Raising the profile of Bantam Racing!

Good Morning JB,

You may well have inadvertently stumbled on an advatage there, foaming from the mouth on the start line might just do the trick! I blame modern air conditioning and air travel for my current condition, one thing that has come out of my current predicament is that I didnt realise that her indoors was a fully qualified medical practioner, as when I claimed I was dying she described it as a Gross exaggeration !

One thing I do know as fact is once the helmet is on and I am sat on the bike I will have a smile a mile wide, and for me thats what its all about.

Yours,

hoping to keep the Bantam flag flying.

Mike R

That´s the thing about racing: the concentration is so high all else is forgotten -- or ignored.

I´ve had malaria three times and people tell me if you get it a third time you are dead.

So it was all a dream -- ey?

I mean, that the Bantam Racing Club´s demise at the mid, or end 90s, and this resurrection²²² were all a dream.

And having a site like this where people freely give advice and show & tell their tuning secrets has to be unique.

I am even getting to like fairings... -- skirts, I mean!

All of you going for practice or race this weekend (I am jealous...) -- have a good weekend!

Cheers!

²²² I nearly said `re-erection´ and remembered just in time ....

Hello John ,
As you are on a nostalgia kick at the moment I thought you might like this, from 1962, published in the Motor cyclist illustrated magazine. There might just be a hint of topicality in it though ?

"The Bantam club was founded in 1960 by Lou Martin, membership then being around the 100 mark .This has now grown enormously to over 1000 but the club restricts riding membership to 650, and has a weighting list of 60. "
In another paragraph the following can be found .
"The aim of the club is to promote racing at a minimum cost. To make their point, the Bantam formula stipulates steel petrol tanks, steel wheel rims the use of the original frame-loop, normal induction and a ban on streamlinings" !

The whole article is centred around Bantam racing promotion (sic) and the featured riders were Roy bacon , Terry Bracey-Wright and Mick Cripps with star guest rider Joe Dunphy, who just prior to this event had a podium finish in an East European GP, so he was no slouch !

In another, much later, promotion event at Thruxton, Dave Croxford and the late Pat Mahoney raced the Amos boys bikes, but that , as they say is another old piece of history.

I could ask Ed to post it all up, but it seems no one is interested in cheap racing anymore, just us old boys with time on our hands and with nothing to do but write silly things on the Bantam forum ?

Regards, Trevor

Trevor get Ed to post it our 'Bantam Racing' past is most interesting,
I suppose back then the bantam was only 12 years old and plentiful.

Regards Mike

Thanks Trevor. Fantastic!

Iron wheels, steel tanks and A BAN on skirts....

We had 660 racing members at one time... A lot of unpaid marshalls but sometimes not enough at a meeting... During that season the Chairman  was bombasted for racing and not looking after the affairs of the club so he went scrutineering and found a broken Bantam frame and disqualified a 1000cc Bitza to be severely blasted again. The owner of the 1000cc Heap went to the Sec of Meeting and got approval given by Sec of M... for him to race. The rider then went on to be second in the 1000 Allcomers race and gave me a sneering two- fingers afterwards....

I have mentioned this before but I do think it is worth a repeat because not many people seemed to know of this oddity....

... it was an interesting fracturé on the Bantam frame.  Icarus-1 had the same frame and I brazed a triangular  plate in to reinforce the saddle down tube connection into the swinging arm lug... I don´t know which mark of Bantam that was but the breaker´s yard heap was a 150cc version where the swinging-arm lug was much slenderer than the later Bantam versions.
  Anyway, on this scrutineer-reject the saddle-down-tube at the swinging-arm-lug had cracked all way round
and rust dust from where the tube & lug had been rubbing together showed it had been broken quite a long time -- and, more to the point,  during practice or racing before this particular meeting.

   That was what made the rider so hopping-mad:    it was holding together alright , weren´t it? Why didn´t I keep my big mouf shut!

  And to round-up this bit of nostaligic nonsense -- I expect the fairing and its brackets were probably doing the "holding-together"....

  I felt sure that the engine plates on the 1000cc Bitza had at one time been aluminium frying-pans...

  Oh! Another bit of sickening nostalgia:  BRC at Thruston -- what a circuit! A series of fast curves where it felt like being on the edge of a gramophone record to suddenly rush at a 90° left hander... which, of course I missed on the last lap and put great dents into both (steel) rims -- did a magnificent copy of scrambler Brian Stonebridge  leaping off the curb (4" high there...) -- to still finish 4th and not get disqualified.

Yaaaaawwwnnnn!!!!

Cheers!

Well done to both Ted and Tom for their antics on the Isle of Man -Ramsey Sprint outings and
to Ted for his demo laps at the Jurby Festival !! I wonder if a bantam will ever race round the
TT Mountain again??

Is there a group going to Brands BSB again this year? We have Dan on board because of that
event I believe.

We have Jason who has bought Joe's bantam, and I like to think I played a little part in that after
meeting Jason at the Classic Bike Burn Up where I was trashing my bantam around.

Rob D came bantam racing after going to The Festival of 1000 Bikes a few years ago where we
put on a good showing..

Every little helps and all that..

Ask not what Bantam Racing can do for you!
But, what you can do for Bantam Racing?

Wow!

Got any more about Jason -- or is Jason going to speak for himself?

