The Bantam Forum.

Has the racing Bantam upset the forum, or is it that it's preference is with Facebook?, that is the question. Beit noble in the minds of those who prefer to venture away from the original forum, so be it But without their support I venture to suggest the forum will sink.

What is the point of a forum if there is little to read and debate on. We have Trevor, Nigel,J,B, Jimmie as regulars but since July 16 that is about it the forum is the Bantam Racing Club use it or lose it.

We all like to see pictures of the racing bantam and their respective owners so why not transfer then on to the forum along with a few notes about them and give facebook a miss.

These are my own views and observations, I would be interested to read other comments on this subject.

Les 2012

ok ill try and load a couple of videos of my recent trials and tribulations with my 175 engine. keep people entertained. looks like the size of the videos make it difficult to post directly.so u tube links have to be done... pain in the neck but.....

It's the way things seem to be going Les everything gone on to Facebook several other bikerace forums have just about died but there's plenty on Facebook to keep us amused i fought it for ages but eventually went on give it a try.

I warned the members this would happen a couple of years ago, but it would seem they prefer facebook.
Unfortunately no one is interested in doing race reports or results anymore and us dinosaurs are kept in the dark.

Well done Nigel, interesting videos shows what can be done on here, a good start. Bill, I see what your saying, tried it and all I saw were photo's and Ned lets not give up.

Who's next??.

Les 2012

I've not given up more to the point the forum given up on us if you were new to Bantam racing or interested in starting and you came on to the BRC site 2014 champions pictures 2015 race dates no race or championship positions you would think the club was on its uppers and probably look elsewhere it needs updating fast

Is it fair to say the forum has given up on us? Clubs are run by volunteers and I can understand why nobody would be interested in spending their spare time updating the forum, with results sheets, championship tables etc. if only half a dozen people use it regularly.

If anyone were to offer to take the forum in hand, and keep it updated, I'm sure the club would not object. Until that happens, the forum will remain a sort of social club for those (like me) who retain an interest in Bantam Racing but don't use farcebook.

Yeah Yeah Yeah...

Who won the Bantam Championship in 2016....? Who fell off the most ...? Who suffered most breakdowns ...?Who ....? Oh who cares anymore....

I have my old army school muckers on Facebook who send me a message and when I try to reply I get told I am NOT ME although I have been given a new password at least twice.... Stuff Facebook....!!

Something about those old Army days that might be interesting: I was in Nairrobi in an RASC Workshops and my mucker Bill wanted us to visit another mucker, Joe who was convalescing up in the Ngong hills where the climate is better generally. Highly illegally I signed Bill´s Waybill and he signed mine. Rigid rear-end Matcheless 350s on hard packed-dirt road and halfway there my rear tyre went flat and I ended up in a deep monsoon ditch. Bill stopped and parked. We were both neck-deep in the ditch when a jeep came rushing towards us with 'Military Police' plasterd across the wondsceen..
"Oh holy murphy!" said Bill, "the Provost Marshall hiiself."
The Jeep went past, stopped and reversed. We both stood to attention -- even though only our heads could have been seen -- and threw up a salute. Big man himself, when he heard our problem, said he'd telephone our company commander and have him send out a recovery truck. Feeling really down, the world would surely come to an end. We sat at that road side thinking of what the Half-Colonel would do when we had our crime of illegal use of MoD Property charge exposed. There´s only one crime, "Getting Caught" and we´d been caught. Probably ger demoted and maybe glasshouse.
A 15cwt Bedford arrived with Sniffy driving. He said,
"The Old man (sniff-sniff) weren´t in 'is orrficc so the (sniff-sniff) duty clerk called frew ter me in the Break Dahn Orrfice. So youse lucky (sniff-sniff) -- enn' ya..." Sniffy was being illegal also but he was a mucker.

I went the rest of the way behind Bill, sitting on a folded leather jacket and felt as if I´d been bounced on a concrete vibrator for eternity. We celebrated Joe´s recovery from malaria and coming back the pain was not so bad as going.... I wondered where Joe might have got hold of so much whisky?

