BSA Bantam

A Documentry on that small classic brittsh motorbike

[@SloopyDog]

My first motorcycle at 16 was a BSA Bantam 125cc. I paid £5 for it and it included a helmet and gloves. I loved that bike, it gave me the freedom to go anywhere. Not the most powerful of motorcycles but it got me where I wanted to go. Happy days!

[@Mowogjones]

Mind equals blown... This shouldn't be on youtube, this should be on the television! Great video!

[@hughlaverton8748]

Happy memories of my two D1 Bantams of my teens. I paid £12 and £15. I wrote off the first one aged 15 colliding with my brother's Golden Flash. Shouldn't have been on the road but parents were out for the day....

[@robleary3353]

As a 17 yr old in the 80's I bought a derelict D3 150cc swingarm. Dad and I did a basic restoration/rebuild on it and got it back on the road. Brilliant fun to ride and very forgiving to a 'Noddy' learner! 🤣 Now in my mid 50's and still have it (albeit dismantled). Trying to restore it properly in memory of my Dad. Great video.

[@skyout19]

I had a 1952 D1 125cc in South Africa, bought it from my teacher in 1971 for about 4 pounds - he said the magneto needed remagnetizing. Pushed it home with a friend of mine, cleaned the carb, filed the points and set them, put some two-stroke mix in the tank, then pushed it around the garden - and PENG ! PENG ! PENG ! Rode it illegally for a couple of months (I was only 17 at that time), stripped it down, repainted and rechromed it, then rode it daily to the Uni for 4 years, then 500km up to Joburg, and another 2 years before I left SA. Lots of happy memories, very reliable and you could fix it with a minimum of tools - on one trip the fishtail fell off - then it had lots of bottom end ! So I then used to remove the fishtail as soon as I was on the motorway.

[@gogogeedus]

Modified versions of these bikes wear clocked at over 130 mph down conrod straight at Bathurst Australia.

[@fordv8man]

Great doco on the BSA. Couldnt get better music either! Cool.

[@Bilbo107]

Nice presentation on the humble Beeza Bantam. Dont forget the B175 and its sporting history too. There are 4 Bantams in my family collection, from my 1950 D1 factory Competition model to my B175 one day trials machine. Excellent fun for all and a brilliant way to start a collection of good old Brit iron. Am sure we will be hearing more of Alex in the future. Well done, a true Bantamite, (thats what Bantam owners were known as in the old days when the world was black and white).

[@John48Crocker]

I had a 1951 example as a student in the late 1960s GVN 278. For £15 it was a good buy. I rode from Cornwall to Manchester with an overnight stop. Yes, top speed was about 50 MPH after a decoke. Great fun.

[@binkyboobosh1]

When I was young, a mate's dad had a D10. It was the only transport the family had and his dad would use it for work every day...I think he worked in the stores at a local factory. He must of had it 30+ years. We used to put stickers on it which he left on and they would get dirty and faded as the years went by. The dad died young...in his 50s and the bike was put in the shed. The mum rode a C90 and I used to see her ride off to her job at Boots. She died a few years later, before retirement age. I always wondered what happened to the bikes as my mate went to live in Australia before his mum died. A few years later, by chance, I got talking to the guy who did the house clearance at their house and was shocked when he said that both bikes had gone to the local dump as he couldn't be bothered to sell them. The mum and dad loved those bikes and it was such a shame...I think I learned a life lesson that day..all that effort, love, time and life is soon forgotten...

[@JakeAnnetts]

Great vid mate. I had my test arranged and on the day I was due to take the test on an old James Cavalier. Half an hour before the test I sat on the James, and the clutch cable broke as I pulled it in. The Bantam was in bits, so I put it all back together and rushed to the test centre. I minute into the journey I remembered the carb was choked with crap from the tank and the only way to take the test was to use the 'tickler' on the carb to flood it.. I passed, but it was tough going.

[@donalfredisaac]

These nice bikes were very popular in the 1950´s and 60´s in my hometown, Mérida, México, nowadays there are one or two still running ocasionally but they either are not for sale or want too much for them. Russia copied them too, I think they called it Moskva, many other countries copied the german DKW (not necesarily Nazis) since the factory was founded around 1920. The reason to reproduce it was a patent DKW had on how the burnt fuel was swept out, giving this little engine an advantage over other makes. BSA was my favorite English brand, at a time I owned a 1957 500cc single. It´s a pity they don´t exist anymore.

