulM!
Wow! see that nakedness -- you don´t see the like these days with them fancy petticoats and skirts covering the essential bits. A real Bantam racer...
And that open pipe?
Did you see that the Walsh Bantam had a megaphone and not a resonant pipe and would rev on eldlessly although it had 16:1 static compression ratio.
...
PS -- the Law of Gravity did not exist before Sir Isaac Newton made it up and it is still, now, only existing in the mind. So the Force Of Gravity was
only measurable by the amount of pain it presented to a human-being when falling over.... Now we can realistically measure the FORCE and can
tell (anyone who wants to know, that is) the force of impact in pounds or kilograms that gave the headache. Its far better to ignore the measurements and concentrate on avoiding the falling over bit!
All the best,
JayBee.