Hello and merry christmas...

Hi all, and merry christmas.

I'm new to the forum, I'm intending to purchase a bantam early in the new year. Having spotted this site i figured i could kill two birds with one stone... first i can improve my mechanic skills and second i can do some competative motor racing.

So, i need some advice to start with:

I'm a newbie, it says on the site i should go for 175cc not 125cc, is that correct?

Which revision should i get? the site suggests a D7 but that's a stock 7.4bhp, is a D14s stock 12.6bhp a better proposition? What kind of bhp am i aiming for in a competative bike?

Thanks all in advance.

Advice as always get yourself to Mallory and have a look at the race Bantams on show,ask for advice, lots on offer. All far from standard, but building is achievable to most with some mech experience and if you have decent access to engineering equipment even better.


forget d14s


Tony

Hello Mr. Daemenoid!
It is much easier to build a 175 as you can use the standard flywheels to start with. This cuts out a lot of engineering for the beginner and makes life a bit simpler. The 125 riders are very technical and the machines are much nearer to grand prix standard (seriously).
The 4 speed engines are not very good for use as you have to use the standard gearboxes (see rules), no matter what you do you end up not getting the best set of ratios, and will find yourself riding a two speed bantam instead of a 4! (check out the rules pages on the main site). Stick with 3 speed close box and you will go far! in other words no advantage in using D14 at all!
Another good tip is to use the sandcast cases, the cases are much stronger and will last better, the diecast ones tend to break up after a few seasons hard racing, so early stuff is better for racing, but there are some good machines out there with diecast cases, so not a hard and fast rule.
Engine output is a bit of an odd thing to talk about with racing bantams! It is the spread of power that creates a good bike not the amount! but if you have a good spread and a max of 18 BHP and can ride well you will not be last... but if you want a fast 125 engine then you need to be mid twenties BHP or you don't get a sniff! to win you need to ride real well....
Get to Mallory at the practice day and race day and get talking to people in your area to help as the task is not easy!
Hope this is useful
Cheers,
Alan