New Project

batman1

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I’m converting this old drinks table into a trials bike and I’m looking for a 175cc BSA Bantam engine D14/4 to help get the project on the started.

Although I’ve put a note in the wanted section I’m thinking that I may get a better response in here. :augie
 

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Thanks Mike, you’re a man who appreciates engineering excellence!

Just need a few more bits to finish.....well quite a lot of bits actually, but the D14 motor or c/cases is top of the list at the moment.
 
Got a couple of guys down here who do things to a trials bantam you wouldn't believe.
 
Got a couple of guys down here who do things to a trials bantam you wouldn't believe.

That’s good to hear, I have a lovely little James (see photo) but having recently ridden a very well sorted bantam I thought I’d embark on building one. However I won’t love my Jimmy any less:)
 

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Thanks Mike, you’re a man who appreciates engineering excellence!

Just need a few more bits to finish.....well quite a lot of bits actually, but the D14 motor or c/cases is top of the list at the moment.

I was over at DRS a few days ago,Paul really is a perfectionist.
What peeps cannot appreciate looking at the frame is how light it is,astonishing.
Keep posting the pics up:thumb
 
I was over at DRS a few days ago,Paul really is a perfectionist.
What peeps cannot appreciate looking at the frame is how light it is,astonishing.
Keep posting the pics up:thumb

You’re so right Mike, perfectionism in bike frame building does not get any better than what Paul can do!
If you admire detailed workmanship is all here.
It’s almost a shame to spoil it with paint, the detail is astonishing, just zoom in on that bronze welding.
Using thin gauge T45 helps keep the weight down and the strength up. My James has a Drayton frame, which is excellent in the way it works but is quite heavy in comparison to Paul’s T-45 unit.

Definitely not knocking my Drayton in any way it, it performs superb but you can not compare the weight of the two units, and there is a large price increase to pay if you want a frame in T-45.
The Drayton it is incredible value for money and it enabled me to get into trials riding.
‘‘Tis a lovely thing...
 

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Wow! Lucky you, that would be a dream place to cut your teeth on quality bike work for a young lad, particularly in fabrication.
 
I can appreciate the workmanship that goes into building a frame like that but can’t help but think that it won’t be a Bantam when it is completed. My pal used to trial a Bantam in the Sebac championship and that used to have a rigid rear end and minimalist forks. At the other end of the scale two of my pals have recently built Bantams with special frames, fork internals, shocks, engine components and gears and racked up over 6.5 k. All that will happen is that bikes perform better so sections will have to get harder which will make original bikes uncompetitive. I’ve got to say that they are beautiful to look at though.
 
I agree with all of what you say Trekker, it may have been better if the rules could have been held tighter to harness the originality of the old bikes. I’ve only been trialling for just over a year so I’m a newbie.
The first bike I looked at was very true to what a pre65 is intended to be, it was a lovely little James very original, but the guy selling it said how he’d borrowed it to ride in the Scottish because his own fully modified Greeves was out of action, but he also said that by the time he’d got to the top of the pipeline his arms had completely gone, and he couldn’t finish, he said that if he’d had the more modern forks like on his Greeves he would have been fine.
The other issue is that original frames are getting knackered and engine parts are getting worn out, so those guys dedicate to keeping pre65’s running are building new frames, forks and engine parts like cranks and crankcases barrels and g/boxes and it seems to be quite natural for these engineers who build the replacement parts to tweak frame angles and engines etc to remove the flaws in the 1950’s designs.

However as you say all of this comes at a cost and you are bang-on when you say just the parts required to put a top-end Bantam together will cost around £6,500, and that’s without any labour. The cost of a well prepared Cub, Bantam, Greeves etc is eye watering, you look at a tiny little bike that’s got nothing on it and you wonder how could if possibly cost so much money.

Thankfully there are still plenty of old guys out there riding on a budget with similar to original bikes and getting good results but more importantly they’re having a hell of a lot of fun.

For me I wanted to start my new project with the lightest possible frame on the market as I want to keep the weight of the new bike down to an absolute bare minimum, I’m 67 years old next week and by the time I’ve built my new bike I’ll be 68, it’s inevitable that I’ll get older and weaker as the years roll on so if I’m still here and riding in my 70’s a lighter bike can only be a good thing.
My James has a Drayton frame which is an excellent frame but it’s fabricated in standard tubing making it about twice the weight of the DRR frame which is made in very thin walled high tensile T45.
If you enjoy quality engineering, the DDR frame is a thing of great beauty and building my bike over the next 12 months will be an absolute joy, although my wallet may not think so..:augie

I’m still looking for a Bantam D14/4 motor in any condition.
 
More power to you riding trials at 67/68, it’s a fabulous sport requiring great skill.
I started riding in the 80’s and my first bike was a Cota 247 costing £250, the problem with modern bikes is that they are so good that sections have been made harder and harder so a lot of my friends have ditched them for pre’65.
Original pre’65 bikes are hard to ride with very limited performance, I can see that the specials many ride today will push the cost of the sport higher and higher and sections harder and harder.
It’s human nature to try and gain an advantage but ultimately I think the sport will suffer as it will largely end up with who has the deepest pockets.
 
Yes you are right, it’s a real shame, but it seems to be the way of most sports.
 
Well it’s two years since I posted the photos of my new drinks table on here!

I’ve revamped it into a little Banty trials bike, it’s taken a while as I needed to build a garage first for somewhere to do the mods.

Anyway I struck him up this week, he started the very first kick, on the priming kick actually, and now he lives (Billy Banty).

Thought I’d do the right thing and post a few photos that I took earlier today.
For the purists there probably aren’t that many parts on it that were made in the Birmingham Small Arms Company, however for the realists, I think it’s gonna be a nice little bike, once I can get it dirty.
 

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A few more
 

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