I tell this story because it is so much like the story I told (at least a dozen times) of having trouble getting to Lydden and then not being able to start either the ABS 250 nor my Icarus-2 Bantam in time to get parctice. Chris Newport seeing my most misreable state lent me his ´very expensisve six-cylinder Italian (Benelli-- I think) 200cc machine on which i was able to complete a race. I´d not say I raced -- it was at times braking with the gear-change pedal and changing gaer with the brake lever but it was an amazing experience because i still finished in the first 9 ....

The Bantam racing Club in those days was a club of Muckers -- is it still???.

Sniff-sniff-sniff........

.

When I joined the Bantam racing Club way back in 1964 I did so because the club projected a culture and ethos that was based on camaraderie and mutual assistance, with a hierarchy not tied to popularity or finances or self-interest or promotion; but one positioned by integrity, and resect of others and, for the formula rules as stated. The central core of the movement was the promotion of cheap racing, available equally to all.
The club was a huge success, Snetterton grids of 50 entries were common together with half a dozen reserves for the always over- subscribed races. Importantly, races were available for novices, intermediates and senior riders so every category of rider was catered for. There was also a magazine sent out to club members containing all the results together with a wide variety of related articles.
That was the situation back then, so what, to the class of 2017, do we have now?

As a small exercise for myself, but suggestive of a potential recruit looking for information, I googled `BSA Bantam Racing`. The site homepage came up, and we have:  Bantam championship points from 2013 emblazoned across the page, together with 175 Champion for 2014, and then an exaltation that; `The 2015 season starts here`! Regretably we have no direct editorial influence as to what the home page content should be, but not updating to reflect 2017 is to say the least, unhelpful and not really acceptable. Any comment Alan?
Having a different hand running the forum has been offered, with a suitable cash inducement to enable the transfer. Sadly this enquiry was rejected, so we have the current impasse.
I do my best to contribute with both a light hearted look at biking with the Wacky files and serious, more technical, offerings. However, the `Making the power` series of posts has seen a total so far of 1360 hits and not a single comment or question! Could this mean that everyone knows all of this stuff so can ignore it, or does it mean no one cares anymore, or is apathy ingrained to the point of indifference?
A couple of years ago, and with prescient foresight, Ned predicted what could happen, regretably he was dead right!

Trevor

Seeing as you're very quiet on here at the moment,I thought you might be interested in this picture taken at Aberdare last year.

Hello ez,
           Welcome to the forum and for posting that lovely picture of the late Mole Benn`s bantam? I can well remember competing against both him and brother Sam in the club`s early days, would that be you piloting the machine.
In a strange sort of way it was that machine that was responsible for me getting into Bantam racing, for it was on a stand at the motorcycle show at Earls Court I saw it, thought that I could make one of those, and the rest as they say is history!

Cheers, Trevor

Sam Benn's old bike bought by Peter Harris paraded by Peter for a few years sold in Wales a few years ago i just missed it as it was sold for very little. If any one remembers Peter he is well in his nineties and lives within sight of Pembrey

This is a first post, and whilst I no longer race a bantam, I can recall good days and many friends from the Club in the late '60's and early 70's. I have read the last few posts about the Forum and thought I might offer the following comments. I have recently renewed my race licence and begun to catch up with classic racing. I have followed a few of the forums including CMRC, Greeves, and Bantam. From this distance, may I congratulate all the contributors on providing what I think is a really useful, informative, and high quality resource. I sincerely hope that you do not discard the Forum in favour of Facebook, which I think is OK for brief comment, news, photos, and adverts, but which is entirely unsuitable for the technical and other detailed submissions to be found here. The number of "followers" recorded is a good indicator of the positive impact of the submissions, and whilst there may be few direct responses, I am sure that Forum is more influential than may appear to be the case. In a perfect world I guess this Forum would be but part of an all embracing club website, with news, results, regs, entry forms, etc. In the absence of that it is, in my view, still very much alive and kicking, so please keep winding on the twistgrip and hands off the brakes!