[@ronatholl]

brings a tear to me eye , happy memories of being 16 freedom of the road innit

[@richardkirkup1376]

First bantam 1959 second hand £20 17 years old youth happy days😎

[@bran756]

My first bike saved up sixty quid for it loved that little bike

[@GeneralMe100]

I past my test on a 175cc D7 1966 model and it still had 3 gears :D

[@barrywilkins4489]

Great brings back memories of my first bike

[@jesiahnickolas4875]

I know Im kind of off topic but does anybody know of a good website to watch newly released movies online?

[@walterwyatt7522]

@Jesiah Nickolas lately I have been using flixzone. You can find it by googling :)

[@sagedarwin3024]

@Walter Wyatt yea, been using FlixZone for since april myself =)

[@jesiahnickolas4875]

@Walter Wyatt thanks, I signed up and it seems like a nice service :) Appreciate it !

[@walterwyatt7522]

@Jesiah Nickolas Happy to help =)

[@MrConan89]

Very nice video. I think the bike, however, is a 52 or 53. I had a 54 model and the finning on the barrel was fatter. I paid 12 pounds for it and, still on L plates in 1962, I was booked for speeding and was fined 6 pounds. Is that some kind of record?

[@Liddy37]

Well done, lovely work, great subject, great filming

[@Farmer2492]

Hi did they ever make a Red 1951 BSA 125CC D1 BANTAM

[@stephen9863]

yes for the post offic

[@terryblackman6217]

A very enjoyable video. Just wondering, do you still have the D1?

[@adoreslaurel]

I rode on one back on "58, however it must have had a bit of blow by so that once it warmed up it died until ii cooled down, badly in need of a ring job.

[@Lee-70ish]

Had a D1 1954 model bought it in 1967 for 10/- even had leg shields and the same colour. It was very reliable apart from not very good clutches.

[@hughmnyks]

Great little video!

[@frederickbowdler8169]

Two strokes were very popular presumably because 4 strokes were difficult or expensive to make I suppose they could have made a side valve which would have been a cheaper 4 stroke.

[@bensummers5287]

Nice video, and very informative for those of us who are interested in motor vehicles. What series do you have?

[@A1BSA]

video gone pear shaped...can you upload it again

[@toad4eva]

thanks mate that means a lot

[@fjbh101]

what about the BD1?, would you reccomend a bantam for classic hill climb and sprinting?

[@toad4eva]

I did not know about that, very intresting thanks man!

[@toad4eva]

hello the BD1, i am sorry i left this out, i woukld not recomend this bike for hill climb and sprinting, not if your wanting to win, as these are two strokes with little power hills are not somthing the bantam is good at, for example mine will mainly travel at 40 to 50mph along the flat, but up steep hills around 20mph is normal, it would be nice to hear how it goes

[@MrSteamdan]

Did you show that laughton spring fayre ?

[@buffyporson1]

Great movie. You forgot to mention that the DKW 125 was also copied by the Soviets to produce the Minsk 125. Still in production today in Belarus, it is the most highly developed variant with electronic ignition and 10 bhp from the same 61 x 58, 123 motor.

[@johnmcgowan9729]

169.4cc

[@TheIdleCrow]

Pretty cool bike, to bad that most likely I would not be able to get one of those down here in Canada.

[@zobraman33]

how much cc is it?

[@johnpage4581]

My friend i the 1960s was a telegram boy delivering on behalf of post office ,on their bantams ( red).

[@bsacrazy]

video not working..locks up

[@geezerbigfoot]

u forgot the best 1 the b 175 197o -72 or whatever they stood for unsold

[@tubularillusion]

D5 only came in black ! 2 yr production from '58 ! one in video at 3:38 is red LOL !!!

[@tuefelshild]

it was " made in Imperial " because all was Witworth thread ( cycle thread as in push-cycle as that is all an old M/c is a bike with a lump )..after the Witworth chappie who wanted everything a standard fitting,...hhmm sounds metric that,...nice chap in video ..bit short on on his facts, War Reparitions was how it was taken ( same with Asprin in first war ..ect )........Ruskies did same with the Zundapp...yup yer cossack....most were named after the river the factory was on, ( Hydro power )..Dniepre,...Minsk,..Vokshod ect,,,,

[@toad4eva]

classet as a 125cc but its a 123cc

[@carlton7015]

V A T?

[@tuefelshild]

thats strange, I rode a kick start 500cc single matchbox at 16, legally, my Bro was on a 70cc Yammie kickstart in 1970 as law was changed to 250cc..not any with plates,...this mpoed law is new,..he forgot to say that?...or it he explaining to a load of " ped " riders,?...