Lovely bike. My Lambretta has a hybrid clutch made from a Suzuki RM125, modified to use 5 plates from the standard 7 plates. The old cork Lambretta clutch had a habit of sticking.
Greetings from downunder in Oz. Your WOT experiments with that Bantam 175 caught my attention, having, inter alia, owned 7 two-smokers thus far, from smoke-laying wannabe battleship Kawasaki H1 500 to the current far more benign 2001 Honda NSR150SP (now off the road), though all my extensive riding around Asia has been on small hired 4 stroke Hondas (Wave 110, 125 & CBR150R), which I survived not much the worse for wear! Now to the reliable pursuit of WOT speed on that BSA Bantam, 175, and a few random thoughts FYI and consideration: (a) I've run that oil injected NSR on Castrol Power1 TTS Racing fully synthetic 2T to great effect and it'd be equally beneficial as pre-mix (up to 50:1) for your 2 smoker Bantam - cleaner colder plug, better combustion more power and no fouling - I bought it cheaper in 4 litre packs and a decent synthetic oil in that 4 speed gearbox would be equally beneficial insurance (and you apparently do very modest runs so it'll be cheap all up), indeed 'oils aint oils', having enjoyed quantum improvements since the late 1960s; (b) In pursuit of an easy 5-7 mph gain - aiming for the Holy Grail of a heady 80 mph - consider the combination of a modest headlight/handle bar mounted bikini fairing and up-gearing the front sprocket by 1-2 teeth (and/or the rear or both) plus a top-quality O-ring chain - and perhaps uber cheap bark-busters also - such a modestly powered bike can ill-afford avoidable drag at speeds of 60 plus. My own 4 stroke CBR150R was revy but under-geared, so with the above fairing/up-gearing treatment, it became a more or less decent semi-WOT 60 mph cruise bike with about 125 mpg allowing an enjoyable 3K trip along the coast. So the relatively easy trade off is acceleration for top speed; (c) Also, since at these dizzying speeds you need better brakes, consider at least a front brake upgrade - larger, double acting shoes etc - for a basic safety gain, together with uprated front fork springs and heavier oil to make steering less random(!) and half-decent rear shocks too so your swing arm movement is better dampened etc. (d) Finally since that little Bantam was basically half-choked to death by BSA's late 1940s (re)design - and originally running on awful low octane early 1950s fuel - in pursuit of reliable, economical mileage its carburetion & air set-up was awfully conservative, and the benefits of the original DKW Kneurle port design not well understood! So, if you're brave and have free time for a side project over winter, you could research the potential for modest gains in air & fuel flow, and perhaps even cleaned-up ports and a better exhaust set-up. Nothing too radical of course, although I do recall that around 2015 in the UK there was a bike racing class & series devoted to insanely tweeked, high revving BSA Bantam 175s. Its all on You Tube there somewhere! And I almost forgot the 1953 account by Peggy Iris Thomas, A Ride In the Sun/Gasoline Gypsy, of her North American jaunt astride an overloaded Bantam 125 with Matelot her Airedale dog, it being reprinted in 2012 as the 60th Anniversary Edition (Rixon Groove, UK). Good luck with the tuning!
I like the sound of that matey. I’d not heard of this before. But found this article. I have a 51 Bantam with no battery so I will investigate it matey. Thanks for commenting - A capacitor can be used to run LED lights with AC volts by delaying the phase angle of AC. In an AC circuit, a capacitor stores energy as an electrostatic field and charges when the AC reaches its peak. When the AC decreases, the capacitor releases the charge. This can be used to oppose the AC, similar to how receding waves cancel out some of the force of incoming waves
I had lots of grief with my Lambretta (200cc) around fuelling and carbs. One day, my mate just pulled a 28mm Mikuni out of his parts bin, which came off a Suzuki 2 stroke triple (I think a GT550?). It only needed a bit of minor adjustment on the needle and main jet upped to a 110 from a 105 and it was spot on.
