for JOHN bASS

Hello john, you've been on your own on here for a long time now so I thought I'd cheer you up and wish you and yours a very happy Christmas and a healthy new year.

JS2 has been rebuilt for while now, done a few mods and I hope to get it on the dyno soon, then all I need is a young, light, fast, enthusiastic, jocky. I did hope that Dan might have a go but he is on the move up north near Mallory I think
By the way, the last time we meet you scrutinised my Bantam back in the early 70s at Lydden and almost failed it, something to do with the exhaust pipe,

Enjoy the festive season and all the very best.

Les2012

The same to you over the Festivities, Les -- I hope you have a good  time -- with not too many headaches after.....

Yes I was feeling a bit lonely on here -- thought I was on the wrong site.
I have heard a lot of the Bantam racers use Facebook which won´t accept me as being me...Hence I don´t have any idea of whom the Bantam championship winners are this year....

Gled you have the bike preapared -- Scrooge would have liked that.

I did get a lot abuse the two times I did the Scrutting duty that heaped on the aggro of missing a couple of meetings in that particular season  but a Bantam racer went public in our mag that I was being selfish in racing and not helping out at meetings.... So conscience got the better of me and  into the bay I went-- twice...! Some wonderful pieces of clever skill were seen and some horrors. Bits of aluminium frying pans and saupans were often very well done but the finding of two cracked frames told me I was doing a fair job. I think this favours the adoption of streamlining  becausre I am convinced  it was the fairings that prevented these two Bantams ending up in four  parts.
Some might pooh-pooh that but I saw plenty of Bitza Grass Track bikes with broken frames:  the favourite one being the front-down-tube breakng just under the SINGLE reinforcing web at the steering head. Its better to have two thin plates,  welded at each side (on the tube´s Neutral axis...) than one thick plate on the cetreline of the frame. Point is the bottom of the web sets up a stress point and makes things worse than if it were left alone.
On grass track I saw the frame break this way twice with the rider doing a graceful swallow dive over the front
end ortunately with only  bruising to show.... Practising at Rye House I was amazed to see the grass bike of Sid Jarvis lengthen its wheelbase as he come out into the straight. Sid sat there as his bike slowed and sank into ths shale.... We nutters all cheered of course and Sid got off and bowed. Those Rye House practice sessions were fantastic. A practice session for all sorts of track race bikes was pemitted -- four at a time -- and I´d be out on my Grass JAP Special riding alingside a pukkha vintage speedway Douglas, Norton or Rudge...etc... etc...
 
"Looking for a jockey..." reminded me of sometime in early 1968.  We´d got Icarus-1 performing reasonably well by my practising at Brands -- most of '67 -- and as per our decree that we'd find a fleaweight jockey I'd -- up to then (early '68) -- hadn´t considering myself as being that part of the scenario. It suddenly dawned on me that if I went on a diet I might -- just might -- fill the vacancy. So I got myself on a strict diet and lost three stone but at Snetterton, my jinx circuit,  I couldn´t start Icarus-! because after ten or so steps I was exhausted. So I accepted the disadvantage and put a few pounds back on and enjoyed the Bantam Intermediate racing which eventually got me onto the ABS 250 that used an Alpha (Works?) engine.

Glad i did because the six seasons that followed were great fun -- pity I got ambitious and went to Canada for elevated status and (greed) a salary nearly 4 times that I was getting in Blighty.

Most of the above is repeat for which  I don´t apologize ...

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to all you Bantamites.

Glugg-Glugg and Cheers!

JayBee...

Evening Gents,

Coincidentally I have just sent Mrs Scrooge an email as she had lost touch with Messrs Elaine and Colin Hall.

Re the Championship winners I am in the dark too. So I am not the only one not on that Facebook thing - gives me hope.

I'm waiting to see if the ACU invite me to renew my National Licence. Usually by now I have received the paperwork, but this year, nothing. Maybe they have twigged I am not competing anymore!

Had an email from Andy Boyle - he might be looking for a jockey too!

Hi Peter!
Thanks!
Got a couple of pics from The Boiler:- the single cyl,  RE-5  & the twin cyl, Centuri, DMW. look fabulous. He has put a lot work in on them both including making the moulds for the crankcases ...etc...etc... And -- I think -- had done himself in, as far as the  the MC work was concerned and had to rest awhile  yet  sounded full of vigour in his last epistle... Which, as you just said, suggests he is looking for a jockey. Wish I were a few decades younger! The RE-5 has one piece of the infamous ABS on it:  the Gardner carb.