Wonderful what you are doing Mike for Bantam Racing. In answer to the query about a Bantam doing the TT course again, I did ask and, of course, two-strokes are OUT but some ancient-bike enthusiasts are questioning that and pushing for 125, 2-strokes  but I don´t think they are trying hard enough. I was told a grid of twenty would be needed to have any of the organisers of the Castletown circuit to even get talking about the possibilty....  

Cheers!

I have sent emails to the contacts I had for the last 2 Brands BSB meetings and have had no reply. I sent another to MSV Promotions address with the same result.

This coming weekend pop along to The Stafford Show and have a chat
with bantam racer Rob Duesbury and his team on the BHR stand in the
Race Paddock.

Also pay a visit to the BSA Bantam Club stand where they have 16 bantams
in various guises D1 to B175, GPO, Trials and a Classic 70s Racer previously
Campaigned by Tony Jones.

Also message me if you are free to display your Bantam Racer at any future
shows -
NEC Birmingham Classic Bike Show- November
Newark Winter classic Show - January
Telford Off-Road Show- February
Bristol classic Bike Show- February

This coming weekend pop along to The Stafford Show and have a chat
with bantam racer Rob Duesbury and his team on the BHR stand in the
Race Paddock.

Also pay a visit to the BSA Bantam Club stand where they have 16 bantams
in various guises D1 to B175, GPO, Trials and a Classic 70s Racer previously
Campaigned by Tony Jones.

Also message me if you are free to display your Bantam Racer at any future
shows -
NEC Birmingham Classic Bike Show- November
Newark Winter classic Show - January
Telford Off-Road Show- February
Bristol classic Bike Show- February

Hi Mike...!
Are your eyes alright?

Or are you so forceful you have to tell us twice.

Only joking -- keep it up!

Cheers!
John-Boy.

I am now back in touch with someone at MSV and hoping to get things sorted for next year. The IOM at Jurby was good the flyers went like hot cakes, only down side was most of the people interested were over fifty. Lots of people came and had a chat and said they did not know Bantams still raced and were so quick.

Many thanks to Rob Duesbury for attending the Stafford Show
with his rear exhaust bantam on the British Historic Racing
stand and talking the talk... cheers

Regards Mike

Hi Folks
Firstly I would like to say I am a big follower of BSA Bantam racing and please do not think otherwise, thats why I am a member of the site and giving my opinions to hopefully assist in raising the profile. I would really love to build my own, however cost has prevented me.
Raising the Bantam profile is not going to be easy, however quite acheiveable in my view.
Sorry for the analogy however I believe it is entirely relavant.
The industry I work in, (caravan/motorhome spares) if no one knows about you, how are they going to be interested in buying your products...
Therefore I believe the way forward is to have each race results in a publication such as Motorcycle news / Bikesportnews / Classic racer etc. Remember where do you get your infomation from nowadays, the same medium needs to be applied. Get your name out there, honestly it is not.
A well known figure from the Racing world, for example one of the Dunlops/McGuinness/Whitham or similar high profile figure, who would be prepared to do a couple of parade laps and extol the virtures of the bikes at an event. Would do no end of good publicity.
If a race could be included into the back of a national event, such a Scarborough / Classic TT .
I disagree in the naked bantam racing class, the more these bikes look like a pukka race bike the better, look at MZ's, their rules dictate not permitted to be faired, then look at a CB350 unfaired and a race bike !Keep them as they are.
Some people quote that Batam racing is the cheapest way of getting racing. well is it ? Firstly consider cost of buying the machine in the first place, conversion to race bike, I know Ive looked at it. I really like the miriad of free information available and advice on this site for conversion into a race bike, but it all comes at a price. if you use the 'cheapest' form of racing available sales pitch, maybe relavant a long time ago, thats where you are / will fall down, because of....human nature is that we will take the easy option, creation of a Bantam racer is not the easy option I'm afraid. Whereas you are up against a product that is readily available and with off the shelf mods and race ready. ie Aprilia RS / CBR / etc etc, also what percentage of bikes are right foot gear change now ?
So the series needs to pitched at the correct market.
Pete

Thanks for your input Pete, muvh appreciated, the problems as i see it
are BSN, Classic Racer etc already cover the events that Bantams are at, but
don't tend to get much coverage by them.

Ref getting a 'star' on a bantam great idea - is any current bantam racer available
for a star? Please reply.. I had Mike McDonnell and Jack Scrivener on my bikes at
Cadwell in September but generally folk don't lend their bikes out.

A National meeting at Olivers Mount another great idea ..any takers? Me for 1!
Remember you will need a National license. . Sign below...

Regards Mike

Just remembered - don't buy a road bantam and junk half of it
Buy the bits you need that someone else has junked!
You need a frame loop(but get a whole frame pref., D7-14) bantam
back wheel or maybe just a hub(D7-14 pref., avoid sports bantam
full width hub-pretty but heavy) The rest of cycle parts is pretty open
Get yourself to an auto jumble.
Engine - bottom end start with a D5 or D7 sandcast unit(avoid FD7
and GD7 cases as die cast - less metal on them for porting). Buy 2ndhand
ignition or new (see Tony Davis article)
Top end if using iron barrel use D14/B175(more metal again). Easy option
see Brian White get a BTW alloy top end.
Gearbox - tricky one this because no one wants to waste close ratio g/box
parts on speculators who pose as would be racers - commit to racing using
later D7 gears then folk will give/sell you gears..
Read the Bantam Tuning Manual and other info on main site..
Must of forgotten stuff sure others can add to the above..

Regards Mike