Tim Marlow

Trevor Amos wrote:

The club was a huge success, Snetterton grids of 50 entries were common together with half a dozen reserves for the always over- subscribed races.

Trevor

Unfortunately that's the problem nowadays. The club had so many members it wasn't hard to find volunteers prepared to write articles for the club mag etc . The current members have done well to keep the formula going but with such a small pool to draw from there is far less chance of finding someone prepared to take on extra tasks.
I guess we should just be grateful we can remember an era when British industry and riders dominated the bike scene. Even when the tide was turning remembering how ecstatic the crowd at Brands became watching Mike O'rourke on an Ariel arrow battling for the lead against Japanese mounted riders.

Hi Trevor,thanks for the welcome to the site.I've been following it for the last 3/4 years without getting round to posting anything until now.
No,it's not me riding the bike,it's a guy called Dave Brasier who I think comes from Wales.Is it the ex Mole Benn machine?I'm sure the great Jaybee will know.

Tim, thank you for all of the positive remarks and observations, and welcome aboard, I`m sure we all hope that you can find time to continue posting. There must be a lot of good moments from your racing days to share with us and perhaps also a few photos. In response to the concluding reference of your post, to keep the twist grip wound back, I thought you might like the picture!

Cheers for now, Trevor

Thanks Trevor. Your twistgrip photo is a vivid reminder of the old racing adage "the twistgrip turns both ways"! On the subject of tortoises, I recall making an evening train journey from Coventry to pick up a top-half fairing from your brother Dave near St.Neots back in 1970. In those days I was a student at Lanchester Poly, and, having just finished exams, was pretty knackered. Dave kindly dropped me back to the station for the Coventry return, but I fell asleep and woke up in Birmingham New Street around 11pm. I managed to catch a late train to Coventry, but once again visited the land of nod and re-awoke in Northampton. It was in the early hours of the next day when I climbed into bed having walked home from Coventry station, fairing in hands!

Tim.

Thanks Trevor! Well done and thanks. Rabbit rabbit rabbit.

Reminds -- (as Ned said we have memories...!!) -- of when I was working for Delaney Gallay making arir-conditioner units along with heaters for Jaguar cars in Californis and  our Big Boss at a technical meeting said,
   "Now  I've got the air-conditioner working right what abouit the dashboard control logos, what suggestions have you?"  In those days I did not know what a logo was and said, "Surely, a rotary knob, or slider with  the words 'Cold' one end and 'HOT' the other would suffice."
   Fortunately we were not in California at the time because our Boss said loudly enough for them to hear,
   "The customers we´ve got  out  there would NEVER understand that. So what about a brainstorming for some ides?"

    I divorced my mind from the proceedings and they came up with the logo of an iceburg at the cold end and a round face with sweat springing out of its forehead at the hot end.

Nothing to do with Wacky 50s but not far date-wise....

ez -- I never met Mole Benn but it might have been his bike at Cadwell with his brother aboard who unfortunately slapped his brakes on going into the Esses coming away from Park. I never braked Icarus-1 there -- didn´t seem necessary and hit the Benn Bantam up its rear-end. Upside down -- about horizontal -- I flew over the Bennmobile and landed on the grass mound ahead of it.
    So, sorry ez, I saw the back but not much else of Mole Benn´s Bantam.

Cheers!

Hic...

JayBee....

As an old codger trying to race a 1960s looking 186 Bantam, I do prefer the forum.
I enjoy reading Trevors Power discussions too.
Have just upgraded my naked Clubmans machine with a Bultaco fairing. what an amazing difference on the long straights of our Pukekohe circuit.
I didnt realise how much of an air brake I was !

Next mods, NED head, Fahron exhaust, CDI with curve, trick forks (if I can find some Manx type Alloy fork sliders)

I still have many unanswered questions, such as: how higher compression with cast iron barrel can I go running AvGas ?