What does DMW stand for and where might the firm be -- or have been??
 
 I shall kick myself -- until belly-up -- for having the Gardner Rep do plugs chops at Brands on the Wednesday, change the jet-needle for Snetterton on the following Sunday. Result:-  a startling passing of several Japanese 250s and a wheel-locking seizure  at about 3/4s the way down the Old Norwichj Straight...
 Shouild have done the plug-chops at Snetters ...!!

 The holed piston stands proudly on my PC Tower as reminder of the old adage:  "If its going well -- leave alone." That´s because it was as quick as the Greeves Silverstone -- maybe only 1/2mph quicker -- but definitely smarter on acceleartion...

Go well and keep well,

Glug-Glug! Cheers!

JayBee.

Have a happy Christmas and good new year guys

les2012 wrote:

Hello john, you've been on your own on here for a long time now Les2012

I warned the young sprogs a couple of years ago that promoting facebook would kill this forum but know one listens to us old farts.

Sad to say Ned but you are quite right about Facebook and the effect it has had on the Bantam Forum.
I try to keep some modicum of interest alive with the Wacky files and more technical articles but it is hard to see much future, all rather depressing really when it all could have been so different. A few of us tried to generate some enthusiasm for a revised, all encompassing tuning manual but sheer apathy killed it, just like the forum!

Trevor

Hi John B.

I don't know if your enquiry about the DMW company was any more than a rhetorical question, but I can add a bit of background info that may be of interest - or not.

The initials DMW stand for Dawson Motor Works (I believe) after the founder of the company, "Smoky" Dawson. In 1965 I bought a 250cc DMW "Hornet" racer, fitted with a Villiers "Starmaker" two-stroke single engine. I had some success with it, initially, which lead to an offer to ride the Alpha twin, but (sadly) I decided to stick with my DMW, rather than get involved with an unknown prototype.

Then in 1966, I went to work at DMWs for about three months, at their factory in Lower Gornal, near Wolverhampton. DMW was then still producing small numbers of road and competition bikes, and their chief design engineer was a talented bloke called Mike Reilly. DMW did a fair bit of business selling Villiers spares, and was closely associated with another company called "Metal Profiles" which made telescopic front forks.

The Villiers "Starmaker" was basically quite a sound design, but let down by a dodgy ignition system. The early road racing engines were plagued by piston trouble, caused by the holes for the ring pegs being drilled too deeply. In use, the pegs would sink into the holes, allowing the rings to turn. I got through six pistons in my first season. That, and recurrent ignition problems, meant about as many retirements as finishes. Without those difficulties, the DMW could have been a very successful bike for me, as it handled well and the brakes were just about adequate.

I wish you all the condiments of the seasoning!

Thanky you John C,...,
And the best of the season festivities to you too.

That explains it -- at least why Andy Boyle  has made the Centuri a DMW -- because His family lived around the area of Alpha and his Dad had some connection (worked there, I think) before uprooting and getting into Ford in Essex.

Just how the luck goes,  several of us from the Bantam  Eatern Centre were attending a film night out at a Billericay pub and Andy approached me to ride his ABS 250 and my buddy and opponent on Bantams, Wobblyman Aldridge went into a wobbly-beserk-ape mode when I jumped at the offer. It was already 10.30pm when I went with the late Niffy Goebells (died in the Manx...)  from Billaricay to the East End and borrowed Niffy´s trailer returned to Brentwood where we loaded the ABS at about midnight -- without waking his Mum & Dad -- and I bacame an Alpha "works" engined racer. Sounds very grand but the first season was getting the bike bits to work properly as well  the Pipe to the right dimensions. Drum brake front and campagnola Disc ... at the back probably accounted for some good race results -- including a time at Brands when the disc`s friction pads fell off....

Actually I thought it was "Andy Boyle Special" until some bloke approached at Brands (a practice day) and asked how I came to be riding the single-cylinder "Alpha-Boyle  special..." and where was the Centuri twin then?

That I mistook the "DMW" on this latest Centuri tank for "DKW" shows how much of a twit I really am -- or can I make the excuse that my ancient eyes just ain´t  what they used to be?

