New builds

Hi everyone

There have been a lot of people over the last few years asking for help regarding building and racing bantams, how ever there is not a growth of entry's. I know that Malcolm and dan have made a big effort to putting bikes together and out on track ( u too edd) but apart from that there seems to be lots intrested and start that don't make it why??? We need more we want more and the help and advice is here and free.

So what is stoping more new bikes and old been out on race days?
Is there more help advice that current riders builders could offer???

We all want more fun more bikes and will offer anything we know if we know it and if one don't somebody else does so come on where are all the bikes been built and when will we see them or how can we help you get out on track????

I think it maybe the lack of place's to get things modified to fit and so on. It took me a lot of work and 8/9 months of doing things at work where I'm lucky enough to have access to machinery etc, if you have to have work done you quickly end up waiting for parts then the momentum is lost and interest is lost too ,
If I had to go to get things made I thinly id be a year longer at least,
I've noticed that a lot of bikes raced at the moment seem to have been race bikes for a long time and raced by a few owners , there seems a lot of bikes wanted by people saying they want to start but it easy to write on a forum that you want to give it a go, when the reality of life kicks in its a different matter, money family etc etc .
I'm still not quite finished building now , gearbox rear springs need changing .
I do like building bikes though and guess that helps too! A good deal of fun had making and finally riding it if only for a short while .

As I can machine things /parts and so on I'll add that if I can help I will but add to that the fact I do it at work so do things as I it fits in with work , I've done a few things for others already , but as I'm a beginner in bantams you'll have know what you want as I'm no expert.

Hi
Any one liveing in the Pontfract Leeds West/South Yorks area who needs any help with building a race Bantam. I can do small turning jobs i also have a small milling machine and gas welding kit. All FOC to any one trying to get a Bantam on the track. I have built Bantams in the past plus prepared 125s that have finished tts. I have built a workshop at home as i no longer have facilities at work i know how important this as Geoff Pitcher and myself abused Peter Harris,s hopitality too build several racers in his home workshop in the late 60s early 70s.
Bill

Engine on kitchen table just ordered timing disk to sort out timing and exhaust plus major water leak and noisy main bearings, bit of paint and a tidy up should be back on the track for practice day in march

Good Evening all,

Our bike took forever to build for various reasons, I agree with Dan that without having the tools some bits take a while to get done. Without the help of Terry Betts we wouldn't of got half of it done, saying that Dan and Bill have just showed what great people Bantam racers are and willing to help if they can.

There is plenty of advice on here and try to get to meetings, if one person can't help they will try to point you to someone that can. We don't bite!

Eddie

Totally agree Edd and I have been very lucky to have Tom Miller as without his efforts I would really struggle. A couple of people have said to me on fb that mid table was not an encentive to carry on but you only get there with hard work it's not like we can buy 3hp like you can with a cbr or r1 there is all the info on making a very fast 175 been put on here as well as carb,gearbox,exhausts ECT to help people maybe we need to some how put the newer building and tuning info in one place for people to refer to????

And it goes to show with Dan and Bill offering there services that if people don't have the facility's there are always bantam folk willing to step in and offer help advice and share the experiance and skills.

Ian

Go to a BSB meeting , or something similar , and you can see 14 /15 yearolds thrashing RS Hondas around the track , their enthusiasic parents forking out
a small fortune to indulge their offspring ! It might be informative to calculate the average age of Bantam racers competeing today and to discover the age
of our youngest competetor ! I don`t see too many lads clamouring to get their hands on a Bantam that dad has knocked up in the garden shed , there
was a time when a Black and Decker , a couple of riffler files and some elbow grease got a competitive engine and a grid of 40 starters with reserves was
very common , not so now .
Then us engineers took over , and exploited a vaguely structured formula and we are where we are now , small wonder new builds are rare with newcomers .

What chance does a new comer have of bringing a new 125 to the grid and getting top placings in their first season ? The lads with the RS hondas can do
just that , sorry to say its a fact of life . I am fortunate in that i work in both worlds , but the Bantam provides unsurpassed enjoyment for me , i have to
do it , its not done for me , i can`t go to the shop and buy a new part it has to be designed and made , therein is the innate limiting factor and one which
could see the begining of the end , and what a tragedy that would be .

Trevor

I go along with your sentiments Trevor. If you really want to go racing without too
much fuss and bother then go for a bike with 5 gears(minimum) and known race
history behind it -- with plenty of power & torque.
Bantam racing is unique in that if you don´t have at least 4 artisan skills you are
paying through the nose to keep alongside some of the Also-Rans. 3 gears and
poor little engine screaming at over 8,000revs with the clutch burning itself out
the whole race*** is not really the way to go racing motorbikes....

