BSA Bantam Race Preparation Manual

Tut tut now -- take yourselves in hand....

No good at all for race preparation manual ....

Go well and keep well,

JayBee for John-Boy .........

dansofield550 wrote:

down hearted.................. ready to stuff it in a cannon and fire it at something big and heavy!

Winners never quit, quitters never win.

Dan the lads have done well to keep the formula going but I don't think the way they seem to be ignoring their own website forum  in favor of "facebook" is going to help boost membership. I don't want to ask for a link to see the results. I want to see them on hear.  

well it is kind of on here, the link is via the home page, maybe it could be to do with a copyright type thing that stops it being posted on ?

just to up date my bike has the new spare engine in with its experimental ports(9 of them
) god knows how it'll go, it starts and runs, clip on is glued back on ! going for a test ride this evening to see if gearbox gremlins are gone

one crank In the vee blocks this morning and have found a 5thou run out on one side, maybe the cause of the vibrations, i'll put some new bearings in too I think. anyone have a brand that's considered best to recommend ?

Well said Ned, a timely warning and a welcome intervention!

We might also add; USE IT OR LOSE IT, none of the prime movers of the current Bantam world appear the least bit interested in the forum, and in ensuring the future of the web site. Without the tiny handful of contributors that are currently active, the site will become moribund, do we really want this to happen?

Trevor

Dan:
We had always been using good SKF bearings until recently.
Now using Rex Caunt's C3s, they last well in my 175.
The crank mains seem to have thicker inner races, so had to change backing spacers.

Dan!

As the Bishop said to Actress -- 5 thou run-out is too much ....

What size are your flywheels --?

That´s not a joke -- its serious. And what high revs are you revving to...?

And Ned, I like your comment about Facebook. Why people flock to get on that site is a mystery -- my army school buddies have their own site which they neglect just to get on Facebook. If the same is with Bantam Racers then I say flog them to a pulp and hang them out to dry.

Cheers!

John-Boy.

my fly wheels are 101.2 mm dia, 20mm thick

it'll rev with to problems to 10500,

new engine has 4.4375" dia,

That's your problem, Dan - your engines are confused. They don't know whether they are metric or imperial.

metperial In other words

Thanks for that Ned you have a very valid point.
Or to put it another way ... why don't the current racers choose to post on the forum?
We have different factions in the Bantam Racing world, those that actually Race are the most important.. for it is those people who have kept it all going, the 600(?)members on the forum and the 303 members on the facebook site do not 'keep Bantams racing'. The intetest created on the forum/facebook sites certainly help.

Ref a new tuning manual quite a lot of people have 'come aboard' to say they will right about an aspect of tuning a Bantam thats Tom Miller, Mick Potter and I to my knownledge.

I feel Terry Beckett has a valid point also, do not confuse to would be new starter. Keep it simple.

I'll post another thread ref whats happening in the Bantam World and Robbie has some news too.. :-)

Hello Mike!

Was wondering where you´ve been -- really missed you, on here -- didn´t want to say anything (FB and that!).

Last time we spoke was when Peter Tibbits was there at Cadwell and you gave me those broken bits of layshaft -- was an interesting connection....  

Fact is my travelling is somewhat limited now  and that was probably  my last trip to Blighty and Cadwell.

My impression of the manual is to attract more Would-Be´s to become Pukkha-Bantam-Racers and you -- as much as anyone, being so many time a "Star" -- ought  to write about the other aspects of Race Preparation than Tuning -- as well as tuning, of course. . Some of the "Would-Be´s " -- Heaven-Help-Them -- might be like me when I first raced a road-race bike -- Icarus-1 Bantam -- I left the tuning to my mentor and Ford Engineer buddy. All I wanted to do was cock-my-leg over, know what the gear-ratio, tyre pressures and mixrure-ratio needed to be....

Humm ha loike! Just lift Oi arn -- an´oi´li givv `un a go!!!!

My mentor when observing at Brands -- first time out -- was most concerned that I leaned the wrong way in left-handers ....

Keep up the good work,

Cheers!

This synopsis is really self explanatory, but it does provide a flavour of what a new manual could contain and it`s appearance. It`s eye catching, and reflects today`s Bantams very well.
I hope ALL of the above mentioned personalities are hard at work drafting their articles, drawings and finding their pictures? Again, thanks are due to Derek for his hard work on our behalf!