Shall I keep stirring ?

hopefully this will get photos too

ez, you may well be correct when questioning the precise identity of the Mole /Sam bantam in your photo. The two machines were almost identical, Sam`s engine had a different ignition timing cover from Mole`s  tobacco tin cover, the photo clearly shows an original Bsa alloy cover. My posted photo has the tin cover, so maybe it is in fact Sam`s machine we are seeing in your picture?

Tim, when viewed from the time frame of today your travelling tale is amazing, but I  bet you didn`t laugh too much at the time, great story though, the things we do for our sport!

John, remembering collisions, I ended up in a great heap on the starting grid at Snet once just as the starting flag dropped. We all sprinted forward to bump start our bikes, the guy two rows in front of me leaped aboard only to have the engine start up in reverse. He shot rearward as we went forward and the grid became a battle scene as bikes and bodies went in all directions as several of us collided. Four or five bantams were man handled from the track, fortunately with little damage to man or machine.

Trevor

I haerd about that kerfuffle Trevor -- some people would not believe a Bantam would start up, engine running backwards but those who´ve experienced it know it can....

My intention was to build a small hovercraft (I still have the drawings) and I had a 250 Villiers as part of that scheme but didn´t get rond to making the hovercraft. I fitted the engine into a dune-buggy I had made from scrap (laying about) for my 2.5-year old son. I explained everything as he sat in the driver´s seat on the lawn and him with his foot on the clutxch pedal, I recoil-cord started the engine. When he let in the clutch with a fair amount of revs the plot rushed off backwards ripping out newly set ice-plants and other parts of the flower garden before stalling. Was sort of difficult to explain to his Mum -- in fact, impossible. I had bought the engien as a runner and had not checked the ignition timing.

What got me off Hovercraft was Derek Neil of Ford Dunton insisting he take me to a Bantam race at Snetterton after looking at his home-built Villiers 250 at his home. I had gassed so much about my scrambles, grass racing and speedway practice that Derek probably thought he´d shut me up by seeing proper motorbike racing in action. When I saw two crashes followed by Peter Irons (that year's 250 Champ) come off under the bridge and slide on his bottom for about 50 yards I was convinced I´d never road-race -- it looked far too dangerous and the road far too hard... but Derek suggested that I do the cycle parts, he do the engine and Les White any machining we needed and thus Icaus-1 was born at just over 40 pounds (sterling) cost. Les found our 125 engine in a field.... Someone had to develope the engine and we advertised for a jockey, when no volunteer appeared I took up the job of resonant exhaust pipe development testing at Brands and enjoyed it so much -- like being out there with Dominators and the like, beating them through the corners, that it was inevitable that I´d be racing Bantam .... That I´d be racing a 250, 3 years later, was the biggest surprise of all.

Maybe I said some of this before ...

... i just don´t care ...

... so there... !! ..

Cheers!

JayBee -- croak croak...!

When I was riding my own Bantam, I competed in some races with Mole and Sam Benn, but they always finished way ahead of me. Mine was one of those with a short open exhaust pipe in those days, and it was just too slow. Then I got the chance to ride Terry Beckett's little flyer. The first time out on Terry's Bantam, I found myself flying down the Norwich Straight at Snetterton in company with Mole Benn on his little red racer. I was dead chuffed to be on a competitive Bantam, but soon learned a thing or two about late braking as we approached the hairpin.

I sat up at what I thought was a suitable braking point, but Mole just stayed down and carried on going - and going - and going! He must have gained at least fifty yards on that bend alone. That was the last I saw of him in that race.

John C.

I still have many unanswered questions, such as: how higher compression with cast iron barrel can I go running AvGas ?

Shall I keep stirring ?[/quote]

Yes John keep stirring, questions and answers help every one!

Does your enquiry about compression ratio suitable for use with cast iron barrels cover 125s or specifically your 186 and is the latter a 64x58-- 186? There is a great difference when comparing them, and it involves scaling, where surface area and volume come into play.

Trevor