But it was for me an experience in perseverance -- and I only looked after the bicycle parts, the engine was done for me -- and tremendous endeavour and I guess its like
climbing mountains: you wonder why you did it -- but are glad that did do it ....

***my experience with Icarus-1....
CheerS!

Good Afternoon All,

Ian i agree, if there was a section with all the parts regarding how to build a starter bike and the fast 175 bits, carbs etc then maybe it would save alot of trawling through, not sure how easy it is to do.

I can see how some people get stalled with progress, we have had more than our fair share on not starting/breaking things/not running right or at all at races/sprinting/practices (beer helps numb the frustration) but we come back for more as we enjoy it and makes you want to sort bits and get satisfaction.

I know i'm not a youngish person but i personally find it more interesting to have a challenge with a classic than something you can just bolt bits on to go faster


Eddie

Hi everyone I think that all that been said so far is right, you have to enjoy engineering to build a Bantam. For those of us that do it’s hard work but very enjoyable it is not the cheapest way to go racing these days. The thing is how do we get more people Rob’s age to start? Young people today have grown up in a have it now world where a lot of parents start them racing as small children and pay for everything. A lot of them have grown out of the racing bug before we even had chance to get it. Main stream racing does not help with most racing being on road bikes with a £1000 exhaust system. All racing of old machinery has trouble attracting youngsters; old cars are raced by old men with lots of money. I do not have any solution to the problem but as we fade in numbers less people will care.

SMIFFY

I´m guessing bantam racing´ is a middle aged man's game now and not the young man's (Nick is older than me!) ?
Trevor which are you ?? Engineer? Manufactuer (or racer)?¿¿ We all have our part too play....
Regards Mike

The novelty grabbed me before anything else. I´d never thought of having a go at road-
racing. Seemed too precise for my slap-happy attitude. The very thought of rushing at a corner, braking to a speed that carrys me thro´the bend -- what speed? would that be??
Speedway training had my brain somehow orientated for grass-track. In those days I lived at home with my parents, had plenty of time and just about sufficient money to go grass racing. I had machine shop facilities (Walthamstow Tech´s ... where I worked) which made Bitza modifications easy.
Marriage, two kids and a house, 9years of retiremant later there was a much more demanding job -- which provided enough `spare´ lolly for extras -- but often had me away from home a whole week and often working Saturdays, when I was persuaded to watch BRC racing. Where the bigger bikes frightened the pooh out of me I found the racing Bantams really cute and almost loveable. Derek who´d done the persuading then had me building the bicycle parts whilst he did the engine --

-- the rest is history -- there were real racing moments -- even with Icaruis-1 and there were times when I did actaully race Andy´s 250 -- not just ride them!

-- however, I think I should confess that I often did not have enough time to do things correctly and when Derek suggested I wear a skirt on Icarus-1 (wear a fairing...!) I worked the whole of one Saturday, thro´till Sunday 01.00hrs to get it fitted. At Snetterton on Sunday I crashed on the fast curve after the bridge and was comatose for something like 10 hours. An unnecessary happening.

I tell this because it is obvious that I was totally wrong (impatient) in my approach to
the job and to racing. Never go racing when exhausted! I should have taken more time over fitting the fairing. I could have done the Snetterton meeting on a naked Icarus-1 and done the fitting of the fairing in stages -- instead of rushing the job.
On top of which, my thinking was wriong. It was -- that with a fairing on I should be up at the front....

Its commonsense! I know you know that but I am still saying it in case there´s someone out there who could possibly be as daft as I was....

So be it! Amen and yaaawwnn!

Cheers!





.

I always wanted to be a racer , Bantams were all i could afford , being homemade it was within my scope and reflected my modest income at the tender
age of 17 ! I was pretty well hadicaped however , standing over 6ft tall and around 11st , mind you , Mick Cripps made me feel diminutive . I managed to
win quite a few races but that credit went to the pace of the bike and not my riding talents .
Over the years and with different engine specs more success came my way as a tuner than competetor , and the arrival of my first child signaled the end of
riding and subsequent concentration on tuning and making .

After the passing of my late wife all involvement with Bantams stopped , for around fifteen years , Steve then cajoaled me into making one more engine.
So i did my research , made the drawings , and started manufacturing the w/c engine we now use . The enterprise began in 93 and we hit the track in 97 ,
the rest , as they say , is history . That long absense from Bantams was to be hugely beneficial , i was not handicaped or influenced by Bantam lore, pure
two stroke technology set a new path for me and it proved for me to be the correct one !
So what am i then Mike , all of those things i suppose but i do take pride in being able to say that , i designed it , i made it , and it won races both in1997 and
2011 , not bad for a solo effort , particularly when the bike is in Northamponshire and i reside in Somerset !

