Framework

Frame
In my mind a 50 years old frame deserve a proper treatment to get back i shape. You can discuss with enthusiasts forever about sandblasting and new paint versus cleaning and polishing the old paintwork. Of course if you are a compleete original-freak, it is always the best to keep as much as possible in original shape..... BUT what is really original???? The fact that this bike indeed was painted 40-50 years ago, does it mean that you destroy its originality by cleaning, painting (original colour) and bringing it back to its original shape? In my mind the answer to this is a definite NO! So therefore my advice will be; strip the frame totally, sandblast it and paint it in its origial colour

Central Stand
Trough tips and own experience I have uncovered a lot of common problems related to the central stand. Very often the threads on the bike, to attach the central stand and brake pedal stop plate, are worn out. This due to one millon "up-and-down-back-and-forth" of the central stand, causing the bolts moving and wearing out the threads in the fittings. Often one of the bolts, or in worst case both, are missing. The easiest way to fix this is simply to use a 8mm thread tap (which is slightly lager than the original inch threads in the "hole"), and convert it to mm. This, of course, assumes there are some left of the old threads. If not, you have to do the old; drill a bigger hole, and insert a helicoil exercise.

Well done with new fresh threads, some parts may be lost. Often this goes for the c-shaped "thing" (real name "spring anchor plate"), the spring itself and the mount/attachment from the spring on the frame. This often due to the problem mentioned above; bolt's gone - part's gone.... The spring anchor plate is not easy to get hold on, none of the parts suppliers mentioned offers this piece. Neither is the attachment possible to buy from these suppliers. But the spring is offered both by T&G and British Spares.

The attachment is very easy to manufacture yourself. Just go to the nearest iron-monger and find a door-hinge where the hole fits a 6-8mm bolt (you may have to drill the hole open in one of the ends). Then make it 4cm long and 1,8 cm wide, and make long square whole from the "hinge-end" towards the "flat-end". It should be approximately 1,8 cm long, and 0,5 cm wide. Try to make use of one of the original screw-holes for the attachment to the frame. Here's a picture how the finished piece is supposed to look like.

The spring anchor plate you have to make out of a solid piece of 3-4mm thick iron. See picture (credit to Tony) that gives you an idea of the measurements. Or you could try to find it at e-bay or similar place. There are a lot of Bantam spares to find at e-bay. Just search for bsa bantam. As mentioned before I was so lucky to get one made by Tony's friend Jim.

Engine and Framenumbers
To help you to identify your bike, here are all the engine and framnumber references for all Bantams

Seat
Looking at the internet on different Bantam restorations it strikes me how many really ugly seats people have mounted on their other vice perfect restored bikes? Why not do an effort with this extra touch of "topping" on your project. Perhaps it's a question of money? I found, what I think, was the perfect solution to get a new seat, yet looking original. I found a company selling seat covers, made 100% like the original Lycette seat. The perfect thing about this, is that you don't pay for the things you already have, the seat "frame". AND with this seat cover fitted on the original seat frame, the looks get 95% original. You find this company (which also has a lot of other Bantam goodies) at e-bay following this link

Dismantling
This link (credits to Tony's page) gives you an excellent step-by-step instruction for dismantling the engine. Add on pagenumbers to 2024 to get all the pages. These are scans of an old workshop manual, which illustrates by text and pictures how to dismantle your engine.

Flywheel Removal
Another good advice, which I myself got to learn a lesion about, is the removal of the flywheel. DONT EVER try to use a conventional removal tool for this flywheel. The small hollow pin in the middle of the crankshaft-assay is NOT strong enough to take the pressure of this, and will simply brake (so did mine...). You simply have to get hold on the special tool for the job. This can be ordered at T&G, item # L1 price GBP 8,50. This will save you a LOT of worries.

The Conrod Assembly
Looking at several instructions (also mentioned on this page) of disassemble and assemble of the conrod/crankshaft assay, it may give an impression that this is easy-piecey work to be preformed by anyone. The fact is that this is actually quite a difficult task, even for people that consider themselves as trained mechanics! You may manage to preform the disassemble, but when it comes to the assembling this is another piece of cake! This piece of moving parts are the heart of your Bantam, and MUST be properly mounted and balanced! Even skilled Bantam restorers leave this to the experts. I left mine in the skilled hands of Peter at T&G, and got back a perfect rebuilt unit. You will find the address to T&G in their catalogue which you can download further down on this page.

Take Pictures !
In this wonderful times with digital cameras at hand, I advice you to take photos of critical mounts during the disassemble of your engine. If there are any parts you think it might be difficult to remember right, simply take a photo and forget the worries !! Here's an example of an useful photo of the Wico-Pacy mount on the fly-wheel

Mounting
One of the major deceases of an old brit is oil leakage. You can hardly find any old British bike that don't leak some oil from the engine fittings. Bantams also have the same problem, but I've solved it completely. The first thing to do is NOT to use the paper-gaskets that comes with the gasket-sets you buy. Instead buy some sheets of real gasket material, use the paper gaskets as a pattern, and make new and proper gaskets. This go for all except the "mid-joint" of the engine. This is originally supposed to joint without a gasket, which of course causes oil leakage in 95% of the cases. The problem is that, because of the fitting, there is no room for a gasket here. I solved this with some help from a friend of mine that's a car mechanic. He lend me a very special type gasket-cement that is originally made for gear-boxes in cars. The stuff is an original GM product, and has a fluorescent green colour. AND it keeps the joint 99% oil proof. My advice is to see a major car-workshop, and ask them for this special gasket-cement. If possible bring the engine, and make them put it on and joint the engine halves together at the workshop.