Trevor

only one thing wrong..................... its not finished! having seen this bit I want to see the rest now

Dan,
Seeing the rest of it is entirely dependent on the enthusiasm of potential contributors to write their articles for the new manual! As of now it does not exist, the plans are in place for publication but Derek is awaiting the articles to collate into the new offering. However, it is encouraging to have at least one racer wanting to see more, just hope yours is not the only voice in favour ?

Trevor

Something up???  I saw a piece on piston (gudgeon) pins submitted by Trevor for Derek and when I tred to get it again I discovered it has vanished...

That has happened before when I have not replied to a posting -- I cannot call up that posting  again...

Has anybody else suffrered from this ?  ---


-- I had not answered the posting on piston pin looseness and thought to look again and when I called up the three possibilities -- the piston-pin posting  was not there..

Have I missed something? Is there another link to old posting where one has not got involved???


Help!

John.
      Derek`s article is still there, but it is in the Piston Question topic, so not here!

Trevor

Thanks Trevor...

Yes but -- I cannot find a topic with Piston Question -- so as a Cyber- Dumb-Dumb can anyone put me right?

I can get a list of Posts and  like I say that one is not there....

OK, I´ll go back to sleep and like a good OAP try not bother anyone anymore ...

Cheers!

john bass wrote:

Thanks Trevor...

Yes but -- I cannot find a topic with Piston Question -- so as a Cyber- Dumb-Dumb can anyone put me right?

I can get a list of Posts  and  like I say that one is not there....

OK, I´ll go back to sleep and like a good OAP  try not bother anyone anymore ...

Cheers!

Hi John,

Third topic down on the latest forum page is "PISTON QUESTION"
Please let me know PM if you still need help?
Cheers!.............Rex................

Thanks Rex,

I´d been looking in the section where Postings are mentioned and I hadn´t realised there was a heading "Bantam Racing Forum" staring me in the face ... homm-a-diddly-dee!... maybe fell on my head too many times (Snettterton mostly) -- diddly-dee-diddly-dee-hum-dee-hum... and I`ve been posting on here since before Noah launched his ark... In fact I helped Noah build it ...


Cheers!

John-Boy....

I think this is a brilliant idea for the likes of me as a wannabe.

Isn't ''Tuning'' spelt with 1 'n' and not 2.

yes pete, I think tunning is something to do with beer barrels , hence some pubs called the 3 tuns etc, although a beer barrel is infinitely better than an engine barrel

Now now you young fellahs don´t go  looking  the gift horse in the marf like that -- we all knows wot it means when the man says he´s making his motorsickle sing --  and yours as well at no extra  cost.....

Thing is it is being done and such as you´ve nit-picked up on --- that which  will vanish with editting... (should there be two t´s in that last word here?)....

The previous Racing Bantam Race Prep  book  -- the only one that I ever knew of*** -- was  Roy Bacon´s "Racing On The Cheap"  which was good but had to be purchased.  It had information on the diffrent D-number frames where extra strenthening webs and gussets were needed  and I guess that  subject will not be neglected in the new manual. There were, of course, always articles by members in our regular BRC Magazine which were an excellent means for new starters to get started.

Regarding the cycle parts the difficult bit is getting the most efficient component you can with the least weight cost -- I think the money factor has to be of lesser import....

Certainly there have been fantastic  improvements on bicycle parts:  braking, suspension and handling must have improved enormously since Icarus-1 (in the Avatar here) was pop-popping its way around Cadwell Park -- suspension was good but braking awful.

*** there have been other writer´s manuals mentioned on here  which I have failed to discover.  Of course, most of the time I am talking of the time yonks ago when very few Bantam Racers were writing huge books - maybe they were too busy in their garden sheds to write....

I look forward to seeing the Manual....

Cheers!

Oh Dear! Oh Dear!  Oh dearI

I´ve gorn an´dunn itt again!

I said I´d seen no Racing Bantam  Prep books since Roy Bacon´s book  ... and that a Race Prep Manual had  been mentioned -- on here -- which I had not seen ....