But Cheesssuzz man! did the blood get warmed up when I saw the pics of those two Alpha specials -- Dear God! give me back 40years -- or even half a century --  I´ll be there.

I really envy those Historical, Vintage racers -- such a wonderful variety of fantasic machines to dice with
Go well and keep well all you Bantamites!

Cheers!

John-Boy ....??

john bass wrote:

 several of us from the Bantam  Eatern Centre were attending a film night out at a Billericay pub

And if I remember rightly the film was - On any Sunday, one of the best bike films ever.

There was a strong association with Alpha engines and DMW motorcycles. I believe the early versions of the Alpha single, and possibly the twin, were tested on the road fitted in a DMW. I've seen photos of it somewhere, and it looked like a very unsuitable commuter type of bike, probably designed for a bland Villiers 197cc engine. It would have been very interesting to ride with a potent racing engine!

Yes, historic racing in a most interesting field for us old farts with long, but failing, memories - but look at what new bikers have to play with. I've been reading about the KTM singles. How do you fancy a 373cc, DOHC, four valve, six speeder, weighing 147kg and giving 44bhp at 9,500 revs? Those figures would make it competitive with a 350 7R AJS or Manx Norton. Of course, it has full silencing, air filter, electric start, lights, horn etc. - and it is intended for new riders holding a restricted licence! Oh, for a time machine - what I could have done with one of those back in 1963!

Still, we had our day, and we're still around to tell our tales.

Your last word says it all John. We done it -- and know we did....

Too many died and didn´t get our chance to talk about it, generations later.......

My motorcycle competitiveness was trials -- just a couple -- scrambles a couple of seasons and grass track -- most enjoyable of all: the grass smells sweet as you slide along on it face down -- and speedway practice at hackyney Wick where we did ride against three others after proving we would be allowed to .... and Rye House where vintage speedway and grass bikes were alowed .... Then, having retired Bantam and ABS road racing -- on the cruel hard road.

Someone ought to invent a road surface that is hard when you are racing and becomes blanc-mange soft when the rider falls on it.

I am in two minds about the TT and the Manx. Ban it or support it...??. It is easy take either side. My son Slick spannered for ´many TT riders. One year 8 riders died during the fortnight`s TT and Slick personalyl knew them all. He phoned me here in Germany to say he had attended five funerals he had been invited to attend and could take no more. I thought then the TT would be banned and it still goes on.... Someone suggested making the racing bike maximum class 350cc but bigger classes still, followed....

By the way -- getting off that subject -- does anyone know of the whereabouts of a good harp for sale. I learned to play the German Waldhorn 16 years ago and feel it is about time I learned to play the the harp.

One never knows if a mistake might be made ...

Somewhat like the joke of Bill Clinton going down and passing the Pope going up --- Uh oh! better not!!

Happy New Year you lot!!

Glug-glug -- JayBee.

Ah! the conundrum of the TT races. Every life lost is a tragic event, but it seems inconsistent for the authorities to say, "We must save these young men from the results of their folly", when the government would not think twice about requiring thousands to fight and die in some stupid war.

I know which way I'd have preferred to go. Better not to go at all, of course, and I am very thankful still to be functioning pretty well in my dotage.

A happy new year to you all!

You are right again John...

February 1948 -- I was not yet 19 in Palestine as a corporal with both sides wanting to kill me....

Ridiculous!  During the last 3 months before the evcuation I had a loaded Sten gun and was told you do not shoot until you have been shot at....!!

I carried a rifle from Port Said, Egypt to Haifa and had no bullets. The reason was the Brit forces in the  North of the Holy land were  short of rifles and all us squaddies travelling that way had guns and no ammo.  A train was blown up -- the week before -- and still laid shattered at the side of the track as our train passed -- so slowly.... If s terrorist, from either side started shooting I expect we´d point our rifles  and shout, "Bang bang -- you are dead."

Our ex-Iraq troops are being witch-hunted for what the other side -- and Do-Gooders --  are calling "murder" during the Iraqui war when a lot of confusion was order of the day and our blokes happened to shoot some of the bad b.....ds.

It makes more nonsenxse of life  than does competing in the TT or the Manx which I never had the guts to even think of trying.

So glad i survived to do something almostt as DAFT but far more enjoyable -- except when gravity and the tarmac tried to get ´me ....


Cheers!

JayBee...