Finishing
Old engines never look fresh, aluminium gets grey and tinted as the years pass by. The bigest mistake restores make when trying to polish up an old aluminim block, is starting up using some kind of paste-stuff. This wil NEVER give you a top finish!! For the best result you have to do this process with DRY "polishing". If the enginge is very greasy and oily, start with cleaning it in a bath of white-spirit. White-spirit is not all "dry", and will leave a small "film" on the block. Next step is to get the surface all smooth, and get rid of all the corrosion that allways builds up on aluminium. Use a 1600 grade grid-paper (if it's very corroded start with 800 grade), use it dry and ONLY to take away the worst corrosion. Then use grade 0 steel-wool until the whole block gets smooth (don't continue with this grade in order to get it "shiny", only to the block gets smooth). Then it's time for finishing. Use grade 000 steel-wool. and contiue polishing til the bloc turns shiny. This really takes a while, but it's worth it!! The result shoul be a smooth, bright and shiny engine-block on your Bantam-Lady!

Inrun
Both I and a lot of other Bantam restorers have experienced seizure during the inrun. Discussing this problem with my good Bantam friend Tony, he gave his explanation of why, which sounded to me most lightly to be the cause of this problem. First of all you just HAVE to measure up the piston ring clearance properly!! This clearance should be between 0,225mm (0,009 inch) and 0,225mm (0,013 inch). If you don't get this right the engine will seize, or even worse crash, pretty soon. The other thing that most lightly causes the engine to seize is that the modern new-build replica pistons you buy, is made in a whole different way than the original BSA pistons in the "good old days". Modern new metal composite materials is milestones away from the ones made in the 50's and 60's. This make the piston behave differently inside the barrel, and causes the engine to seize (if someone has a different opinion on this, or totally disagree with me, please drop me a note in my guestbook). So the second answer to a smooth inrun is, just take it easy!! No hard runs, no high speed, no tough driving...juuuuuust nice and easy. The inrun period should last for around 1000 km, slowly increasing the speed, driving distance and pressure during the period. The first runs should only be a couple of km long, and you have to give the engine the time to cool down between these first rides. It also seem that som light hones during the inrun process might be a good idea.

The Electrical

One problem when restoration is the age, and the condition, of all the electric (I don't think it's appropriate to call 40 year old electrics for electronical) equipment.

If the electrical seems to look complete, try to use it because the quality of the original wires is not bad at all. But if it's just look like a mess, it's much easier to buy a complete new one instead. At T&G you can get a new one from GBP 15,50 to GBP 31,50, all depending on model.

One problem is the old plate-rectifier; you can not count or relay that this will work properly. But this problem is both easy solved, and cheap to modify. Just buy a new electronical rectifier at an electronics shop. I bought mine at Clas Ohlson, http://www.clasohlson.com/, (the page can be displayed in English) for NOK 19,00. The art no. is 22-3349 for those interested. I mounted it inside the tool-box, and made a small hole in the back for the wiring. It's a piece of cake to hook it up, just remember to reverse connections with the + therminal to ground (you have to make your own cable for this, as shown on the picture)!!!! Also remember that the negative terminal is located diagonal from the positive on this type of rectifier, and this of course goes for the AC connectors as well. It doesn't matter where you put the different AC cables, just remember the two green ones (the colours may vary from model to model) goes to the same conector. The picture shows the mounting inside the tool-box. You can download the complete whiring diagram on top of this page.

If you need a complete wiring diagram for the bike you will find a link on the top of this page.

If you need a description of fitting the wires on the bike, drop me a note in the guestbook, and I will try to help you.

For buying parts on the internet I would like to recommend

T&G Motorcycles in the Uk
T&G Motorcycles in UK has a lot of Bantam goodies. Send a fax (+44 1908579799) or to T&G and ask for their latest catalogue, it contains lots of useful goodies for a Bantam restorer. But as a service to the readers of my page I have done a scan of their NEW catalogue , please remember to check up their present prices. T&G has good service, good stock and fast delivery on spareparts! If your local paint-shop can't help you with the right colour for your Bantam, T&G also have all the different Bantam colours in stock. Both in spray, and 500ml tins. Here's a pdf of their order scheme as well. T&G also preform different kinds of service/repair jobs on Bantam engines, and engine parts. I had my crankshaft-assay totally rebuilt by T&G, who did a perfect job!

British Spares in NZ
British Spares in NZ fast (1 and 1/2 week from NZ to Norway, including the customs clearance in Norway) and good service. Be ware that all the goods listed in their catalogue/parts list is NOT in stock. Look for the"tacks" beside the listings, three "tacks" means good availability. Best way to search is by using the original BSA partnumbers. You will find complete parts catalogues at the top of this page.

BAS Motor in Sweden
Another company with a good selection of Bantam parts is BAS Motor located in Stockholm Sweden. You can download their catalogue directly on their page (PDF format). The Bantam parts are not listed under "Bantam" in their catalogue, you have to look for the specific parts you need. This page is only displayed in Swedish, if you can't understand the language follow this link to a translation-page.

Central Wheel Components
Looking for wheels/rims Central Wheel Components, also located in the UK, has it all with zoooooooooom-fast delivery. They also have tires, but tires you just buy at your local MC-shop. Just ask them if you may look in their catalogue, and look for a classical looking tire in your "Bantam-size" (2,75 x 19).

Heritage Mortocycle Parts
Sell their items via ebay. Has a lot of Bantam goodies, but you have to bid for it (and you DON'T always win!!)

C&D Autos
Bantam spares including electronic ignition systems. This company is highly recomended by my friend Tony, for giving excellent service, prompt replies and a fabulous inventory of parts. They even ride Bantams! Their mail order is quick and efficient and, most importantly, they really know their business.