Well, IF THE LATTER WAS MEANT AS  THOSE ARTICLES UNDER "BIKES" (third from left in the row of boxes which has Forum at the end) WHERE THERE ARE TWO DOZEN LINKED BOXES WITH MASSES OF INFO ... THEN I MUST ADMIT TO HAVING COMPLETELY FORGETTEN THEM --  hence:-


I must apologise to all those who contributed to BIKES section with its two dozen attachments particularly Alan Brown, Tony Davis, Brian White, Peter Tibbitts, Mike (gearbox), Ned and several/many  others.... Please accept my Sorries ... Sorry.  Sorry and Sorry again...

In `BIKES´ is  Alan Brown´s wonderful, 12 pages of,  "Bantam Racer Articles"  that could have been taken as  the OLD manual or PART  of the OLD Manual which probably  was what Terry (Becket) referred to earlier on -- on here  -- and I´d just ignored it in ignorance and most dreadfully -- lost memory.


So, Peter and Dan and other wannabes there´s plenty of reading matter there -- relative the racing Bantam prep,   to begin with -- which, with in Alan Brown´s articles means  masses of photographs to keep you almost content  until the pukha manual becomes available. Alan must have spent many hours making those excellent photographs and texts ...

I HAVE NEVER HEARD ANY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT-  NOR APPRECIATION OF THOSE CONTRIBUTIONS UNDER "BIKES"
and wonder -- if -- like many of those other boxes along there if it was a matter of  their hardly ever being  opened.

I looked back at some of the earlier comments on here and saw that Terry   must have been one of those to have read those articles under   "BIKES"  and said -- if I´ve got this right -- that the Old manual looked good  and he added a note,  to me,  as to my contribution.

Terry, I have already been branded Old Fashioned and Out Of Date and doubt if I could contribute anything worthwhile.

There is one thing, though -- that causes me a bit of concern and that is as time flashes by what will happen about pukkha Bantam frames?  Are replica frames being made?  Made of the latest best material? ...

Or are there enough of the old frames available?

My concern is that Icarus-I (in the Avatar here) had a more slender Swinging-Arm lug compared with many other Bantams I saw and I  never knew which originally its  D-marque was. During two sessions of scrutineering (two seasons apart)  I came across two similar frames where the saddle-down-tube had fractured at the junction where the tube goes  into the lug.

For Icarus-1,   I  made a gusset (Ned might pick up on this term...) which was a 3/32" steel plate,  triangular in shape with its top-peak  chopped off and shaped semi-circular ... the triangle-base was  brazed across the lug width with the upper portion  reaching up onto the saddle-down-tibe where it was welded...

NOTE HERE the top of the triangle was cut off so that its horizontal length  wrapped around the saddle-down-tube and a one inch vertical weld was made on  the centre-line (Neutral Axis)  -- each side  of the  saddle-down-tube. There was no horizontal weld where the gusset wrapped around the saddle-down-tube...

Welding in of  strengthening  webs and gusssets should always be carefully considered from the aspect of adding weight for little gain and welds should always be along the Neutral Axis - centre line - of the bent tube. A thin plate each side of the tube bend  is far better than a single thick web on the inside. I have seen them -- on grass track Bitzas, particularly sidecar outfits  -- where the latter has either cracked or buckled and the tube still fractured....

I´ll close with an instance of this at Rye House speedway track where mnany of us grassers used to go to practice the art of Broadsliding. Syd Jarvis survived a frenetic wobble in top bend and as he  came out into the straight we could his wheelbase lengthening until just before bottom bend his engine sank into the ash and he stopped,  sitting astride his now elongated bike. Although the front down tube to steering head had a strangthening web it had still fractured and the two parted company.....

A lot of those instances were funny but stuck in my mind is the  Camathias sidecar crash at Brands  when the he and his passenger died. The gear change pedal and rear brake lever were on a single plate which was brazed any old how to the bike frame. Scrutineers showed -- after the event. of course -- that although there was plenty of braze to be seen  outside,  the actual line of connecting braze material was less than a 1/16" -- and not all the way round. Vibration and stress and the brake and gearchange plate  were adrift from the bike -- such should never have happened!


JayBee -- OFFOOD  (Old-Fashioned-Fart, Out Of Date!)....

Would it be possible to include a ''how to do'' guide for those who would prefer a left foot gear change.
There are a couple of methods, I am aware of, however if these methods were included in a section on say gearbox preparation, the wanabes like me could decide on the best method or the method that fits best with their technical ability.