Dave's Blog - June 2016 - Black Betty Arrives

Thursday 30th June - Last Day of June and it's raining AGAIN !

Washed the Kawasaki, and booked it in for an MoT tommorow. Started to look at some random posts involving CG125, engines and frames being fitted into the Bantam running gear. Whilst I several engines undergoing various stages of restoration, I fancy trying something a little different. I had thought about a diesel engine. The photo below is a bantam with a leader engine and EN125 forks. Must be a challenging ride. 

Tuesday 28th July 2016

Spoke to the Crome company, they will dip the rear rack to allow painting / plastic coating. I am stuggling without luggage ability. 

Bought a replacement rear indicator for the Kwak, as the internals on the nearside are erm..... kaput. Ebay £8.95

Bought new summer gloves in the sale £25 ( brown goats leather ) 

Read more: Blog June 2016

BSA Bantam B175 - Restore To Running Condition.

Tuesday 6th September 2016

Spoke to Nick Bramley - Rusty Rooster garage, and a rebuild of the B175 crank will cost a very resonable 175GBP. I spent the evening down the garage, struggled to get a new primary chain fitted on the B175, but did it eventually. I then did a dry fit of the Bones Cdi to the B175. 

Monday 5th September 2016 

Purchased a primary chain from Rex caunt. Expected later this week. 

Sunday 4th September 2016

Below is a video showing a brief assesment of the engine, and the work ahead.

Read more: B175 - "Sunset"

Last updated Late Feb 2020

I didn't deliberately set off with the intention of buying so many,I bought my Triumph Sprint 1050 to tour europe, after dipping my toe into Northern Europe ( Normandy ) on a Yamaha XT660x. When I looked at a sports tourer ( 2010 ) it was a toss up between Hondas VFR and the Sprint ST1050. I got caught up in the nostalga and heritate of the Triumph Brand. I bought the Thunderbird from a mate who needed some money quickly to pay a third party. It's not a bike I'd have chosen out of the showroom, but have over the years come to appreciate just what 1600cc's feels like to ride. it's certainly a competent and powerful cruiser, I've taken it as far as Northern Belgium and explored the battlefields of world war one. 

I bought the Kawasaki as a commuter, and winter bike, or to be used when the weather is likely to be too bad for one of the Triumphs. I wish my Triumphs gearboxes were as smooth. todate ( Jan 2016 ) this small, some say underpowered bike has not missed a beat. It's easy to service, parts availability is good, and as it's based on 1980's tech ( being carb ) it's very simple to look after. Annually I change the plugs, oil and filters. Anyone owning this or a GPZ will tell you it's not the smoothest of bikes when ticking over, but I've taken it into North Wales and the south coast and throughly enjoy riding this bike. 

I don't have a general preference for any one over the other, I like them all. I Throughly enjoy riding at speed and bimbling along the fenland B roads at 40mph.

Until recently I used to travel around 18,000 miles between Feb and October. Many of these miles are in Europe, I travel five to six times over the spring and summer months. On my links page you'll see the B & B's and accomodation that i recommend. Mini trip advisor.

Read more: My Bikes

Yamaha Clutch on a BSA Bantam

I've owned my BSA 1966 D7 Bantam for about three years, and despite fitting extra strong springs, and Rex Caunts latest plates I've always suffered from clutch slip. With a brand new Amal, and a Bones CDi I felt that this was the achiles heel of my rolling restoration. 

I was aware of a mod used by those that Trail ride bantams that involved using a Bultaco or Yamaha basket. But no amount of Googling would return any results. 

One evening whilst surfing I spotted a post on the BSA Bantam forum showing a Yamaha clutch basket modified to fit the BSA Bantam. I contacted the poster and within the hour email and phone numbers were exchanged. The following evening I contacted to Engineer responsible for the creating the modified basket. 

Over a weekend I proceeded to fit the new clutch to the Bantam. Here's a photo essay of the fit, and post fit tuning. This covers a D7 66 fit. 

The Legal Yargon. 

Proceed with extreme caution - I put it here as an aide. I am not an expert, and one should not attempt this mod without the appropiate skills. Do not sue me - you attempt this at your own risk.

Read more: BSA Clutch Mod