@@johnthorp3649 yes !!! I’ve tried Mikunis on the BSAs mate. They certainly allow easier adjustment. Glad to hear yours is running well. Thanks for commenting pal. Means a lot to my small channel
Very interesting video, not a criticism but I would loved to have seen a closer look at the actual modifications that were made. I have an early 50's TVO M4 and can see this one has cut outs in the bonnet with possibly two batteries mounted across the tractor? Also the air pre-cleaner/intake is on a different side? The back end of these old tractors must have been tough as I think the power may have been doubled (around 30hp to 60) by fitting the diesel?
@@johnmassingham5109 hello pal, I’ll speak to Peter I’m sure we can film close ups and go through the Diesel engine. As Peter says the diesel unit arrived in a crate and was fitted by the local dealer or indeed by the farm mechanic / filters pal. I’ll get a part 2 done soon. Thanks for posting and commenting. It helps me direct ideas for the next tractor video
Hello Peter !!! Lovely to receive a comment on my channel from my old friend. Imagine having to put your bike flywheel on a lathe matey !!! I am filming Pete and his tractor this Saturday down the farm. I’m interested in capturing these wonderful people and their machines before they are gone. All the best mate
@@Anotherflyonmyvisor Of course it is but the hands often hit the ground first and easily damaged. Seems an obvious safety choice. But each to their own :)
now these plugs are fpr the old fuels so you need to up date your plugs to ethernol e10 use so see tim green at green spake plugs now my bike is running on a single carb to save on fuel , and i am using champoin N9BYC for ethernol fuels so your commdo will have twin carb set up so go for N7BYC and you find she run and start better or ask tim green witch is best E10 plugs for your commando see his website
Mark, lovely to meet you too. I ride out most evenings. If you ever feel like meeting up for a coke or coffee reach out mate. Thanks for your comment, great to meet you pal
thanks mate - appreciate your kind comments. As far as we could tell we were the only Classic British Bikes riding the circuit that week. We saw no other classics being ridden. Thanks for your kind comments.
@@meirionevans5137 thanks pal, we didn’t have the best weather. I’m out on my Norton at the mo. Next episode / video is us climbing the mountain then dropping down to Peel. Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for commenting.
@@Anotherflyonmyvisor Bloodyhell I think I watched it part way through and I’ve seen you riding the C15 before sorry I know the bike type obviously😊😊 Why I put bantam god knows lol 😊😊 Look similar looking down in the tank that’s it 😂 I’ve changed the comment 😂
Hang on 😮 I’ve just looked back in your videos I watched this morning I’ve commented on the wrong video after watching both of them 😊 whoops 😂😂 Anyway I know them both well 👍👍 Phil
@@-old-school-motorcyclesltd tbh he was and aspen has a lower flash point really lucky tbh we were foolish but in the middle of nowhere from where we live mate
Hi Dave, I know it's off topic and 8 years ago but did you find the problem with your Bantam clutch basket being loose? My D7 has the same play and I think may be the cause of some chatter rattle noises, strangely not all the time! Just thought I'd ask . . .
Glad to hear you arrived safely without any flame-based incidents.. It's entirely understandable for Pete to be a little apprehensive, fireballs are always a situation to be avoided ! - Hope he can soon get the problem sorted..
Only recently, I bought a cork seal kit to renovate such a tap. Never let them dry out altogether, but always leave some fuel in the tank, or the seals shrivel up. I expect you know this ! If you remove the tap for any reason, store it in a little fuel ( or oil) in a lidded container.
@@ashleyhoward8926 hi Ashley, yup the new cork was soaked. We’re both familiar with the cork based taps matey. We’ve sacked the cork based taps and changed em for the more conventional tap. I found mine were drying out while they were rested in the garage mate. Again I swapped em out matey.
Yes maybe the nipple was over tightened? I usually find them loose on my bikes and constantly needing to tighten them. Now I will be cautious when doing that. Thinking maybe look for plug caps which work on the threaded end and not with then nipple at all. "The Green Sparkplug Company" in UK is my go to place for ignition parts/plugs....somehow they always have the correct parts at great prices and ship here to Canada at very reasonable rates. I believe they offer vintage type HT plugs, even pre-war brass clip types.
