Just For John

Courtesy & Property Of Trevor Amos.

Hi John,
Nice picture of Colin, and a fine image of Bill Lomas on the rapid Walsh Bantam...... enjoy !

Regards Trevor

Thanks Trevor... The Wobbleyman looks as if he needs a wash! He and I had some fantastic battles in Inter-Novice  but from what I heard whilst in Canada he had got himself a quicker Bantam and was making some of Seniors sit up... Fantastic "fairing" ón the Walsh Bantam -- it had a plunger sprung back end.... Seemed to work alright because it beat many 250s -- but that was in Aussy where thing are different from the UK

I don´t rember Peter Strong being at any of our meetings -- SO WHEN WAS THAT...?

We had "Ace" John Brown at a Cadwell BRC meeting and also had him and Mick Grant at our annual dinner for Prize Giving -- great fun.

Cheers!
Isa Hasbinn.

No you wouldn`t remember Peter Strong as competitor for as the short description indicates he was a reporter sent out by MCN to find out what the Bantam boys got up to ? Actually the paper did quite a nice write up , with interviews with several prominent riders , including Bob Newby the then champion . The year was 1971 and the circuit was the very bumpy Llandow oval .
I have often wondered just how Bill managed to jump from the fearsome V8 Guzzi to the tiny Bantam and still be a winner , natural talent I suppose .
Ah , those heady days of inhaling veggie oil fumes .

Glad you enjoyed having a topic all to yourself !

Trevor

Thanks Trevor!
Bill Lomas was a natural born champ. I saw him at Cadwell on a JAP special -- can´t remember the year -- long before he got a Works ride. Could compare him with Brian Stonebridge at Scambles/Motor Crosss -- Stonebridge never lookred as if he was really trying and would be miles ahead of the field. Such a loss to the sport for Brian to die in a Motorway crash in which Bert Greeves was seriously injurted.

In his article, Bill said the Walsh Bantam was on 16:1 comp ratio -- on methanol -- with megaphone exhaust...?There were several dope Bantams at that time but the Walsh with Quincey aboard was almost unbeatable.

I must look up some old photos ,,,.

cheers!

You sure that was 1971 Trevor?
I was there at Llandow in `71 -- I have a trophy that says I won and was third twice but that might have been the other meeting at  Llandow (for that year) when  Peter Strong was with Colin  in that picture. I think I missed the meeting because I had to go to work....

Another time at Llandow The SISTER of Peter Williams was riding (supposed to be -- she couldn´t get it started and baulked my progress in one of the tussles with The Wobbleyman)...  I got Eddie to post a pic of Max Ridge, Colin and I   --   on here, ages ago -- perhaps I should find the photo of two-three laps later where the pic shows me passing³³³ Max having done Colin a lap earlier.

Llandow was my favourite circuit because, in a lot of respects it was like an oval  grass track:  ²²²two bends, twó straights and a two gear circuit once away in first. On a Bantam, that is. On Andy´s 250 with 5 speed box it was a totally different story.....



²²²Some swear that Paddock Bend had a kink with two corners but it could be forced into one bend; particularly in the rain....

³³³ Why does everyone call me Big-Head Mummy? Shut up, she said,  and get down to the shops for a half-cwt of spuds -- in your hat!

Cheers!

Courtesy & Property Of Trevor Amos.

John,
Another nice image of the Walsh Bantam , complete with a dramatic megaphone, but the top half of the barrel and cylinder head are quite intriguing, definitely non standard. Well, what could be more memory jerking than a grass tracking Walsh Bantam !

I did check on the Llandow date and the article was published on 18/8/71, so the actual meeting was a bit before that .
The rudimentary streamlining could have given rise to the old description of the Dolphin Fairing ?

All the best, Trevor

Thanks Trevor!

Yes that would make it right. The first Llandow was always in May. My best one was on May 19th 1973 when others of the  Eastern Centre did not fair so well:  Colin fell of in practice "racing" with me when he hit some sheep´s pooh,  Niffy broke his leg in one of  the Novice races (there were always two Novice races at Llandow...) and Sticky Mick fell off on his way to the grid for a  seniors race. Well it was raining.  

Go well and stay well -- all you crazy motorcyclists.

Trevor and John I hope the just for John heading dose not mean I should not post but it is all very entertaining and interesting. Can you please explain the gear change; it looks almost long enough to reach as a hand change. The cylinder looks to be very short stroke and weren’t you using expansion chamber exhausts in 1971?

Morning Ted ,
Please post what ever you feel you would like to , there is nothing exclusive about this topic , and it`s great that more people contribute , actually I`m surprised and delighted that it has attained this level of popularity it has ! Originally, just a couple of old stagers having a quiet reminisce !

Just to clear up what maybe some crossed wires, the Walsh Bantam pics are from the mid 50s hence the absence of current exhaust style.

The gear change looks like a " heel and toe " set up and the sheer size could be down to big boots?

The barrel would be the original small fin type and I suspect that the top fins, down to the ex. outlet, have been turned off and replaced with a big diameter aluminium sleeve, a popular mod back then . The head , with what looks like a central plug, could be a Hogan Hi torque job, I`m not certain here but that seems likely , or alternatively, something home made. Again I`m not certain , but I think the stroke would be standard at 58mm, the big problem back then would be a suitable alternative piston .