I wonder what the next chapter could be ? Trevor

Trevor I and many others remove our ACU approved safety helmets (as passed by safety inspection) to what you have achieved over a long period. I have spent many happy hours trying to beat the motors built by You Tom, Gerry, Alan, and many more. I have not stopped yet!! The trouble is nether have you and some notable others. ONE OF MY BIKES WILL WIN THECHAMPIONSHIP OR I WILL DIE TRYING. Please come forward an under 20 years old who will carry on the fight, you will get all the help you could wish for and have more fun than one girl or boy (YES GIRL, THERE ARE SOME GOOD FEMALE ENGIEERS OUT THERE)could hope for in a life. We will even help file the smile off your face when you have a great day.

Hi there!

Ted, I have to completely agree with what you have just said!!! Slightly out of the age bracket (as I'm 22!) but I am a girl and thoroughly enjoy helping Rob with his Bantam!! The thrill when it runs well and the disappointment when it doesn't makes it all so exciting!! I almost count the days till the next race weekend and I imagine I will be very depressed once we hit the end of the season!! I would love to say that one day I will join Rob on the track, as I do itch to be out there everytime I watch him race. But I've never even ridden a bike.. However, I'm working on this!! Never say never and all that!!!!

Shelley

Hi Shelly,
Good to hear from you , keep in touch .

Get yourself a licence and i can gaurantee all of the testosterone driven geriatrics that masquerade as Bantam racers will be fighting each other
to get you on their machine , probably be at the front of the queue myself !
Nothing quite does it like a good looking gal in leather , get the press involved and you could have a new career in front of you !

Things are looking good for the Bantam world . warm regards , Trevor

Good Morning Trevor,

I hope your not doing my engine while ladies are on your mind. The calculations maybe off!

Kind Regards

Eddie

Don`t get me on about the ladies Ed ,
Just as well that the new chamber profile details has been saved to disc , only needs now to press a few buttons and - rock n roll !
One thing`s for sure , if the ladies had not been made for us we would never have had the good sense to create them ourselves !

" What a lady , what a night " ! Trevor

Hi Shelley. There have been through the years some notable female Bantam riders, so the sooner you are out there the better. BHR has a few female riders at present do you talk to them? Do you and Rob have any friends you can get interested, this is the way forward; most of us oldies spend too long in sheds to know anybody?

When God created Man he took a step back, looked his his latest creation up and down, and thought, "Yes Perfection"
When God created Woman he took a step back, looked his latest creation up and down, and thought, "Never mind they can wear make up"

Hi guys. Ned Shelley dose not need it she looks fine as she is, but I have to agree she should be seen in leathers.

Calm down boys Shelley wants to have a go don't put her off before she has a go but if u are up for it I'm sure we can find u a bike to have a go on maybe even do a sprint on robs first to get the bug

Shelly ,
Any time you want , and when you are ready , the Trevor Amos Bantam is available for you !
The pleasure will be all mine . So no presure then !

Here`s to your future as a Bantam racer , regards Trevor

ps Ignore the mysoginists , the`re not worth it , or worthy of you !

Hi Rob Hope you are not getting jealous at all the attention and offers Shelley is getting. See you both at Cadwell, I posted my entry today but I will not have the TZ 350 there to parade.

Ladies on Bantams -- well remembered is one getting in the way at Llandow. Sister of a
star professional she must have stalled at the start and was being pushed whilst Wobblyman (Colin Aldridge) and I were battling for the lead -- Yeah yeah! you pedantic pickie-pickie folk -- it was ONLY an Inter race. So what!! it was a REAL RACE! Overweight-Wobbly and Heavyweight-I always RACED when on the track together -- even in practice.
On the 3rd lap she ahd her helper were still pushing and keeping to the inside of the track -- why the marshalls didn´t get her and her minder off, I don´t know -- but she decided just as I approached to go across to the outside, I had to go that way as well and fortunately my grass tracking experience stood me in good stead but I lost the lead to Wobbley and you should have heard him crow afterwards...

So I think Ned is right -- God made everything so wonderful in the world, then He made human beings out of the scrap he had left over ... but Ned, beauty is in the eye of the beholder -- as I said before a frog looks at another frog in deep admiration and a Bantam racer looks at another Bantam´s skirt and sighs with deep longing. Oh! how pretty ....!!!

There was huge craking sound just then and lightening took off half of our balcony -- that was a close call! Better be careful what I say on a Sunday. Seems it was always a Sunday when I crashed at Snetterton -- Oh n0! there was a Saturday... Hmmm best forgotten..........

Yaaawwwnnn -- and Ah--men"
Cheers!