Post away Ted, regards , Trevor

Trevor , according to my Bantam acquaintances in Aus and NZ, the alloy upper cylinder muff was a standard mod. A D1 scrambler that held NZ 1/4mile beach sprint record, I once owned had such an arrangement.
The cylinder head would be a Walsh one, he produced and sold. The Hogan heads were not popular, down under because they were expensive to import and broke ! A talented local engineer here in Palmerston North, Bill Ward also produced some very good heads that were used with methanol upto 17:1 CR , shall dig out my museum piece and post a photo.

It was the Dope what made them go quick with the megaphone pipe and 60thou ring (one) werrn´t it? -- I wonder if some of the Ozzy Bantams were running on the Hot-Plug system of model aeroplane fame having heard that the power was either ON or off at oval grass-tracks with the twist grip was kept at max thro´ out the race.

I think the Aussies would not be put off by a shortage of the `Right´ piston, Trevor, they´d cannabalise or cast their own.

Have you seen the film, "The World´s Fastest Indian?" or read Burt Monro´s story? If you haven´t your education has been sadly neglected. Burt was a Kiwi who spent a lot of his life in Ozzy tearing about on grass & beach tracks with his home-made Bitzas. He built his own record breaking special -- a 1915 Indian -- the pistons for which were from a Chevvy car which he melted down and and cast in his garden shed. He popped one of his heart-attack pills into the tank before his record-breaking run, assuming the pill´s nítro would help!!

The film has Anthony Hopkins as Burt, overdoes some of the fantasy but the scene of Burt´s Special being scrutineered át Bonneville Salt Flats reminded me so much of my turn of scrutineering at a Bantam meeting when faced with some of the Bitzas --fitted with bits -- that were obviously hacked out of cast-off kitchen ware....

Really great stuff! I just made myself a rowing-machine out of bits and pieces people chuck out for the `Large Rubbish´ collection -- which we `discover´ on our walks around here. Maybe I am somehow related to Burt Monrow....??

Cheers!...

JohnS,
Look forward to the pics John , actually I have just discovered an image of a 125 Harley, that might interest you and a drawing of an aluminium,upper cylinder, finning sleeve , both originating from America from the mid 50s .
I think you may well have cleared up the question mark over the Walsh cylinder head , he made his own !
Take a look at the ex. system, does this predate the Todd pipe ? This is taken from the same publication, which was published in 1954 !

I will ask Ed if he would , kindly, post them for us

Cheers Trevor

Courtesy & Property Of Trevor Amos.

Bob Munson, shown here with the flat tracker, is a dead ringer for Lee Marvin ! Notice the central plug head and big carb, pity Bsa took until the impending demise of the D14 to get the message . The exhaust drawing is pretty advanced for the year, that technology didn`t hit Europe until a few years later and it`s all the more so to think that it must have been in use a couple of years prior to this date . There were plenty of megaphones and straight pipes in use when I started back in the mid 60s, but things changed swiftly when the late Prof Blair published his work on pipes , coincidentally , also in America ! His simple equations gave hope to all 2t home tuners , and spawned a myriad of copy cat software products .

Trevor

You are right, Trevor, after seeing a pic of Dr Joe Ehrlich´s resonant pipe we all thought we´d be producing the fastest ever 2-stroker  but 35 exhaust pipes later we realised the truth... Then Blair hit us with his reeds and we were too wórn out with the nth pipe to even try.

I was just the dumb-dumb-jocky anyway -- "Eh ey!  wat-cher say, Derek? -- make anuvver pipe and take Icarus-1 ter Brands aginn?"

Truth is, I enjoyed practice at Brands for part of `67 and almost the whole of 1968. Riders of big Triumphs and Dommies and their sneering mates would come over and leer -- "Cor mate! Yew  call that heap ovv junk a racer?"  or "BSA Bantam? that were the Post Office, telegram boys´ Mo-Ped weren´t it?"

 They changed their tune when I passed the Triumphs and Dommies several times on the Club circuit. Actually had a Dommie rider go complaining to the management when Icarus-1´s piston seized and I slid under  him ....
Famous `Flatcap´ who seemed in charge most times came over as I was changing the piston and after  a chat and my description of how the Dommie rider had been taking corners decided I had no case to answer. That was since the piston had seized... but also he was convinced taht the Diminator should never have been on the line he was taking. A BSA Bantam overtaking a Norton Dóminator -- never! He actually offered one of his home-made fags which made me cough ...

 Of course, once on the straight the bigger bikes would be off into the blue horizon ... The fun was coming up to them approaching the bends, nipping inside  and acceklerating out in front ... Made them really mad!

Like I´ve said -- many times (oh yaaawnn yaaaawwnnn -- agaaainn!) on here,  those practice times were enormous fun. I´d do it all again if some nut would lend his Bantam. Perhaps not so quick....


It was the blokes who had the will-power and patience -- time and finances as well -- who went on to have the Bantam short-stroked, properly ported, watercooled, reed-valved and  well piped  who succeeded to have what are  the fast Bantams of today. And they are.........

Something to be proud of -- I´d say...

Cheers!

JB are you making it over to Cadwell for your annual bantam racing fix this year?

Regards Mike

For Trevor - noticed your comment on the dimensions of that pipe, still being current,actually its very close to the last pipyou sent me, except for the tail pipe diameter at 23mm. ! quite amazing,, do you think this is down to the quality of the fuels available at the time or improvements in metallurgy, interestingly we use to sell metal to Mahler Asso pistons and a piston company in italy, "AE27" a very special copper-ed silicon alloy, it was first smelted and tested on the 27th October 1937, design for use in military aircraft engine pistons.

regards Derek

Derek,
Have a look in , Time, Timing, Time area , it seems a more appropriate place to look at pipe matters, After all, this is John`s topic !

Trevor